OCTOPUS: operation control system for task optimization and job parallelization via a user-optimal scheduler.

The material acceleration platform, empowered by robotics and artificial intelligence, is a transformative approach for expediting material discovery processes across diverse domains. However, the development of an operating system for material acceleration platform faces challenges in simultaneously managing diverse experiments from multiple users. Specifically, when it is utilized by multiple users, the overlapping challenges of experimental modules or devices can lead to inefficiencies in both resource utilization and safety hazards.

Materials Acceleration Platforms (MAPs): Accelerating Materials Research and Development to Meet Urgent Societal Challenges.

Climate Change and Materials Criticality challenges are driving urgent responses from global governments. These global responses drive policy to achieve sustainable, resilient, clean solutions with Advanced Materials (AdMats) for industrial supply chains and economic prosperity. The research landscape comprising industry, academe, and government identified a critical path to accelerate the Green Transition far beyond slow conventional research through Digital Technologies that harness Artificial Intelligence, Smart Automation and High Performance Computing through Materials Acceleration Platforms, MAPs.

Machine learning-enabled exploration of the electrochemical stability of real-scale metallic nanoparticles.

Surface Pourbaix diagrams are critical to understanding the stability of nanomaterials in electrochemical environments. Their construction based on density functional theory is, however, prohibitively expensive for real-scale systems, such as several nanometer-size nanoparticles (NPs). Herein, with the aim of accelerating the accurate prediction of adsorption energies, we developed a bond-type embedded crystal graph convolutional neural network (BE-CGCNN) model in which four bonding types were treated differently.

The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on revisits to emergency department.

Aim: This study presents the impact of COVID-19 on revisits to the emergency department comparing revisit rates and characteristics between the pre-COVID-19 and COVID-19 periods.

Methods: This multi-center retrospective study included patients over 18 years of age who visited emergency departments during the pre-COVID-19 period and the COVID-19 pandemic. The revisit rates were analyzed according to five age groups; 18-34, 35-49, 50-64, 65-79, and ≥ 80 years, and three revisit time intervals; 3, 9, and 30 days.

A Comparison of Emergency Department Revisit Rates of Pediatric Patients between Pre-COVID-19 and COVID-19 Periods.

Unscheduled revisits to emergency departments (EDs) are important because they indicate the quality of emergency care. However, the characteristics of pediatric patients visiting EDs changed during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, and these changes may have affected their revisit patterns. Therefore, we aimed to compare the ED revisit patterns of pediatric patients between the pre-COVID-19 and COVID-19 periods.

Hyaluronic microparticle-based biomimetic artificial neighbors of cells for three-dimensional cell culture.

3D spheroids, which have the potential to bridge the gap between 2D cell culture and native tissue, are used as tissue models in many applications, particularly in cancer, stem cell, and pharmaceutical research. A considerable amount of effort has focused on the development of more relevant physiological models. However, spheroids still have limitations in that they cannot replicate the components and structure of the ECM in the natural environment.

Clinical Characteristics Associated with Physical Violence in the Elderly: A Retrospective Multicenter Analysis.

Background: Elder abuse is predicted to increase with the rapid population ageing in many countries. Violent injury is influenced by individual factors as well as interpersonal and social relationships, with different manifestations based on changes in the socioeconomic position of older adults. We comparatively investigated the clinical and injury characteristics of physical violence in the elderly with those in another age group.

Three-in-One Strategy to Improve Both Catalytic Activity and Selectivity: Nonconcentric Pd-Au Nanoparticles.

In direct HO synthesis, the Pd-Au alloy was considered as a potential catalyst because of its much better performance compared to the prototype Pd; unfortunately, achieving both high activity and selectivity remains a challenge. Here, we synthesized nonconcentric Pd-Au NPs in which Au domain shells are formed only partially on Pd domain cores and tested them for direct HO synthesis. It has three exposed regions of Pd, Au domains, and Pd-Au interfaces in a single NP (hence, a 3-in-1 strategy).

In-Vitro Characterization of Growth Inhibition against the Gut Pathogen of Potentially Probiotic Lactic Acid Bacteria Strains Isolated from Fermented Products.

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are probiotic candidates that may restore the balance of microbiota populations in intestinal microbial ecosystems by controlling pathogens and thereby promoting host health. The goal of this study was to isolate potential probiotic LAB strains and characterize their antimicrobial abilities against pathogens in intestinal microbiota. Among 54 LAB strains isolated from fermented products, five LAB strains (NSMJ15, NSMJ16, NSMJ23, NSMJ42, and NFFJ04) were selected as potential probiotic candidates based on in vitro assays of acid and bile salt tolerance, cell surface hydrophobicity, adhesion to the intestinal epithelium, and antagonistic activity.

Current Scenario and Challenges in the Direct Identification of Microorganisms Using MALDI TOF MS.

MALDI TOF MS-based microbial identification significantly lowers the operational costs because of minimal requirements of substrates and reagents for extraction. Therefore, it has been widely used in varied applications such as clinical, food, military, and ecological research. However, the MALDI TOF MS method is laced with many challenges including its limitation of the reference spectrum.

Deep Learning-Based Prediction of Material Properties Using Chemical Compositions and Diffraction Patterns as Experimentally Accessible Inputs.

We report a deep learning (DL) model that predicts various material properties while accepting directly accessible inputs from routine experimental platforms: chemical compositions and diffraction data, which can be obtained from the X-ray or electron-beam diffraction and energy-dispersive spectroscopy, respectively. These heterogeneous forms of inputs are treated simultaneously in our DL model, where the novel chemical composition vector is proposed by developing element embedding with the normalized composition matrix. With 1524 binary samples available in the Materials Project database, the model predicts formation energies and band gaps with mean absolute errors of 0.

Accelerated mapping of electronic density of states patterns of metallic nanoparticles via machine-learning.

Within first-principles density functional theory (DFT) frameworks, it is challenging to predict the electronic structures of nanoparticles (NPs) accurately but fast. Herein, a machine-learning architecture is proposed to rapidly but reasonably predict electronic density of states (DOS) patterns of metallic NPs via a combination of principal component analysis (PCA) and the crystal graph convolutional neural network (CGCNN). With the PCA, a mathematically high-dimensional DOS image can be converted to a low-dimensional vector.

Electrochemically Modeling a Nonelectrochemical System: Hydrogen Peroxide Direct Synthesis on Palladium Catalysts.

Nonelectrochemical hydrogen peroxide direct synthesis (HPDS) under ambient conditions is an environmentally benign and energy-efficient process that produces a green oxidizer, yet the reaction mechanism of HPDS is still controversial. Inspired by the recently suggested heterolytic mechanism that involves electron and proton transfer at Pd catalysts, we propose a new electrochemical density functional theory (DFT) model that combines the Butler-Volmer equation and constant-potential DFT with hybrid explicit-implicit solvent treatment. Application of this model to Pd surfaces showed that the heterolytic mechanism has a lower barrier for the protonation steps for HO production than for the nonelectrochemical hydrogenation steps, leading to advantageous kinetics for HO production over HO production, while the conventionally accepted Langmuir-Hinshelwood mechanism fails to explain the experimental kinetics.

Atomistic Insights into HO Direct Synthesis of Ni-Pt Nanoparticle Catalysts under Water Solvents by Reactive Molecular Dynamics Simulations.

In computational catalysis, density-functional theory (DFT) calculations are usually utilized, although they suffer from high computational costs. Thus, it would be challenging to explicitly predict the catalytic properties of nanoparticles (NPs) at the nanoscale under solvents. Using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations with a reactive force field (ReaxFF), we investigated the catalytic performance of Ni-Pt NPs for the direct synthesis of hydrogen peroxide (HO), in which water solvents were explicitly considered along with the effects of the sizes (1.

sp. nov., a lactic acid bacterium isolated from animal feed.

A Gram-positive, facultative anaerobic, catalase-negative, non-motile, non-spore-forming and rod-shaped lactic acid bacterium strain, denoted as NFFJ11 and isolated from total mixed fermentation feed in the Republic of Korea, was characterized through polyphasic approaches, including sequence analyses of the 16S rRNA gene and housekeeping genes ( and ), determination of average nucleotide identity and DNA-DNA hybridization, fatty acid methyl ester analysis, and phenotypic characterization. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA, and gene sequences revealed that strain NFFJ11 belonged to the genus . The 16S rRNA gene sequence of strain NFFJ11 exhibited high similarity to S215 (99.

Complete Genome Sequence of Bisphenol A-Degrading Bacterium sp. Strain A3, Isolated from Contaminated Soil.

This study reports the complete genome sequence of bisphenol A-degrading bacterium sp. strain A3, which was isolated from a contaminated soil sample from the site of a factory fire in South Korea. The genome consists of a 6.

Effects of nanopatterned-surface dishes on chondrocyte growth and cell cycle progression.

Discovering and developing ideal cell culture methods is important for cell biology, drug development, and cell therapy. Recent studies have explored and demonstrated the use of nanoscale structures and patterns that influence cell behavior, such as 3D scaffolds. In this study, we analyzed the effects of nanopatterned-surface dishes using chondrocytes as model cells.

Complete Genome Sequence of Gordonia rubripertincta SD5, a Soil Bacterium Isolated from a Di-(2-Ethylhexyl) Phthalate-Degrading Enrichment Culture.

We report the complete genome sequence of SD5, isolated from a soil-derived di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate-degrading enrichment culture. The final genome assembly consists of a 5.10-Mbp chromosome and a plasmid (159 kbp).

Facile aqueous-phase synthesis of Ag-Cu-Pt-Pd quadrometallic nanoparticles.

Ag-Cu-Pt-Pd quadrometallic nanoparticles which small Pt and Pd nanoparticles were attached on the surface of AgCu Janus nanoparticles were firstly synthesized by sequential reduction of Pt and Pd precursor in the presence of Janus AgCu bimetallic nanoparticles as seeds in an aqueous solution. Even though there was a small amount of CuO on the surface, the synthesized nanoparticles were mainly composed of four independent metallic part, not alloy parts. By theoretical calculation and growth mechanism study, we found that different reducing rate between Ag and Cu and sequential reduction of Pt and Pd precursors would be key roles for the formation of the quadrometallic nanoparticles.

Complete Genome Sequence of Lactobacillus harbinensis Strain NSMJ42, Isolated from Makgeolli, a Traditional Korean Alcoholic Beverage.

In the present work, we report the complete genome sequence of NSMJ42, isolated from makgeolli (a Korean traditional alcoholic beverage) in South Korea. The final genome assembly consists of a 3.29-Mbp chromosome with 3,082 protein-coding sequences and a G+C content of 53.

Improved Description of a Coordinate Bond in the ReaxFF Reactive Force Field.

To improve the description of a coordinate bond of the reactive force field (ReaxFF), we have developed ReaxFF by explicitly incorporating the coordinate bond contribution, , into the original ReaxFF ( Chenoweth et al. 2008 , 112 , 1040 - 1053 ), in which the auxiliary functions are newly suggested to describe the plug-in behavior of lone-pair electrons from a donor atom to a vacant orbital of an acceptor atom. To validate the developed ReaxFF, we tested it in various systems, including a representative coordinate bond-containing molecule, namely, carbon monoxide or ammonia borane.

Reproducible hindlimb ischemia model based on photochemically induced thrombosis to evaluate angiogenic effects.

Critical limb ischemia is one of the most common types of peripheral arterial disease. Preclinical development of ischemia therapeutics relies on the availability of a relevant and reproducible in vivo disease model. Thus, establishing appropriate animal disease models is essential for the development of new therapeutic strategies.

Complete Genome Sequence of Leuconostoc kimchii Strain NKJ218, Isolated from Homemade Kimchi.

strain NKJ218 was isolated from homemade kimchi in South Korea. The whole genome was sequenced using the PacBio RS II and Illumina NovoSeq 6000 platforms. Here, we report a genome sequence of strain NKJ218, which consists of a 1.

Rapid-Response and Highly Sensitive Boronate Derivative-Based Fluorescence Probe for Detecting HO in Living Cells.

Intracellular HO monitoring is important and has driven researchers to pursue advancements for the rapid identification of HO, since HO is short-lived in cell lines. An arylboronate derivative has been investigated as a chemospecific fluorescence recognition agent for HO. Triphenylimidazoleoxadiazolephenyl (TPIOP) boronate was contrived as a novel candidate for the rapid and sensitive recognition of HO.

Metabolic Labeling of Live Stem Cell for In Vitro Imaging and In Vivo Tracking.

Stem cell therapy offers promising solutions to diseases and injuries that traditional medicines and therapies can't effectively cure. To get and explain their full therapeutic potentials, the survival, viability, integration, homing, and differentiation of stem cells after transplant must be clearly understood. To meet these urgent needs, noninvasive stem cell imaging and tracking technologies have been developed.