Synthesis and In Situ Thermal Induction of β-Sheet Nanocrystals in Spider Silk-Inspired Copolypeptides.

Spider silk, known for its exceptional tensile strength, extensibility, and toughness, continues to inspire advancements in polymer and materials science. Despite extensive research, synthesizing materials that encompass all these properties remains a significant challenge. This study addresses this challenge by developing high molecular-weight multiblock synthetic copolypeptides that mimic the hierarchical structure and mechanical properties of spider silk.

Remanufacturing and channel strategies in e-commerce closed-loop supply chain.

This paper studies the recycling and remanufacturing mode and sales channel issues in the closed-loop supply chain. Specifically, this study establishes an e-commerce closed-loop supply chain consisting of a manufacturer and an e-commerce platform, and divides the recycling model into recycling by the manufacturer or recycling by the platform. Considering two common sales models in e-commerce platforms: the resale model and agency model, combined with the recycling model, four different research scenarios are formed.

Tailoring Synthetic Polypeptide Design for Directed Fibril Superstructure Formation and Enhanced Hydrogel Properties.

The biological significance of self-assembled protein filament networks and their unique mechanical properties have sparked interest in the development of synthetic filament networks that mimic these attributes. Building on the recent advancement of autoaccelerated ring-opening polymerization of amino acid N-carboxyanhydrides (NCAs), this study strategically explores a series of random copolymers comprising multiple amino acids, aiming to elucidate the core principles governing gelation pathways of these purpose-designed copolypeptides. Utilizing glutamate (Glu) as the primary component of copolypeptides, two targeted pathways were pursued: first, achieving a fast fibrillation rate with lower interaction potential using serine (Ser) as a comonomer, facilitating the creation of homogeneous fibril networks; and second, creating more rigid networks of fibril clusters by incorporating alanine (Ala) and valine (Val) as comonomers.

Triplet Homoleptic Iridium(III) Complex as a Potential Donor Material for Organic Solar Cells.

Triplet photovoltaic materials have been rarely investigated in organic solar cells (OSCs) because the role and mechanism of triplet excitons are still unclear. Cyclometalated heavy metal complexes with triplet features are expected to increase exciton diffusion lengths and improve exciton dissociation in OSCs, while the power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of their bulk-heterojunction (BHJ) OSCs are still limited to <4%. We herein report an octahedral homoleptic tris-Ir(III) complex TBz3Ir as a donor material for BHJ OSCs with a PCE of over 11%.

Does Environmental Education Always Contribute to Remanufacturing Supply Chain Development?

Remanufacturing, as an effective way to save resources and alleviate environmental pollution, has gradually become a sustainable practice. Environmental education contributes to the development of remanufacturing by increasing the number of consumers willing to purchase remanufactured products (RPs). However, the incumbent manufacturer usually has limited remanufacturing capability together with yield uncertainty, making a third-party remanufacturer (3PR) an alternate channel choice.

High Performance and Self-Humidifying of Novel Cross-Linked and Nanocomposite Proton Exchange Membranes Based on Sulfonated Polysulfone.

The introduction of inorganic additive or nanoparticles into fluorine-free proton exchange membranes (PEMs) can improve proton conductivity and have considerable effects on the performance of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells. Based on the sol-gel method and in situ polycondensation, novel cross-linked PEM and nanocomposite PEMs based on a sulfonated polysulfone (SPSU) matrix were prepared by introducing graphene oxide (GO) polymeric brushes and incorporating Pt-TiO nanoparticles into an SPSU matrix, respectively. The results showed that the incorporation of Pt-TiO nanoparticles could obviously enhance self-humidifying and thermal stability.

High-normal blood pressure (prehypertension) is associated with PM exposure in young adults.

We aimed to examine PM exposure, blood pressure (SBP and DBP) measurement, and hypertension risk factors and to assess the association between PM exposure and hypertension among young adults. The mean SBP was 117.78 mmHg, with 11.

Modeling and Designing Particle-Regulated Amyloid-like Assembly of Synthetic Polypeptides in Aqueous Solution.

In cells, actin and tubulin polymerization is regulated by nucleation factors, which promote the nucleation and subsequent growth of protein filaments in a controlled manner. Mimicking this natural mechanism to control the supramolecular polymerization of macromolecular monomers by artificially created nucleation factors remains a largely unmet challenge. Biological nucleation factors act as molecular scaffolds to boost the local concentrations of protein monomers and facilitate the required conformational changes to accelerate the nucleation and subsequent polymerization.

[Status quo of and challenges for research on rust disease in medicinal plants].

Medicinal plants are beneficial to human health. However,most of the major producing regions of medicinal plants suffer from rust disease,which threatens the yield and quality of Chinese medicinal materials,thus causes huge economic loss,and hinders the sustainable development of the Chinese medicine industry. By the end of 2020,rust disease had been reported in medicinal plants of 76 species and 33 families.

Cyclometalated Ir(III) complexes as potential electron acceptors for organic solar cells.

Cyclometalated iridium(iii) complexes have been investigated as promising electron donor (D) materials in organic solar cells (OSCs) due to their unique octahedral configuration for optimized morphology and their significantly long lifetimes potentially for enhanced exciton dissociation. However, the application as electron acceptor (A) materials has never been reported. In order to fill this blank, herein, two cyclometalated heteroleptic Ir complexes, TRIr and 2TRIr, based on electron donating-accepting type organic ligands with different π-conjugation lengths are reported as electron acceptor materials in comparison with their corresponding main organic ligands.

Identifying Regimens Containing TBI-166, a New Drug Candidate against and .

TBI-166, derived from riminophenazine analogues, is under development in a phase I clinical trial in China. TBI-166 showed more potent anti-tuberculosis (anti-TB) activity than did clofazimine in and animal experiments. To identify potent regimens containing TBI-166 in TB chemotherapy, TBI-166 was assessed for pharmacological interactions and with several anti-TB drugs, including isoniazid (INH), rifampin (RFP), bedaquiline (BDQ), pretomanid (PMD), linezolid (LZD), and pyrazinamide (PZA).

A graphene oxide polymer brush based cross-linked nanocomposite proton exchange membrane for direct methanol fuel cells.

Functional polymer brush modified graphene oxide (FPGO) with functional linear polysiloxane brushes was synthesized surface precipitation polymerization (sol-gel) and chemical modification. Then, FPGO was covalently cross-linked to the sulfonated polysulfone (SPSU) matrix to obtain novel SPSU/FPGO cross-linked nanocomposite membranes. Meanwhile, SPSU/GO composite membranes and a pristine SPSU membrane were fabricated as control groups.

[Species, Damage and Community Structure of Weeds in Scrophularia ningpoensis Fields in Nanchuan, Chongqing].

Objective: To investigate the damage and community structure of weeds in Scrophularia ningpoensis fields in Nanchuan, Chongqing.

Methods: From 2013 to 2014, an investigation was carried out by inverted W-9 point sampling method to study the weed species.

Results: 96 weed species belonged to 75 genera of 30 families were observed, including 18 species of Asteraceae weeds (accounted for 18.