A new strong convective precipitation forecasting method based on attention mechanism and spatio-temporal reasoning.

Radar observation variables reflect the precipitation amount of strong convective precipitation processes, which accurate forecast is an important difficulty in weather forecasting. Current forecasting methods are mostly based on radar echo extrapolation, which has the insufficiency of input information and the ineffectiveness of model architecture. This paper presents a Bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory forecasting method for strong convective precipitation based on the attention mechanism and residual neural network (ResNet-Attention-BiLSTM).

Membrane nanotubes transform into double-membrane sheets at condensate droplets.

Cellular membranes exhibit a multitude of highly curved morphologies such as buds, nanotubes, cisterna-like sheets defining the outlines of organelles. Here, we mimic cell compartmentation using an aqueous two-phase system of dextran and poly(ethylene glycol) encapsulated in giant vesicles. Upon osmotic deflation, the vesicle membrane forms nanotubes, which undergo surprising morphological transformations at the liquid-liquid interfaces inside the vesicles.

An improved technology for monitoring groundwater flow velocity and direction in fractured rock system based on colloidal particles motion.

The colloidal borescope, using colloidal particle motion, is used to monitor the flow velocities and directions of groundwater. It integrates advanced techniques such as microscopy, high-speed photography, and big data computing and enjoys high sensitivity at the micron level. However, In the same well, the groundwater flow velocity monitored by colloidal hole mirror is varies greatly from that obtained by conventional hydrogeological monitoring, such as pumping test.

Biomolecular condensates modulate membrane lipid packing and hydration.

Membrane wetting by biomolecular condensates recently emerged as a key phenomenon in cell biology, playing an important role in a diverse range of processes across different organisms. However, an understanding of the molecular mechanisms behind condensate formation and interaction with lipid membranes is still missing. To study this, we exploited the properties of the dyes ACDAN and LAURDAN as nano-environmental sensors in combination with phasor analysis of hyperspectral and lifetime imaging microscopy.

Adaptive Optimal Control of Hybrid Electric Vehicle Power Battery via Policy Learning.

An online policy learning algorithm is used to solve the optimal control problem of the power battery state of charge (SOC) observer for the first time. The design of adaptive neural network (NN) optimal control is studied for the nonlinear power battery system based on a second-order (RC) equivalent circuit model. First, the unknown uncertainties of the system are approximated by NN, and a time-varying gain nonlinear state observer is designed to address the problem that the resistance capacitance voltage and SOC of the battery cannot be measured.

Wetting and complex remodeling of membranes by biomolecular condensates.

Cells compartmentalize parts of their interiors into liquid-like condensates, which can be reconstituted in vitro. Although these condensates interact with membrane-bound organelles, their potential for membrane remodeling and the underlying mechanisms of such interactions are not well-understood. Here, we demonstrate that interactions between protein condensates - including hollow ones, and membranes can lead to remarkable morphological transformations and provide a theoretical framework to describe them.

Evaluating spatial accessibility of cultural urban land use by using improved 2SFCA method in Xi'an, China.

With rapid urbanization, contradictions between rapid economic development and a lack of spiritual culture become increasingly complicated. Accessibility is a useful spatial quantitative index to evaluate the spiritual and cultural construction of the city. Amongst various accessibility methods, the two-step floating catchment area (2SFCA) method is suitable for evaluating cultural urban land use (CULU) based on its advantage of flexibility and rationality.

First clinical isolation report of from Chinese giant salamander.

, a newly virulent zoonotic pathogen belonging to the genus is the causative organism of emerging intra-abdominal infection, acute skin ulceration, rotten limbs and ascites in humans and animals The global spread of entails severe economic impact. However, it was rarely reported as a cause of infection and no reports were found that isolated from clinical samples. The isolate was identified as a strain by 16S rDNA amplification and DNA sequencing identification method.

Increased efficiency of charge-mediated fusion in polymer/lipid hybrid membranes.

Due to their augmented properties, biomimetic polymer/lipid hybrid compartments are a promising substitute for natural liposomes in multiple applications, but the protein-free fusion of those semisynthetic membranes is unexplored to date. Here, we study the charge-mediated fusion of hybrid vesicles composed of poly(dimethylsiloxane)-graft-poly(ethylene oxide) and different lipids and analyze the process by size distribution and the mixing of membrane species at μm and nano scales. Remarkably, the membrane mixing of oppositely charged hybrids surpasses by far the degree in liposomes, which we correlate with properties like membrane disorder, rigidity, and ability of amphiphiles for flip-flop.

Modeling and Off-Design Performance Analysis of a Screw Expander-Based Steam Pressure Energy Recovery System in a Combined Heat and Power Unit.

A screw expander-based heating system is proposed based on a 330 MW combined heat and power unit to recover the extraction steam pressure energy. EBSILON Professional software was applied to model the proposed system, and the thermal performance of the traditional system and the new system was compared under different operating conditions. The results show that under the designed heating condition, the standard coal consumption rate of the new system is reduced by 4.

Fusion-Induced Growth of Biomimetic Polymersomes: Behavior of Poly(dimethylsiloxane)-Poly(ethylene oxide) Vesicles in Saline Solutions Under High Agitation.

Giant unilamellar vesicles serve as membrane models and primitive mockups of natural cells. With respect to the latter use, amphiphilic polymers can be used to replace phospholipids in order to introduce certain favorable properties, ultimately allowing for the creation of truly synthetic cells. These new properties also enable the employment of new preparation procedures that are incompatible with the natural amphiphiles.

Super-Resolution Imaging of Highly Curved Membrane Structures in Giant Vesicles Encapsulating Molecular Condensates.

Molecular crowding is an inherent feature of cell interiors. Synthetic cells as provided by giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) encapsulating macromolecules (poly(ethylene glycol) and dextran) represent an excellent mimetic system to study membrane transformations associated with molecular crowding and protein condensation. Similarly to cells, such GUVs exhibit highly curved structures like nanotubes.

En route to dynamic life processes by SNARE-mediated fusion of polymer and hybrid membranes.

A variety of artificial cells springs from the functionalization of liposomes with proteins. However, these models suffer from low durability without repair and replenishment mechanisms, which can be partly addressed by replacing the lipids with polymers. Yet natural membranes are also dynamically remodeled in multiple cellular processes.

Resolving the Mechanisms of Soy Glycinin Self-Coacervation and Hollow-Condensate Formation.

Self-coacervation of animal-derived proteins has been extensively investigated while that of plant proteins remains largely unexplored. Here, we study the process of soy glycinin self-coacervation and transformation into hollow condensates. The protein hexameric structure composed of hydrophilic and hydrophobic polypeptides is crucial for coacervation.

Constructing artificial respiratory chain in polymer compartments: Insights into the interplay between oxidase and the membrane.

Cytochrome ubiquinol oxidase is a transmembrane protein, which oxidizes ubiquinone and reduces oxygen, while pumping protons. Apart from its combination with FF-ATPase to assemble a minimal ATP regeneration module, the utility of the proton pump can be extended to other applications in the context of synthetic cells such as transport, signaling, and control of enzymatic reactions. In parallel, polymers have been speculated to be phospholipid mimics with respect to their ability to self-assemble in compartments with increased stability.

Mechanical Tension of Biomembranes Can Be Measured by Super Resolution (STED) Microscopy of Force-Induced Nanotubes.

Membrane tension modulates the morphology of plasma-membrane tubular protrusions in cells but is difficult to measure. Here, we propose to use microscopy imaging to assess the membrane tension. We report direct measurement of membrane nanotube diameters with unprecedented resolution using stimulated emission depletion (STED) microscopy.

Controlled division of cell-sized vesicles by low densities of membrane-bound proteins.

The proliferation of life on earth is based on the ability of single cells to divide into two daughter cells. During cell division, the plasma membrane undergoes a series of morphological transformations which ultimately lead to membrane fission. Here, we show that analogous remodeling processes can be induced by low densities of proteins bound to the membranes of cell-sized lipid vesicles.

Nanoparticle Loading Induced Morphological Transitions and Size Fractionation of Coassemblies from PS-b-PAA with Quantum Dots.

Inorganic nanoparticles play a very important role in the fabrication and regulation of desirable hybrid structures with block copolymers. In this study, polystyrene-b-poly(acrylic acid) (PS48-b-PAA67) and oleic acid-capped CdSe/CdS core/shell quantum dots (QDs) are coassembled in tetrahydrofuran (THF) through gradual water addition. QDs are incorporated into the hydrophilic PAA blocks because of the strong coordination between PAA blocks and the surface of QDs.

Molar mass fractionation in aqueous two-phase polymer solutions of dextran and poly(ethylene glycol).

Dextran and poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) in phase separated aqueous two-phase systems (ATPSs) of these two polymers, with a broad molar mass distribution for dextran and a narrow molar mass distribution for PEG, were separated and quantified by gel permeation chromatography (GPC). Tie lines constructed by GPC method are in excellent agreement with those established by the previously reported approach based on density measurements of the phases. The fractionation of dextran during phase separation of ATPS leads to the redistribution of dextran of different chain lengths between the two phases.

Angiotensin-converting enzyme insertion/deletion gene polymorphisms associated with risk of atrial fibrillation: A meta-analysis of 23 case-control studies.

Aims: The renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system is important to the development of atrial fibrillation (AF). A lot of research has focused on the relationship between angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) insertion (I) /deletion (D) gene polymorphisms and AF, with inconsistent results. A meta-analysis was carried out to find the correlation between ACE I/D gene polymorphisms and AF.

Biodegradable polymer microcapsules fabrication through a template-free approach.

A detailed study on the direct synthesis of biocompatible polyesters (e.g., PLA, PLGA or PCL) microcapsules and multifunctional microcapsules, which does not require any template and core removal, is presented.

A general synthesis of high-quality inorganic nanocrystals via a two-phase method.

A two-phase method is exploited to prepare many kinds of nearly monodisperse, highly crystalline, size- and shape-controlled, surface-property-tunable inorganic nanocrystals, such as metal, semiconducting, magnetic, dielectric, and rare earth nanocrystals. The reaction of the two-phase system happens at the interface between the oil (nonpolar) and water (polar) phases and the interface is an exclusive site for both nucleation and growth. Interestingly, many solvent pairs with a clear interface can be applied to synthesize inorganic nanocrystals successfully.