Pyrolysis Characteristics of Jet Coal and Oxidation of Residues in Zhundong Coalfield Fires.

Coalfield fire area reburning is one of the serious disasters in fire prevention and safety production. In this study, a synchronous thermal analyzer was used to conduct isothermal pyrolysis of jet coal at different temperatures, and the reaction characteristic parameters of different pyrolysis residual structures were analyzed. FTIR was used to measure group contents in raw coal and different pyrolysis residues.

Disability trajectories prior to death for ten leading causes of death among middle-aged and older adults in Taiwan.

Background: Prolonged life expectancy is associated with increased prevalence of chronic diseases. The aim of this study was to determine the different disability trajectories for the top ten leading causes of death in Taiwan .

Methods: A total of 2,431 participants aged 50-96 in 1996 from the Taiwan longitudinal study on aging (TLSA) who died from 1996 to 2016 were analyzed.

The evaluation of zebrafish cardiovascular and behavioral functions through microfluidics.

This study proposed a new experimental approach for the vascular and phenotype evaluation of the non-anesthetized zebrafish with representative imaging orientations for heart, pectoral fin beating, and vasculature views by means of the designed microfluidic device through inducing the optomotor response and hydrodynamic pressure control. In order to provide the visual cues for better positioning of zebrafish, computer-animated moving grids were generated by an in-house control interface which was powered by the larval optomotor response, in conjunction with the pressure suction control. The presented platform provided a comprehensive evaluation of internal circulation and the linked external behaviors of zebrafish in response to the cardiovascular parameter changes.

Automated Radiology Alert System for Pneumothorax Detection on Chest Radiographs Improves Efficiency and Diagnostic Performance.

We aimed to set up an Automated Radiology Alert System (ARAS) for the detection of pneumothorax in chest radiographs by a deep learning model, and to compare its efficiency and diagnostic performance with the existing Manual Radiology Alert System (MRAS) at the tertiary medical center. This study retrospectively collected 1235 chest radiographs with pneumothorax labeling from 2013 to 2019, and 337 chest radiographs with negative findings in 2019 were separated into training and validation datasets for the deep learning model of ARAS. The efficiency before and after using the model was compared in terms of alert time and report time.

Mechanical Properties and Tribological Behavior of MoS-Enhanced Cellulose-Based Biocomposites for Food Packaging.

Synthetic polymers are the most commonly used polymers in daily life. Therefore, it is necessary to develop environmentally friendly polymers. Hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) is a potential candidate for a biopolymer, owing to its unique properties.

Portable rotating grating stimulation for anisometropic amblyopia with 6 months training.

Treatment of grating stimulation has been used in amblyopia for decades, but high dropout rate and inconvenience for daily practice occur in previous studies. We developed a home-based portable system with rotating grating stimulation on a tablet. Thirty anisometropic amblyopic children were randomly allocated into the control or Grating group.

Cationic Cellulose Nanocrystals-Based Nanocomposite Hydrogels: Achieving 3D Printable Capacitive Sensors with High Transparency and Mechanical Strength.

Hydrogel ionotronics are intriguing soft materials that have been applied in wearable electronics and artificial muscles. These applications often require the hydrogels to be tough, transparent, and 3D printable. Renewable materials like cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) with tunable surface chemistry provide a means to prepare tough nanocomposite hydrogels.

Thermodynamic and Kinetic Characteristics of Combustion of Discrete Polymethyl Methacrylate Plates with Different Spacings in Concave Building Facades.

Polymethyl methacrylate plates are widely applied to buildings, producing significant fire hazards. It lacks a theoretical basis for the fire risk assessment of polymethyl methacrylate in concave building facades. Therefore, experimental methods are used to investigate combustion characteristics of discrete polymethyl methacrylate plates in a concave building facade.

In-Situ Investigation on Nanoscopic Biomechanics of at Low pH Citric Acid Environments Using an AFM Fluid Cell.

() is widely regarded as the main cause of human dental caries via three main virulence factors: adhesion, acidogenicity, and aciduricity. Citric acid is one of the antibiotic agents that can inhibit the virulence capabilities of . A full understanding of the acidic resistance mechanisms (ARMs) causing bacteria to thrive in citrate transport is still elusive.

The HLTF-PARP1 interaction in the progression and stability of damaged replication forks caused by methyl methanesulfonate.

Human HLTF participates in the lesion-bypass mechanism through the fork reversal structure, known as template switching of post-replication repair. However, the mechanism by which HLTF promotes the replication progression and fork stability of damaged forks remains unclear. Here, we identify a novel protein-protein interaction between HLTF and PARP1.

Effects of Overlap Length on Flammability and Fire Hazard of Vertical Polymethyl Methacrylate (PMMA) Plate Array.

Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) plates are widely used in buildings or factories for natural lighting. Commonly PMMA plates are installed as a discrete array. However, PMMA plates are very susceptible to fire.

Experimental Study on Flammability and Flame Spread Characteristics of Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) Cable.

Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is widely applied in cables as insulation materials, which are vital for operation and control of industrial processes. However, PVC cables fires frequently occur, arousing public concern. Therefore, experimental methods are used to study flammability and flame-spread characteristics of PVC cable in this paper.

Volatile Gas Sensing through Terahertz Pipe Waveguide.

Gas sensing to recognize volatile liquids is successfully conducted through pipe-guided terahertz (THz) radiation in a reflective and label-free manner. The hollow core of a pipe waveguide can efficiently deliver the sensing probe of the THz confined waveguide fields to any place where dangerous vapors exist. Target vapors that naturally diffuse from a sample site into the pipe core can be detected based on strong interaction between the probe and analyte.

Tunable Optical Property of Plasmonic-Polymer Nanocomposites Composed of Multilayer Nanocrystal Arrays Stacked in a Homogeneous Polymer Matrix.

Layer-by-layer (LbL) synthetic technique has been used to deposit multilayers composed of a wide range of materials including polymers, colloidal particles, and biomolecules. A more complex organization of nanocomponents-within layers (intralayer) and across layers (interlayer)-beyond simple deposition is required for manufacturing next-generation materials and devices. Recently, LbL was used to fabricate multilayer stacked polymer-nanocrystal nanocomposites composed of a stacking sequence of two immiscible polymer thin films.

One-Step Hot Microembossing for Fabrication of Paper-Based Microfluidic Chips in 10 Seconds.

In recent years, microfluidic paper-based analytical devices (µPADs) have been developed because they are simple, inexpensive and power-free for low-cost chemical, biological and environmental detection. Moreover, paper is lightweight; easy to stack, store and transport; biodegradable; biocompatible; good for colorimetric tests; flammable for easy disposal of used paper-based diagnostic devices by incineration; and can be chemically modified. Different methods have been demonstrated to fabricate µPADs such as solid wax printing, craft cutting, photolithography, etc.

Edible additive effects on zebrafish cardiovascular functionality with hydrodynamic assessment.

Food coloring is often used as a coloring agent in foods, medicines and cosmetics, and it was reported to have certain carcinogenic and mutagenic effects in living organisms. Investigation of physiological parameters using zebrafish is a promising methodology to understand disease biology and drug toxicity for various drug discovery on humans. Zebrafish (Danio rerio) is a well-acknowledged model organism with combining assets such as body transparency, small size, low cost of cultivation, and high genetic homology with humans and is used as a specimen tool for the in-vivo throughput screening approach.

Evaluating nitrite oxidizing organism survival under different nitrite concentrations.

The objective of this study is to explore the optimal pre-treatment procedures and statistics methods for live/dead bacterial staining using nitrite oxidizing organism (NOO) as the research aim. This staining method was developed and widely utilized to evaluate activated bacterial survival situation, because it is direct and convenience to count live and dead bacteria amount by colour distinguishes (green/red) from pictures taken by microscope. The living cell (green colour) percentage and initial bacterial chemical oxygen demand (COD) could be used for accurate reaction rate calculation at the beginning of tests.

Ester-mediated peptide formation promoted by deep eutectic solvents: a facile pathway to proto-peptides.

The ester-amide exchange reaction enables spontaneous formation of prebiotic proto-peptides under mild conditions. However, this reaction also leads to oligomers with a vast sequence diversity of ester and amide linkages. Here, we demonstrate using deep eutectic solvents as a universal strategy to regulate the reaction pathways and promote the formation of amino acid-enriched oligomers with peptide backbones.

Highly conductive nanometer-thick gold films grown on molybdenum disulfide surfaces for interconnect applications.

Thin gold (Au) films (10 nm) are deposited on different substrates by using a e-beam deposition system. Compared with sapphire and SiO surfaces, longer migration length of the Au adatoms is observed on MoS surfaces, which helps in the formation of a single-crystal Au film on the MoS surface at 200 °C. The results have demonstrated that with the assistance of van der Waals epitaxy growth mode, single-crystal 3D metals can be grown on 2D material surfaces.

Peptide Fibrillar Assemblies Exhibit Membranolytic Effects and Antimetastatic Activity on Lung Cancer Cells.

Cancer metastasis is a central oncology concern that worsens patient conditions and increases mortality in a short period of time. During metastatic events, mitochondria undergo specific physiological alterations that have emerged as notable therapeutic targets to counter cancer progression. In this study, we use drug-free, cationic peptide fibrillar assemblies (PFAs) formed by poly(L-Lysine)--poly(L-Threonine) (Lys--Thr) to target mitochondria.

Enhancement of Hippocampal Spatial Decoding Using a Dynamic Q-Learning Method With a Relative Reward Using Theta Phase Precession.

Hippocampal place cells and interneurons in mammals have stable place fields and theta phase precession profiles that encode spatial environmental information. Hippocampal CA1 neurons can represent the animal's location and prospective information about the goal location. Reinforcement learning (RL) algorithms such as Q-learning have been used to build the navigation models.

Deposition of NiO Nanoparticles on Nanosized Zeolite NaY for Production of Biofuel via Hydrogen-Free Deoxygenation.

Nickel-based catalysts play an important role in the hydrogen-free deoxygenation for the production of biofuel. The yield and quality of the biofuel are critically affected by the physicochemical properties of NiO supported on nanosized zeolite Y (Y65, crystal size of 65 nm). Therefore, 10 wt% NiO supported on Y65 synthesized by using impregnation (IM) and deposition-precipitation (DP) methods were investigated.

Cloning and promoter analysis of palladin 90-kDa, 140-kDa, and 200-kDa isoforms involved in skeletal muscle cell maturation.

Objective: Palladin is a ubiquitous phosphoprotein expressed in vertebrate cells that works as a scaffolding protein. Several isoforms deriving from alternative splicing are originated from the palladin gene and involved in mesenchymal and muscle cells formation, maturation, migration, and contraction. Recent studies have linked palladin to the invasive spread of cancer and myogenesis.

Explosive Fibonacci-sequence growth into unusual sector-face morphology in poly(L-lactic acid) crystallized with polymeric diluents.

Lamellar assembly in unusual sector-face PLLA spherulites from crystallization of poly(L-lactic acid) (PLLA) diluted with amorphous poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA). The growth and morphology of the crystalline structures is studied using polarized optical microscopy (POM), atomic-force and scanning electron microscopies (AFM, SEM). Crystals are also analyzed using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS).