Impact of the aqueous corrosion induced alteration layer on mechanical properties of pharmaceutical glasses.

It is known that network modifying ions (such as alkali or alkaline earth ions) make glasses susceptible to aqueous corrosion, resulting in the alteration of their surface layers. However, the effect of the altered layers on the mechanical properties of glasses has not been well understood. In this work we study this effect using the pharmaceutical boroaluminosilicate (BAS) glasses as objects by performing nano- and macroscale mechanical tests. The results show that extending the corrosion time increases the thickness of the alteration layer of the BAS glass. The water-related species in the alteration layer lowers the nanohardness, the reduced modulus, the nanowear resistance and Vickers hardness. The corrosion-induced “silica-like” structure in alteration layer benefits the densification of the subsurface caused by nanoindentation and nanowear, and thereby enhances the fracture toughness of the BAS glass. The correlation between the water content in the alteration layer and the mechanical properties has been revealed. This work is instrumental in the design of the next generation of pharmaceutical glasses with higher toughness

Self-similarity-based super-resolution of photoacoustic angiography from hand-drawn doodles

Deep-learning-based super-resolution photoacoustic angiography (PAA) is a powerful tool that restores blood vessel images from under-sampled images to facilitate disease diagnosis. Nonetheless, due to the scarcity of training samples, PAA super-resolution models often exhibit inadequate generalization capabilities, particularly in the context of continuous monitoring tasks. To address this challenge, we propose a novel approach that employs a super-resolution PAA method trained with forged PAA images. We start by generating realistic PAA images of human lips from hand-drawn curves using a diffusion-based image generation model. Subsequently, we train a self-similarity-based super-resolution model with these forged PAA images. Experimental results show that our method outperforms the super-resolution model trained with authentic PAA images in both original-domain and cross-domain tests. Specially, our approach boosts the quality of super-resolution reconstruction using the images forged by the deep learning model, indicating that the collaboration between deep learning models can facilitate generalization, despite limited initial dataset. This approach shows promising potential for exploring zero-shot learning neural networks for vision tasks.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, journa

Advancing Attack-Resilient Scheduling of Integrated Energy Systems with Demand Response via Deep Reinforcement Learning

Optimally scheduling multi-energy flow is an effective method to utilize renewable energy sources (RES) and improve the stability and economy of integrated energy systems (IES). However, the stable demand-supply of IES faces challenges from uncertainties that arise from RES and loads, as well as the increasing impact of cyber-attacks with advanced information and communication technologies adoption. To address these challenges, this paper proposes an innovative model-free resilience scheduling method based on state-adversarial deep reinforcement learning (DRL) for integrated demand response (IDR)-enabled IES. The proposed method designs an IDR program to explore the interaction ability of electricity-gas-heat flexible loads. Additionally, a state-adversarial Markov decision process (SA-MDP) model characterizes the energy scheduling problem of IES under cyber-attack. The state-adversarial soft actor-critic (SA-SAC) algorithm is proposed to mitigate the impact of cyber-attacks on the scheduling strategy. Simulation results demonstrate that our method is capable of adequately addressing the uncertainties resulting from RES and loads, mitigating the impact of cyber-attacks on the scheduling strategy, and ensuring a stable demand supply for various energy sources. Moreover, the proposed method demonstrates resilience against cyber-attacks. Compared to the original soft actor-critic (SAC) algorithm, it achieves a 10\% improvement in economic performance under cyber-attack scenarios

Surface decoration of multi-walled carbon nanotubes modified carbon paste electrode with CuO nanoparticles for electrocatalytic oxidation of nitrite

625-632In this paper, CuO nanoparticles have been electrodeposited onto the film of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) modified carbon paste electrode (MWCPE), which fabricated a sensitive nano-copper oxide coated multi-walled carbon nanotubes modified carbon paste electrode (CuOnano/MWCPE) to detect nitrite. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) image have indicated that copper oxide nanoparticles desposited on MWCPE are homogeneous. The CuOnano/MWCPE has been used to detect nitrite by square wave voltammetry and cyclic voltammetry techniques. The sensor has exhibited outstanding performance for the electrocatalysis of nitrite. Electrocatalytic oxidation of nitrite at the surface of CuOnano/MWCPE has been remarkably improved compared to the unmodified CPE and the MWCPE. Under optimum conditions, the oxidation current is linear with the concentration of nitrite ion in the range of 5 μM – 1000 μM. The detection limit has evaluated to be 1.25 μM (S/N = 3). The sensor has been successfully used to determine nitrite in water samples with excellent recoveries

АНАЛИЗ СЕЙСМИЧНОСТИ В РАЙОНЕ ВОДОХРАНИЛИЩА ЗИПИНГПУ ПЕРЕД ВЕНЧУАНЬСКИМ ЗЕМЛЕТРЯСЕНИЕМ (MS 8.0)

The 2008 Wenchuan MS8.0 earthquake occurred on Longmenshan fault zone (LMSF), which is at the eastern margin of the Tibetan plateau. The epicenter is near the Shuimogou earthquake swarm, which was thought to be triggered by the Zipingpu reservoir after its impounding in 2004. People have speculated that the large earthquake was triggered by the water filling of the reservoir. To figure out the role of the Zipingpu reservoir on the earthquake, the local seismicity recorded by the Zipingpu local seismic network during the period from 31 July 2004 to 11 May 2008 were analyzed in detail. The distribution of hypocenters showed that most earthquakes occurred on Yingxiu-Beichuan fault (YBF) in the reservoir area with hypocenters depth less than 10 km, which is a major source fault of the Wenchuan earthquake. Useful information on fault geometry in the depth was also obtained. The spatial-temporal distribution of hypocenters demonstrated clear migration pattern that indicated pore-pressure diffusion, it also showed a hydraulic diffusivity (D) of 0.7 m2/s. Previous experiments show the existence of the synergism process of the fault under a meta-instability state before fault sliding. It enhances the stress on the stronger portion of the fault and the synergism degree by reducing strength of the weak portions and by increasing the total length of weak portions. According to this view, the pore pressure diffusion by water filling of Zipingpu reservoir increased the total length of weak portions and enhanced the stress at the focal.Венчуаньское землетрясение (MS 8.0) произошло в 2008 г. в разломной зоне Лонгменшан, расположенной на восточной окраине Тибетского плато. Его эпицентр находился рядом с роем землетрясений Шуимогу, возникновение которых связывают с влиянием водохранилища Зипингпу после его заполнения в 2004 г. Считалось, что главной причиной сильного землетрясения было заполнение водохранилища водой. Для выяснения роли водохранилища Зипингпу в инициировании Венчуаньского землетрясения был проведен детальный анализ данных, накопленных местной сетью сейсмических наблюдений в районе Зипингпу в период с 31 июля 2004 г. по 11 мая 2008 г. Судя по распределению гипоцентров, большинство землетрясений произошли на разломе Инксю-Бейчуан в районе водохранилища, при этом глубина гипоцентров не превышала 10 км, и это основной разлом, инициировавший Венчуаньское землетрясение. Кроме того, были получены полезные данные по глубинной геометрии разлома. По пространственно-временному распределению гипоцентров установлен характер миграции с рассеиванием порового давления, а также определен коэффициент гидравлической диффузии (D=0.7 м2/с). По результатам предыдущих экспериментов установлено наличие синергетического процесса на изучаемом разломе в метастабильном состоянии перед смещением по разлому, что привело к усилению напряжений на прочном участке разлома и синергии при уменьшении прочности ослабленных участков, а также увеличении общей протяженности ослабленных участков разлома. По нашему мнению, рассеивание порового давления при заполнении водой водохранилища Зипингпу привело к увеличению общей длины ослабленных участков разлома и увеличению напряжений в очаговой зоне. 

Sculpting the maturation, softening and ethylene pathway: The influences of microRNAs on tomato fruits

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>MicroRNAs (miRNAs), a ubiquitous class of short RNAs, play vital roles in physiological and biochemical processes in plants by mediating gene silencing at post-transcriptional (PTGS) level. Tomato is a model system to study molecular basis of fleshy fruit ripening and senescence, ethylene biosynthesis and signal transduction owing to its genetic and molecular tractability. To study the functions of miRNAs in tomato fruit ripening and senescence, and their possible roles in ethylene response, the next generation sequencing method was employed to identify miRNAs in tomato fruit. Bioinformatics and molecular biology approaches were combined to profile the miRNAs expression patterns at three different fruit ripening stages and by exogenous ethylene treatment.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In addition to 7 novel miRNA families, 103 conserved miRNAs belonging to 24 families and 10 non-conserved miRNAs matching 9 families were identified in our libraries. The targets of many these miRNAs were predicted to be transcriptional factors. Other targets are known to play roles in the regulation of metabolic processes. Interestingly, some targets were predicted to be involved in fruit ripening and softening, such as Pectate Lyase, beta-galactosidase, while a few others were predicted to be involved in ethylene biosynthesis and signaling pathway, such as ACS, EIN2 and CTR1. The expression patterns of a number of such miRNAs at three ripening stages were confirmed by stem-loop RT-PCR, which showed a strong negative correlation with that of their targets. The regulation of exogenous ethylene on miRNAs expression profiles were analyzed simultaneously, and 3 down-regulated, 5 up-regulated miRNAs were found in this study.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>A combination of high throughput sequencing and molecular biology approaches was used to explore the involvement of miRNAs during fruit ripening. Several miRNAs showed differential expression profiles during fruit ripening, and a number of miRNAs were influenced by ethylene treatment. The results suggest the importance of miRNAs in fruit ripening and ethylene response.</p

Ultrastrong conductive in situ composite composed of nanodiamond incoherently embedded in disordered multilayer graphene

Traditional ceramics or metals cannot simultaneously achieve ultrahigh strength and high electrical conductivity. The elemental carbon can form a variety of allotropes with entirely different physical properties, providing versatility for tuning mechanical and electrical properties in a wide range. Here, by precisely controlling the extent of transformation of amorphous carbon into diamond within a narrow temperature–pressure range, we synthesize an in situ composite consisting of ultrafine nanodiamond homogeneously dispersed in disordered multilayer graphene with incoherent interfaces, which demonstrates a Knoop hardness of up to ~53 GPa, a compressive strength of up to ~54 GPa and an electrical conductivity of 670–1,240 S m(–1) at room temperature. With atomically resolving interface structures and molecular dynamics simulations, we reveal that amorphous carbon transforms into diamond through a nucleation process via a local rearrangement of carbon atoms and diffusion-driven growth, different from the transformation of graphite into diamond. The complex bonding between the diamond-like and graphite-like components greatly improves the mechanical properties of the composite. This superhard, ultrastrong, conductive elemental carbon composite has comprehensive properties that are superior to those of the known conductive ceramics and C/C composites. The intermediate hybridization state at the interfaces also provides insights into the amorphous-to-crystalline phase transition of carbon