1,971 research outputs found

    A New Innovative IoT Watch Reduces Excessive Consumption And Its Implications To Green Logistics

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    Excessive consumption leads to 7 trends of crises, including destruction of the atmosphere, energy crisis, social decline and conflicts. Over consumption also deteriorates human health. To reduce excessive consumption not only can improve health, it can also reduce transportation from consumption, livestock raise and sale, and medical care. The reducing over consumption can benefit human health and environmental protection through supply chain management. This motivates us to devise an innovative product. Our imaginative innovative product is a new smart watch (SW) which improves several new features based on Apple Watch. After a survey to potential users, it reveals that the new features can help reduce the excessive consumption, deterioration of the human health, transportation, healthcare as well as the destruction of the environment. Enterprises can also achieve their social responsibilities through the implementation and popularization of the SW as soon as possible

    Vacuolar nitrate efflux requires multiple functional redundant nitrate transporter in Arabidopsis thaliana

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    Nitrate in plants is preferentially stored in vacuoles; however, how vacuolar nitrate is reallocated and to which biological process(es) it might contribute remain largely elusive. In this study, we functionally characterized three nitrate transporters NPF5.10, NPF5.14, and NPF8.5 that are tonoplast-localized. Ectopic expression in Xenopus laevis oocytes revealed that they mediate low-affinity nitrate transport. Histochemical analysis showed that these transporters were expressed preferentially in pericycle and xylem parenchyma cells. NPF5.10, NPF5.14, and NPF8.5 overexpression significantly decreased vacuolar nitrate contents and nitrate accumulation in Arabidopsis shoots. Further analysis showed that the sextuple mutant (npf5.10 npf5.14 npf8.5 npf5.11 npf5.12 npf5.16) had a higher 15NO3-uptake rate than the wild-type Col-0, but no significant difference was observed for nitrate accumulation between them. The septuple mutant (npf5.11 npf5.12 npf5.16 npf5.10 npf5.14 npf8.5 clca) generated by using CRISPR/Cas9 showed essentially decreased nitrate reallocation compared to wild type when exposed to nitrate starvation, though no further decrease was observed when compared to clca. Notably, NPF5.10, NPF5.14, and NPF8.5 as well as NPF5.11, NPF5.12, and NPF5.16 were consistently induced by mannitol, and more nitrate was detected in the sextuple mutant than in the wild type after mannitol treatment. These observations suggest that vacuolar nitrate efflux is regulated by several functional redundant nitrate transporters, and the reallocation might contribute to osmotic stress response other than mineral nutrition

    Behaviour of Sr, Ca, and Mg isotopes under variable hydrological conditions in high-relief large river systems

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    To assess how chemical weathering processes in large high-relief river systems respond to climatic variability, we studied seasonal changes in radiogenic strontium (87Sr/86Sr) and stable calcium (δ44/40Ca) and magnesium (δ26Mg) isotopes in the Jinsha and Yalong rivers, which drain the southeastern Tibetan Plateau. During the low-runoff season, with discharge (Q) 4000 m3/s), storms generate rapid overland flow, which transfers large volumes of soil into the rivers, such that soil weathering plays an important role in regulating riverine chemical compositions. At these times, the riverine Ca and Sr isotope evolution is influenced by secondary mineral dissolution and sediment–water cation exchange. Overall, this study highlights the potential of combining multiple isotope systems (Sr, Ca, Mg) to trace the dynamics of water–rock interaction under variable hydrological conditions

    Tryptophan in the mouse diet is essential for embryo implantation and decidualization

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    IntroductionNutritional deficiency occurs frequently during pregnancy and breastfeeding. Tryptophan (Trp), an essential amino acid which is critical for protein synthesis, serves as the precursor for serotonin, melatonin, and kynurenine (Kyn). The imbalance between serotonin and kynurenine pathways in Trp metabolism is closely related to inflammation and depression. This study assessed the effects of Trp deficiency on mouse early pregnancy.MethodsEmbryo implantation and decidualization were analyzed after female mice had been fed diets containing 0.2% Trp (for the control group), 0.062% Trp (for the low Trp group) and 0% Trp (for the Trp-free group) for two months. The uteri of the mice were collected on days 4, 5, and 8 of pregnancy for further analysis.ResultsOn day 8 of pregnancy, the number of implantation sites were found to be similar between the control and the low Trp groups. However, no implantation sites were detected in the Trp-free group. On day 5 of pregnancy, plane polarity- and decidualization-related molecules showed abnormal expression pattern in the Trp-free group. On day 4 of pregnancy, there was no significant difference in uterine receptivity molecules between the low-Trp group and the control group, but uterine receptivity was abnormal in the Trp-free group. At implantation sites of the Trp-free group, IDO and AHR levels were markedly elevated. This potentially increased levels of Kyn, 2-hydroxy estradiol, and 4-hydroxy estradiol to affect decidualization.ConclusionsTrp-free diet may impair decidualization via the IDO-KYN-AHR pathway

    Pairing Symmetry in Iron-Pnictide Superconductor KFe2_2As2_2

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    The pairing symmetry is one of the major issues in the study of iron-based superconductors. We adopt a low-energy effective kinetic model based on the first-principles band structure calculations combined with the J1J_1-J2J_2 model for KFe2_2As2_2, the phase diagram of pairing symmetries is constructed. Putting the values of J1J_1 and J2J_2 of the J1J_1-J2J_2 model obtained by the first-principles calculations into this phase diagram, we find that the pairing symmetry for KFe2_2As2_2 is a nodal dxyd_{xy}-wave in the folded Brillouin zone with two iron atoms per unit cell. This is in good agreement with experiments observed a nodal order parameter.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures (The pairing symmetry is dependent on choosing an effective tight-binding model. In the publication version, we adopt a ten-orbital model by using the maximally localized Wannier functions based on the first-principles band structure calculations, and give an s-wave pairing for KFe2_2As2_2

    Biomechanical characterization of the periodontal ligament: Orthodontic tooth movement

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    To quantify the biomechanical properties of the bovine periodontal ligament (PDL) in postmortem sections and to apply these properties to study orthodontic tooth intrusion using finite element analysis (FEA). We hypothesized that PDL’s property inherited heterogeneous (anatomical dependency) and nonlinear stress-strain behavior that could aid FEA to delineate force vectors with various rectangular archwires

    Strain mediated phase crossover in Ruddlesden Popper nickelates

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    Recent progress on the signatures of pressure-induced high temperature superconductivity in Ruddlesden Popper (RP) nickelates (Lan+1NinO3n+1) has attracted growing interest in both theoretical calculations and experimental efforts. The fabrication of high-quality single crystalline RP nickelate thin films is critical for possible reducing the superconducting transition pressure and advancing applications in microelectronics in the future. In this study, we report the observations of an active phase transition in RP nickelate films induced by misfit strain. We found that RP nickelate films favor the perovskite structure (n = infinite) under tensile strains, while compressive strains stabilize the La3Ni2O7 (n = 2) phase. The selection of distinct phases is governed by the strain dependent formation energy and electronic configuration. In compressively strained La3Ni2O7, we experimentally determined splitting energy is ~0.2 eV and electrons prefer to occupy in-plane orbitals. First principles calculations unveil a robust coupling between strain effects and the valence state of Ni ions in RP nickelates, suggesting a dual driving force for the inevitable phase co-existence transition in RP nickelates. Our work underscores the sensitivity of RP nickelate formation to epitaxial strain, presenting a significant challenge in fabricating pure-phase RP nickelate films. Therefore, special attention to stacking defects and grain boundaries between different RP phases is essential when discussing the pressure-induced superconductivity in RP nickelates.Comment: 29 pages, 5 figures, one supplementary material

    Spin State Disproportionation in Insulating Ferromagnetic LaCoO3 Epitaxial Thin Films

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    The origin of insulating ferromagnetism in epitaxial LaCoO3 films under tensile strain remains elusive despite extensive research efforts have been devoted. Surprisingly, the spin state of its Co ions, the main parameter of its ferromagnetism, is still to be determined. Here, we have systematically investigated the spin state in epitaxial LaCoO3 thin films to clarify the mechanism of strain induced ferromagnetism using element-specific x-ray absorption spectroscopy and dichroism. Combining with the configuration interaction cluster calculations, we unambiguously demonstrate that Co3+ in LaCoO3 films under compressive strain (on LaAlO3 substrate) are practically a low spin state, whereas Co3+ in LaCoO3 films under tensile strain (on SrTiO3 substrate) have mixed high spin and low spin states with a ratio close to 1:3. From the identification of this spin state ratio, we infer that the dark strips observed by high-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy indicate the position of Co3+ high spin state, i.e., an observation of a spin state disproportionation in tensile-strained LaCoO3 films. This consequently explains the nature of ferromagnetism in LaCoO3 films
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