Oxidation-induced starch molecular degradation:A comprehensive kinetic investigation using NaClO/NaBr/TEMPO system

Starch degradation often coincides with its chemical modification, and understanding how chemical modification influences starch degradation is vital for determining the properties of the resultant modified products. This work investigates the effect of oxidation on starch molecular degradation, examining factors such as oxidation degree, reaction kinetics, and degradation patterns during 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl (TEMPO)-mediated starch oxidation under varying conditions, including reaction time, pH, temperature, and concentrations of NaBr, TEMPO, and NaClO. Results emphasize that extended reaction durations primarily lead to β-elimination, causing α-1,4 linkage cleavages. pH 8.5 favored non-selective oxidation, while pH 11 enhanced β-elimination, both slowing the reaction rate and severely damaging starch chains (Mw of 8.8 × 105 g/mol and 7.2 × 105 g/mol, respectively). Elevated temperature from 0 to 30 °C significantly expedited both selective and non-selective oxidation, dramatically reducing molecular mass to 8.1 × 105 g/mol. Increasing concentrations of NaBr and TEMPO boost the reaction rate with minimal impact on molecular mass. Meanwhile, increasing NaClO concentration from 0.2 to 2.2 mmol/g-starch not only affects the reaction rate but also reinforces β-elimination, enhancing molecular degradation. This study is insightful for starch modification to achieve desired oxidation levels and chain lengths by controlling reaction conditions, offering potential advancements in oxidized starch-based materials like nano micelles

Wide-range continuous tuning of the thermal conductivity of La0.5Sr0.5CoO3−δ\rm La_{0.5}Sr_{0.5}CoO_{3-\delta} films via room-temperature ion-gel gating

Solid-state control of the thermal conductivity of materials is of exceptional interest for novel devices such as thermal diodes and switches. Here, we demonstrate the ability to continuously tune the thermal conductivity of nanoscale films of $\rm La_{0.5}Sr_{0.5}CoO_{3-\delta}$ (LSCO) by a factor of over 5, via a room-temperature electrolyte-gate-induced non-volatile topotactic phase transformation from perovskite (with $\delta \approx 0.1$) to an oxygen-vacancy-ordered brownmillerite phase (with $\delta=0.5$), accompanied by a metal-insulator transition. Combining time-domain thermoreflectance and electronic transport measurements, model analyses based on molecular dynamics and Boltzmann transport, and structural characterization by X-ray diffraction, we uncover and deconvolve the effects of these transitions on heat carriers, including electrons and lattice vibrations. The wide-range continuous tunability of LSCO thermal conductivity enabled by low-voltage (below 4 V) room-temperature electrolyte gating opens the door to non-volatile dynamic control of thermal transport in perovskite-based functional materials, for thermal regulation and management in device applications

Comparative analysis of the effect of electromyogram to bispectral index and 95% spectral edge frequency under remimazolam and propofol anesthesia: a prospective, randomized, controlled clinical trial

BackgroundBispectral index (BIS), an index used to monitor the depth of anesthesia, can be interfered with by the electromyogram (EMG) signal. The 95% spectral edge frequency (SEF95) also can reflect the sedation depth. Remimazolam in monitored anesthesia care results in higher BIS values than propofol, though in the same sedation level assessed by Modified Observers Assessment of Alertness and Sedation (MOAA/S). Our study aims to illustrate whether EMG is involved in remimazolam causing higher BIS value than propofol preliminarily and to explore the correlations among BIS, EMG, and SEF95 under propofol and remimazolam anesthesia.Patients and methodsTwenty-eight patients were randomly divided into propofol (P) and remimazolam (RM) groups. Patients in the two groups received alfentanil 10 μg/kg, followed by propofol 2 mg/kg and remimazolam 0.15 mg/kg. Blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR), and oxygen saturation (SpO2) were routinely monitored. The BIS, EMG, and SEF95 were obtained through BIS VISTATM. The primary outcomes were BIS, EMG, and the correlation between BIS and EMG in both groups. Other outcomes were SEF95, the correlation between BIS and SEF95, and the correlation between EMG and SEF95. And all the statistical and comparative analysis between these signals was conducted with SPSS 26.0 and GraphPad Prism 8.ResultsBIS values, EMG, and SEF95 were significantly higher in the RM group than in the P group (all p < 0.001). There was a strong positive correlation between BIS and EMG in the RM group (r = 0.416). Nevertheless, the BIS in the P group showed a weak negative correlation with EMG (r = −0.219). Both P (r = 0.787) and RM group (r = 0.559) had a reasonably significant correlation coefficient between BIS and SEF95. SEF95 almost did not correlate with EMG in the RM group (r = 0.101).ConclusionBispectral index can be interfered with high EMG intensity under remimazolam anesthesia. However, EMG can hardly affect the accuracy of BIS under propofol anesthesia due to low EMG intensity and a weak negative correlation between EMG and BIS. Moreover, SEF95 may have a great application prospect in predicting the sedation condition of remimazolam

Open X-Embodiment:Robotic learning datasets and RT-X models

Large, high-capacity models trained on diverse datasets have shown remarkable successes on efficiently tackling downstream applications. In domains from NLP to Computer Vision, this has led to a consolidation of pretrained models, with general pretrained backbones serving as a starting point for many applications. Can such a consolidation happen in robotics? Conventionally, robotic learning methods train a separate model for every application, every robot, and even every environment. Can we instead train "generalist" X-robot policy that can be adapted efficiently to new robots, tasks, and environments? In this paper, we provide datasets in standardized data formats and models to make it possible to explore this possibility in the context of robotic manipulation, alongside experimental results that provide an example of effective X-robot policies. We assemble a dataset from 22 different robots collected through a collaboration between 21 institutions, demonstrating 527 skills (160266 tasks). We show that a high-capacity model trained on this data, which we call RT-X, exhibits positive transfer and improves the capabilities of multiple robots by leveraging experience from other platforms. The project website is robotics-transformer-x.github.io

Effect of Al2O3 particle content on microstructure and mechanical properties of 1060Al/Al–Al2O3 composites fabricated by cold spraying and accumulative roll bonding

1060Al/Al–Al2O3 laminated particle-reinforced aluminum matrix composites (LPRAMCs) were successfully prepared using a combination of cold spraying (CS) and accumulative roll bonding (ARB) techniques, exhibiting a synergistic improvement in strength and plasticity. The effects of Al2O3 particle content on the microstructure, tensile properties and fracture morphology of LPRAMCs were studied. The results showed that compared with the 1# composites with higher Al2O3 particle content (20.1 vol%), the 2# composites with lower Al2O3 particle content (8.4 vol%) exhibited delayed necking fracture during the ARB process, with greater elongation (El) but lower ultimate tensile strength (UTS). After 5 passes of ARB, the UTS and El of the 1# and 2# composites were 345 MPa, 16.1%, and 293 MPa, 22.2%, respectively. This suggests that the mechanical properties of the Al–Al2O3 deposited layer have a significant impact on the mechanical properties of LPRAMCs. With an increase in ARB passes, the fracture mode of the LPRAMCs shifted from brittle to ductile fracture, displayed by equiaxed and shear dimples. These findings can provide novel insights and theoretical foundations for optimizing the mechanical properties of Al matrix composites

Genome-Wide Association Study in Rice Revealed a Novel Gene in Determining Plant Height and Stem Development, by Encoding a WRKY Transcription Factor

Semi-dwarfism is a main agronomic trait in crop breeding. In this study, we performed genome-wide association study (GWAS) and identified a new quantitative trait nucleotide (QTN) for rice shoot length. The peak QTN (C/T) was located in the first coding region of a group III WRKY transcription factor OsWRKY21 (LOC_Os01g60640). Interestingly, further haplotype analysis showed that C/T difference only existed in the indica group but not in the japonica group, resulting in significant differences in plant height among the different indica rice varieties. OsWRKY21 was expressed in embryo, radicle, shoots, leaves, and stems. Most notably, overexpressing OsWRKY21 resulted in the semi-dwarf phenotype, early heading date and short internodes compared to the wild type, while the knockout mutant plants by CRISPR/Cas9 technology yielded the opposite. The overexpressing lines exhibited the decreased length of the cells near sclerenchyma epidermis, accompanied with the lower levels of indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) and gibberellin 3 (GA3), but increased levels of the abscisic acid (ABA) and salicylic acid (SA) in the internodes at heading stage. Moreover, the semi-dwarf phenotype could be fully rescued by exogenous GA3 application at seedling stage. The RNA-seq and qRT-PCR analysis confirmed the differential expression levels of genes in development and the stress responses in rice, including GA metabolism (GA20ox2, GA2ox6, and YABY1) and cell wall biosynthesis (CesA4, 7, and 9) and regulation (MYB103L). These data suggest the essential role of OsWRKY21 in regulation of internode elongation and plant height in rice

Wide-range continuous tuning of the thermal conductivity of La0.5Sr0.5CoO3-δ films via room-temperature ion-gel gating

Abstract Solid-state control of the thermal conductivity of materials is of exceptional interest for novel devices such as thermal diodes and switches. Here, we demonstrate the ability to continuously tune the thermal conductivity of nanoscale films of La0.5Sr0.5CoO3-δ (LSCO) by a factor of over 5, via a room-temperature electrolyte-gate-induced non-volatile topotactic phase transformation from perovskite (with δ ≈ 0.1) to an oxygen-vacancy-ordered brownmillerite phase (with δ = 0.5), accompanied by a metal-insulator transition. Combining time-domain thermoreflectance and electronic transport measurements, model analyses based on molecular dynamics and Boltzmann transport equation, and structural characterization by X-ray diffraction, we uncover and deconvolve the effects of these transitions on heat carriers, including electrons and lattice vibrations. The wide-range continuous tunability of LSCO thermal conductivity enabled by low-voltage (below 4 V) room-temperature electrolyte gating opens the door to non-volatile dynamic control of thermal transport in perovskite-based functional materials, for thermal regulation and management in device applications

Occurrence and dry deposition of organophosphate esters in atmospheric particles over the northern South China Sea

Nine organophosphate esters (OPEs) in airborne particles were measured during a cruise campaign over the northern South China Sea (SCS) from September to October 2013. The concentration of the total OPEs (Sigma OPEs) was 47.1-160.9 pg m(-3), which are lower than previous measurements in marine atmosphere environments. Higher OPE concentrations were observed in terrestrially influenced samples, suggesting that OPE concentrations were significantly influenced by air mass transport. Chlorinated OPEs were the dominant OPEs, accounting for 65.8-83.7% of the Sigma OPEs. Tris-(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (TCEP) was the predominant OPE compound in the samples (45.0 12.1%), followed by tris-(1-chloro-2-propyl) phosphates (TCPPs) (28.8 +/- 8.9%). Dry particle-bound deposition fluxes ranged from 8.2 to 27.8 ng m(-2) d(-1) for the Sigma OPEs. Moreover, the dry deposition input of the Sigma OPEs was estimated to be 4.98 ton y(-1) in 2013 in a vast area of northern SCS. About half of the input was found to relate to air masses originating from China. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Nine organophosphate esters (OPEs) in airborne particles were measured during a cruise campaign over the northern South China Sea (SCS) from September to October 2013. The concentration of the total OPEs (Sigma OPEs) was 47.1-160.9 pg m(-3), which are lower than previous measurements in marine atmosphere environments. Higher OPE concentrations were observed in terrestrially influenced samples, suggesting that OPE concentrations were significantly influenced by air mass transport. Chlorinated OPEs were the dominant OPEs, accounting for 65.8-83.7% of the Sigma OPEs. Tris-(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (TCEP) was the predominant OPE compound in the samples (45.0 12.1%), followed by tris-(1-chloro-2-propyl) phosphates (TCPPs) (28.8 +/- 8.9%). Dry particle-bound deposition fluxes ranged from 8.2 to 27.8 ng m(-2) d(-1) for the Sigma OPEs. Moreover, the dry deposition input of the Sigma OPEs was estimated to be 4.98 ton y(-1) in 2013 in a vast area of northern SCS. About half of the input was found to relate to air masses originating from China. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Abundance and diurnal trends of fluorescent bioaerosols in the troposphere over Mt. Tai, China, in spring

Primary biological aerosol particles are ubiquitous in the global atmosphere and can affect cloud formation, deteriorate air quality, and cause human infections. Mt. Tai (1,534 m a.s.l.) is an elevated site in the North China Plain where atmospheric aerosols reflect both regional advection and long-range transport. In this study, we deployed a Wideband Integrated Bioaerosol Sensor (WIBS-4A) and collected total suspended particles and eight-stage size-segregated aerosol samples at the summit of Mt. Tai in spring from 21 March to 8 April 2017 to quantify the abundance, size distributions, and diurnal variations of fluorescent bioaerosols and to investigate the effect of different fluorescence thresholds of WIBS for ambient bioaerosol recognition. During the whole sampling period, the number concentration of fluorescent particles (>0.8 μm) was 647 ± 533 L−1, accounting for 26.9% ± 10.0% by number of the total particles in that size range. Three-dimensional excitation-emission matrix fluorescence of water-soluble organic matter in size-segregated aerosols shows that humic-like substances (HULIS) are mainly in the fine mode (<2.1 μm) while protein-like substances are mainly in the coarse mode (>2.1 μm). From the diurnal variation, it is shown that bioaerosols can undergo transformation during long-range transport and contribute to HULIS. For bioaerosol recognition, we find that 6σ-threshold can lead to better classification of fluorescent aerosol particles for fungal spores. Overall, our results constrain the abundance of primary bioaerosols in the troposphere over East Asia and elucidate the processes for their evolution via mountain/valley breezes and long-range transport