μ-Benzene-1,2,4,5-tetra­carboxyl­ato-κ4 O 1,O 2:O 4,O 5-bis­[diaqua(phen­an­thro­line-κ2 N,N′)nickel(II)] 0.67-hydrate

The asymmetric unit of the title compound, [Ni2(C10H2O8)(C12H8N2)2(H2O)4]·0.67H2O, contains one complete binuclear complex and one half-mol­ecule, the latter being completed by crystallographic inversion symmetry, and 0.67 of a solvent water molecule. Each Ni2+ cation is coordinated by a 1,10-phenanthroline ligand, a bidentate benzene-1,2,4,5-tetra­carboxyl­ate (btec) tetra-anion and two water mol­ecules to generate a distorted cis-NiN2O4 octa­hedral coordination geometry. The btec species bridges the metal ions. In the crystal, the clusters and uncoordinated water mol­ecules are linked by O—H⋯O hydrogen bonds and π–π inter­actions [shortest centroid–centroid separation = 3.596 (2) Å] to form a three-dimensional network

Consensus Graph Representation Learning for Better Grounded Image Captioning

The contemporary visual captioning models frequently hallucinate objects that are not actually in a scene, due to the visual misclassification or over-reliance on priors that resulting in the semantic inconsistency between the visual information and the target lexical words. The most common way is to encourage the captioning model to dynamically link generated object words or phrases to appropriate regions of the image, i.e., the grounded image captioning (GIC). However, GIC utilizes an auxiliary task (grounding objects) that has not solved the key issue of object hallucination, i.e., the semantic inconsistency. In this paper, we take a novel perspective on the issue above - exploiting the semantic coherency between the visual and language modalities. Specifically, we propose the Consensus Rraph Representation Learning framework (CGRL) for GIC that incorporates a consensus representation into the grounded captioning pipeline. The consensus is learned by aligning the visual graph (e.g., scene graph) to the language graph that consider both the nodes and edges in a graph. With the aligned consensus, the captioning model can capture both the correct linguistic characteristics and visual relevance, and then grounding appropriate image regions further. We validate the effectiveness of our model, with a significant decline in object hallucination (-9% CHAIRi) on the Flickr30k Entities dataset. Besides, our CGRL also evaluated by several automatic metrics and human evaluation, the results indicate that the proposed approach can simultaneously improve the performance of image captioning (+2.9 Cider) and grounding (+2.3 F1LOC).Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, AAAI 202

Smart hydrogels with wide visible color tunability

Pigmentary coloration can produce viewing angle-independent uniform colors via light absorption by chromophores. However, due to the limited diversity in the changes of the molecular configuration of chromophores to undergo color change, the existing materials cannot produce a wide range of visible colors with tunable color saturation and transmittance. Herein, we propose a novel strategy to create materials with a wide visible color range and highly tunable color saturation and transmittance. We fabricated a hydrogel with poly (acrylamide-co-dopamine acrylamide) networks swollen with Fe3+-containing glycerol/water in which the covalently crosslinked polyacrylamide backbone with pendant catechols can ensure that the hydrogel maintains a very stable shape. Hydrogels containing adjustable catechol-Fe3+ coordination bonds with flexible light-interacting configuration changes can display a wide range of visible colors based on the complementary color principle. The catechol-Fe3+ complexes can dynamically switch between noncoordinated and mono-, bis- and tris-coordinated states to harvest light energy from a specific wavelength across the whole visible spectrum. Therefore, these hydrogels can be yellow, green, blue, and red, covering the three primary colors. Moreover, color saturation and transmittance can be flexibly manipulated by simply adjusting the Fe3+ content in the hydrogel networks. The versatility of these smart hydrogels has been demonstrated through diverse applications, including optical filters for color regulation and colorimetric sensors for detecting UV light and chemical vapors. This proposed smart hydrogel provides a universal color-switchable platform for the development of multifunctional optical systems such as optical filters, sensors, and detectors

Mesoscale regulation of droplet templates to tailor microparticle structures and functions

The hierarchical design of mesoscale structures in droplet templates determines the structure and functionality of the resultant microparticles. In this review, we summarize recent progress on the control of microfluidic emulsion templates for the synthesis of polymeric microparticles with desired functionality and internal structure. We introduce strategies for controlling the morphology and interfacial stability of emulsion templates. These strategies are based on manipulation of the mesoscale structure of amphiphilic molecules and nanoparticles at emulsion-droplet interfaces. We also discuss strategies for controlling the mesoscale structure of microparticles, which involve manipulating the interfacial mass-transfer and chemical reactions during template synthesis. We provide insight on the use of these strategies for the rational design and fabrication of polymeric microparticles with predictable internal structures and functionality at the single-particle level

Greenhouse gas emissions from croplands of China

China possesses cropland of 1.33 million km 2. Cultivation of the cropland not only altered the biogeochemical cycles of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) in the agroecosystems but also affected global climate. The impacts of agroecosystems on global climate attribute to emissions of three greenhouse gases, namely carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O)

Association between bile acid metabolism and bone mineral density in postmenopausal women

OBJECTIVES: Previous studies have not shown any correlation between bile acid metabolism and bone mineral density (BMD) in women with postmenopausal osteoporosis. Thus, the current study evaluated the association between bile acid levels as well as BMD and bone turnover marker levels in this group of women. METHODS: This single-center cross-sectional study included 150 postmenopausal Chinese women. According to BMD, the participants were divided into three groups: osteoporosis group, osteopenia group, and healthy control group. Serum bile acid, fibroblast growth factor 19 (FGF19), and bone turnover biomarker levels were assessed. Moreover, the concentrations of parathyroid hormone, 25-hydroxy vitamin D [25(OH)D], procollagen type I N-peptide (P1NP), and beta-CrossLaps of type I collagen containing cross-linked C-terminal telopeptide (bCTX) were evaluated. The BMD of the lumbar spine and proximal femur were examined via dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. RESULTS: The serum total bile acid levels in the osteoporosis and osteopenia groups (5.28±1.56 and 5.31±1.56 umol/L, respectively) were significantly lower than that in the healthy control group (6.33±2.04 umol/L; p=0.002 and 0.018, respectively). Serum bile acid level was positively associated with the BMD of the lumbar spine, femoral neck, and total hip. However, it negatively correlated with b-CTX concentration. Moreover, no correlation was observed between bile acid and P1NP levels, and the levels of the other biomarkers that were measured did not differ between the groups. CONCLUSION: Serum bile acid was positively correlated with BMD and negatively correlated with bone turnover biomarkers reflecting bone absorption in postmenopausal women. Thus, bile acid may play an important role in bone metabolism

Functional variant of the carboxypeptidase M (CPM) gene may affect silica-related pneumoconiosis susceptibility by its expression: a multistage case-control study.

ObjectivesIn a genome-wide association study, we discovered chromosome 12q15 (defined as rs73329476) as a silica-related pneumoconiosis susceptibility region. However, the causal variants in this region have not yet been reported.MethodsWe systematically screened eight potentially functional single-neucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) in the genes near rs73329476 (carboxypeptidase M (CPM) and cleavage and polyadenylation specific factor 6 (CPSF6)) in a case-control study including 177 cases with silicosis and 204 healthy controls, matched to cases with years of silica dust exposure. We evaluated the associations between these eight SNPs and the development of silicosis. Luciferase reporter gene assays were performed to test the effects of selected SNP on the activity of CPM in the promoter. In addition, a two-stage case-control study was performed to investigate the expression differences of the two genes in peripheral blood leucocytes from a total of 64 cases with silicosis and 64 healthy controls with similar years of silica dust exposure as the cases.ResultsWe found a strong association between the mutant rs12812500 G allele and the susceptibility of silicosis (OR=1.45, 95% CI 1.03 to 2.04, p=0.034), while luciferase reporter gene assays indicated that the mutant G allele of rs12812500 is strongly associated with increased luciferase levels compared with the wild-type C allele (p<0.01). Moreover, the mRNA (peripheral blood leucocytes) expression of the CPM gene was significantly higher in subjects with silicosis compared with healthy controls.ConclusionsThe rs12812500 variant of the CPM gene may increase silicosis susceptibility by affecting the expression of CPM, which may contribute to silicosis susceptibility with biological plausibility

Capsule membranes encapsulated with smart nanogels for facile detection of trace lead(II) ions in water

A novel method based on capsule membranes encapsulated with smart nanogels is successfully developed for facilely detecting trace lead(II) (Pb2+) ions, which are hazardous to both human health and the environment because of their toxicity. The capsule membrane system is composed of a semi-permeable calcium alginate membrane and encapsulated poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-acryloylamidobenzo-18-crown-6) (PNB) nanogels. The semi-permeable membrane allows Pb2+ ions and water to pass through quickly, but rejects the encapsulated nanogels and polymers totally. As soon as Pb2+ ions appear in the aqueous environment and enter into the capsule, they can be specifically recognized by encapsulated PNB nanogels via forming 18-crown-6/Pb2+ complexes that cause a Pb2+-induced phase transition of PNB nanogels from hydrophobic to hydrophilic state. As a result, the osmotic pressure inside the capsule membrane increases remarkably, and thus the elastic capsule membrane isothermally swells upon the presence of Pb2+ ions in the environmental aqueous solution. The Pb2+-induced swelling degree of the capsule membrane is dependent on the concentration of Pb2+ ions ([Pb2+]) in water. Thus, the [Pb2+] value in water is able to be easily detected by directly measuring the Pb2+-induced isothermal swelling ratio of the capsule membrane, which we demonstrate by using 15 prepared capsule membranes arranged in a line. The Pb2+-induced swelling ratios of the capsule membrane groups are easily observed with the naked eye, and the detection limit of the [Pb2+] in water is 10-9 mol L-1. Such a proposed method provides an easy and efficient strategy for facile detection of trace threat analytes in water