Examination of load-deformation characteristics of long-span bridges in harsh natural environments based on real-time updating artificial neural network

Long-span bridges, often exposed to challenging harsh natural environments with severe weather conditions, necessitate real-time examination of load-deformation characteristics to ensure structural integrity and safety. Previous studies have primarily focused on investigating the causes of deformation in bridge structures under different single-load conditions during severe natural disasters, utilizing physics-based, mechanics-based, and data-driven methods. However, these methods cannot achieve fully achieve effective analysis of the real-time effects of multi-factor loads on bridge deformation, particularly in the presence of dynamic and simultaneous loads such as wind or temperature variations. A novel data-driven method is proposed based on a state-of-the-art real-time updating artificial neural networks (ANNs) algorithm to investigate the real-time coupling relationship between multi-loads and bridge deformation, enabling real-time prediction of bridge deformations. Additionally, the real-time characteristics between structural deformation and multi-loads are explained by incorporating SHapley Additive exPlanation (SHAP) in harsh natural environments. The proposed method has been validated on the 1,006-meter Forth Bridge in Scotland, showing high accuracy in real-time displacement prediction. The 9-day testing dataset demonstrated the R2 values for Y and Z direction deformations were found to be 0.98 and 0.87, respectively. The performance metrics for each day indicated that the majority of Y and Z direction deformations had R2 values exceeding 0.8, with RMSE and MAE values below 30 mm. The SHAP analysis revealed that an increase in wind speed leads to intensified Y direction deformation (larger SHAP values), while temperature has a significant impact on Z direction deformation (smaller SHAP values). Moreover, the weight influences of each load on the deformation are not fixed. The study's findings demonstrate that the proposed method enables accurate long-term prediction and assessment, allowing precise monitoring and prevention of abnormal risks in bridges under harsh environmental conditions.</p

Lipase-Sensitive Polymeric Triple-Layered Nanogel for “On-Demand” Drug Delivery

We report a new strategy for differential delivery of antimicrobials to bacterial infection sites with a lipase-sensitive polymeric triple-layered nanogel (TLN) as the drug carrier. The TLN was synthesized by a convenient arm-first procedure using an amphiphilic diblock copolymer, namely, monomethoxy poly­(ethylene glycol)-<i>b</i>-poly­(ε-caprolactone), to initiate the ring-opening polymerization of the difunctional monomer 3-oxapentane-1,5-diyl bis­(ethylene phosphate). The hydrophobic poly­(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) segments collapsed and surrounded the polyphosphoester core, forming a hydrophobic and compact molecular fence in aqueous solution which prevented antibiotic release from the polyphosphoester core prior to reaching bacterial infection sites. However, once the TLN sensed the lipase-secreting bacteria, the PCL fence of the TLN degraded to release the antibiotic. Using <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> (<i>S. aureus</i>) as the model bacterium and vancomycin as the model antimicrobial, we demonstrated that the TLN released almost all the encapsulated vancomycin within 24 h only in the presence of <i>S. aureus</i>, significantly inhibiting <i>S. aureus</i> growth. The TLN further delivered the drug into bacteria-infected cells and efficiently released the drug to kill intracellular bacteria. This technique can be generalized to selectively deliver a variety of antibiotics for the treatment of various infections caused by lipase-secreting bacteria and thus provides a new, safe, effective, and universal approach for the treatment of extracellular and intracellular bacterial infections

Superhydrophobic and Photocatalytic Synergistic Self-Cleaning Coating Constructed by Hierarchically Structured Flower-like Hollow SiO₂@TiO₂ Spheres with Oxygen Vacancies

The self-cleaning coating has both superhydrophobic physical and photocatalytic chemical self-cleaning properties, which has attracted the wide attention of researchers in recent years. First, the flower-like hollow SiO2@TiO2 spheres with oxygen vacancies (rFHSTs) were prepared by the liquid-phase reduction method, in which several different functional components were integrated. Meanwhile, the influence mechanisms of the physical structure and chemical composition on the photocatalytic properties are discussed in detail. The results proved that rFHSTs exhibited the enhanced photoresponse range and photocatalytic degradation performance in visible light because of the synergistic effect of the microstructure (internal cavity, 3D flower-like nanosheet), SiO2/TiO2 heterojunction structure, and oxygen vacancies. After that, superhydrophobic modified rFHSTs were used as fillers to fabricate PVA/PFDTS-rFHSTs composite coatings with both physical and chemical self-cleaning properties. The self-cleaning performances and principles of the composite coating were examined and explored. The results showed that the low surface energy of the hydrophobic chain segment, the inherent particle effect, and the photocatalytic activity of rFHSTs were responsible for the superhydrophobic and photocatalytic effects, finally endowing the composite coating with self-cleaning performance. In short, this study is profound for the development and application of self-cleaning coatings with both physical and chemical performances

Differential Anticancer Drug Delivery with a Nanogel Sensitive to Bacteria-Accumulated Tumor Artificial Environment

Differential anticancer drug delivery that selectively releases a drug within a tumor represents an ideal cancer therapy strategy. Herein, we report differential drug delivery to the tumor through the fabrication of a special bacteria-accumulated tumor environment that responds to bacteria-sensitive triple-layered nanogel (TLN). We demonstrate that the attenuated bacteria SBY1 selectively accumulated in tumors and were rapidly cleared from normal tissues after intravenous administration, leading to a unique bacteria-accumulated tumor environment. Subsequent administrated doxorubicin-loaded TLN (TLND) was thus selectively degraded in the bacteria-accumulated tumor environment after its accumulation in tumors, triggering differential doxorubicin release and selectively killing tumor cells. This concept can be extended and improved by using other factors secreted by bacteria or materials to fabricate a unique tumor environment for differential drug delivery, showing potential applications in drug delivery

Neurofunctional processing of pleasant and non-pleasant environments.

<p><i>Note</i>. kE = size in voxels (2 x 2 x 2 mm). R = right, L = left, g. = gyrus. The <i>x</i>, <i>y</i> and <i>z</i> coordinates are in the MNI stereotactic space. <i>p</i> <.001.</p><p>Neurofunctional processing of pleasant and non-pleasant environments.</p

Neurofunctional processing of beautiful and non-beautiful environments.

<p>(A) Conjunction of beautiful and non-beautiful environments versus baseline and (B) higher neural activation for non-beautiful environments. SM = supplementary motor area, SFG = superior frontal gyrus, LPFC = lateral prefrontal cortex, STG = superior temporal gyrus, MTG = middle temporal gyrus.</p

Neurofunctional processing of beautiful and non-beautiful environments.

<p><i>Note</i>. kE = size in voxels (2 x 2 x 2 mm). R = right, L = left, g. = gyrus. The <i>x</i>, <i>y</i> and <i>z</i> coordinates are in the MNI stereotactic space. <i>p</i> <.001.</p><p>Neurofunctional processing of beautiful and non-beautiful environments.</p

Synergistic Effects of Self-Doped Nanostructures as Charge Trapping Elements in Organic Field Effect Transistor Memory

Despite remarkable advances in the development of organic field-effect transistor (OFET) memories over recent years, the charge trapping elements remain confined to the critical electrets of polymers, nanoparticles, or ferroelectrics. Nevertheless, rare reports are available on the complementary advantages of different types of trapping elements integrated in one single OFET memory. To address this issue, we fabricated two kinds of pentacene-based OFET memories with solution-processed amorphous and β-phase poly­(9,9-dioctyl­fluorene) (PFO) films as charge trapping layers, respectively. Compared to the amorphous film, the β-PFO film has self-doped nanostructures (20–120 nm) and could act as natural charge trapping elements, demonstrating the synergistic effects of combining both merits of polymer and nanoparticles into one electret. Consequently, the OFET memory with β-PFO showed nearly 26% increment in the storage capacity and a pronounced memory window of ∼45 V in 20 ms programming time. Besides, the retention time of β-PFO device extended 2 times to maintain an ON/OFF current ratio of 10³, indicating high bias-stress reliability. Furthermore, the β-PFO device demonstrated good photosensitivity in the 430–700 nm range, which was attributed to the additive effect of smaller bandgap and self-doped nanostructures of β-phase. In this regard, the tuning of molecular conformation and aggregation in a polymer electret is an effective strategy to obtain a high performance OFET memory

Hypersensitivity of transgenic plants overexpressing <i>NHL6</i>.

<p>(A, B) RT-PCR and qRT-PCR analyses of <i>NHL6</i> expression level in Col-0, <i>nhl6</i> and <i>35S</i>::<i>NHL6</i> overexpressor lines 3 and 6. <i>ACTIN2</i> was used as a reference gene for normalisation of expression and the transcript level in Col-0 was set as 1.0. Error bars represent SD (<i>n</i> = 3). (C, D) ABA-mediated inhibition of seed germination greening. Seeds of Col-0, <i>nhl6</i> and <i>35S</i>::<i>NHL6</i> overexpressor lines 3 and 6 were vernalized at 4°C for three days on MS medium, and then transferred to a growth chamber. Photographs were taken after one week. Scale bar = 5 mm. (E) Germination rates on MS medium supplemented with different concentrations of ABA for 2 days. (F) germination time course on MS medium supplemented with 1 μM ABA. Col-0, closed circles; <i>nhl6</i>, open squares, <i>35S</i>::<i>NHL6-3</i>, open rhombuses; <i>35S</i>::<i>NHL6-6</i>, closed triangles. Results are presented as average values and standard errors from three experiments. At each time, at least 100 seeds were counted.</p

AREBs and ABF3 activated the expression of <i>NHL6</i>.

<p>(A) <i>NHL6</i> mRNA levels in various ABA signal deficient mutants. Two-week-old seedlings grown on MS medium were treated with 100 μM ABA for 6 hours. <i>NHL6</i> expression was examined by qRT-PCR analyses after the treatments. <i>ACTIN2</i> was used as a reference gene for normalisation of expression and the transcript level in the untreated Col-0 seedlings was set as 1.0. Error bars represent SD (<i>n</i> = 3). (B) ABA induced <i>NHL6</i> expression was significantly blocked in the <i>areb1areb2abf3</i> triple mutant (base on the published data by Yoshida <i>et al</i>. 2010). (C) Schematic diagram of the vector structure of effectors and reporter used in transient assays. (D) Transient assays of ProNHL6::LUC expression. 35S::REN-NHL6::LUC reporter construct was transiently expressed in Arabidopsis protoplasts together with the control vector, 35S::AREB1, 35S::AREB2, 35S::ABF3 or 35S::ABI5 effectors, respectively. The expression level of REN was used as an internal control. LUC/REN ratio represents the relative activity of the <i>NHL6</i> promoter. Data are values of three independent experiments. Asterisks indicate significant differences from the corresponding control values at *0.01 < P < 0.05 and **P < 0.01 using the Student’s <i>t</i>-test. (<i>n</i> = 3).</p