As the number falls,alternatives to the Hagberg–Perten falling number method: A review

This review examines the application, limitations, and potential alternatives to the Hagberg–Perten falling number (FN) method used in the global wheat industry for detecting the risk of poor end-product quality mainly due to starch degradation by the enzyme α-amylase. By viscometry, the FN test indirectly detects the presence of α-amylase, the primary enzyme that digests starch. Elevated α-amylase results in low FN and damages wheat product quality resulting in cakes that fall, and sticky bread and noodles. Low FN can occur from preharvest sprouting (PHS) and late maturity α-amylase (LMA). Moist or rainy conditions before harvest cause PHS on the mother plant. Continuously cool or fluctuating temperatures during the grain filling stage cause LMA. Due to the expression of additional hydrolytic enzymes, PHS has a stronger negative impact than LMA. Wheat grain with low FN/high α-amylase results in serious losses for farmers, traders, millers, and bakers worldwide. Although blending of low FN grain with sound wheat may be used as a means of moving affected grain through the marketplace, care must be taken to avoid grain lots from falling below contract-specified FN. A large amount of sound wheat can be ruined if mixed with a small amount of sprouted wheat. The FN method is widely employed to detect α-amylase after harvest. However, it has several limitations, including sampling variability, high cost, labor intensiveness, the destructive nature of the test, and an inability to differentiate between LMA and PHS. Faster, cheaper, and more accurate alternatives could improve breeding for resistance to PHS and LMA and could preserve the value of wheat grain by avoiding inadvertent mixing of high- and low-FN grain by enabling testing at more stages of the value stream including at harvest, delivery, transport, storage, and milling. Alternatives to the FN method explored here include the Rapid Visco Analyzer, enzyme assays, immunoassays, near-infrared spectroscopy, and hyperspectral imaging.     

A Smart Hyperthermia Nanofiber-Platform-Enabled Sustained Release of Doxorubicin and 17AAG for Synergistic Cancer Therapy

This study demonstrates the rational fabrication of a magnetic composite nanofiber mesh that can achieve mutual synergy of hyperthermia, chemotherapy, and thermo-molecularly targeted therapy for highly potent therapeutic effects. The nanofiber is composed of biodegradable poly(ε-caprolactone) with doxorubicin, magnetic nanoparticles, and 17-allylamino-17-demethoxygeldanamycin. The nanofiber exhibits distinct hyperthermia, owing to the presence of magnetic nanoparticles upon exposure of the mesh to an alternating magnetic field, which causes heat-induced cell killing as well as enhanced chemotherapeutic efficiency of doxorubicin. The effectiveness of hyperthermia is further enhanced through the inhibition of heat shock protein activity after hyperthermia by releasing the inhibitor 17-allylamino-17-demethoxygeldanamycin. These findings represent a smart nanofiber system for potent cancer therapy and may provide a new approach for the development of localized medication delivery.     

提升我国电磁安全能力的战略思考

阐述电磁安全的战略背景,分析电磁兼容到电磁安全的演化过程,剖析"自扰、互扰、敌扰"等现实迫切问题,阐明电磁干扰、电磁兼容等基本概念和相互关系,提出新需求、新技术、新趋势引发电磁兼容与电磁安全的"六大技术挑战",指出只有在认识和思维上系统性地实现"三个转变",才能实现电磁安全整体能力的提升,最后提出"电磁强国"的"五维布局"建议.     

CaDHN3, a Pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) Dehydrin Gene Enhances the Tolerance against Salt and Drought Stresses by Reducing ROS Accumulation

Dehydrins (DHNs) play an important role in abiotic stress tolerance in a large number of plants, but very little is known about the function of DHNs in pepper plants. Here, we isolated a Y₁SK₂-type DHN gene “CaDHN3” from pepper. To authenticate the function of CaDHN3 in salt and drought stresses, it was overexpressed in Arabidopsis and silenced in pepper through virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS). Sub-cellular localization showed that CaDHN3 was located in the nucleus and cell membrane. It was found that CaDHN3-overexpressed (OE) in Arabidopsis plants showed salt and drought tolerance phenotypic characteristics, i.e., increased the initial rooting length and germination rate, enhanced chlorophyll content, lowered the relative electrolyte leakage (REL) and malondialdehyde (MDA) content than the wild-type (WT) plants. Moreover, a substantial increase in the activities of antioxidant enzymes; including the superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), catalase (CAT), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), and lower hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) contents and higher O₂^•− contents in the transgenic Arabidopsis plants. Silencing of CaDHN3 in pepper decreased the salt- and drought-stress tolerance, through a higher REL and MDA content, and there was more accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the CaDHN3-silenced pepper plants than the control plants. Based on the yeast two-hybrid (Y2H) screening and Bimolecular Fluorescence Complementation (BiFC) results, we found that CaDHN3 interacts with CaHIRD11 protein in the plasma membrane. Correspondingly, the expressions of four osmotic-related genes were significantly up-regulated in the CaDHN3-overexpressed lines. In brief, our results manifested that CaDHN3 may play an important role in regulating the relative osmotic stress responses in plants through the ROS signaling pathway. The results of this study will provide a basis for further analyses of the function of DHN genes in pepper.     

Novel TiC-based composites with enhanced mechanical properties

Novel TiC-based composites were synthesized by reactive hot-pressing at 1800 °C for 1 h with ZrB₂ addition as a sintering aid for the first time. The effects of ZrB₂ contents on the phase composition, microstructure evolution, and mechanical properties were reported. Based on the reaction and solid solution coupling effects between ZrB₂ and TiC, the product ZrC may be partially or completely dissolved into the TiC matrix, and then phase separation within the miscibility gap is observed to form lamellar nanostructured ZrC-rich (Zr, Ti)C. The TiC-10 mol.% ZrB₂ (starting batch composition) exhibits good comprehensive mechanical properties of hardness 27.7 ± 1.3 GPa, flexural strength 659 ± 48 MPa, and fracture toughness of 6.5 ± 0.6 MPa m^1/2, respectively, which reach or exceed most TiC-based composites using ceramics as sintering aids in the previous reports.     

Scallops as a new source of food protein: high-intensity ultrasonication improved stability of oil-in-water emulsion stabilised by myofibrillar protein

In this study, the effect of high-intensity ultrasound (HIUS) (200 and 400 W for 0, 5, 10 and 15 min respectively) on conformational changes, physicochemical, rheological and emulsifying properties of scallop (Patinopecten yessoensis) myofibrillar protein (SMP) was investigated. HIUS-treated SMP had lower α-helix content and higher β-sheet content compared with the native SMP. HIUS treatment induced the unfolding of SMP and increased the surface hydrophobicity. The particle size of SMP decreased and the absolute zeta-potential increased after ultrasonication, which in turn increased the solubility of SMP. The conformational changes and the improvement of physicochemical properties of SMP increased the ability for SMP to lower the interfacial tension at the oil–water interface and increased the percentage of adsorbed protein. As a result, the emulsifying properties, rheological properties of SMP and storage stability of emulsions were also improved. In conclusion, HIUS treatment has future potential for improving the emulsifying properties of SMP.     

A Highly Sensitive,Reversible, and Bidirectional Humidity Actuator by Calcium Carbonate Ionic Oligomers Incorporated Poly(Vinylidene Fluoride)

Sensitivity and multi-directional motivation are major two factors for developing optimized humidity-response materials, which are promising for sensing, energy production, etc. Organic functional groups are commonly used as the water sensitive units through hydrogen bond interactions with water molecules in actuators. The multi-coordination ability of inorganic ions implies that the inorganic ionic compounds are potentially superior water sensitive units. However, the particle forms of inorganic ionic compounds produced by classical nucleation limit the number of exposed ions to interact with water. Recent progress on the inorganic ionic oligomers has broken through the limitation of classical nucleation, and realized the molecular-scaled incorporation of inorganic ionic compounds into an organic matrix. Here, the incorporation of hydrophilic calcium carbonate ionic oligomers into hydrophobic poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) is demonstrated. The ultra-small calcium carbonate oligomers within a PVDF film endow it with an ultra-sensitive, reversible, and bidirectional response. The motivation ability is superior to other bidirectional humidity-actuators at present, which realizes self-motivation on an ice surface, converting the chemical potential energy of the humidity gradient from ice to kinetic energy.     

Hydrogeochemical Processes and Inverse Modeling for a Multilayer Aquifer System in the Yuaner Coal Mine,Huaibei Coalfield,China

Coal mining can dramatically change hydrogeological conditions and induce serious environmental problems. Fifty groundwater samples were collected from the main aquifers in the Yuaner coal mine (Anhui Province, China). The results show that the main hydrogeochemical processes in the mine include dissolution, precipitation, pyrite oxidation, desulfurization, and cation exchange. The Neogene porous aquifer is affected by groundwater flow conditions; its main hydrogeochemical processes are dissolution of carbonate minerals and gypsum, and cation exchange. The Permian coal measure’s fractured sandstone aquifer was confirmed to be controlled by the region’s geological structure; its main hydrogeochemical processes are desulfurization and cation exchange. The Carboniferous Taiyuan limestone aquifer was determined by both groundwater flow conditions and regional geological structure; its main hydrogeochemical processes are dissolution of carbonate minerals and gypsum, pyrite oxidation, and cation exchange. Additionally, hydrogeochemical inverse modeling of the groundwater flow path confirm the hydrochemistry results and principal component analysis.

     

Dual effect synergistically triggered Ce:(Y,Tb)3(Al,Mn)5O12 transparent ceramics enabling a high color-rendering index and excellent thermal stability for white LEDs

Ce:Y₃Al₅O₁₂ transparent ceramics (TCs) with appropriate emission light proportion and high thermal stability are significant to construct white light emitting diode devices with excellent chromaticity parameters. In this work, strategies of controlling crystal-field splitting around Ce³⁺ ion and doping orange-red emitting ion, were adopted to fabricate Ce:(Y,Tb)₃(Al,Mn)₅O₁₂ TCs via vacuum sintering technique. Notably, 85.4 % of the room-temperature luminescence intensity of the TC was retained at 150 °C, and the color rendering index was as high as 79.8. Furthermore, a 12 nm red shift and a 16.2 % increase of full width at half maximum were achieved owing to the synergistic effects of Tb³⁺ and Mn²⁺ ions. By combining TCs with a 460 nm blue chip, a warm white light with a low correlated color temperature of 4155 K was acquired. Meanwhile, the action mechanism of Tb³⁺ ion and the energy transfer between Ce³⁺ and Mn²⁺ ions were verified in prepared TCs.