Changes in the content and antioxidative activity of β-carotene and its metabolite vitamin A during gastrointestinal digestion and absorption and optimisation of HPLC-based detection

The β-Carotene (BC), an important precursor of vitamin A (VA), possesses antioxidant activity but is fat-soluble and has low bioavailability. In previous in-vitro assays evaluating antioxidant and 2,2′-azobis(2-amidinopropane) dihydrochloride (AAPH) free radical scavenging, both BC and VA showed a strong ability to scavenge radicals and protected cells from oxidative stress. Here, we used artificially simulated gastrointestinal digestion and Caco-2 cell absorption models to evaluate the bioavailability of the BC during gastrointestinal digestion and absorption using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis. We observed high absorptive and transfer rates of BC and detected retinol metabolites (Vitamin A). Therefore, BC can be detected in the acidic gastrointestinal environment using HPLC. Optimised method provided better separation of BC and VA in the column, improving the accuracy of the test results.     

Theoretical investigation of intrinsic point defects and the oxygen migration behavior in rare earth hafnates

In this work, the composition-dependent point defect types and formation energies of RE₂Hf₂O₇ (RE = La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Pm, Sm, Eu and Gd) as well as the oxygen diffusion behavior are systematically investigated by first-principles calculations. The possible defect reactions and dominant defect complexes under stoichiometric and non-stoichiometric conditions are revealed. It is found that O Frenkel pairs are the predominant defect in stoichiometric pyrochlore hafnates. Hf-RE cation anti-site defects, accompanied by RE vacancies and/or oxygen interstitials, are stable in the non-stoichiometric case of HfO₂ excess. On the other hand, RE-Hf anti-site defects together with oxygen vacancies and/or RE interstitials are preferable in the case of RE₂O₃ excess. The energy barriers for the migration along the V_O48f - V_O48f pathway of pyrochlore hafnates were calculated to be between 0.81 eV and 0.89 eV. Based on these results, a defect engineering strategy is proposed and the pyrochlore hafnates investigated here are predicted to exhibit potential oxygen ionic conductivity.     

Facial-sketch Synthesis: A New Challenge

Machine Intelligence Research - This paper aims to conduct a comprehensive study on facial-sketch synthesis (FSS). However, due to the high cost of obtaining hand-drawn sketch datasets, there is a...     

基于滚动摩擦作用下玉米颗粒在模拟筒仓卸料中的力链分析（网络首发、推荐阅读）

针对颗粒滚动摩擦作用对筒仓中玉米颗粒的力链空间分布进行研究，通过EDEM离散元软件建立筒仓模型与仿真玉米颗粒模型进行卸粮仿真模拟，并与筒仓卸料实验作流态对比，验证模型与仿真结果的准确性。通过对模拟仓进行切片观察和数据处理，对比分析了不同摩擦情况下力链的细观参数随时间演化规律。模拟结果表明：颗粒间摩擦系数越大，卸粮完成的最终时间越长；颗粒间滚动摩擦系数越小，颗粒由整体流转变为管状流的时间越早。对于有漏斗的筒仓来说，减小颗粒间摩擦会改变整体流和管状流之间的极限，从而增加产生管状流的面积。标准滚动摩擦系数下玉米颗粒在卸料过程中会出现起拱-塌陷效应；减小滚动摩擦，玉米颗粒卸料较稳定，未出现起拱的应力突增、以及拱塌陷的应力衰减；增大颗粒间滚动摩擦不但会增加拱效应，且出现成拱高度距离漏斗口更高。     

Synthesis of Hollow Three-Dimensional Channels LiNi_(0.5)Mn_(1.5)O_4 Microsphere by PEO Soft Template Assisted with Solvothermal Method

A appropriate size with three-dimension(3 D) channels for lithium diffusion plays an important role in constructing highperforming LiNi_(0.5)Mn_(1.5)O_4(LNMO) cathode materials, as it can not only reduce the transport path of lithium ions and electrons, but also reduce the side effects and withstand the structural strain in the process of repetitive Li~+ intercalation/deintercalation. In this work, an e fficient method for designing the hollow LNMO microsphere with 3 D channels structure by using polyethylene oxide(PEO) as soft template agent assisted solvothermal method is proposed. Experimental results indicate that PEO can make the reagents mingle evenly and nucleate slowly in the solvothermal process, thus obtaining a homogeneous distribution of carbonate precursors. In the final LNMO products, the hollow 3 D channels structure obtained by the decomposition of PEO and carbonate precursor in the calcination can provide abundant electroactive zones and electron/ion transport paths during the charge/discharge process, which benefits to improve the cycling performance and rate capability. The LNMO prepared by adding 1 g PEO possesses the most outstanding electrochemical performance, which presented an excellent discharge capacity of 143.1 mAh g~(-1) at 0.1 C and with a capacity retention of 92.2% after 100 cycles at 1 C. The superior performance attributed to the 3 D channels structure of hollow microspheres, which provide uninterrupted conductive systems and therefore achieve the stable transfer for electron/ion.     

Influence of surfactants on rheological behaviors of polyacrylonitrile/dimethyl sulfoxide/silicon blending polymer solutions

KH550, KH560, CTAB, and F127 were adopted to modify silicon (Si) to improve the dispersity and stability of Si in the polyacrylonitrile/dimethyl sulfoxide (PAN/DMSO) polymer solutions. The influence of surfactants on rheological behaviors of PAN/DMSO/Si blending polymer solutions was investigated by an advanced solution and melt rotation rheometer. The homogeneity and stability were also studied. The results showed that the surfactants could change the viscosity dependence of blending polymer solutions on shear rate, temperature and storage time by increase the steric hindrance of Si. Among the four solutions, PAN/DMSO/Si blending polymer solution with F127 exhibited the lowest viscosity, activation energy and the smallest structural viscosity index and exhibited the trend close to the Newtonian fluids. Moreover, PAN/DMSO/Si blending polymer solution with F127 exhibited the best dispersity and stability, indicating its best physical properties and machinability.     

A data-driven digital-twin prognostics method for proton exchange membrane fuel cell remaining useful life prediction

Prognostics and health management of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) systems have driven increasing research attention in recent years as the durability of PEMFC stack remains as a technical barrier for its large-scale commercialization. To monitor the health state during PEMFC operation, digital twin (DT), as a smart manufacturing technique, is applied in this paper to establish an ensemble remaining useful life prediction system. A data-driven DT is constructed to integrate the physical knowledge of the system and a deep transfer learning model based on stacked denoising autoencoder is used to update the DT with online measurement. A case study with experimental PEMFC degradation data is presented where the proposed data-driven DT prognostics method has applied and reached a high prediction accuracy. Furthermore, the predicted results are proved to be less affected even with limited measurement data.     

基于K-means和SOM的水下传感器数据采集方法

随着海洋资源勘探和海洋污染物监控工作的开展，水文数据的监测和采集等已经成为重要的研究方向。其中，水下无线传感器网络在水文数据采集过程中起着举足轻重的作用。本文研究的是水下无线传感器二维监测网络模型中，传感器节点数据采集的问题，其设计方法是通过自组织映射（Self-organizing mapping，SOM）对传感器节点进行路径最优化处理，结合优化的路径图形和K-means算法找到路径内部聚合点，利用聚合点和传感器的节点得到传感器通信半径内的数据采集点，最后通过SOM得到水下机器人（Autonomous underwater vehicle，AUV）到各个数据采集点采集数据的最优路径。经过实验验证，在水下1 200 m×1 750 m范围内布置52个传感器节点的情景下，数据采集点相比于传感器节点路径规划采用相同的采集顺序得到的路径优化了6.7%；对数据采集点重新进行自组织路径规划得到的路径比传感器结点路径的最优解提高了12.2%。增加传感器节点的数量，其结果也大致相同，因此采用该方法可以提高水下机器人采集数据的效率。