The role of microstructural evolution during spark plasma sintering on the soft magnetic and electronic properties of a CoFe–Al2O3 soft magnetic composite

Journal of Materials Science - For transformers and inductors to meet the world’s growing demand for electrical power, more efficient soft magnetic materials with high saturation magnetic...     

Map management for robust long-term visual localization of an autonomous shuttle in changing conditions

Multimedia Tools and Applications - Changes in appearance present a tremendous problem for the visual localization of an autonomous vehicle in outdoor environments. Data association between the...     

Pectic Galactan Polysaccharide-Based Gene Delivery System for Targeting Neuroinflammation

Treating neuroinflammation-related injuries and disorders through manipulation of neuroinflammation functions is being heralded as a new therapeutic strategy. In this study, a novel pectic galactan (PG) polysaccharide based gene therapy approach is developed for targeting reactive gliosis in neuroinflammation. Galectin-3 (Gal-3) is a cell protein with a high affinity to β-galactoside sugars and is highly expressed in reactive gliosis. Since PG carries galactans, it can target reactive gliosis via specific carbohydrate interaction between galactan and Gal-3 on the cell membrane, and therefore can be utilized as a carrier for delivering genes to these cells. The carrier is synthesized by modifying quaternary ammonium groups on the PG. The resulting quaternized PG (QPG) is found to form complexes with plasmid DNA with a mean diameter of 100 nm and have the characteristics required for targeted gene therapy. The complexes efficiently condense large amounts of plasmid per particle and successfully bind to Gal-3. The in vivo study shows that the complexes are biocompatible and safe for administration and can selectively transfect reactive glial cells of an induced cortical lesion. The results confirm that this PG-based delivery system is a promising platform for targeting Gal-3 overexpressing neuroinflammation cells for treating neuroinflammation-related injuries and neurodegenerative diseases.     

Multiply Charged Conjugated Polyelectrolytes as a Multifunctional Interlayer for Efficient and Scalable Perovskite Solar Cells

A series of anionic conjugated polyelectrolytes (CPEs) is synthesized based on poly(fluorene-co-phenylene) by varying the side-chain ionic density from two to six per repeat units (MPS2-TMA, MPS4-TMA, and MPS6-TMA). The effect of MPS2, 4, 6-TMA as interlayers on top of a hole-extraction layer of poly(bis(4-phenyl)-2,4,6-trimethylphenylamine (PTAA) is investigated in inverted perovskite solar cells (PeSCs). Owing to the improved wettability of perovskites on hydrophobic PTAA with the CPEs, the PeSCs with CPE interlayers demonstrate a significantly enhanced device performance, with negligible device-to-device dependence relative to the reference PeSC without CPEs. By increasing the ionic density in the MPS-TMA interlayers, the wetting, interfacial defect passivation, and crystal growth of the perovskites are significantly improved without increasing the series resistance of the PeSCs. In particular, the open-circuit voltage increases from 1.06 V for the PeSC with MPS2-TMA to 1.11 V for the PeSC with MPS6-TMA. The trap densities of the PeSCs with MPS2,4,6-TMA are further analyzed using frequency-dependent capacitance measurements. Finally, a large-area (1 cm²) PeSC is successfully fabricated with MPS6-TMA, showing a power conversion efficiency of 18.38% with negligible hysteresis and a stable power output under light soaking for 60 s.     

Chemical-Shift Perturbations Reflect Bile Acid Binding to Norovirus Coat Protein: Recognition Comes in Different Flavors

Bile acids have been reported as important cofactors promoting human and murine norovirus (NoV) infections in cell culture. The underlying mechanisms are not resolved. Through the use of chemical shift perturbation (CSP) NMR experiments, we identified a low-affinity bile acid binding site of a human GII.4 NoV strain. Long-timescale MD simulations reveal the formation of a ligand-accessible binding pocket of flexible shape, allowing the formation of stable viral coat protein–bile acid complexes in agreement with experimental CSP data. CSP NMR experiments also show that this mode of bile acid binding has a minor influence on the binding of histo-blood group antigens and vice versa. STD NMR experiments probing the binding of bile acids to virus-like particles of seven different strains suggest that low-affinity bile acid binding is a common feature of human NoV and should therefore be important for understanding the role of bile acids as cofactors in NoV infection.     

Annotation alignment method on P2P-TV system

Peer-to-Peer Networking and Applications - P2P-TV is a TV system that receives content through a peer-to-peer network. Content is stored in the distributed manner then to be serviced to users, and...     

Hydroxyapatite/tricalcium silicate composites cement derived from novel two-step sol-gel process with good biocompatibility and applications as bone cement and potential coating materials

Tricalcium silicate (C₃S) and hydroxyapatite (HAp) composites were fabricated through the sol-gel process. The aim of this research is to improve the biocompatibility of C₃S through HAp addition and study the potential of using this as coating materials. The composites (HAp/C₃S) were characterised by Fourier transform infrared spectrometry, thermal gravity-differential thermal analysis and X-ray diffraction. The working and setting times of cement pastes were tested using Gillmore needle. Mechanical properties were examined by nanoindentation and material testing system. In vitro biocompatibility of the materials were studied by cell attachment and viability of L929 and MG-63 cells. HAp/C₃S as a coating material on gelatin film were measured with the surface roughness and imaged by scanning electron microscope. With the addition of HAp, no undesirable free CaO was detected with the synthesis by the sol-gel preparation. The pH values of HAp added groups were between 7.54 and 8.76, which were much lower than pure C₃S group (pH?=?11.75). For in vitro studies, the presence of HAp could effectively enhance the cell attachment and viability of both L929 and MG-63 cells grown in the extract or directly on the composites. However, the mechanical properties of the composites were impaired as compared to pure C₃S. Lastly, HAp/C₃S cement could be evenly coated on gelatin film. HAp is successfully demonstrated to improve C₃S biocompatibility with this new composites HAp/C₃S. C-75 (75% C₃S and 25% HAp), in particular, has good biocompatibility, relatively high compressive strength and can be uniformly coated onto gelatin film. Thus, C-75 is a promising material for further investigation as a coating on other biopolymers.