A metamaterial-inspired efficient electrically small antenna is proposed, firstly. And then several improving power transfer efficiency (PTE) methods for wireless power transfer (WPT) systems ...composed of the proposed antenna in the radiating near-field region are investigated. Method one is using a proposed antenna as a power retriever. This WPT system consisted of three proposed antennas: a transmitter, a receiver, and a retriever. The system is fed by only one power source. At a fixed distance from receiver to transmitter, the distance between the transmitter and the retriever is turned to maximize power transfer from the transmitter to the receiver. Method two is using two proposed antennas as transmitters and one antenna as receiver. The receiver is placed between the two transmitters. In this system, two power sources are used to feed the two transmitters, respectively. By adjusting the phase difference between the two feeding sources, the maximum PTE can be obtained at the optimal phase difference. Using the same configuration as method two, method three, where the maximum PTE can be increased by regulating the voltage (or power) ratio of the two feeding sources, is proposed. In addition, we combine the proposed methods to construct another two schemes, which improve the PTE at different extent than classical WPT system.
A bacterial protein delivery system for transient gene induction was used to study gene regulation in the cuticular wax biosynthesis pathway in maize.
Abstract
Understanding gene regulatory networks ...is essential to elucidate developmental processes and environmental responses. Here, we studied regulation of a maize (Zea mays) transcription factor gene using designer transcription activator-like effectors (dTALes), which are synthetic Type III TALes of the bacterial genus Xanthomonas and serve as inducers of disease susceptibility gene transcription in host cells. The maize pathogen Xanthomonas vasicola pv. vasculorum was used to introduce 2 independent dTALes into maize cells to induced expression of the gene glossy3 (gl3), which encodes a MYB transcription factor involved in biosynthesis of cuticular wax. RNA-seq analysis of leaf samples identified, in addition to gl3, 146 genes altered in expression by the 2 dTALes. Nine of the 10 genes known to be involved in cuticular wax biosynthesis were upregulated by at least 1 of the 2 dTALes. A gene previously unknown to be associated with gl3, Zm00001d017418, which encodes aldehyde dehydrogenase, was also expressed in a dTALe-dependent manner. A chemically induced mutant and a CRISPR-Cas9 mutant of Zm00001d017418 both exhibited glossy leaf phenotypes, indicating that Zm00001d017418 is involved in biosynthesis of cuticular waxes. Bacterial protein delivery of dTALes proved to be a straightforward and practical approach for the analysis and discovery of pathway-specific genes in maize.
Alloy-based Sn anode for sodium-ion batteries has attracted tremendous attention due to its low working voltage, high specific capacity, and good availability. Its application is hindered, however, ...by inferior cycling stability due to its huge volume changes and unstable solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI) film. Herein, tetraphenylphosphonium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (TPPTFSI) is introduced into the electrode and spontaneously adsorbed on the surfaces of commercial Sn microparticles (μ-Sn) to improve the electrochemical performance of the Sn anode. In the first cycle, the TPP+ component of TPPTFSI decomposes to form an organic component of the SEI film, thereby enhancing its flexibility. Meanwhile, the TFSI− component is converted into an inorganic constituent of the SEI, improving its robustness and ionic conductivity. Therefore, the cycling performance of the μ-Sn is enhanced significantly. The modified electrode, TPPTFSI-Sn, delivers a capacity of 619.7 mAh g−1 after 2000 cycles at 2.0 A g−1, while the control sample can only survive for 30 cycles. Importantly, the full cell also exhibits excellent performance, including rate performance and cycling stability. Its simple operation and remarkable electrochemical performance improvement indicate the promising prospects of this strategy for advanced electrodes in SIBs.
Understanding gene regulatory networks is essential to elucidate developmental processes and environmental responses. Here, in this work, we studied regulation of a maize (Zea mays) transcription ...factor gene using designer transcription activator-like effectors (dTALes), which are synthetic Type III TALes of the bacterial genus Xanthomonas and serve as inducers of disease susceptibility gene transcription in host cells. The maize pathogen Xanthomonas vasicola pv. vasculorum was used to introduce 2 independent dTALes into maize cells to induced expression of the gene glossy3 (gl3), which encodes a MYB transcription factor involved in biosynthesis of cuticular wax. RNA-seq analysis of leaf samples identified, in addition to gl3, 146 genes altered in expression by the 2 dTALes. Nine of the 10 genes known to be involved in cuticular wax biosynthesis were upregulated by at least 1 of the 2 dTALes. A gene previously unknown to be associated with gl3, Zm00001d017418, which encodes aldehyde dehydrogenase, was also expressed in a dTALe-dependent manner. A chemically induced mutant and a CRISPR-Cas9 mutant of Zm00001d017418 both exhibited glossy leaf phenotypes, indicating that Zm00001d017418 is involved in biosynthesis of cuticular waxes. Bacterial protein delivery of dTALes proved to be a straightforward and practical approach for the analysis and discovery of pathway-specific genes in maize.
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Background: The efficacy of operation, as the only radical option for resectable BCLC stage A/B hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients beyond Milan criteria, is still ...unsatisfactory. This study aimed to investigate to efficacy and safety of preoperative neoadjuvant transarterial infusion chemotherapy (TAI) with FOLFOX regimen for these patients. Methods: In this multi-center, prospective, phase 3, randomized, open-labeled, controlled clinical trial, resectable BCLC stage A/B HCC patients beyond Milan criteria were randomly assigned (1:1) before hepatectomy to receive either neoadjuvant TAI (NT group) or operation directly without any neoadjuvant treatment (OP group). The primary endpoint was overall survival (OS), the secondary endpoints are progression-free survival (PFS), recurrence free survival (RFS), and safety. Results: Between March, 2016 and July, 2020, 208 patients enrolled from five Chinese hospitals were randomly assigned to NT group (n=104) or OP group (n=104)， with 99 patients in NT group and 100 patients in OP group included in the efficacy and safety analysis. Clinicopathological characteristics were balanced between the two groups. The 1-, 2-, and 3-year OS rates for NT group were 92.9%, 78.6%, and 63.5%, and were 79.5%, 62.0%, and 46.3% for OP group, respectively. The 6-, 12-, and 18-month PFS rates for NT group were 77.6%, 50.4%, and 47.4%, and were 52.7%, 42.8%, and 34.8% for OP group, respectively. The OS and PFS were significantly better in NT group than in OP group (p=0.016 and 0.017, respectively). The 6-, 12-, and 18-month RFS rates for NT group were 63.8%, 47.3%, and 47.3%, and were 52.7%, 42.8%, and 34.8% for OP group, respectively. The RFS between the two group had no difference (p=0.385). No patients in NT group experienced grade 3 or more severe TAI related adverse events. The operation related adverse events were similar between two groups (p=0.300). Conclusions: Neoadjuvant TAI before hepatectomy may bring survival benefits for resectable BCLC stage A/B HCC patients beyond Milan criteria. Trial number: NCT03851913. Clinical trial information: NCT03851913.
Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a fast-growing cancer characterized by high occurrences of nodal and distant metastases and poor prognosis. It is therefore important to identify new serum ...biomarkers for the early diagnosis and prognostic prediction of this disease. The present study identifies biomarkers in NPC patient serum using a solid-phase antibody array detecting the expression profiles of 174 cytokines in a single experiment. ELISA was performed to validate the array results. The levels of TIMP-2, SELL, CCL24, MMP-1, MMP-3, IGF-I and IL-8 were significantly higher in serum from NPC patients, while the levels of MSP-alpha and HCC-4 were lower. Furthermore, the validation results were identical to those obtained from the antibody array. These results indicate that these cytokines might serve as novel biomarkers for the diagnosis and prognostic prediction of NPC.
Abstract Simultaneously achieving high‐energy‐density and high‐power‐density is a crucial yet challenging objective in the pursuit of commercialized power batteries. In this study, atomic layer ...deposition (ALD) is employed combined with a coordinated thermal treatment strategy to construct a densely packed, electron‐ion dual conductor (EIC) protective coating on the surface of commercial LiNi 0.5 Co 0.2 Mn 0.3 O 2 (NCM523) cathode material, further enhanced by gradient Al doping (Al@EIC‐NCM523). The ultra‐thin EIC effectively suppresses side reactions, thereby enhancing the stability of the cathode‐electrolyte interphase (CEI) at high‐voltages. The EIC's dual conduction capability provides a potent driving force for Li + transport at the interface, promoting the formation of rapid ion deintercalation pathways within the Al@EIC‐NCM523 bulk phase. Moreover, the strategic gradient doping of Al serves to anchor the atomic spacing of Ni and O within the structure of Al@EIC‐NCM523, curbing irreversible phase transitions at high‐voltages and preserving the integrity of its layered structure. Remarkably, Al@EIC‐NCM523 displays an unprecedented rate capability (114.7 mAh g −1 at 20 C), and a sustained cycling performance (capacity retention of 74.72% after 800 cycles at 10 C) at 4.6 V. These findings demonstrate that the proposed EIC and doping strategy holds a significant promise for developing high‐energy‐density and high‐power‐density lithium‐ion batteries (LIBs).
The prediction of the dissolved gases content in an oil-immersed power transformer is very important for early fault detection. However, it is quite difficult to obtain accurate predictions due to ...the non-linearity of gas data. Different machine learning technics have been used to solve this problem, but they neither consider the relationship of different gases nor the sampling errors. In this paper, we propose to use Grey relational analysis (GRA) to calculate grey relational coefficients for gas feature selection and a Gaussian process regression (GPR) to predict dissolved gas value. In this method, both the relationship of gas features and sampling errors are considered. Four algorithms of ANN, SVM, LSSVM and GPR are used in gas prediction. We conducted experiments on eight dissolved gas datasets. The comparison results have shown that the GRA method is effective in selecting good gas features. The performance of prediction of gas values is significantly improved.
Simultaneously achieving high-energy-density and high-power-density is a crucial yet challenging objective in the pursuit of commercialized power batteries. In this study, atomic layer deposition ...(ALD) is employed combined with a coordinated thermal treatment strategy to construct a densely packed, electron-ion dual conductor (EIC) protective coating on the surface of commercial LiNi0.5Co0.2Mn0.3O2 (NCM523) cathode material, further enhanced by gradient Al doping (Al@EIC-NCM523). The ultra-thin EIC effectively suppresses side reactions, thereby enhancing the stability of the cathode-electrolyte interphase (CEI) at high-voltages. The EIC's dual conduction capability provides a potent driving force for Li+ transport at the interface, promoting the formation of rapid ion deintercalation pathways within the Al@EIC-NCM523 bulk phase. Moreover, the strategic gradient doping of Al serves to anchor the atomic spacing of Ni and O within the structure of Al@EIC-NCM523, curbing irreversible phase transitions at high-voltages and preserving the integrity of its layered structure. Remarkably, Al@EIC-NCM523 displays an unprecedented rate capability (114.7 mAh g-1 at 20 C), and a sustained cycling performance (capacity retention of 74.72% after 800 cycles at 10 C) at 4.6 V. These findings demonstrate that the proposed EIC and doping strategy holds a significant promise for developing high-energy-density and high-power-density lithium-ion batteries (LIBs).
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