N‐type conjugated polymers as the semiconducting component of organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) are still undeveloped with respect to their p‐type counterparts. Herein, we report two rigid ...n‐type conjugated polymers bearing oligo(ethylene glycol) (OEG) side chains, PgNaN and PgNgN, which demonstrated an essentially torsion‐free π‐conjugated backbone. The planarity and electron‐deficient rigid structures enable the resulting polymers to achieve high electron mobility in an OECT device of up to the 10−3 cm2 V−1 s−1 range, with a deep‐lying LUMO energy level lower than −4.0 eV. Prominently, the polymers exhibited a high device performance with a maximum dimensionally normalized transconductance of 0.212 S cm−1 and the product of charge‐carrier mobility μ and volumetric capacitance C* of 0.662±0.113 F cm−1 V−1 s−1, which are among the highest in n‐type conjugated polymers reported to date. Moreover, the polymers are synthesized via a metal‐free aldol‐condensation polymerization, which is beneficial to their application in bioelectronics.
Two new n‐type semiconducting polymers, PgNaN and PgNgN, bearing oligo(ethylene glycol) (OEG) side chain are developed with a fully conformationally locked backbone and deep‐lying LUMO energy level. As a result, the polymer of PgNaN exhibits a good performance on OECT devices with a maximum dimensionally normalized transconductance of 0.212 S cm−1 and a product μC* of 0.662±0.113 F cm−1 V−1 s−1.
A modular multilevel converter (MMC) in a high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) transmission system consists of an electric-coupled physical system and a communication-coupled cyber system, leading to a ...cyber-physical system (CPS). Such a CPS is vulnerable to false data injection attacks (FDIA), which are the main category of cyberattacks. FDIAs can be launched by injecting false data into the control or communication system of the MMC to change the submodule (SM) capacitor voltage seen by the central controller. Consequently, the capacitor voltage of the attacked SM will deviate from its normal value and thus threaten the safe operation of the converter. Stealthy FDIAs characterized by elaborated attack sequences are more dangerous because they can deceive and bypass the attack detector presented in the existing literature for the MMC. To address this issue, this paper proposes a stealthy FDIA detection method to obtain the real SM capacitor voltages. Thus, the attacked SM can be located by comparing its real capacitor voltage with prespecified thresholds. Simulation results validate the effectiveness of the proposed detection and protection strategies.
Abstract The incidence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) tends to be younger. And the role of theobromine in fatty liver disease remains unclear. The purpose of this study was to ...investigate the relationship between dietary theobromine intake and degree of hepatic steatosis in individuals aged 45 and below, using data from the 2017–2020 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) and liver ultrasonography transient elastography. A total of 1796 participants aged below 45 years were included from NHANES 2017–2020 data after applying exclusion criteria. Multivariate regression and subgroup analyses were conducted to examine the associations between theobromine intake and controlled attenuation parameter (CAP), adjusting for potential confounders. Generalized additive models and two-piecewise linear regression were used to analyze nonlinear relationships. In the unadjusted Model 1 and preliminarily adjusted Model 2, there was no significant correlation between theobromine intake and CAP values. However, in Models 3 and 4, which accounted for confounding factors, a higher intake of theobromine was significantly associated with lower CAP values. Subgroup analyses in the fully adjusted Model 4 revealed a significant negative correlation among individuals aged 18–45, women, and white populations. Nonlinear analysis revealed a U-shaped relationship in black Americans, with the lowest CAP values at 44.5 mg/day theobromine. This study provides evidence that higher theobromine intake is correlated with lower degree of hepatic steatosis in young people, especially those aged 18–45 years, women, and whites. For black Americans, maintaining theobromine intake around 44.5 mg/day may help minimize liver steatosis. These findings may help personalize clinical nutritional guidance, prevent the degree of hepatic steatosis, and provide pharmacological approaches to reverse fatty liver disease in young people.
It has been discovered that a folate shortage may raise the risk of hepatic steatosis. We investigated the relationship between serum folate and controlled attenuation parameter (CAP) among 3606 ...participants over from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).
Multivariate logistic regression studies were carried out to calculate the relationship between serum folate and CAP. Additionally, generalized additive models and fitted smoothing curves were carried out.
After adjusting for other variables, we discovered that serum folate had a negative correlation with CAP. Males and whites maintained a negative correlation of serum folate with CAP when subgroup analyses were stratified by sex and race/ethnicity. The relationship between blood folate levels and CAP in whites had an U-shaped curve (inflection point: 34 ng/ml).
According to our study, the majority of Americans, particularly men and whites, had a negative correlation between serum folate and CAP. Among white people, this connection followed an U-shaped pattern. These findings may provide guidance for monitoring serum folate level and controlling oral folate dosage in clinic, so as to prevent liver steatosis more effectively.
Key Messages
The size of the cohort in our study is large, and our findings come from a nationally representative database.
Our study revealed a negative relationship between serum folate and CAP among most Americans, especially in male and whites, which may provide evidence for medications to treat hepatic steatosis.
In whites, the association of serum folate with CAP was an U-shaped curve (inflection point: 34 ng/ml). This may provide guidance for monitoring serum folate level and controlling oral folate dosage in clinic, so as to prevent liver steatosis more effectively.
Abstract
High-speed flexible circuits are required in flexible systems to realize real-time information analysis or to construct wireless communication modules for emerging applications. Here, we ...present scaled carbon nanotube-based thin film transistors (CNT-TFTs) with channel lengths down to 450 nm on 2-μm-thick parylene substrates, achieving state-of-the-art performances of high on-state current (187.6 μA μm
−1
) and large transconductance (123.3 μS μm
−1
). Scaling behavior analyses reveal that the enhanced performance introduced by scaling is attributed to channel resistance reduction while the contact resistance (180 ± 50 kΩ per tube) remains unchanged, which is comparable to that achieved in devices on rigid substrates, indicating great potential in ultimate scaled flexible CNT-TFTs with high performance comparable to their counterparts on rigid substrates where contact resistance dominates the performance. Five-stage flexible ring oscillators are built to benchmark the speed of scaled devices, demonstrating a 281 ps stage delay at a low supply voltage of 2.6 V.
The link between dietary fiber intake and Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is under exploration, yielding inconsistent findings. Considering the limitations of previous research and the ...significance of dietary fiber in hepatic steatosis, this study investigates the association between dietary fiber intake and Controlled Attenuation Parameter (CAP) among 5935 participants from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).
Multivariable regression was used to evaluate the association between dietary fiber intake and CAP. Smoothed curve fitting and threshold effect analysis techniques were applied to illustrate non-linear relationships.
After adjusting for other variables, a negative correlation emerged between dietary fiber intake and CAP. Subgroup analysis by gender and race/ethnicity revealed a sustained negative association between dietary fiber intake and CAP among females and Whites. Additionally, an inverted U-shaped relationship was observed between dietary fiber intake and CAP among women and other race, with inflection points at 13.80 g/day and 33.45 g/day, respectively.
Our research indicates that in the majority of Americans, there is an inverse relationship between dietary fiber intake and hepatic steatosis. This relationship exhibits an inverted U-shaped curve in women and other race, with a threshold effect. The findings of this study hold potential significance for clinical nutrition interventions, personalized dietary guidance, and advancing research into the diet-disease mechanism relationship.
The treatment of diabetic chronic wounds remains a global challenge due to the up-regulated inflammation response, oxidant stress, and persistent infection during healing process. Developing wound ...dressing materials with ideal biocompatibility, adequate mechanical strength, considerable under-water adhesion, sufficient anti-inflammation, antioxidant, and antibacterial properties is on-demand for clinical applications. In this study, we developed a bioactive skin-mimicking hydrogel band-aid through the combination of tannic acid (TA) and imidazolidinyl urea reinforced polyurethane (PMI) (TAP hydrogel) and explored its potentials in various medical applications, including hemostasis, normal skin incision, full-thickness skin wounds, and bacterial-infection skin incision on diabetic mice. TA was loaded into PMI hydrogel network to enhance the mechanical properties of TAP hydrogels through multiple non-covalent interactions (break strength: 0.28–0.64 MPa; elongation at break: 650–930%), which could resist the local stress and maintain the structural integrity of wound dressings during applications. Moreover, owing to the promising moisture-resistant adhesiveness and organ hemostasis, outstanding anti-inflammation, antibacterial, and antioxidant properties, TAP hydrogels could efficiently promote the recovery of skin incision and defects on diabetic mice. To further simulate the practical situation and explore the potential in clinical application, we also verified the treatment efficiency of TAP hydrogel in S. aureus-infected skin incision model on diabetic mice.
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•Bioactive skin-mimicking hydrogels were developed through the combination of tannic acid and polyurethane.•The wound healing and infected skin incision closure by the bioactive skin-mimicking hydrogels were studied on diabetic mice.
Flexible dielectrics with high energy density (U e) and low energy loss (U l) under elevated electric fields are especially attractive for the next-generation energy storage devices, e.g., high-pulse ...film capacitors. However, raising U e by introducing high dielectric constant materials generally increases U l, which is detrimental to the devices. To overcome this trade-off, a new strategy consisting of elevating electron polarization through the incorporation of 4-hydroxy-2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidin-N-oxy (TEMPO) units and capturing electrons with stable organic radicals is proposed. A series of flexible poly (dicyclopentadiene norbornene-ended 4-hydroxy-2, 2, 6, 6-tetramethylpiperidin-N-oxy) (PNB-D x T y ) copolymers with excellent dielectric and physical properties, thermal stability, and processability, were prepared and their energy storage properties investigated. Specifically, dicyclopentadiene (DCPD) groups were designed to construct a cross-linked network, while the TEMPO groups offered a stable radical to capture electrons under the action of an electric field, which favored the enhancement of the dielectric constant, Young’s modulus, and breakdown strength of the polymers. Compared with commercially available state-of-the-art polymer dielectrics, e.g., biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP), PNB-D x -T y demonstrated an exceeding dielectric performance and low-cost potential. Importantly, a discharge energy density of 10.6 J/cm3 with a high efficiency of 92% at 500 MV/m was achieved. The effective strategy revealed that the isolated stable radical in the low-polarity polymer matrix suppressed the energy loss and created a new paradigm for high-energy and low-loss flexible capacitors.
The stock market is an indicator of investor sentiment when it comes to new information or innovative firm-level products. Green bonds are both innovative and unique in terms of their higher ...information disclosures and understanding the impact of sustainable finance on investor outlook for a company's stock. Using the comparative case of Mainland China and Hong Kong's stock market, we examine whether green bond announcements from 2016 to 2019 can create significant investor reactions. By employing the event study methodology, we confirm that both markets react in a positive way toward green bond announcements. This reinforces the reputational and financial benefits of green bonds. We find that issuers that are non-banks, environmentally friendly firms as well as those issuing non-general bonds, create a more positive reaction, whereas ownership aspects do not matter as much for investors. However, even among those issuers listed in both markets, certain institutional dynamics like strategic framing and source credibility tend to reinforce a firm's institutional legitimacy and are seen as being more prominent for investor reaction. The policy implications of our study show that the stock market reaction among two connected economies, where previously varying institutional contexts have resulted in regional differences, are now equally supportive of sustainable financial markets like the green bond. As seen with the positive stock market sentiment, governments and listed issuers can now better align their policies and internal strategies, allowing the low-carbon transition to be a financially attractive opportunity for all investors.
To obtain cool materials as inorganic and nontoxic pigments with high near-infrared reflectance, nano-powder of Fe/N co-doped MgTiO3 (FNM), were synthesized by the sol-gel method. The substitution of ...Fe/N changed the color from white to dark-red due to the point defect equilibrium theory, while the band gap decreased from 2.11ev to 1.89ev. Ammonolysis reaction can promote the particle dispersion and increase the particle size. Furthermore, the FNM pigments exhibit high NIR reflectance (>65%) and the NIR solar reflectance (>53.51%) in the range of 700–2500nm. After the prepared pigments (N-doped Mg1−xFexTiO3+δ, x=0.3) and conventional brown pigments used as building roof materials, the temperature difference of coatings could reach 2.4°C (the inner surface temperature of substrate plates) and 2.0°C (the interior temperature of the two boxes), respectively. Moreover, the surface temperature distribution of the coatings was recorded by infrared images and the difference (ΔT) varied at 0–12°C. According to the maximum value of coatings (x=0.3), energy savings would reduce annual emissions of 1379.35t carbon dioxide, 41.65t nitrogen oxides and 34.30t sulfur oxides. Owing to the wide range of color and good chemical stability, which meets reflectance of solar radiation energy and cooling energy needs, these FNM materials are considered as novel color pigments.
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•A novel near-infrared reflecting inorganic pigments Fe/N co-doped MgTiO3 have been prepared by the Sol-Gel method.•Fe/N co-doped MgTiO3 displays wide range of colors from white to red-brown.•The pigments possess high NIR solar reflectance (>53.51%).•Indoor air temperature difference of boxes in the simulation test reaches 2.0–3.0°C.•The interior surface temperature difference of the two pigmented coatings is above 2.4°C.
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