•Synthesis of a multifunctional nanoplatform based on Fe3O4@CQDs coated SWCNTs.•SWCNTs-PEG-Fe3O4@CQDs exhibit photodynamic and photothermal effect.•SWCNTs-PEG-Fe3O4@CQDs/DOX possess both pH and heat ...responsive drug release behavior.•SWCNTs-PEG-Fe3O4@CQDs-DOX-Apt can be used for combined cancer CT/PDT/PTT.
In this work, PEG 2000N modified Fe3O4@carbon quantum dots (CQDs) coated single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) are fabricated and utilized as a multifunctional platform for imaging-guided collaborative treatment of cancer when the obtained agents act as dual photodynamic and photothermal effect under 808 nm laser irradiation. A model chemotherapy drug, doxorubicin (DOX), could be loaded into the pore structure of the obtained SWCNTs-PEG-Fe3O4@CQDs nano-carriers with high efficiency. These magnetofluorescent SWCNTs-PEG-Fe3O4@CQDs were conjugated with a sgc8c aptamer, denoted as SWCNTs-PEG-Fe3O4@CQDs-DOX-Apt, for targeting dual modalfluorescence/magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. Multifunctional SWCNTs-PEG-Fe3O4@CQDs-DOX-Apt had a strong effect on the targeted lung cancer cells, in the manner of inducing photodynamic and photothermal ablation, and was found to release DOX rapid following irradiation with pH/NIR laser. The current research demonstrates that SWCNTs-PEG-Fe3O4@CQDs-DOX-Apt nanocomposites can be used as an efficient nanoplatform for combing cancer photothermal therapy (PTT), photodynamic therapy (PDT) and chemotherapy (CT).
In job-shop production environments, machine breakdowns are a significant factor in reducing productivity. Existing approaches seldom consider algorithm improvement and rescheduling scheme design in ...an integrated manner, and lack stability considerations. This paper addresses the flexible job shop scheduling problem with random machine breakdowns, aiming to produce a stable rescheduling scheme that minimizes a combined index of maximum completion time and stability. The paper innovatively applies the tuna swarm optimization algorithm to the flexible job shop scheduling problem, proposing an efficient and superior improved version called the genetic chaos levy nonlinear tuna swarm optimization (GCLNTSO) algorithm. Three stability metrics are designed to guide the generation of efficient and stable rescheduling schemes. A rescheduling scheme is proposed that combines right-shift rescheduling with complete rescheduling. The proposed scheme is benchmarked against Brandymalter and Kacem’s problems, and compared with other algorithms from the literature. The results demonstrate that the GCLNTSO algorithm outperforms other algorithms in terms of both performance and stability.
•An improved TSO algorithm (GCLNTSO) is designed.•A hybrid rescheduling strategy and three stability indicators are designed.•Numerical experiments have demonstrated that the GCLNTSO is effective.
•Dynamic response signals showed relatively larger magnitudes in saturated condition than those in dry condition.•Pore water pressure was sensitive to vehicle speed compared with vehicle ...load.•Vehicle wheels of front and rear axles generated pore water pressure with obvious different magnitudes.•Tread pattern of vehicle wheel would affect the transverse distribution of dynamic pore water pressure.•Prediction model of positive pore water pressure taken both vehicle load and speed into account was proposed.
Asphalt pavement exhibits different dynamic responses to vehicle loading in saturated conditions and in dry conditions. It is essential to directly conduct field full-scale tests to systematically investigate comprehensive influence of water on dynamic response of asphalt pavement. However, real vehicles which were often applied in field tests might result in a certain deviation in dynamic responses measured from each field loading test due to the inevitable influence of the driver’s subjective operation and the tread pattern on vehicle wheel. This study adopted the full-scale accelerated loading test system to comprehensively characterize dynamic response of asphalt pavement in both dry and saturated conditions based on the strict control of loading vehicle’s path. The results indicated that dynamic responses showed relatively larger magnitudes in saturated condition than those in dry condition. Strain and stress respectively showed slowly increasing and decreasing trends with the increase of vehicle load and speed correspondingly. Pore water pressure was apparently sensitive to vehicle speed compared with vehicle load. Pore water pressure generated by the front axle wheels showed obviously larger magnitudes than those produced by the rear axle wheels due to the change in thickness of surface runoff. The transverse distribution of pore water pressure obtained from both field tests and numerical simulation exhibited consistent variation trends. Decline degree of pore water pressure magnitudes was obtained at 86.1% for the two adjacent testing points with a distance of 100 mm under the vehicle wheel, which proved the great influence of the tread pattern of vehicle wheel on the transverse distribution of dynamic pore water pressure. A prediction model of positive pore water pressure that considered vehicle load and speed was proposed.
Knowledge Tracing (KT) defines the task of diagnosing students’ dynamic knowledge level in exercises. Although existing efforts have leveraged question information, most of them either learn question ...embeddings during the process of model training or represent questions based on the correlation between questions and concepts, which ignores plentiful implicit information entailed in the student-question-concept interaction and the revelation of fine-grained semantics between the interaction as well as the usage of the students’ historical answers. It is, however, challenging to extract and refine implicit information in the student-question-concept interaction which is highly heterogeneous and complex. To this end, in this paper, we present a novel Semantic-Enhanced Question Embeddings Pre-training (SEEP) method, concentrating on decomposing underlying relation information in the interaction and further fusing information of questions and concepts under different decomposed semantic perspectives to obtain semantic-enhanced question embeddings for improving performances of KT methods. Extensive experiments conducted on two real-world datasets show SEEP has the higher expressive power that enables KT methods to predict students’ performance.
Magnetic lenses can effectively reduce the fiber diameter and whipping-circle width to control the random behavior of electrospinning. Although the axisymmetric magnetic lens for electrostatic ...spinning have several potential applications, the effect of its pole-piece structure on the electrostatic spinning process has not been adequately discussed. In this study, we explored the influence of changing the pole piece structure of the magnetic lens on the electrospinning process using experimental and numerical simulation methods. The results showed that for a 12 wt% polyacrylonitrile (PAN) solution, when the applied voltage was 15 kV, the feed rate was 1 mL/h, and current of the magnetic lens was 1 A, the gap width of the magnetic lens had a notable effect on the fiber deposition efficiency of the electrostatic spinning range of the magnetic lens. Appropriately reducing the gap width in the range of 1–10 mm can effectively reduce the deposition range of the fibers and improve fiber film thickness. Furthermore, when the angle of α is 45°, it exerts the most significant effect on the electrostatic spinning spray range and deposition efficiency, and the fiber film thickness and average fiber diameter attain their highest values. When the angle of α increases or decreases from 45°, the fiber film thickness and fiber diameter both show a decreasing trend. A change in the magnetic lens structure can effectively change the ejection range and fiber diameter during electrostatic spinning, which shows great potential in the field of nanofiber production.
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•Changing the magnetic lens structure can control the ejection range and fiber diameter during electrostatic spinning.•Study investigates the impact of magnetic lens pole-piece structure on electrospinning using experiments and simulations.•Optimal gap width (1–10 mm) enhances fiber deposition efficiency and film thickness.•Angle α of 45° maximizes electrostatic spinning range, deposition efficiency, fiber film thickness, and diameter.
The aim of this study is to investigate the efficacy of expanded endonasal approaches (EEAs) in the treatment of pituitary adenoma, and the effects of serum levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), ...interleukin-6 (IL-6), and interleukin-12 (IL-12) in patients were further analyzed. A total of 80 cases of patients with pituitary adenoma admitted to our hospital from January 2013 to May 2015 were randomly divided into the observation group and control group, with 40 cases in each group. The observation group was treated with EEA technique, while the control group was treated with transcranial microsurgery. The prolactin (PRL), growth hormone (GH) and other endocrine hormone indexes, as well as inflammatory factors such as TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-12 were compared before and 1 week after the operation between the two groups. Moreover, the scores of Karnofsky performance status (KPS) and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) at preoperative and postoperative 1 week were also compared between the two groups. The operation time, hospitalization time, and postoperative complications were compared between the two groups. And the patients were followed up for 2 years to observe the recurrence rate. The operation time and hospital stay in the observation group were 62.8 ± 9.3 min and 12.5 ± 2.1 days, respectively, while the operation time and length of stay in the control group were 105.6 ± 15.7 min and 18.2 ± 3.4 days, respectively. The operation time and hospitalization time were shorter than those in the control group, and the differences were statistically significant (P < 0.05). Before surgery, there was no significant difference in serum levels of PRL and GH between the two groups (P > 0.05). At 1 week after surgery, the levels of PRL and GH in the two groups were significantly lower than those before surgery (P < 0.05). And the serum levels of PRL and GH in the observation group were significantly lower than those in the observation group at 1 week after the operation (P < 0.05). Before operation, there was no significant difference between the two groups of KPS and MMSE scores (P > 0.05). At 1 week after operation, the scores of KPS and MMSE in both groups were significantly higher than those before the operation (P < 0.05), and the scores of KPS and MMSE in the observation group were significantly higher than those in the control group (P < 0.05). Furthermore, there was no significant difference in the serum levels of IL-6, IL-12, and TNF-α between the two groups before operation (P > 0.05). At 1 week after surgery, the serum levels of IL-6, IL-12, and TNF-α in the two groups were significantly lower than those before surgery (P < 0.05), while the serum levels of IL-6, IL-12, and TNF-α in the observation group were evidently lower than those in the control group at 1 week after the operation. Besides, the incidence of postoperative complications in the observation group was 7.5%, which was significantly lower than that in the control group (17.5%) (P < 0.05). All the patients in the two groups were followed up for 2 years. And there was no recurrence in the observation group and one case in the control group. The therapeutic effect of EEAs on pituitary adenoma is better. It can improve the level of high endocrine hormone in patients with pituitary adenoma, improve the functional status of the patients, reduce the serum level of inflammatory factors, and shorten the hospital stay. Meanwhile, it also has the characteristics of fewer complications and low recurrence rate, so it can be popularized in clinical practice.
Retroperitoneal echinococcosis (RE) is a rare condition that is associated with a high mortality and disability rate. It is associated with a high rate of misdiagnosis, a high risk of surgery, and is ...extremely difficult to manage. There is no uniform standard for determining the exact form of surgical method and the timing of surgery.This was a retrospective analysis of the characteristics and surgical management of patients diagnosed with RE in our hospital between 2012 and 2019.Between 2012 and 2019, 1257 cases of echinococcosis and 121 cases of RE were diagnosed in our hospital. Of these, 68 cases involved surgical treatment, 53 involved non-surgical treatment, and 12 cases were lost to follow-up (4 cases in the surgical group and 8 cases in the non-surgical group). Thus, 109 cases were followed-up. RE cases were divided according to different treatment methods into a radical resection group (Group A, 31 cases), a non-radical resection group (Group B, 37 cases), and a non-surgical group (Group C, 53 cases). We carried out a detailed analysis of the 109 cases experiencing surgical intervention with effective follow-up.Our analysis found that radical resection is the first line of treatment of RE, although non-radical surgery can benefit most patients. It is important to emphasize the importance of the first round of surgery, particularly in cases involving hepatic echinococcosis. If the lesion can be removed radically during the first round of surgery, then radical surgery should be performed.
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•The versatile lignin copolymers were synthesized via a surface RAFT polymerization.•Hyperbranched structure of lignin provides improved adhesive performances.•Adhesive performances ...could be well controlled by altering the content of VI.•Room temperature self-healing elastomer was achieved by appropriate VI content.
Bio-based copolymers with versatile properties and good processability are highly desired for practical applications. Herein we describe novel hyperbranched adhesive, UV protective coatings and functional elastomers with 6.1–9.5 wt% lignin synthesized by a one-pot RAFT grafting polymerization. The unique macromolecular structure and sufficient hydrogen bonds of these Lignin-graft-poly(n-butyl acrylate-co-1-vinylimidazole) copolymers (Lignin-BVs) resulted in fascinating and controllable features. Specifically, incorporating 13.9 wt% imidazole (VI) effectively improved the adhesive performances with maximal adhesive force and strength up to 34.0 N and 367.8 N·s, respectively, which were better than the commercial 3 M double-sided adhesive. Owing to water-resistance and UV absorption capacity, our Lignin-BVs could be served as excellent adhesive coatings for future outdoor decorative materials, safety clothing or beach umbrella. Moreover, upon increasing VI content to 19.4 wt%, Lignin-BV19.4 elastomer showed automatically room temperature self-healing behavior and could be fabricated into skin-adhesive strain sensor. Our studies provided a green and effective method in the preparation of the high value-added lignin copolymers, which could be appealing to both frontier research and industrial development.
The trilayer films of polyester/starch/polyester with different starch/polyester layer thickness ratios were prepared by co-extrusion blowing. FTIR and SEM results showed the successful fabrication ...of trilayer films. The crystallinity of trilayer films gradually increased as the thickness of polyester layer increased. Dynamic mechanical analysis was used to investigate the compatibility between starch and polyester. The presence of polyester layer significantly increased the tensile strength and water contact angle of starch film. All trilayer films had lower water vapor permeability than the starch film, and lower oxygen permeability than the polyester film. The trilayer films were degraded to a much greater extent compared with the polyester film. The weight loss of P10 trilayer film in 120 days is about 80% through degradation test. These results suggested that the polyester/starch/polyester films with excellent mechanical and hydrophobic properties could serve as packaging material for wider applications.
•Biodegradable trilayer films were developed from starch and polyester by co-extrusion blowing.•Mechanical properties of trilayer films were determined by thickness ratios.•Trilayer films showed excellent water vapor and oxygen barrier properties.•Trilayer films achieved high biodegradation in 120 days.
As promising hydrogen energy carrier, formic acid (HCOOH) plays an indispensable role in building a complete industry chain of a hydrogen economy. Currently, the biomass upgrading assisted water ...electrolysis has emerged as an attractive alternative for co‐producing green HCOOH and H2 in a cost‐effective manner, yet simultaneously affording high current density and Faradaic efficiency (FE) still remains a big challenge. Here, the ternary NiVRu‐layered double hydroxides (LDHs) nanosheet arrays for selective glycerol oxidation and hydrogen evolution catalysis are reported, which yield an industry‐level 1 A cm−2 at voltage of 1.933 V, meanwhile showing considerable HCOOH and H2 productivities of 12.5 and 17.9 mmol cm−2 h−1, with FEs of almost 80% and 96%, respectively. Experimental and theoretical results reveal that the introduced Ru atoms can tune the local electronic structure of Ni‐based LDHs, which not only optimizes hydrogen adsorption kinetics for HER, but also reduces the reaction energy barriers for both the conversion of NiII into GOR‐active NiIII and carboncarbon (CC) bond cleavage. In short, this work highlights the potential of large‐scale H2 and HCOOH productions from integrated electrocatalytic system and provides new insights for designing advanced electrocatalyst for low‐cost and sustainable energy conversion.
The ternary NiVRu‐LDHs nanosheet arrays are prepared by a one‐step hydrothermal reaction (NiVRu‐LDHs NAs/NF), which realize a green, sustainable, and energy‐saving electrochemical route for formic acid and hydrogen co‐production with high Faradaic efficiencies (almost 80% and 96%) and productivities (12.5 and 17.9 mmol cm−2 h−1) at an industry‐level current density of 1 A cm−2.
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