Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are a family of pattern recognition receptors (PRR) with a crucial function in innate immune responses. Activation of TLR4 signaling at the plasma membrane by ...lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulates proinflammatory signaling pathways dependent on the E3 ubiquitin ligase TRAF6. Here we show the LPS-induced long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) Mirt2 functions as a checkpoint to prevent aberrant activation of inflammation, and is a potential regulator of macrophage polarization. Mirt2 associates with, and attenuates Lys63 (K63)-linked ubiquitination of, TRAF6, thus inhibiting activation of NF-κB and MAPK pathways and limiting production of proinflammatory cytokines. Adenovirus mediated gene transfer of Mirt2 protects mice from endotoxemia induced fatality and multi-organ dysfunction. These findings identify lncRNA Mirt2 as a negative feedback regulator of excessive inflammation.
The existing adaptive Kalman filters for tracking manoeuvring targets by wireless sensor networks can easily lose robustness when both the measurement and process noises are unknown and time‐varying, ...resulting in large positioning errors. To solve this problem, a wireless sensor network manoeuvring target tracking algorithm using a novel robust adaptive cubature Kalman filter is proposed. This innovative robust adaptive cubature Kalman filter consists of a derived third‐order biased noise statistic estimator and conventional cubature Kalman filter. This derived noise statistic estimator can simultaneously sense time‐varying and unknown measurement and process noises and ensure that the adaptive cubature Kalman filter's robustness is not lost. The robustness of the novel robust adaptive cubature Kalman filter is strictly proven in this study. Extensive practical experiments and numerical simulations show that the proposed robust adaptive cubature Kalman filter always has higher target tracking accuracy than other existing adaptive Kalman filters, regardless of whether the mobile target is manoeuvring or not, the noise is unknown or time‐varying, and the number of anchor nodes is few or many.
Personal Visualization and Personal Visual Analytics Dandan Huang; Tory, Melanie; Aseniero, Bon Adriel ...
IEEE transactions on visualization and computer graphics,
2015-March-1, 2015-Mar, 2015-3-1, 20150301, Letnik:
21, Številka:
3
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Data surrounds each and every one of us in our daily lives, ranging from exercise logs, to archives of our interactions with others on social media, to online resources pertaining to our hobbies. ...There is enormous potential for us to use these data to understand ourselves better and make positive changes in our lives. Visualization (Vis) and visual analytics (VA) offer substantial opportunities to help individuals gain insights about themselves, their communities and their interests; however, designing tools to support data analysis in non-professional life brings a unique set of research and design challenges. We investigate the requirements and research directions required to take full advantage of Vis and VA in a personal context. We develop a taxonomy of design dimensions to provide a coherent vocabulary for discussing personal visualization and personal visual analytics. By identifying and exploring clusters in the design space, we discuss challenges and share perspectives on future research. This work brings together research that was previously scattered across disciplines. Our goal is to call research attention to this space and engage researchers to explore the enabling techniques and technology that will support people to better understand data relevant to their personal lives, interests, and needs.
Heterogeneous oxidation of SO2 is an effective production pathway of sulfate in the atmosphere. We recently reported a novel pathway for the heterogeneous oxidation of SO2 by in-particle oxidants ...(OH, NO2, and NO2 –/HNO2) produced from particulate nitrate photolysis (Environ. Sci. Technol. 2019, 53, 8757–8766). Particulate nitrate is often found to coexist with chloride and other halide ions, especially in aged sea-salt aerosols and combustion aerosols. Reactive uptake experiments of SO2 with UV-irradiated nitrate particles showed that sulfate production rates were enhanced by a factor of 1.4, 1.3, and 2.0 in the presence of Cl–, Br–, and I–, respectively, compared to those in the absence of halide ions. The larger sulfate production was attributed to enhanced nitrate photolysis promoted by the increased incomplete solvation of nitrate at the air–particle interface due to the presence of surface-active halide ions. Modeling results based on the experimental data showed that the nitrate photolysis rate constants increased by a factor of 2.0, 1.7, and 3.7 in the presence of Cl–, Br–, and I–, respectively. A linear relation was found between the nitrate photolysis rate constant, j NO3‑, and the initial molar ratio of Cl– to NO3 –, Cl–0/NO3 –0, as j NO3‑ = 9.7 × 10–5Cl–0/NO3 –0 + 1.9 × 10–5 at Cl–0/NO3 –0 below 0.2. The present study demonstrates that the presence of halide ions enhances sulfate production produced during particulate nitrate photolysis and provides insights into the enhanced formation of in-particle oxidants that may increase atmospheric oxidative capacity.
The management of digestate from food waste (DFW) has become a big challenge for anaerobic digestion (AD) plants. It is crucial to understand the characteristics of DFW for its beneficial ...utilization. This study investigated the long-term characteristics of DFW from an industrial-scale AD plant in China for 16 months. The result showed that the characteristics of the DFW were relatively stable. The DFW contained considerable amounts of organic matter (23–40% of lignin and 12–26% of protein) and abundant nutrients (N, P, and K), with high concentrations of metals (e.g., 55.17 mg g−1 and 15.55 mg g−1 of Ca and Fe) and sulfur (1.40%) on a dry basis. Based on the results, pyrolysis and composting were evaluated as optional conversion ways of DFW. The pyrolysis temperature range of 500 °C to 600 °C was recommended for producing biochar. In this temperature range, the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area of the produced biochar is over 120 m2 g−1. The composting offered the best potential for recovering the nutrients from DFW, but the high ammonia gas content (6970 ppm) should be paid attention to during composting.
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•Long-term characteristics of digestate from food waste (DFW) were investigated.•The DFW had relatively stable characteristics during 16 months.•The DFW contained abundant organic matter and nutrients.•The DFW presented high levels of metals (Ca and Fe) and sulfur.•Pyrolysis and composting were evaluated for the beneficial use of the DFW.
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•The liquidus projection of the Bi-Pb-Te system has been critically reinvestigated.•The PbTe primary solidification region is predominant in the liquidus projection.•The phase ...relationship of Bi2Te3-PbTe vertical section was determination.•BiTe shows a solubility of 16.7 at.% Pb along BiTe-PbTe at 520 °C.
Knowledge of the phase relationships is crucial in developing thermoelectric materials and allows a better understanding of the properties of the relevant systems. In the present work, we present the liquidus projection of the Bi-Pb-Te system and phase equilibria of the BiTe-PbTe-Bi2Te3 portion at 400 and 520 °C. Alloys were prepared by melting high-purity elements in cleaned quartz tubes and their microstructures were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, electron probe microanalysis, wavelength-dispersive X-ray spectrometer, X-ray diffractometry and differential scanning calorimetry. The binary compound BiTe extends up to 16.7 at.% Pb along BiTe-PbTe at 520 °C. The solubilities of Bi in PbTe were established to be 3.6, 3.8 and 10.8 at.% at 360, 400 and 520 °C, respectively. This work will help to understand the microstructure evolution during preparation and service and promote the designing of the Bi–Pb–Te-based high-performance materials.
Abstract
Recent advances in genome sequencing and functional genomic profiling have promoted many large-scale quantitative trait locus (QTL) studies, which connect genotypes with tissue/cell ...type-specific cellular functions from transcriptional to post-translational level. However, no comprehensive resource can perform QTL lookup across multiple molecular phenotypes and investigate the potential cascade effect of functional variants. We developed a versatile resource, named QTLbase, for interpreting the possible molecular functions of genetic variants, as well as their tissue/cell-type specificity. Overall, QTLbase has five key functions: (i) curating and compiling genome-wide QTL summary statistics for 13 human molecular traits from 233 independent studies; (ii) mapping QTL-relevant tissue/cell types to 78 unified terms according to a standard anatomogram; (iii) normalizing variant and trait information uniformly, yielding >170 million significant QTLs; (iv) providing a rich web client that enables phenome- and tissue-wise visualization; and (v) integrating the most comprehensive genomic features and functional predictions to annotate the potential QTL mechanisms. QTLbase provides a one-stop shop for QTL retrieval and comparison across multiple tissues and multiple layers of molecular complexity, and will greatly help researchers interrogate the biological mechanism of causal variants and guide the direction of functional validation. QTLbase is freely available at http://mulinlab.org/qtlbase.
In the field of highway construction, the application of styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR)-modified asphalt has gained popularity across different levels of road surfaces. A crucial aspect in ensuring ...the efficacy of this modification lies in the compatibility between SBR and the matrix asphalt. To address this, the current study utilizes molecular dynamics simulation as a technique. By establishing a model for the SBR-modified asphalt mixture, the research quantifies the compatibility level between the SBR modifier and the asphalt. The aim is to uncover the underlying mechanisms of compatibility between the SBR modifier and the base asphalt, ultimately contributing to the improvement of the storage stability of SBR-modified asphalt, which holds significant importance. The investigation began with the creation of models for both the base asphalt and the SBR modifier. A model for the SBR-modified asphalt blending system was then formulated based on these initial models. After undergoing geometry optimization and annealing procedures, the model attained its lowest energy state, providing a reliable basis for examining the performance of SBR-modified asphalt. The study proceeded to calculate solubility parameters and interaction energies of the system to evaluate the compatibility between the SBR modifier and the base asphalt at various temperatures. The analysis of these parameters shed light on the compatibility mechanism between the two components. Notably, it was found that at a temperature of 160 ℃, the compatibility was significantly enhanced. The findings were further corroborated through scanning electron microscope and rheological tests. The outcomes of this research offer theoretical guidance for the application of SBR-modified asphalt.
A series of simple phenothiazine-based dyes have been synthesized, in which a cyanoacrylate acceptor directly attached to the C(3) position of phenothiazine, and an additional linear electron-rich ...(4-hexyloxy)phenyl group at C(7) on the opposite side of the acceptor, and an alkyl chain with different length at N(10) of the phenothiazine periphery are presented. The dye molecules have a linear shape which is favorable for the formation of a compact dye layer on the TiO2 surface, while their butterfly conformations can sufficiently inhibit molecular aggregation. Moreover, the structural features of (4-hexyloxy)phenyl donor moiety at the C(7) position of phenothiazine extends the π-conjugation of the chromophore, thus enhancing the performance of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Moreover, the alkyl substituents with different chain length at the N(10) atom of phenothiazine could further optimize the performance through completely shielding the surface of TiO2 from the I–/I3‑ electrolyte and subsequently reducing the leakage of dark current. Under simulated AM 1.5G irradiation, the PT-C6 based DSSC produces a short-circuit photocurrent of 15.32 mA cm–2, an open-circuit photovoltage of 0.78 V, a fill factor of 0.69, corresponding to a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 8.18%, which exceeds the reference N719 (7.73%) under identical fabrication conditions. Notably, the designed molecular structure represents the highest photovoltaic conversion efficiency value when compared with other reported phenothiazine-derived dyes.
Although many studies have examined the effects of perceived stress on some specific stress responses during the COVID-19, a comprehensive study is still lacking. And the co-mediating role of coping ...style and resilience as important mediators of stress processes is also unclear. This study aimed to explore the effects of perceived stress on emotional, physical, and behavioral stress responses and the mediating roles of coping style and resilience in Chinese population during the recurrent outbreak of COVID-19 from a comprehensive perspective. 1087 participants were recruited to complete the anonymous online survey including the Perceived Stress Scale, the Stress Response Questionnaire, the Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire and the Emotional Resilience Questionnaire. Pearson's correlation and Hayes PROCESS macro 3.5 model 6 were used in the mediating effect analysis. Results showed that positive coping style and resilience both buffered the negative effects of perceived stress on emotional, physical, and behavioral responses through direct or indirect pathways, and resilience had the strongest mediating effects. The findings urged relevant authorities and individuals to take measures to promote positive coping style and resilience to combat the ongoing pandemic stress and protect public physical and mental health.
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