•Olive (Olea europaea) is a rich source of valuable bioactive polyphenols.•Concentrations of 12 major polyphenols were measured.•Both of second-generation RNA-seq and full-length transcriptome were ...used.•232 alternative splicing events were analyzed for the first time in olive.
Olive (Olea europaea) is a rich source of valuable bioactive polyphenols, which has attracted widespread interest. In this study, we combined targeted metabolome, Pacbio ISOseq transcriptome, and Illumina RNA-seq transcriptome to investigate the association between polyphenols and gene expression in the developing olive fruits and leaves. A total of 12 main polyphenols were measured, and 122 transcripts of 17 gene families, 101 transcripts of 9 gene families, and 106 transcripts of 6 gene families that encode for enzymes involved in flavonoid, oleuropein, and hydroxytyrosol biosynthesis were separately identified. Additionally, 232 alternative splicing events of 18 genes related to polyphenol synthesis were analyzed. This is the first time that the third generations of full-length transcriptome technology were used to study the gene expression pattern of olive fruits and leaves. The results of transcriptome combined with targeted metabolome can help us better understand the polyphenol biosynthesis pathways in the olive.
Equilibrium conformational properties of a ring polymer (named by ‘inner ring’) simultaneously concatenated with a varying number of outer rings in a ‘flower’-shaped polymer catenane are explored by ...molecular dynamics simulations. Two different cases have been considered. In Case I, the excluded volume interactions between the outer rings are absent in a polymer catenane, while they are present in Case II. Results demonstrate that, compared to an isolated ring polymer, size and shape properties of the same, inner ring in a polymer catenane can be greatly modified by the catenation topology in both Cases. It is concluded that the topological catenation can induce a swelling of the inner ring in a catenane compared to the same ring in isolation. Importantly, scaling relationships between the swelling degree, fsw, of the inner ring and number of the outer rings, n, have been established in both Case I and Case II, fsw=anα, where the prefactor a and scaling exponent α are all predominantly dependent on molecular-weight ratio of the inner to outer rings in catenane. Besides, swelling of inner ring in a catenane of Case II is more pronounced than the same inner ring in a catenane of Case I. The mean asphericity of the inner ring is slightly increased due to the catenation topology, while its mean prolateness is remarkably modified by the catenation topology. The inner ring in a catenane becomes more oblate, compared to the same ring in isolation, with increasing either number or molecular weight of the outer rings in the catenane. Profiles of the mean prolateness changes of the inner ring from those of the same isolated ring with respect to number of the outer rings are also mainly controlled by the molecular-weight ratio of the inner to outer rings.
•Ring polymer swells when it is simultaneously concatenated with a number of other ring polymers.•Ring polymer gets more aspherical and oblate when it is concatenated with more ring polymers.
Using a coprecipitation method to form Ni–Me–Al–Mg–O composite, Ni–Me (Me = Co, Fe, Cu, or Mn) bimetallic catalysts were prepared for carbon dioxide reforming of methane. Catalyst screening with the ...reforming reaction showed that Ni–Co bimetallic catalyst had superior performance in terms of activity and stability to other Ni–Me combinations. In a 2000 h stability test under the conditions of 750 °C, 1 atm, and GHSV of 110,000 mL/g
cat-h (0.05 g of catalyst and 5.5 L/h gas flow rate), Ni–Co catalyst showed very stable performance with very low carbon formation. Reducing Ni and Co content from 6.1 and 9.3 to 3.6 and 4.9 mol% (metal base), respectively, rendered to completely eliminate carbon deposition for up to 250 h. Catalyst characterization was conducted using ICP-MS, BET, XRD, H
2-TPR, CO
2-TPD, CO-chemisorption, TEM, and TG. It is believed that the synergy between Ni and Co can significantly improve catalyst performance and reduce carbon formation. A high metal dispersion or small ensemble size can be enhanced by reducing the Ni–Co content. The high activity and excellent stability of Ni–Co catalyst was closely related to its high metal dispersion, strong metal–support interaction, and formation of stable solid solutions.
White matter hyperintensities (WMH) are commonly found in the brains of healthy elderly individuals and have been associated with various neurological and geriatric disorders. In this paper, we ...present a study using deep fully convolutional network and ensemble models to automatically detect such WMH using fluid attenuation inversion recovery (FLAIR) and T1 magnetic resonance (MR) scans. The algorithm was evaluated and ranked 1st in the WMH Segmentation Challenge at MICCAI 2017. In the evaluation stage, the implementation of the algorithm was submitted to the challenge organizers, who then independently tested it on a hidden set of 110 cases from 5 scanners. Averaged dice score, precision and robust Hausdorff distance obtained on held-out test datasets were 80%, 84% and 6.30 mm respectively. These were the highest achieved in the challenge, suggesting the proposed method is the state-of-the-art. Detailed descriptions and quantitative analysis on key components of the system were provided. Furthermore, a study of cross-scanner evaluation is presented to discuss how the combination of modalities affect the generalization capability of the system. The adaptability of the system to different scanners and protocols is also investigated. A quantitative study is further presented to show the effect of ensemble size and the effectiveness of the ensemble model. Additionally, software and models of our method are made publicly available. The effectiveness and generalization capability of the proposed system show its potential for real-world clinical practice.
•Describe the design, methodology, implementation details of our winning method for WMH Segmentation Challenge at MICCAI 2017.•Present an evaluation on both the public training set and the held-out test sets, and compare to other participating methods.•Present a cross-scanner evaluation on the generalization capability of the system.•Present a quantitative and a statistical study on ensemble models to test the effect of ensemble size and each element.
A three-dimensional dual-band perfect absorber in the THz range (3-10 THz) is theoretically investigated. The absorber is composed of periodically placed cross-and disk-shaped graphene arrays on the ...top of a gold layer separated by a thick SiO 2 dielectric spacer. The simulated results show two absorption peaks with near-unity absorbance (99.923% and 99.601%) at wavelengths 43.747 μm and 69.94 μm, respectively. Also, the absorber is insensitive to the polarization of the incident light and has a good tolerance to the incident angle whether it is TE or TM waves. Moreover, the peak wavelengths of the absorber can be flexibly modulated by varying the Fermi level μ C of graphene while no need to refabricate the structure. This paper provides a new perspective for the design of graphene-based tunable multiband perfect THz absorbers, but not limited to THz absorbers, and may also be used in other THz graphene-based photonic devices.
Textured surfaces with sophisticated micro/nano structures can provide interesting and advanced functions. In order to promote those unique functions into the practical use, high performance ...manufacturing technologies are required. Nowadays, elliptical vibration cutting (EVC) is attracting more and more attentions due to its excellent machining performances, especially the advantageous in the precision machining of difficult-to-cut materials. The emphasis on this literature review is the micro/nano machining technology by applying EVC. The development of the EVC technology is simply introduced, and then the advantageousness of EVC in the machining process is explored in detail. As following, the development of different EVC devices are introduced, and the applications of the micro/nano structure fabrication is detailedly expatiated by applying the different types of elliptical vibrators. By controlling the motion of the ultra-precision machine tool itself, the micro/nano structure can be accurately fabricated on various workpiece materials with the reduction of cutting forces, burr generation, tool wear, et al. in EVC process. Moreover, a unique amplitude control sculpturing method, where the depth of cut is arbitrary changed by controlling the vibration amplitude in the machining process, is introduced. By applying the amplitude control sculpturing method, ultra-precision micro/nano structures can be efficiently sculptured especially on the difficult-to-cut materials. Finally, the elliptical vibration texturing process is also explored in the fast micro/nano machining of the simple and regular structures. The EVC technology is expected to promote the development of micro/nano machining process in the actual industrial applications.
•As compared with the OC technology, the advantageous of EVC is clarified.•The development of different elliptical vibrators is introduced in detail.•Micro/nano machining technics are expatiated with different elliptical vibrators.•The current development trends of the EVC technology are analyzed.
Clay minerals in soils contain ubiquitously abundant interlayer spaces; however, the vital role the interlayer plays in determining the adsorption and stability of aqueous species is still enigmatic. ...The aim of this work is to systematically address the specific elevated adsorption characteristics and underlying mechanism in the clay interlayer by carefully comparing with those at the external surface. A series of cations (Na+, K+, Cs+, Ca2+, Pb2+, Cd2+, Ba2+, and Zn2+) are considered and the molecular dynamics methods are conducted. The interlayer of clay minerals is highly compacted, and the electric double layer (EDL) structures of neighboring surfaces extensively overlap. This results in specific elevated adsorption and stability of cations confined in the interlayer, as compared to the external surface. The adsorption modes remained the same whereas the interfacial distributions clearly changed, and the adsorption numbers increased. The local structure alteration was obviously more pronounced for divalent (M2+) rather than monovalent (M+) cations, and M2+ ions were coordinated stably to approximately six surface oxygens on each side of the interlayer surface. Extremely condensed time-evolution trajectories of the interlayer cations predicted an enhanced stability, which was further evidenced by the generally increased averaged residence time with surface oxygens and substantially reduced diffusion coefficients. These results address the vital role of the clay interlayer in determining the adsorption and retention of metal ions in a soil solution, which may further help to manage radioactive and heavy metal ion pollution.
•The clay interlayer and external surface were differentiated using MD simulation.•The clay interlayer was critical in determining adsorption and diffusion of cations.•Adsorption of cations significantly elevated in the clay interlayer.•Diffusion of cations was substantially reduced by strong confinement of the interlayer.
Single crystal Si subsurface damage and phase transformation caused by laser-assisted nanometric cutting were investigated in this paper through the ultraprecision cutting experiments and molecular ...dynamics simulation. Post-cutting examination of a crystal's subsurface revealed a distorted SiI layer and an amorphous Si with embedded nanocrystalline Si-III and Si-XII. As a result of insufficient contact pressure during laser-assisted cutting, the amorphous Si was directly generated from the SiI through the collapse of the crystal lattice rather than from the intermediate high-pressure phase Si-II. The newly-formed amorphous Si crystallized partially during the laser-assisted cutting and transformed into metastable Si-III and Si-XII phases caused by the laser annealing effect. In comparison to machining without laser assistance, it was found that dislocation activity was increased by a factor of ~8 × 1014 when laser assistance was applied. This gave rise to enhancement of plastic deformability of the material, with the critical ductile-brittle transition depth of cut increasing from 150 nm to 395 nm and the thickness and extent of stress in the distorted SiI subsurface layer being reduced.
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•Laser-assisted nano-cutting setup and experiments were designed for machining Si.•Critical ductile-brittle transition depth of cut was improved from 150 nm to 395 nm.•Thickness of subsurface damage layer reduced remarkably after laser assistance.•Dislocation activity was increased by a factor of ~8×1014 after laser assistance.
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