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In this paper, we investigate a generalized variable-coefficient Gardner equation with an external force in a plasma or fluid. Via the Hirota method, we obtain certain bilinear forms and N-soliton solutions, where N is a positive integer. We also derive the Hth-order breather and hybrid solutions through the complex conjugated transformations, where H is a positive integer. Moreover, multi-pole solutions are constructed with the limit method. Multi-soliton, breather-breather, soliton-breather and multi-pole interactions are studied. Influences of the external force and variable coefficients on the solutions are discussed analytically and graphically. For those nonlinear waves: (i) the external force affects the backgrounds and velocities; (ii) the damping coefficient affects the amplitudes, widths and velocities; (iii) the dispersive and dissipative coefficients affect the characteristic lines and velocities.

16S rRNA sequencing of human fecal samples has been tremendously successful in identifying microbiome changes associated with both aging and disease. A number of studies have described microbial alterations corresponding to physical frailty and nursing home residence among aging individuals. A gut-muscle axis through which the microbiome influences skeletal muscle growth/function has been hypothesized. However, the microbiome has yet to be examined in sarcopenia. Here, we collected fecal samples of 60 healthy controls (CON) and 27 sarcopenic (Case)/possibly sarcopenic (preCase) individuals and analyzed the intestinal microbiota using 16S rRNA sequencing. We observed an overall reduction in microbial diversity in Case and preCase samples. The genera Lachnospira , Fusicantenibacter , Roseburia , Eubacterium , and Lachnoclostridium —known butyrate producers—were significantly less abundant in Case and preCase subjects while Lactobacillus was more abundant. Functional pathways underrepresented in Case subjects included numerous transporters and phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan biosynthesis suggesting that protein processing and nutrient transport may be impaired. In contrast, lipopolysaccharide biosynthesis was overrepresented in Case and PreCase subjects suggesting that sarcopenia is associated with a pro-inflammatory metagenome. These analyses demonstrate structural and functional alterations in the intestinal microbiota that may contribute to loss of skeletal muscle mass and function in sarcopenia.

As an important food crop, corn has an important impact on people’s lives. The processing of corn produces many by-products, such as corn gluten meal, corn husk, and corn steep liquor, which are rich in protein, oil, carbohydrates, and other nutrients, all of which are inexpensive. Their accumulation in large quantities during the production process not only results in a burden on the environment but also the loss of potentially valuable food materials that can be processed. In fact, the by-products of corn processing have been partially used in functional foods, nutrients, feed, and other industries. There is no doubt that the secondary utilization of these by-products can not only solve the problem of waste pollution caused by them, but also produce high value-added products and improve the economic benefits of corn. This paper describes in detail the processing and higher-value utilization of the five main by-products: corn gluten meal, corn husks, corn steep liquor, corn germ, and fuel ethanol by-product. The utilization status of corn processing by-products was discussed roundly, and the development trend of corn processing by-products in China and other countries was analyzed, which provided the reference for the development of the corn deep processing industry.

Metal-organic layers with ordered structure and molecular tunability are of great potential as heterogeneous catalysts due to their readily accessible active sites. Herein, we demonstrate a facile template strategy to prepare metal-organic layers with a uniform thickness of three metal coordination layers (ca. 1.5 nm) with graphene oxide as both template and electron mediator. The resulting hybrid catalyst exhibits an excellent performance for CO 2 photoreduction with a total CO yield of 3133 mmol g –1 MOL (CO selectivity of 95%), ca. 34 times higher than that of bulky Co-based metal-organic framework. Systematic studies reveal that well-exposed active sites in metal-organic layers, and facile electron transfer between heterogeneous and homogeneous components mediated by graphene oxide, greatly contribute to its high activity. This work highlights a facile way for constructing ultrathin metal-organic layers and demonstrates charge transfer pathway between conductive template and catalyst for boosting photocatalysis. While solar-to-fuel energy conversion is appealing, materials require accessible active sites for reactants and rapid electron transfer steps. Here, authors support ultrathin metal-organic layers with graphene oxide as both template and electron mediator to boost CO 2 photoreduction performance.

In electrochemical devices, such as batteries, traditional electric double layer (EDL) theory holds that cations in the cathode/electrolyte interface will be repelled during charging, leaving a large amount of free solvents. This promotes the continuous anodic decomposition of the electrolyte, leading to a limited operation voltage and cycle life of the devices. In this work, we design a new EDL structure with adaptive and passivating properties. It is enabled by adding functional anionic additives in the electrolyte, which can selectively bind with cations and free solvents, forming unique cation-rich and branch-chain like supramolecular polymer structures with high electrochemical stability in the EDL inner layer. Due to this design, the anodic decomposition of ether-based electrolytes is significantly suppressed in the high voltage cathodes and the battery shows outstanding performances such as super-fast charging/discharging and ultra-low temperature applications, which is extremely hard in conventional electrolyte design principle. This unconventional EDL structure breaks the inherent perception of the classical EDL rearrangement mechanism and greatly improve electrochemical performances of the device. Developing an electrolyte that is compatible with both high-voltage cathodes and Li metal anodes has always been challenging. Here, the authors created a new strategy by engineering a passivating electric double layer to achieve a fast-charging and lowtemperature high voltage lithium metal batteries.

This study examines the influence of a 30-day “cooling-off period” regulation on trends in divorce registration in China. It sheds light on this intervention’s impact on certain unobserved subjective factors—notably, impulsiveness—in divorce decision-making in China. The analysis employs province–quarter-level data on divorce registrations from the Ministry of Civil Affairs from 2018 to 2021 and further incorporates data from the National Bureau of Statistics, China Judgments Online, and the Baidu Index. Using policy evaluation methods, such as the event-study and difference-in-differences estimations, the evidence suggests that the policy has had a substantial influence—reducing divorces by 10,300–13,200 per province per quarter. On average, this amounts to a decline of 33%–42% compared with the previous three years. Moreover, the influence appears to be greater in provinces with more previously divorced couples restoring their marriages, more divorces between young couples, and more internet searches about the policy and divorce-related information, highlighting some potential mechanisms underlying the intervention.

Electrochemical reduction of CO 2 (CO 2 R) to formic acid upgrades waste CO 2 ; however, up to now, chemical and structural changes to the electrocatalyst have often led to the deterioration of performance over time. Here, we find that alloying p-block elements with differing electronegativities modulates the redox potential of active sites and stabilizes them throughout extended CO 2 R operation. Active Sn-Bi/SnO 2 surfaces formed in situ on homogeneously alloyed Bi 0.1 Sn crystals stabilize the CO 2 R-to-formate pathway over 2400 h (100 days) of continuous operation at a current density of 100 mA cm −2 . This performance is accompanied by a Faradaic efficiency of 95% and an overpotential of ~ −0.65 V. Operating experimental studies as well as computational investigations show that the stabilized active sites offer near-optimal binding energy to the key formate intermediate *OCHO. Using a cation-exchange membrane electrode assembly device, we demonstrate the stable production of concentrated HCOO – solution (3.4 molar, 15 wt%) over 100 h. Stable electrochemical reduction to formate is still challenging. Here, the authors demonstrate a redox-modulation and active-site stabilization strategy for CO 2 to formate conversion over 100 days of continuous operation at 100 mA/cm 2 with a cathodic energy efficiency of 70%.

The detection of product defects is essential in quality control in manufacturing. This study surveys stateoftheart deep-learning methods in defect detection. First, we classify the defects of products, such as electronic components, pipes, welded parts, and textile materials, into categories. Second, recent mainstream techniques and deep-learning methods for defects are reviewed with their characteristics, strengths, and shortcomings described. Third, we summarize and analyze the application of ultrasonic testing, filtering, deep learning, machine vision, and other technologies used for defect detection, by focusing on three aspects, namely method and experimental results. To further understand the difficulties in the field of defect detection, we investigate the functions and characteristics of existing equipment used for defect detection. The core ideas and codes of studies related to high precision, high positioning, rapid detection, small object, complex background, occluded object detection and object association, are summarized. Lastly, we outline the current achievements and limitations of the existing methods, along with the current research challenges, to assist the research community on defect detection in setting a further agenda for future studies.

The transition from childhood to adolescence is marked by pronounced shifts in brain structure and function that coincide with the development of physical, cognitive, and social abilities. Prior work in adult populations has characterized the topographical organization of the cortex, revealing macroscale functional gradients that extend from unimodal (somatosensory/motor and visual) regions through the cortical association areas that underpin complex cognition in humans. However, the presence of these core functional gradients across development as well as their maturational course have yet to be established. Here, leveraging 378 resting-state functional MRI scans from 190 healthy individuals aged 6 to 17 y old, we demonstrate that the transition from childhood to adolescence is reflected in the gradual maturation of gradient patterns across the cortical sheet. In children, the overarching organizational gradient is anchored within the unimodal cortex, between somatosensory/motor and visual territories. Conversely, in adolescence, the principal gradient of connectivity transitions into an adult-like spatial framework,with the default network at the opposite end of a spectrum from primary sensory and motor regions. The observed gradient transitions are gradually refined with age, reaching a sharp inflection point in 13 and 14 y olds. Functional maturation was nonuniformly distributed across cortical networks. Unimodal networks reached their mature positions early in development, while association regions, in particular the medial prefrontal cortex, reached a later peak during adolescence. These data reveal age-dependent changes in the macroscale organization of the cortex and suggest the scheduled maturation of functional gradient patterns may be critically important for understanding how cognitive and behavioral capabilities are refined across development.

By using the finite element method and a “coarse to fine” two-stage genetic algorithm as the forward calculation method and the inverse search scheme, respectively, we perform both the unconstrained and constrained optimal design of the unit cell topology of the two-dimensional square-latticed solid phononic crystals (PnCs), to maximize the relative widths of the gaps between the adjacent energy bands of the PnCs. In the constrained optimizations, the maximization is subjected to the constraint of a predefined average density. In the numerical results, the variation patterns of the optimized structures with the order of the bandgap for both the out-plane shear and the in-plane mixed elastic wave modes are presented, and the effects of both the material contrast and the predefined average density on the obtained optimal structures are discussed.