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Solar-driven interfacial desalination is an emerging approach to address global freshwater crisis while minimizing carbon emissions. A key challenge in interfacial desalination technology is maintaining long-term high efficiency with fouling-resistance and energy-saving. Here, we develop a 3D-printed concave-shaped solar evaporator and a floating freshwater collection setup, that achieve nearly 100% photothermal evaporation efficiency with a rate of 2.23 kg m − 2 h − 1 and freshwater collection rate of 1.23 kg m − 2 h − 1 under one sun illumination. This 3D concave-shaped solar evaporator design, achieved through 3D printing and double-sided surface modification, allows interfacial desalination process to occur at the bottom surface of the evaporator with superior heat transfer, ultra-effective salt-resistance and enlarged water-air interfacial area. The evaporation stability, extending well beyond traditional limitations of days or months, is realized by a decoupling design and the low-cost renewal of water-intake layer. This design allows vapor to escape downward without causing fouling problem within the top solar absorber. Furthermore, a self-floating freshwater collection setup facilitates thermal exchange with low-temperature seawater for sustainable application. Our large-scale integrated 3D printed evaporator-collector strategy demonstrates potential for portable solar-driven interfacial desalination and freshwater collection. This solar-driven interfacial desalination research integrates 3D printed modules modifications, decoupling design, anticorrosion treatment for high desalination efficiency and long-term stability. This self-floating setup utilizes natural cooling seawater to conduct thermal convection for downward freshwater collection.

Emerging conductive porous materials hold remarkable promise for Joule‐heating applications like electothermal filtration, smart textiles, and energy management due to their porous and conductive synergy. However, their development is constrained by a design trade‐off between achieving high porosity for efficient flow transmission and maintaining a conductive network for effective charge transport. To overcome this, a bridged conductive nanofibrous membrane (BCNM) by linking polypyrrole‐coated nanofibers via self‐assembled polypyrrole nanowires is developed. This dual‐state network establishes continuous electron pathways while preserving multiscale porous channels, orchestrating air permeation, particulate capture, and electrothermal sterilization for all‐in‐one air purification. Leveraging this synergy, BCNM captures 98.79% of >0.3 µm particles under an ultra‐low pressure drop of 76 Pa and instantaneously self‐heats to 100 °C at low power to sterilize 99.49% of airborne bacteria. These performances compare favorably with leading conductive porous materials in both filtration performance and energy economy. A proof‐of‐concept solar‐powered purifier incorporating the BCNM outperforms existing purification technologies in terms of filtration, sterilization, energy efficiency, and cost. This work offers an innovative material–structure–function paradigm for developing energy‐interactive porous materials, with broad potential in smart filtration, biomedical protection, and sustainable energy systems. To overcome the porosity‐conductivity trade‐off in conductive porous membranes, a conductive nanofibrous membrane bridged by self‐assembled PPy nanowires is constructed, integrating multiscale porosity with continuous electron pathways. This material‐structure‐function strategy achieves low‐resistance and high‐efficiency filtration combined with electrothermal sterilization, offering an energy‐efficient, all‐in‐one solution for advanced air purification with sustainable pathogen control.

In recent decades, automatic train operation (ATO) systems have been gradually adopted by many metro systems, primarily due to their cost-effectiveness and practicality. However, a critical examination reveals computational constraints, adaptability to unforeseen conditions and multi-objective balancing that our research aims to address. In this paper, expert knowledge is combined with deep reinforcement learning algorithm (Proximal Policy Optimization, PPO) and two enhanced intelligent train operation algorithms (EITO) are proposed. The first algorithm, EITO E , is based on an expert system containing expert rules and a heuristic expert inference method. On the basis of EITO E , we propose EITO P algorithm using the PPO algorithm to optimize multiple objectives by designing reinforcement learning strategies, rewards, and value functions. We also develop the double minimal-time distribution (DMTD) calculation method in the EITO implementation to achieve longer coasting distances and further optimize the energy consumption. Compared with previous works, EITO enables the control of continuous train operation without reference to offline speed profiles and optimizes several key performance indicators online. Finally, we conducted comparative tests of the manual driving, intelligent driving algorithm (ITOR, STON), and the algorithms proposed in this paper, EITO, using real line data from the Yizhuang Line of Beijing Metro (YLBS). The test results show that the EITO outperform the current intelligent driving algorithms and manual driving in terms of energy consumption and passengers’ comfort. In addition, we further validated the robustness of EITO by selecting some complex lines with speed limits, gradients and different running times for testing on the YLBS. Overall, the EITO P algorithm has the best performance.

Common carp ( Cyprinus carpio ) is an allotetraploid species derived from recent whole genome duplication and provides a model to study polyploid genome evolution in vertebrates. Here, we generate three chromosome-level reference genomes of C. carpio and compare to related diploid Cyprinid genomes. We identify a Barbinae lineage as potential diploid progenitor of C. carpio and then divide the allotetraploid genome into two subgenomes marked by a distinct genome similarity to the diploid progenitor. We estimate that the two diploid progenitors diverged around 23 Mya and merged around 12.4 Mya based on the divergence rates of homoeologous genes and transposable elements in two subgenomes. No extensive gene losses are observed in either subgenome. Instead, we find gene expression bias across surveyed tissues such that subgenome B is more dominant in homoeologous expression. CG methylation in promoter regions may play an important role in altering gene expression in allotetraploid C. carpio . The common carp is derived from recent whole genome duplication and represents a model for polyploid genome evolution, rare in vertebrates. Here, the authors generate and analyse chromosome-level reference genomes for common carp, and describe subgenome gene expression changes.

Objective To use routine demographic and clinical data to develop an interpretable individual-level machine learning (ML) model to diagnose knee osteoarthritis (KOA) and to identify highly ranked features. Methods In this retrospective, population-based cohort study, anonymized questionnaire data was retrieved from the Wu Chuan KOA Study, Inner Mongolia, China. After feature selections, participants were divided in a 7:3 ratio into training and test sets. Class balancing was applied to the training set for data augmentation. Four ML classifiers were compared by cross-validation within the training set and their performance was further analyzed with an unseen test set. Classifications were evaluated using sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, accuracy, area under the curve(AUC), G-means, and F1 scores. The best model was explained using Shapley values to extract highly ranked features. Results A total of 1188 participants were investigated in this study, among whom 26.3% were diagnosed with KOA. Comparatively, XGBoost with Boruta exhibited the highest classification performance among the four models, with an AUC of 0.758, G-means of 0.800, and F1 scores of 0.703. The SHAP method reveals the top 17 features of KOA according to the importance ranking, and the average of the experience of joint pain was recognized as the most important features. Conclusions Our study highlights the usefulness of machine learning in unveiling important factors that influence the diagnosis of KOA to guide new prevention strategies. Further work is needed to validate this approach.

With the prevalence of the gig economy, temporary and flexible jobs are commonplace, which offers the option of flexible capacity to firms. With capacity flexibility, firms could utilize the flexible service resource after demand realization. Although capacity flexibility has its advantages of mitigating demand uncertainty, firms may endure productivity inefficiency caused by temporary works or an imperfect match. This paper considers both factors and analyzes the impact of capacity flexibility on a monopoly’s capacity investment strategy, product-line design, consumer surplus and social welfare. We show that the capacity investment strategy could be categorized as No Flexibility, Pure Flexibility and Mixed Flexibility according to the relative efficiency and the unit cost of flexible resources. An interesting finding is that with flexible capacity, the service levels to both high-valuation and low-valuation consumers will be higher when the flexible resource is cost-wise efficient compared to the inflexible resource. Otherwise, the customer discrimination will increase with the service level to high-valuation consumers being higher and that to low-valuation consumers being lower. Furthermore, with flexible capacity, the consumer surplus and social welfare will increase only when the flexible resource is cost-wise efficient.

Several studies have demonstrated the inhibitory effect of metformin on pigmentation. However, the effect of metformin on melanosome transfer remains unknown. The goals of this study were to elucidate the effects of metformin on melanogenesis and melanosome transfer and explore the related mechanisms. We determined that, compared with those in the control zebrafish, the area occupied by pigment granules, melanin content, tyrosinase activity, and the expression levels of melanogenesis genes and melanosome transfer-related genes were reduced in metformin-treated zebrafish. In human primary melanocytes, MNT1 cells/B16F10 cells, metformin also plays a negative role in melanin synthesis regardless of health status and α-MSH-induced pigmentation. Unlike arbutin, metformin inhibited the formation of dendrites and filopodia-like structures and suppressed melanosome transfer. After treatment with metformin, the cAMP content was reduced, the expression of MITF and downstream molecules was downregulated, and the expression of Rho GTPases was changed. Metformin partially abrogated the changes in genes regulating melanin synthesis, melanosome transfer and the cytoskeleton induced by a cAMP activator. Furthermore, the Nrf2 expression was decreased upon metformin intervention, and metformin partially abrogated the changes in genes regulating melanogenesis caused by a Nrf2 activator. Our study revealed that metformin can serve as a candidate depigmentation agent.

In this paper, we analyze the impact of indirect network effects and competition on two firms each offering two complementary products. We first formulate the pricing game with general network effects and show that it is neither a supermodular nor a submodular game. We then derive the closed-form Nash equilibrium with linear demand functions. Furthermore, we examine a model with two symmetric firms each having a major product and a minor product, where the major product of one firm is the minor one of the other. We find that the impacts of network effects of major and minor products on the equilibrium prices are not symmetric. Moreover, as the substitution rate increases, the firm might partially sacrifice the major product market to boost the minor product market when the substitution rate is low and the network effect of the minor product is quite weak compared to that of the major product. Our numerical analysis shows that strong externalities between the two complementary products will benefit the firms. Finally, the models with symmetric product structures and generalized customer preference are analyzed to verify the robustness of the main results.

Thanks to their excellent properties of low cost, lightweight, portability, and conformity, flexible perovskite-based tandem solar cells show great potentials for energy harvesting applications, with flexible perovskite/c-silicon tandem solar cells particularly promising for achieving high efficiency. However, performance of flexible perovskite/c-silicon monolithic tandem solar cells still greatly lags, due to challenges in simultaneously achieving both efficient photocarrier transport and reliable mitigation of residual stress. Here, we reveal the critical role of perovskite phase homogeneity, for achieving highly-efficient and mechanical-stable flexible perovskite/c-silicon heterojunction monolithic tandem solar cells (PSTs) with textured surface. Through ensuring high phase homogeneity, which promotes charge transfer across all facets of the pyramid on the textured substrates and releases the residual stress at the perovskite/c-silicon interface, we demonstrate flexible PSTs with a bending curvature of 0.44 cm -1 , and a certified power conversion efficiency of 29.88% (steady-state 29.2%, 1.04 cm 2 aperture area), surpassing all other types of flexible perovskite-based photovoltaic devices. Our results can lead to broad applications and commercialization of flexible perovskite/c-silicon tandem photovoltaics. The realization of high-performance flexible perovskite/crystalline-silicon tandem solar cells requires efficient photocarrier transport and mitigation of residual stress. Here, authors reveal the critical role of perovskite phase homogeneity, achieving flexible devices with efficiency of 29.88%.

The placenta could transmit information to the maternal circulation via the secretion of small extracellular vesicles (sEVs), but little is known about whether and how these sEVs participate in premature labor (PTL). We speculate that miRNA plays an important role in sEV-mediated fetal-maternal information transmission. The present study was aimed at investigating whether the placenta can regulate the contraction of the maternal myometrium via sEV-mediated transmit of miR-25-3p during PTL. The expression of miR-25-3p and its targets Cav3.2 and SERCA2a in clinical samples, cells, and animal specimens was detected. The role of miR-25-3p was observed in the LPS-induced preterm labor mouse model. The sEVs from HTR-8/SVneo cells were characterized by transmission electron microscopy and nanoparticle tracking analysis. The Ca2+ oscillation in HMSMs was analyzed by an intracellular Ca2+ change tracking assay on a confocal microscope. The contraction of HMSMs was detected by a collagen matrix contraction assay. We found that miR-25-3p can directly bind to the 3′UTR of Cav3.2 and SERCA2a. The miR-25-3p level was decreased, and the expression of its targets Cav3.2 and SERCA2a was increased in the placenta and myometrium tissues of PTL patients. Forced upregulation of miR-25-3p reduced the oxidative stress and inflammation responses and the incidence of PTL in LPS-treated mice. The expression of miR-25-3p was not changed in LPS-stimulated human myometrial smooth muscle cells (HMSMs) but was strongly reduced in the trophoblast cell and its sEVs. Additionally, the trophoblast cell line HTR-8/SVneo could transmit miR-25-3p into HMSMs via sEVs. The sEVs derived from LPS-stimulated trophoblasts upregulated the expression of Cav3.2 and SERCA2a and triggered Ca2+ oscillation as well as the contraction of HMSMs; these effects were partially reversed by the overexpression of miR-25-3p in the trophoblasts. Further, the upregulation of miR-25-3p induced changes of Ca2+ oscillation and contraction of HMSMs mediated by sEVs which were also abrogated by the knockdown of miR-25-3p in HMSMs. The results demonstrated that miR-25-3p plays a crucial role in PTL via Cav3.2- and SERCA2a-mediated Ca2+ oscillation and contraction of HMSMs. PTL seems to be related to the decreased exosomal miR-25-3p content transmitted by the trophoblasts under inflammatory conditions.