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B-site cobalt (Co)-doped rare-earth orthoferrites ReFeO3 have shown considerable enhancement in physical properties compared to their parent counterparts, and Co-doped LuFeO3 has rarely been reported. In this work, LuFe1−xCoxO3 (x = 0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.15) powders have been successfully prepared by a mechanochemical activation-assisted solid-state reaction (MAS) method at 1100 °C for 2 h. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy studies demonstrated that a shrinkage in lattice parameters emerges when B-site Fe ions are substituted by Co ions. The morphology and elemental distribution were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). The UV–visible absorbance spectra show that LuFe0.85Co0.15O3 powders have a narrower bandgap (1.75 eV) and higher absorbance than those of LuFeO3 (2.06 eV), obviously improving the light utilization efficiency. Additionally, LuFe0.85Co0.15O3 powders represent a higher photocatalytic capacity than LuFeO3 powders and can almost completely degrade MO in 5.5 h with the assistance of oxalic acid under visible irradiation. We believe that the present study will promote the application of orthorhombic LuFeO3 in photocatalysis.

Background Plant-specific BURP domain-containing genes are involved in plant development and stress responses. However, the role of BURP family in jujube ( Ziziphus jujuba Mill.) has not been investigated. Results In this study, 17 BURP genes belonging to four subfamilies were identified in jujube based on homology analysis, gene structures, and conserved motif confirmation. Gene duplication analysis indicated both tandem duplication and segmental duplication had contributed to ZjBURP expansion. The ZjBURPs were extensively expressed in flowers, young fruits, and jujube leaves. Transcriptomic data and qRT-PCR analysis further revealed that ZjBURPs also significantly influence fruit development, and most genes could be induced by low temperature, salinity, and drought stresses. Notably, several BURP genes significantly altered expression in response to low temperature ( ZjPG1 ) and drought stresses ( ZjBNM7 , ZjBNM8 , and ZjBNM9 ). Conclusions These results provided insights into the possible roles of ZjBURPs in jujube development and stress response. These findings would help selecting candidate ZjBURP genes for cold- and drought-tolerant jujube breeding.

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.

El Niño‐Southern Oscillation (ENSO) triggers variations of the global Hadley circulation (HC), while the latter may potentially feedback to ENSO events. Previous studies mainly investigated the interactions between ENSO and the global zonal‐mean HC. Here, we present a regional perspective of HC variability by introducing zonal variations. Results show that El Niño intensifies the regional HC over the central‐eastern Pacific, while weakening the regional HC over both the Indo‐Pacific warm pool and the tropical Atlantic. The background seasonal cycle modulates the equatorial‐asymmetric component of HC, with an anticlockwise (clockwise) asymmetric circulation over the central equatorial Pacific before (after) El Niño peaks. Remarkably, the asymmetric HC in boreal spring leads ENSO with a lead correlation of up to 0.68, mediated by the wind‐evaporation‐sea surface temperature (SST) feedback and other atmosphere‐ocean dynamics. The antecedent HC anomaly may contribute to ENSO predictability. Plain Language Summary By decomposing the atmospheric circulation to its irrotational and nondivergent components, we integrated the three‐dimensional structure of the Hadley circulation (HC), and investigate its interactions with El Niño‐Southern Oscillation (ENSO). In particular, we focus on the zonal variation of the HC and its equatorial‐symmetric and asymmetric components associated with ENSO variability. We find that an El Niño event may intensify the HC over the central‐eastern Pacific, but weaken the circulation over the Indo‐Western Pacific and the tropical Atlantic. The intensity of the ENSO‐related asymmetric HC anomaly is as large as that of the symmetric HC. The asymmetric HC anomaly is characterized by a clear seasonal feature. In boreal spring (MAM) before an El Niño signal becomes clear, a strong anticlockwise (asymmetric) HC across the central equatorial Pacific usually lead the El Niño event, with an 8‐month lead correlation with the November‐December‐January (NDJ, the peak season) Niño‐3.4 index of up to 0.68, implying that the MAM asymmetric HC and its associated atmosphere‐ocean interactions may largely contribute to the development of ENSO events. Further analysis indicated that the wind‐evaporation‐sea surface temperature feedback and the Bjerknes feedback play important roles in the interactions between the ENSO events and HC. Key Points The three‐dimensional structure of El Niño‐related Hadley circulation (HC) anomaly shows a strong zonal variation The direction of the equatorial‐asymmetric HC associated with El Niño events shows a clear seasonal feature The asymmetric HC over equatorial central Pacific in spring may contribute to the development of an El Niño event

Multi-layer/multi-pass welding (MLMPW) technology is widely used in the energy industry to join thick components. During automatic welding using robots or other actuators, it is very important to recognize the actual weld pass position using visual methods, which can then be used not only to perform reasonable path planning for actuators, but also to correct any deviations between the welding torch and the weld pass position in real time. However, due to the small geometrical differences between adjacent weld passes, existing weld position recognition technologies such as structured light methods are not suitable for weld position detection in MLMPW. This paper proposes a novel method for weld position detection, which fuses various kinds of information in MLMPW. First, a synchronous acquisition method is developed to obtain various kinds of visual information when directional light and structured light sources are on, respectively. Then, interferences are eliminated by fusing adjacent images. Finally, the information from directional and structured light images is fused to obtain the 3D positions of the weld passes. Experiment results show that each process can be done in 30 ms and the deviation is less than 0.6 mm. The proposed method can be used for automatic path planning and seam tracking in the robotic MLMPW process as well as electron beam freeform fabrication process.

El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the leading mode of global interannual variability, usually intensifies the Hadley Circulation (HC), and meanwhile constrains its meridional extension, leading to an equatorward movement of the jet system. Previous studies have investigated the response of HC to ENSO events using different reanalysis datasets and evaluated their capability in capturing the main features of ENSO-associated HC anomalies. However, these studies mainly focused on the global HC, represented by a zonal-mean mass stream function (MSF). Comparatively fewer studies have evaluated HC responses from a regional perspective, partly due to the prerequisite of the Stokes MSF, which prevents us from integrating a regional HC. In this study, we adopt a recently developed technique to construct the three-dimensional structure of HC and evaluate the capability of eight state-of-the-art reanalyses in reproducing the regional HC response to ENSO events. Results show that all eight reanalyses reproduce the spatial structure of HC responses well, with an intensified HC around the central-eastern Pacific but weakened circulations around the Indo-Pacific warm pool and tropical Atlantic. The spatial correlation coefficient of the three-dimensional HC anomalies among the different datasets is always larger than 0.93. However, these datasets may not capture the amplitudes of the HC responses well. This uncertainty is especially large for ENSO-associated equatorially asymmetric HC anomalies, with the maximum amplitude in Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR) being about 2.7 times the minimum value in the Twentieth Century Reanalysis (20CR). One should be careful when using reanalysis data to evaluate the intensity of ENSO-associated HC anomalies.

The cognitive impairment caused by cerebral ischemia/reperfusion is an unsolved problem in the field of international neural rehabilitation. Not only ameliorates the consciousness level of certain patients who suffered from ischemia-reperfusion injury and were comatose for a long time period after cerebral resuscitation treatment, but levodopa also improves the symptoms of neurological deficits in rats with global cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury. However, Levodopa has not been widely used as a brain protection drug after cardiopulmonary resuscitation, because of its unclear repair mechanism. Levodopa was used to study the neuroplasticity in the hippocampus of global cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury rat model, established by Pulsinelli's four-vessel occlusion method. Levodopa was injected intraperitoneally at 50 mg/kg/d for 7 consecutive days after 1st day of surgery. The modified neurological function score, Morris water maze, magnetic resonance imaging, Nissl and TH staining, electron microscopy and western blot were used in the present study. The results showed that levodopa improved the neurological function and learning and memory of rats after global cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury, improved the integrity of white matter, and density of gray matter in the hippocampus, increased the number of synapses, reduced the delayed neuronal death, and increased the expression of synaptic plasticity-related proteins (BDNF, TrkB, PSD95, and Drebrin) in the hippocampus. In conclusion, levodopa can improve cognitive function after global cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury by enhancing the synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus.

This research aims to develop a new vehicle ride comfort simulation technology. The basic principle of pseudo-excitation method (PEM) is summarized, and the specific method of PEM is proposed to solve the finite element model (FEM) of vehicle. Taking a simple 7-degree-of-freedom (DOF) car spatial model as an example, the traditional and new methods are compared. Simulation results show that they are completely consistent, thereby verifying the effectiveness of the new method. At the same time, through the simulation process, the new method is simpler and more efficient without deducing complex mathematical formulas and software programming. Finally, the ride comfort simulation of a car’s complex FEM is performed. FEM can consider the parts of the vehicle as elastic bodies and closer to the real vehicle. The PEM transforms random vibration analysis into simple harmonic vibration analysis, which improves the efficiency of the solution greatly. Therefore, the combination of the FEM and the PEM cannot only solve the problem of model accuracy but also the problem of solving efficiency, which has strong practical engineering application value.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the leading causes of death and disability worldwide, and destruction of the cerebrovascular system is a major factor in the cascade of secondary injuries caused by TBI. Laser speckle imaging (LSCI)has high sensitivity in detecting cerebral blood flow. LSCI can visually show that transcranial focused ultrasound stimulation (tFUS) treatment stimulates angiogenesis and increases blood flow. To study the effect of tFUS on promoting angiogenesis in Controlled Cortical impact (CCI) model. tFUS was administered daily for 10 min and for 14 consecutive days after TBI. Cerebral blood flow was measured by LSCI at 1, 3, 7 and 14 days after trauma. Functional outcomes were assessed using LSCI and neurological severity score (NSS). After the last test, Nissl staining and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) were used to assess neuropathology. TBI can cause the destruction of cerebrovascular system. Blood flow was significantly increased in TBI treated with tFUS. LSCI, behavioral and histological findings suggest that tFUS treatment can promote angiogenesis after TBI.

P91 steel is considered an appropriate material for high-quality pipes used in nuclear plant. In the extrusion process on 680-million-newton-tonnage forging and extruding machine to manufacture long seamless P91 pipes with large diameter and wall-thickness, the extruding force peak during the process will exceed 500 million newtons. For security consideration, prediction of extruding force, especially breakthrough force, must be accurate to avoid accidents like jamming. A modified finite element model has been developed to predict the extruding force in large-scale glass lubricant hot extrusion of P91 pipes and declare the relationship between the friction ratio and container temperature. On the basis of the practical extrusion results obtained on 360-million-newton-tonnage extruding machine and characteristics of large-scale extrusion, the billet cooling period and new viscous friction model on billet–container interface are added or established as the modification on the most significant sensitive factors. Using the modified model, the average temperature error after cooling is 3.23 °C and the maximum decrease of simulation results of breakthrough extruding force on 360-MN machine is 17 MN. The predicted results correspond to the decreasing tendency of the measured ones. The deviation between the simulated breakthrough extruding force and measured one on 680-MN machine is only 0.3%, which validates the accuracy of force-predicting model. This study may offer the basis for precise prediction for complete large-scale extrusion process and provide guidance to reduce the breakthrough force in the extrusion process.