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\"Functional Pavements is a collection of papers presented at the 6th Chinese-European Workshop (CEW) on Functional Pavement Design (Nanjing, China, October 18-21, 2020). The focus of the CEW series is on field tests, laboratory test methods and advanced analysis techniques, and cover analysis, material development and production, experimental characterization, design and construction of pavements. The main areas covered by the book include: Asphalt binders for flexible pavements Asphalt mixture evaluation and performance Pavement construction and maintenance Pavement Surface Properties and Vehicle Interaction Cementitious materials for rigid pavements Pavement geotechnics and environment Functional Pavements aims at contributing to the establishment of a new generation of pavement design methodologies in which rational mechanics principles, advanced constitutive models and advanced material characterization techniques shall constitute the backbone of the design process. The book will be much of interest to professionals, academics and practitioners in pavement engineering and related disciplines as it should assist them in providing improved road pavement infrastructure to their stakeholders.\"-- Provided by publisher.

Carbon dots (CDs) are photoluminescent nanomaterials with wide-ranging applications. Despite their photoactivity, it remains unknown whether CDs degrade under illumination and whether such photodegradation poses any cytotoxic effects. Here, we show laboratory-synthesized CDs irradiated with light degrade into molecules that are toxic to both normal (HEK-293) and cancerous (HeLa and HepG2) human cells. Eight days of irradiation photolyzes 28.6-59.8% of the CDs to <3 kilo Dalton molecules, 1431 of which are detected by high-throughput, non-target high-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Molecular network and community analysis further reveal 499 cytotoxicity-related molecules, 212 of which contain polyethylene glycol, glucose, or benzene-related structures. Photo-induced production of hydroxyl and alkyl radicals play important roles in CD degradation as affected by temperature, pH, light intensity and wavelength. Commercial CDs show similar photodegraded products and cytotoxicity profiles, demonstrating that photodegradation-induced cytotoxicity is likely common to CDs regardless of their chemical composition. Our results highlight the importance of light in cytocompatibility studies of CDs. Carbon dots have attracted much attention for biomedical applications but potential degradation and associated toxicity are still poorly understood. Here, the authors report on a study into the photo-degradation of carbon dots, the products produced and associated cytotoxicity.

The quality control of plastic products is an essential aspect of the plastic injection molding (PIM) process. However, the warpage and shrinkage deformations continue to exist because the PIM process is easily interfered with by several related or independent process parameters. Thus, great efforts have been devoted to optimizing process parameters to minimize the warpage and shrinkage deformations of products during the last decades. In this review, we begin by introducing the manufacturing process in PIM and the cause of warpage and shrinkage deformations, followed by the mechanism about how process parameters, like mold temperature, melt temperature, injection rate, injection pressure, holding pressure, holding and cooling duration, affect those defects. Then, we summarize the recent progress of the design of experiments and four advanced methods (artificial neural networks, genetic algorithm, response surface methodology, and Kriging model) on optimizing process parameters to minimize the warpage and shrinkage deformations. In the end, future perspectives of quality control in injection molding machines are discussed.

Tapetum development and pollen production are regulated by a complex transcriptional network that consists of a group of tapetum-specific Arabidopsis transcription factors (TFs). Among these TFs, DEFECTIVE IN TAPETAL DEVELOPMENT AND FUNCTION 1 (TDF1) encodes an R2R3 MYB factor, and ABORTED MICROSPORE (AMS) encodes a basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) factor. However, knowledge regarding the regulatory role of TDF1 in anther development remains limited. Here, we discovered that TDF1 directly regulates AMS via an AACCT cis-element. We found the precocious AMS transcript and absence of AMS protein in ams _/_ gpTDF1:AMS-FLAG lines, suggesting the timing of the TDF1-regulated AMS expression is a prerequisite for AMS functioning. We found that TDF1 interacts with AMS. Additionally, the TDF1–AMS complex additively promotes the expression of AMS-regulated genes, suggesting that TDF1 and AMS regulate the downstream genes through a feed-forward loop. EPXB5, encoding a beta-expansin family protein, is another direct target of TDF1, and it is highly expressed in the tapetum and pollen grains. The TDF1–AMS complex acts in concert to activate EXPB5 expression through a feed-forward loop. The identification of the regulatory pathway between TDF1 and AMS provides an interlocked feed-forward loop circuit that precisely regulates the transcriptional cascades that support anther development.

Verticillium dahliae isolates are most virulent on the host from which they were originally isolated. Mechanisms underlying these dominant host adaptations are currently unknown. We sequenced the genome of V. dahliae Vd991, which is highly virulent on its original host, cotton, and performed comparisons with the reference genomes of JR2 (from tomato) and VdLs.17 (from lettuce). Pathogenicity-related factor prediction, orthology and multigene family classification, transcriptome analyses, phylogenetic analyses, and pathogenicity experiments were performed. The Vd991 genome harbored several exclusive, lineage-specific (LS) genes within LS regions (LSRs). Deletion mutants of the seven genes within one LSR (G-LSR2) in Vd991 were less virulent only on cotton. Integration of G-LSR2 genes individually into JR2 and VdLs.17 resulted in significantly enhanced virulence on cotton but did not affect virulence on tomato or lettuce. Transcription levels of the seven LS genes in Vd991 were higher during the early stages of cotton infection, as compared with other hosts. Phylogenetic analyses suggested that G-LSR2 was acquired from Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. vasinfectum through horizontal gene transfer. Our results provide evidence that horizontal gene transfer from Fusarium to Vd991 contributed significantly to its adaptation to cotton and may represent a significant mechanism in the evolution of an asexual plant pathogen.

Interactions between bacteria and fungi have great environmental, medical, and agricultural importance, but the molecular mechanisms are largely unknown. Here, we study the interactions between the bacterium Pseudomonas piscium , from the wheat head microbiome, and the plant pathogenic fungus Fusarium graminearum . We show that a compound secreted by the bacteria (phenazine-1-carboxamide) directly affects the activity of fungal protein FgGcn5, a histone acetyltransferase of the SAGA complex. This leads to deregulation of histone acetylation at H2BK11, H3K14, H3K18, and H3K27 in F . graminearum , as well as suppression of fungal growth, virulence, and mycotoxin biosynthesis. Therefore, an antagonistic bacterium can inhibit growth and virulence of a plant pathogenic fungus by manipulating fungal histone modification. The molecular mechanisms behind the interactions between bacteria and fungi are largely unclear. Here, Chen et al. show that a compound secreted by bacteria from the wheat head microbiome inhibits growth and virulence of a plant pathogenic fungus by manipulating fungal histone modification.

Lithium garnets have been widely studied as promising electrolytes that could enable the next-generation all-solid-state lithium batteries. However, upon exposure to atmospheric moisture and carbon dioxide, insulating lithium carbonate forms on the surface and deteriorates the interfaces within electrodes. Here, we report a scalable solid sintering method, defined by lithium donor reaction that allows for complete decarbonation of Li 6.4 La 3 Zr 1.4 Ta 0.6 O 12 (LLZTO) and yields an active LiCoO 2 layer for each garnet particle. The obtained LiCoO 2 coated garnets composite is stable against air without any Li 2 CO 3 . Once working in a solid-state lithium battery, the LiCoO 2 -LLZTO@LiCoO 2 composite cathode maintains 81% of the initial capacity after 180 cycles at 0.1 C. Eliminating CO 2 evolution above 4.0 V is confirmed experimentally after transforming Li 2 CO 3 into LiCoO 2 . These results indicate that Li 2 CO 3 is no longer an obstacle, but a trigger of the intimate solid-solid interface. This strategy has been extended to develop a series of LLZTO@active layer materials. Formation of insulating lithium carbonate on surface of lithium garnets hinders their application as solid electrolyte in lithium ion batteries. Here the authors explore a scalable sintering approach to utilize the undesired Li 2 CO 3 and improve the active material-electrolyte interface within cathodes.

This paper introduces an Multi-Hop Reasoning Framework for Composed Fashion Image Retrieval (CFIR), meticulously designed to overcome the inherent limitations posed by existing single-step and hierarchical retrieval methods when dealing with complex multimodal queries in CFIR. Traditional CFIR approaches often struggle to accurately interpret the intricate interplay between textual descriptions and visual content within fashion datasets. Our methodology harnesses the power of multi-hop reasoning to iteratively refine the retrieval process, thereby enabling a deeper and more nuanced integration of visual and textual data. This structured approach not only enhances the model’s interpretative capabilities but also significantly improves its ability to discern subtle relationships between reference and target images across various modification descriptions. By incorporating multiple reasoning steps, the framework adeptly manages the compositionality inherent in fashion-related queries, resulting in superior retrieval accuracy and performance. We thoroughly validate our approach through rigorous experiments on three extensive fashion image datasets, including Fashion-IQ, Shoes, and Fashion200k. The results demonstrate marked improvements over state-of-the-art methods, highlighting the potential of our multi-hop reasoning framework to set a new benchmark in the field of image retrieval.

Lightweight magnesium alloys are attractive as structural materials for improving energy efficiency in applications such as weight reduction of transportation vehicles. One major obstacle for widespread applications is the limited ductility of magnesium, which has been attributed to 〈c + a〉 dislocations failing to accommodate plastic strain. We demonstrate, using in situ transmission electron microscope mechanical testing, that 〈c + a〉 dislocations of various characters can accommodate considerable plasticity through gliding on pyramidal planes. We found that submicrometer-size magnesium samples exhibit high plasticity that is far greater than for their bulk counterparts. Small crystal size usually brings high stress, which in turn activates more 〈c + a〉 dislocations in magnesium to accommodate plasticity, leading to both high strength and good plasticity.

Background Asthma is a common immune disease with high morbidity in children. Type 2 inflammation is the center of asthma development, and mainly mediated by a subset of CD4 + T cells, T helper 2 (Th2) cells. Excess Th2 differentiation was generally associated with asthmatic attack. Casitas B-lineage lymphoma (c-CBL) was reported to involved in T cell development and databank showed its decreased expression in CD4 + T cells from peripheral blood of asthmatic children. This study aims to investigate the role of c-CBL in childhood asthma and Th2 differentiation, and explore the underlying mechanism. Methods We collected peripheral blood samples from clinical childhood asthma cases and healthy controls, and determined c-CBL expression in CD4 + T cells. Asthma was induced in neonatal mice by ovalbumin (OVA) intraperitoneal injection and aerosol inhalation, and c-CBL expression in CD4 + T cells from peripheral blood and spleen was measured. Gain-of-function experiments was performed to confirm the effects of c-CBL on Th2 differentiation in vitro. Finally, c-CBL was delivered into asthmatic mice via lentivirus infection to verify its effects on experimental asthma. Results c-CBL was lowly expressed in CD4 + T cells from asthmatic children than those of healthy controls. Similarly, it was downregulated in CD4 + T cells from peripheral blood and spleen of asthma mice. Overexpression of c-CBL restrained lung pathological injury and type 2 inflammation in experimental asthmatic mice. Gain-of-function experiments demonstrated that c-CBL inhibited Th2 differentiation of CD4 + T cells from healthy children, and mediated the ubiquitination of lymphocyte cell-specific protein-tyrosine kinase (LCK). LCK acted as a kinase to phosphorylate and activate c-JUN, which was predicted to bind promoter sequence of CD28 by bioinformatic analysis. Dual-luciferase reporter assay verified that c-JUN and ETS1 synergically enhanced transcription of CD28, and this transcription activation was aggravated by LCK overexpression. Conclusion c-CBL alleviated asthma and suppressed Th2 differentiation by facilitating LCK ubiquitination, interrupting c-JUN activation and CD28 expression in vivo and in vitro. c-CBL/LCK/c-JUN/ETS1/CD28 axis was partially involved in childhood asthma, and may provide novel insights for clinical treatment for asthma.