Early detection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) while in its early stages is critical for reducing HCC mortality in high-risk patients. However, highly sensitive and specific surveillance biomarkers for early-stage HCC detection are still lacking. In recent years, great efforts have been made to research tumor-derived molecular features that are detectable in circulation, such as circulating tumor

With the concepts of Industry 4.0 and smart manufacturing gaining popularity, there is a growing notion that conventional manufacturing will witness a transition toward a new paradigm, targeting innovation, automation, better response to customer needs, and intelligent systems. Within this context, this review focuses on the concept of cyber-physical production system (CPPS) and presents a holistic

The shortage of computation methods and storage devices has largely limited the development of multi-objective optimization in industrial processes. To improve the operational levels of the process industries, we propose a multi-objective optimization framework based on cloud services and a cloud distribution system. Real-time data from manufacturing procedures are first temporarily stored in a local

The provision of water and sanitation services is a key challenge worldwide. The size, complexity, and critical nature of the water and wastewater infrastructure providing such services make the planning and management of these systems extremely difficult. Following the digital revolution in many areas of our lives, the water sector has begun to benefit from digital transformation. Effective utilization

Designing and preparing high-performance lignin-based dispersants are crucial steps in realizing the value-added utilization of lignin on an industrial scale. Such process depends heavily on an understanding of the dispersion mechanism of lignin-based dispersants. Here, atomic force microscopy (AFM) is employed to quantitatively investigate the dispersion mechanism of a lignosulfonate/silica (LS/SiO2)

Rapid, sensitive, point-of-care detection of pathogenic bacteria is important for food safety. In this study, we developed a novel quantum dot nanobeads-labelled lateral flow immunoassay strip (QBs-labelled LFIAS) combined with strand displacement loop-mediated isothermal amplification (SD-LAMP) for quantitative Salmonella Typhimurium (ST) detection. Quantum dot nanobeads (QBs) served as fluorescence

Recent reports on the selective laser melting (SLM) process under a vacuum or low ambient pressure have shown fewer defects and better surface quality of the as-printed products. Although the physical process of SLM in a vacuum has been investigated by high-speed imaging, the underlying mechanisms governing the heat transfer and molten flow are still not well understood. Herein, we first developed

In 2020 and 2021, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), a novel coronavirus, caused a global pandemic. Vaccines are expected to reduce the pressure of prevention and control, and have become the most effective strategy to solve the pandemic crisis. SARS-CoV-2 infects the host by binding to the cellular receptor angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) via the receptor-binding

A microbial community structure of granules harvested from an anaerobic sludge blanket reactor treating phenolic wastewater was investigated using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and clone library construction. Clones of Syntrophorhabdaceae and Cryptanaerobacter were observed to be responsible for phenol degradation. For accurate taxonomic assignment of Cryptanaerobacter clones, phylogenetic

Due to growing concerns regarding climate change and environmental protection, smart power generation has become essential for the economical and safe operation of both conventional thermal power plants and sustainable energy. Traditional first-principle model-based methods are becoming insufficient when faced with the ever-growing system scale and its various uncertainties. The burgeoning era of machine

Immunotherapy with anti-programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1)/programmed cell death ligand-1 (PD-L1) monoclonal antibodies has become routine in the treatment of many kinds of human cancers, such as lung cancer, intestinal cancer, and melanoma. The PD-1/PD-L1 pathway inhibits T cell activation in the micro-environment, making it an attractive target against cancer. Wild-type (WT) PD-1 ectodomain has

Given the current global energy and environmental issues resulting from the fast pace of industrialization, the discovery of new functional materials has become increasingly imperative in order to advance science and technology and address the associated challenges. The boom in metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) and MOF-derived materials in recent years has stimulated profound interest in exploring their

With the coming of the “14th Five-Year Plan”, the coordinated control of particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter no greater than 2.5 μm (PM2.5) and O3 has become a major issue of air pollution prevention and control in China. The stereoscopic monitoring of regional PM2.5 and O3 and their precursors is crucial to achieve coordinated control. However, current monitoring networks are currently

A plastic may degrade in response to a trigger. The kinetics of degradation have long been characterized by the loss of weight and strength over time. These methods of gross characterization, however, are misleading when plastic degrades heterogeneously. Here, we study heterogeneous degradation in an extreme form: the growth of a crack under the combined action of chemistry and mechanics. An applied

Engineering the electrical properties of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) holds great potential for various applications such as sensors, thermoelectric (TE) generators, and hole transport layers in solar cells. Various strategies have been applied to achieve optimal electrical properties, including base solution post-treatments. However, the working mechanism and

Heterogeneous cellular networks (HCNs) are envisioned as a promising architecture to provide seamless wireless coverage and increase network capacity. However, the densified multi-tier network architecture introduces excessive intra- and cross-tier interference and makes HCNs vulnerable to eavesdropping attacks. In this article, a dynamic spectrum control (DSC)-assisted transmission scheme is proposed

Despite their superior control performance, active vibration control techniques cannot be widely used in some engineering fields because of their substantial power demand in controlling large-scale structures. As an innovative solution to this problem, an unprecedented self-powered active vibration control system was established in this study. The topological design, working mechanism, and power flow

Many microorganisms have mechanisms that protect cells against attack from viruses. The fermentation components of Streptomyces sp. 1647 exhibit potent anti-influenza A virus (IAV) activity. This strain was isolated from soil in southern China in the 1970s, but the chemical nature of its antiviral substance(s) has remained unknown until now. We used an integrated multi-omics strategy to identify the

The ambitious global targets on decarbonization present the need for massive integration of renewable generation in power systems, resulting in a significant decrease in the system inertia. In addition to the reduction in system inertia, the transmission system in Great Britain (GB) faces some unique challenges owing to its relatively small capacity, while being decoupled from other transmission systems

Combined heat and electricity operation with variable mass flow rates promotes flexibility, economy, and sustainability through synergies between electric power systems (EPSs) and district heating systems (DHSs). Such combined operation presents a highly nonlinear and nonconvex optimization problem, mainly due to the bilinear terms in the heat flow model—that is, the product of the mass flow rate and

Communication-dependent and software-based distributed energy resources (DERs) are extensively integrated into modern microgrids, providing extensive benefits such as increased distributed controllability, scalability, and observability. However, malicious cyber-attackers can exploit various potential vulnerabilities. In this study, a programmable adaptive security scanning (PASS) approach is presented

With the growth of intermittent renewable energy generation in power grids, there is an increasing demand for controllable resources to be deployed to guarantee power quality and frequency stability. The flexibility of demand response (DR) resources has become a valuable solution to this problem. However, existing research indicates that problems on flexibility prediction of DR resources have not been

Cronobacter species are a group of Gram-negative opportunistic pathogens, which cause meningitis, septicemia, and necrotizing enterocolitis in neonates and infants, with neurological sequelae in severe cases. Interest in Cronobacter has increased significantly in recent years due to its high virulence in children. In this review, we summarize the current understanding of the prevalence of Cronobacter

Understanding the immunological characteristics of monocytes—including the characteristics associated with fibrosis—in severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is crucial for understanding the pathogenic mechanism of the disease and preventing disease severity. In this study, we performed single-cell transcriptomic sequencing of peripheral blood samples collected from six healthy controls and 14

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) death rates in the countries of the West exceed those in the countries of the East by factors ranging from 10–1 to 100–1. In this paper, we refer to the West as represented by United States plus the five most populous countries of Western Europe, and the East as the 15 countries of East Asia and Oceania that are members of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership

Developing high-performing oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalysts under high-current operation conditions is critical for future commercial applications of alkaline water electrolysis for clean energy generation. Herein, we prepared a three-dimensional (3D) bimetallic oxyhydroxide hybrid grown on a Ni foam (NiFeOOH/NF) prepared by immersing Ni foam (NF) into Fe(NO3)3 solution. In this unique

Cancers of the digestive system (DS), including esophageal, gastric, colorectal, liver, and pancreatic cancers, have a high incidence and mortality worldwide. Current cancer models cannot faithfully recapitulate the critical features of the original tumor, resulting in the failure of translation from basic research into clinical practice. More advanced cancer models are in urgent need of pathogenesis

Observing the dynamic progress of the brain in response to peripheral nerve stimulation as a whole is the basis for a deeper understanding of overall brain function; however, it remains a great challenge. In this work, a novel mini-invasive orthogonal recording method is developed to observe the overall evoked cortex potential (ECP) in rat brain. A typical ECP atlas with recognizable waveforms in the

Most left ventricular (LV) Doppler measurements vary significantly with age and gender, making it necessary to correct them for physiological variances. We aimed to verify the hypothesis that different Doppler measurements correlate nonlinearly with different biometric variables raised to different scaling factors and exponents. In this work, a total of 23 LV Doppler parameters were measured in 1224

Semiconductor photocatalysis is a potential pathway to solve the problems of global energy shortage and environmental pollution. Black phosphorus (BP) has been widely used in the field of photocatalysis owing to its features of high hole mobility, adjustable bandgap, and wide optical absorption range. Nevertheless, pristine BP still exhibits unsatisfactory photocatalytic activity due to the low separation

A composite Air Health Index (AHI) is helpful for separately emphasizing the health risks of multiple stimuli and communicating the overall risks of an adverse atmospheric environment to the public. We aimed to establish a new AHI by integrating daily mortality risks due to air pollution with those due to non-optimum temperature in China. Based on the exposure-response (E-R) coefficients obtained from

Personal thermal management is emerging as a promising strategy to provide thermal comfort for the human body while conserving energy. By improving control over the heat dissipating from the human body, personal thermal management can provide effective personal cooling and warming. Here, we propose a facile surface modification approach to tailor the thermal conduction and radiation properties based

The prevalence of allergic diseases is increasing worldwide. Currently available biologic therapies have substantially enriched the therapeutic opportunities in the field of allergic diseases such as asthma, atopic dermatitis, and rhinosinusitis. The aims of the present review are to focus on the current status of development of monoclonal antibodies targeting the cytokines and immunoglobulin, which

Multi-terminal hybrid high-voltage direct current (HVDC) systems have been developed quickly in recent years in power transmission area. However, for voltage-source converter (VSC) stations in hybrid HVDC systems, no direct current (DC) filters are required. In addition, the DC reactor is also not installed at the line end because the DC fault can be limited by the converter itself. This means that

There is a great demand for transparent films, membranes, or substrates in the fields of intelligent wearables, electronic skins, air filtration, and tissue engineering. Traditional materials such as glass and plastics cannot satisfy these requirements because of the lack of interconnected pores, undesirable porosity, and flexibility. Electrospun fibrous membranes offset these shortcomings because

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is a global crisis, and medical systems in many countries are overwhelmed with supply shortages and increasing demands to treat patients due to the surge in cases and severe illnesses. This study aimed to assess COVID-19-related essential clinical resource demands in China, based on different scenarios involving COVID-19 outbreaks and interventions.

There are currently ten COVID-19 vaccines being announced their preliminary efficacies from phase 3 clinical trial, and nine of them have been authorized for emergency use or conditional licensed, which brings some issues to present placebocontrolled efficacy trial of other COVID-19 vaccines. The approval of “first wave” COVID-19 vaccines raises concerns about the administration of a placebo in ongoing

Recent technological advancements and developments have led to a dramatic increase in the amount of high-dimensional data and thus have increased the demand for proper and efficient multivariate regression methods. Numerous traditional multivariate approaches such as principal component analysis have been used broadly in various research areas, including investment analysis, image identification, and

Sinomenine (SIN) is commonly used as part of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) therapy in China, but there is still no published evidence of the efficacy of SIN monotherapy. This work investigates the efficacy and safety of SIN in treating RA patients and analyzes the correlation between ornithine level and the alleviation of disease activity in RA patients. In this 24 week, randomized, placebo-controlled

The reliable operation of flexible display devices poses a significant engineering challenge regarding the metrology of high barriers against water vapor. No reliable results have been reported in the range of 10–6 g∙(m2∙d)−1, and there is no standard ultra-barrier for calibration. To detect trace amount of water vapor permeation through an ultra-barrier with extremely high sensitivity and a greatly

The longitudinal immunologic status of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)-infected patients and its association with the clinical outcome are barely known. Thus, we sought to analyze the temporal profiles of specific antibodies, as well as the correlations between the antibodies, proinflammatory cytokines, and survival of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Riboflavin is an essential micronutrient for humans and must be obtained exogenously from foods or supplements. Numerous studies have suggested a major role of riboflavin in the prevention and treatment of various diseases. There are mainly three strategies for riboflavin synthesis, including total chemical synthesis, chemical semi-synthesis, and microbial fermentation, the latter being currently the

Travel restrictions and physical distancing have been implemented across the world to mitigate the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, but studies are needed to understand their effectiveness across regions and time. Based on the population mobility metrics derived from mobile phone geolocation data across 135 countries or territories during the first wave of the pandemic in 2020, we built

The human gut microbiome has primarily been studied through the use of fecal samples, a practice that has generated vital knowledge on the composition and functional capacities of gastrointestinal microbial communities. However, this reliance on fecal materials limits the investigation of microbial dynamics in other locations along the gastrointestinal tract (in situ), and the infrequent availability

Intelligent process planning (PP) is one of the most important components in an intelligent manufacturing system and acts as a bridge between product designing and practical manufacturing. PP is a nondeterministic polynomial-time (NP)-hard problem and, as existing mathematical models are not formulated in linear forms, they cannot be solved well to achieve exact solutions for PP problems. This paper

Fluorescence nanoscopy provides imaging techniques that overcome the diffraction-limited resolution barrier in light microscopy, thereby opening up a new area of research in biomedical imaging in fields such as neuroscience. Here, we review the foremost fluorescence nanoscopy techniques, including descriptions of their applications in elucidating protein architectures and mobility, the real-time determination

Given the scarcity of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines, a chief policy question is how to allocate them among different sociodemographic groups. This paper evaluates COVID-19 vaccine prioritization strategies proposed to date, focusing on their stated goals; the mechanisms through which the selected allocations affect the course and burden of the pandemic; and the main epidemiological, economic

Pneumatically agitated slurry reactors, including bubble column reactors and airlift loop reactors (ALRs), are important gas–liquid–solid multiphase reactors. These reactors have been widely applied in many processes, especially in the biological fermentation and energy chemical industry, due to their low shear stress, good mixing, perfect mass-/heat-transfer properties, and relatively low costs. To

Polypropylene (PP) scaffolds are the most commonly used biomedical scaffolds despite their disadvantages, which include problems with adhesion, infection, and inflammatory responses. Here, we report on the successful development of a facile one-step method to fabricate a series of novel triclosan polydopamine polypropylene (TPP) composite scaffolds and thereby effectively improve the biocompatibility

Concentrated solar power (CSP) plants with thermal energy storage (TES) system are emerging as one kind of the most promising power plants in the future renewable energy system, since they can supply dispatchable and low-cost electricity with abundant but intermittent solar energy. In order to significantly reduce the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) of the present commercial CSP plants, the next

Due to the worldwide epidemic of allergic disease and a cure nowhere in sight, there is a crucial need to explore its pathophysiological mechanisms. As allergic disease has been associated with gut dysbiosis, we searched for a possible mechanism from the perspective of the molecular interface between host and microbiota with concurrent metabolomics and microbiome composition analysis. Sprague-Dawley

Black carbon (BC) is considered the second largest anthropogenic climate forcer, but the radiative effects of BC are highly correlated with its combustion sources. On-road vehicles are an important source of anthropogenic BC. However, there are major uncertainties in the estimates of the BC emissions from on-road light-duty passenger vehicles (LDPVs), and results obtained with the portable emissions

A person’s eye gaze can effectively express that person’s intentions. Thus, gaze estimation is an important approach in intelligent manufacturing to analyze a person’s intentions. Many gaze estimation methods regress the direction of the gaze by analyzing images of the eyes, also known as eye patches.. However, it is very difficult to construct a person-independent model that can estimate an accurate

Liquid leakage from the pipelines is a critical issue in large-scale process plants. Damages in the pipelines affect the normal operation of the plant and increase the maintenance cost. Furthermore, they cause an unsafe and hazardous situation for the operators. Therefore, detection and localization of leakages is a crucial task for maintenance and condition monitoring. Recently, using infrared (IR)

Although new technologies have been deeply applied in manufacturing systems, manufacturing enterprises are still encountering difficulties in maintaining efficient and flexible production due to the random arrivals of diverse customer requirements. Fast order delivery and low inventory cost are fundamentally contradictory to each other. How to make a suitable production-triggering strategy is a critical

Cloud manufacturing is one of the three key technologies that enable intelligent manufacturing. This paper presents a novel attribute-based encryption (ABE) approach for computer-aided design (CAD) assembly models to effectively support hierarchical access control, integrity verification, and deformation protection for co-design scenarios in cloud manufacturing. An assembly hierarchy access tree (AHAT)

Hydrogen (H2) is an essential vector for freeing our societies from fossil fuels and effectively initiating the energy transition. Offering high energy density, hydrogen can be used for mobile, stationary, or industrial applications of all sizes. This perspective on the crucial role of hydrogen is shared by a growing number of countries worldwide (e.g., China, Germany, Japan, Republic of Korea, Australia

The development of novel materials with ion-selective nanochannels has introduced a new technology for harvesting salinity gradient (blue) energy, namely nanopore power generators (NPG). In this study, we perform a comprehensive analysis of the practical performance of NPG in both coupon-size and module-scale operations. We show that although NPG membrane coupons can theoretically generate ultrahigh