Search Results (74,945)

Self-assembling β-sheet-forming peptides are attractive building blocks for drug delivery nanomaterials. However, their strong intermolecular interactions often lead to high structural stability, which can hinder intracellular dissociation and limit cargo availability. Here, we propose a charge-compensated ampholytic design strategy for β-sheet peptide nanofibers that undergo destabilization and disassembly under reducing conditions. Six ampholytic peptides comprising an anionic main-chain peptide (β-sheet-forming motif, model antigenic cargo, and oligoglutamic acid segment) and a disulfide-linked cationic segment were designed and synthesized to vary the lengths and charges of the anionic and cationic segments, as well as the cationic insertion position. Four peptides formed nanofibers in 4×phosphate buffered saline (4×PBS) and the resulting nanofibers remained stable after dilution to 1×PBS, retaining β-sheet-rich secondary structures and fibrillar morphologies for at least 24 h. Under reducing conditions, the four preformed nanofibers exhibited distinct behaviors, including reduction-insensitive persistence, disassembly, and transient destabilization followed by re-stabilization, depending on peptide charge design. Redox-triggered disassembly was favored when the main-chain peptide had sufficient anionic character and the cationic segment was of moderate length and charge. This study therefore provides a molecular design strategy for controlling the destabilization of β-sheet peptide nanofibers under reducing conditions through disulfide-cleavage-induced disruption of charge compensation. Full article

Nickel coating exhibits excellent wear resistance. To further improve its surface performance, laser remelting technology was employed in this study to modify the surface of nickel coating. In this study, pulsed laser with a wavelength of 1064 nm, pulse duration of 5 ms and laser spot diameter of 2 mm was employed to conduct remelting strengthening treatment on the nickel-based coating deposited on pure copper substrate. The effects of laser frequency and energy density on the coating were investigated by characterizing the surface morphology, microhardness, three-dimensional topography, and wear resistance of the laser-remelted samples. The results indicate that laser frequency influences the surface properties mainly by changing the overlapping ratio of the remelted spots. Laser energy density affects the remelting zone and thereby modifies the surface characteristics of the sample. When the laser frequency is 10 Hz and the energy density is 165.87 J/mm², the sample obtains favorable surface roughness and wear resistance. Full article

Background/Objectives: Andrographolide (ADG) is a plant-derived compound with promising anticancer properties, but its medical use is limited due to poor water solubility and low bioavailability. This study proposes developing a gold-based nanocomposite drug delivery system, using a simplified synthesis method, to improve ADG’s hydrophilicity and enhance its delivery efficiency. Methods: A one-step method was used to synthesize gold nanocomposites with carbon quantum dots (CBQDs) and doped CBQDs acting as reducing and stabilizing agents. These nanocomposites were then conjugated with ADG and thoroughly characterized using multiple structural and spectroscopic techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy (UV–Vis), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Raman spectroscopy, and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Hydrophilicity enhancement was evaluated using NMR-based log P measurements. Biological assessment involved cell viability assays and confocal microscopy studies in PC3 prostate cancer cells, along with the morphological evaluation of human red blood cells. Results: XRD confirmed the formation of crystalline, face-centered cubic gold nanoparticles, while spectroscopic analyses verified successful nanocomposite formation and ADG conjugation. NMR results showed enhanced hydrophilicity of ADG. Biological tests demonstrated that the nanocomposites were compatible with cells. Conclusions: This study presents a straightforward strategy for synthesizing gold-based nanocomposites that enhance the hydrophilicity and delivery potential of andrographolide, supporting their applicability as nanocarrier platforms for anticancer drug delivery. Full article

Hydrogen chloride (HCl) is a hazardous acidic gas released from industrial processes and waste-treatment systems, posing risks to human health, process safety, and the surrounding environment. Accordingly, there is a need for practical adsorbent materials that can reduce HCl exposure without generating secondary liquid waste. In this study, pitch-based activated carbon pellets were surface-functionalized by oxygen plasma treatment to improve fixed-bed HCl removal performance. Plasma treatment was applied for 1, 2, and 4 min, and the resulting changes in surface chemistry, pore structure, and adsorption behavior were investigated using SEM, XPS, N₂ adsorption–desorption analysis, and breakthrough experiments. Oxygen plasma treatment increased the oxygen-containing surface functionalities of the pellets while largely preserving pellet morphology. Under moderate treatment conditions (1–2 min), the BET surface area and pore volume were mostly maintained, whereas prolonged treatment (4 min) reduced the accessible pore structure. In fixed-bed adsorption tests, the sample treated for 1 min showed the longest breakthrough behavior and the highest HCl uptake among the tested samples, while the sample treated for 2 min exhibited the shortest mass transfer zone and the highest bed utilization. These results indicate that controlled oxygen plasma treatment can improve the removal of hazardous HCl gas by balancing surface functionalization and pore preservation. The findings suggest that plasma-functionalized activated carbon pellets are a promising option for toxic acidic gas mitigation in air pollution control and waste-treatment applications. Full article

Urban river networks face significant ecological challenges due to intensive urbanization. Traditional assessment methods focus mainly on individual rivers and overlook cross-scale connections. To fill this research gap, the study refined the Urban Riverscape Conditions-based Assessment for Management Needs (URBAN) framework and developed a dual-scale assessment system covering the entire river network and individual rivers. It evaluates hydrology, geomorphology, ecology, and the waterfront public service dimension. Taking the Qingxi area of Shanghai as a case study, this study integrated multi-source data and adopted field investigations, the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and principal component analysis (PCA) to collect field data, calculate indicator weights, and extract dominant functional factors. The results show that the overall comprehensive health score of the study area is 59.39, classified as average; the river network scale scores 58.34, and the 21 monitored rivers achieve an average score of 61.80. The assessment identifies clear advantages in hydrological and geomorphological conditions, whereas waterfront public services and river morphological diversity are still deficient. Overall, this system demonstrates good operability and scientific validity, providing practical technical approaches for sustainable urban river network management and supporting refined watershed governance. Full article

Guanidinoacetic acid (GAA), an important feed additive, shows poor powder properties due to its morphological characteristics. In this study, GAA was employed as a model compound to investigate the regulatory effects of polymeric additives (hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose, hydroxypropyl cellulose, and polyacrylamide) on its crystal growth and powder properties through integrated experimental and molecular simulation approaches. In situ single-crystal growth experiments reveal that hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose (HPMC) and hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) can selectively suppress the growth of the (11–1) crystal face while slightly promoting the growth of the (011) crystal face, thereby altering the relative growth rates and modifying the final crystal morphology. However, polyacrylamide (PAM) inhibits the growth of both the (11–1) and (011) crystal faces, resulting in negligible alteration of GAA crystal morphology. Growth kinetic analysis indicates that crystal growth is governed by a surface integration-controlled mechanism. Molecular dynamics simulations further demonstrate that the additive preferentially adsorbs onto specific crystal faces, reducing interfacial solute accumulation and inhibiting molecular diffusion. Collectively, these findings demonstrate that additives exert synergistic control over crystal morphology and particle size distribution through selective adsorption and modulation of interfacial mass transfer. This research provides mechanistic insights and theoretical guidance for the regulation of crystallization processes via additive intervention. Full article

Although amorphous calcium phosphate (ACP) has been extensively employed as a biomaterial in dental and orthopedic fields, its exploration for environmental applications—particularly in potentially toxic element remediation—remains notably limited in the scientific literature. This study reports the rational design of a multifunctional adsorbent by integrating sodium citrate-stabilized ACP (Cit-ACP) nanoparticles into calcium-crosslinked sodium alginate (SA) hydrogel beads for selective Cu²⁺ sequestration from aqueous systems. Comprehensive sorption assessments revealed that equilibrium uptake aligned with the Freundlich isotherm (indicating heterogeneous surface interactions), while kinetic profiles adhered to pseudo-second-order behavior, characteristic of chemisorption-driven processes. Under optimized operational parameters (pH 5.0, 45 °C), the Cit-ACP/SA composite attained an exceptional maximum adsorption amount of 307.76 mg/g. Thermodynamic analysis further confirmed the spontaneity (ΔG° < 0) and endothermic nature (ΔH° > 0) of the process. Multi-technique characterization (XPS, FTIR, XRD, pH trajectory) elucidated a dual-mode adsorption mechanism: (i) ion exchange between aqueous Cu²⁺ and structural Ca²⁺ within both the alginate matrix and ACP framework; and (ii) in situ surface precipitation yielding copper-substituted hydroxyapatite. Owing to its facile aqueous-phase synthesis, superior adsorption performance, biodegradability, macroscopic bead morphology enabling rapid separation, and robust selectivity in complex matrices, the Cit-ACP/SA composite presents a sustainable, scalable, and eco-compatible platform for practical remediation of copper-contaminated wastewater. Full article

Precise detection of maize root–stem junction is crucial for hole fertilization in maize cultivation. However, maize root–stem junction detection under field conditions is severely affected by soil clods, crop residues, and weeds, and is further complicated by variations in plant morphology, the small scale of targets, and their sparse spatial distribution. To address these issues, an improved model named PGi-YOLO is proposed in this study, based on YOLOv11n-OBB. A P2 high-resolution detection layer is introduced to improve multi-scale feature representation and enhance small-target localization. The C2PSA-iRMB module replaces the original attention module by integrating an inverted residual mobile block (iRMB) mechanism, thereby strengthening global contextual information fusion while preserving its lightweight design. In addition, the Group Shuffle Convolution (GSConv) module is adopted to replace part of the standard convolution operations, reducing computational redundancy and improving inference efficiency. Experimental results show that PGi-YOLO achieves a precision of 92.0%, a recall of 93.4%, and an mAP@0.5 of 96.9%, with parameters of 2.61 M, a model size of 6.0 MB and an inference time of 5.1 ms. Overall, PGi-YOLO achieves a favorable balance between accuracy and efficiency, demonstrating strong robustness for maize root–stem junction detection in complex field environments and providing reliable support for precision agriculture applications. Full article

Arabic’s complex morphological system and the optional use of short vowels (tashkīl) introduce substantial lexical ambiguity, posing significant challenges for Large Language Models (LLMs). While diacritics enhance linguistic precision, LLMs trained predominantly on undiacritized corpora often exhibit performance degradation when processing fully diacritized inputs due to representation shifts and tokenization inconsistencies. To address this limitation, we propose the Arabic Diacritic Lexical Knowledge Graph (ADL-KG), a structured framework that links diacritized and undiacritized forms through integrated lexical, morphological, and semantic knowledge. Building upon this resource, we introduce Diacritic-Aware Knowledge Graph Prompting (DA-KGP), a prompt augmentation strategy that injects explicit linguistic features into LLM inputs to facilitate robust interpretation of diacritized Arabic text. The framework is evaluated on the Arabic Reading Comprehension Dataset under zero-shot and few-shot question answering across AraGPT2-base, BLOOMZ-560M, SILMA-v1, and LLaMA 3.1-8B. Performance is assessed using Exact Match, BLEU, ROUGE-1, and BERTScore-F1. Experimental results show that fully diacritized prompts significantly degrade baseline performance, whereas DA-KGP consistently mitigates this effect by improving semantic alignment across diverse architectures. For AraGPT2-base, KG augmentation improves average BERTScore-F1 by +5.96 points. SILMA-v1 achieves the strongest lexical improvements, reaching 21.57 BLEU and 81.31% BERTScore-F1 in the KG-enhanced two-shot configuration. LLaMA 3.1-8B achieves the highest overall semantic performance with 82.54% BERTScore-F1 under KG-enhanced prompting, while BLOOMZ-560M also demonstrates statistically significant semantic gains through structured augmentation. These findings demonstrate that morphologically informed prompting and structured lexical grounding provide an effective and parameter-efficient strategy for improving the robustness and semantic fidelity of Arabic LLMs under fully diacritized input conditions. Full article

This study explores the possibility of making cardboard and molded egg carton packaging from corn residues and common reed as alternatives to wood-based pulp. Six formulations were made: corn husks (CHs), corn leaves (CLs), corn leaves (35%) plus corn husks (30%) and a corn blend (15%) of wollastonite (CaSiO₃) (CH + CL + W), a corn blend (CH + CL: husks 60%, leaves 40%), mixed corn waste (MCW) and shredded common reed (SR). Optical microscopy was used to evaluate the fiber morphology, including the calculation of the flexibility coefficient, the cell wall rigidity and the Runkel ratio, for raw materials and fiber after alkaline hydrolysis and casting of egg cartons in silicone molds. The grammage, burst strength and index, folding endurance, thickness and moisture content were measured in the cardboard samples, while warping, compressive deformation, moisture and ink absorption were measured in the egg cartons. The flexibility coefficient of the common reed fibers (64.5%) was better than that of the corn fibers (23.6%), and so was the Runkel ratio (0.86 vs. 1.2). In the case of cardboard formulations, the maximum burst strength (462.4 kPa) and the maximum burst index (3.0 kPa·g/m²) values were obtained with the MCW formulation, and the highest folding endurance (42 and 38 double folds) was obtained with the CH and SR formulations, respectively. The addition of wollastonite improved folding endurance to 28 double folds and reduced moisture content to 4.1%, whereas the moisture content was reduced but burst strength decreased to 250.5 kPa. Egg cartons made from corn were found to satisfy all the requirements tested for good packaging, while the reed-based cartons were found to have inadequate ink absorbency time (20 min), making them less printable. Overall, mixed corn residues seem to be the most promising raw materials for sustainable packaging, and wollastonite can be used to adjust the flexibility–strength balance. Full article

Hypertrophic scars are characterized by excessive collagen deposition, fibrotic remodeling, and functional impairment. However, the ability of current models is limited in recapitulating human pathology. This study presents a novel approach using induced pluripotent stem cell-derived scar organoids to model hypertrophic scar characteristics in vitro. Following established protocols, human pluripotent stem cells were differentiated into skin organoids and induced fibrotic transformation by treatment with TGF-β1 (10 ng/mL) and hypoxia (5% O₂) from day 45 onward. Scar organoids exhibited significant contraction and increased collagen I deposition compared with skin organoids. Immunofluorescence analysis showed reduced LHX2 expression, indicating loss of hair follicle development, while collagen I expression was significantly elevated. Dark-field imaging revealed marked morphological divergence between skin and scar organoids. RNA sequencing revealed distinct transcriptomic profiles. Expression of hair follicle-associated gene families (KRT and KRTAP) was upregulated in scar organoids, whereas epidermal structure-related genes (KRT4, KRT7, CLDN7, and WNT7) were downregulated. These findings demonstrate that iPSC-derived scar organoids successfully recapitulate key features of human hypertrophic scars, including excessive collagen production, loss of skin appendage development, and contractile behavior. This platform offers potential for future applications in drug screening, precision medicine, and understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying scar formation. Full article

With the continuous implementation of the national dual carbon target and the refined control of operating costs in civil buildings, the issue of cleaning and regenerating high-consumption air filter materials in civil buildings has become a hot research topic. This study took rGO air filter material as the research object from the perspective of commercial cost optimization and, using water as the cleaning medium, compared and analyzed the changes in filtration efficiency, airflow resistance, comprehensive performance, and full dimension economy during five cycles of regeneration using water cleaning and ultrasonic cleaning methods. The results showed that ultrasonic cleaning can better maintain the microscopic morphology and structural integrity of the rGO filter, exhibiting more stable filtration performance and slower performance attenuation during repeated regeneration. After the first cleaning, the filtration effectiveness following water cleaning was higher than that following ultrasonic cleaning, with filtration efficiencies 1.21%, 0.18%, and 1.11% higher for PM₁₀, PM_2.5, and PM_1.0, respectively. After the 2nd to 5th cleaning cycles, the filtration efficiency following ultrasonic cleaning was higher than that following water cleaning, with increases of 3.79%, 2.18%, 2.20%, and 6.49% for PM₁₀; 3.20%, 1.22%, 2.96%, and 3.25% for PM_2.5; and 1.90%, 2.02%, 2.02%, and 6.21% for PM_1.0, respectively. The counting filtration efficiency of the ultrasonic cleaning method is relatively high for particle sizes roughly between 0.35 and 2.5 μm, while the difference between large particles is small. The filtration resistance value of the water cleaning method is higher than that of the ultrasonic cleaning method. The QF of the ultrasonic cleaning is always higher than that of the water cleaning method. After five washes, the QF values of PM₁₀, PM_2.5, and PM_1.0 under the ultrasonic cleaning method were 2.26, 2.04, and 2.37 times higher, respectively, than those under the water washing cleaning method. When the replacement frequency is the same, the cost of using ultrasonic cleaning is lower than that of water cleaning. It can effectively reduce the operating costs and asset replacement costs of the fresh air system and is more suitable for the landing and long-term cost control needs of large-scale civil construction projects. Therefore, it is recommended that ultrasonic cleaning be used to recycle rGO air filter materials. These findings provide reference value for the large-scale use of rGO air filter materials and the creation of low-carbon indoor environments. Full article

An optimum In_0.2Cd_0.8S composition was synthesized with graphene to enhance photocatalytic performance. Graphene incorporation altered the morphology from compact grains to a loosely aggregated structure without affecting the crystal phase, as confirmed by XRD. XPS analysis indicated surface-level interaction between graphene and the In–Cd–S matrix, rather than lattice integration. Mott–Schottky and Kubelka–Munk analyses revealed n-type semiconducting behavior and a slight band gap increase from 2.46 to 2.51 eV upon graphene blending. UV–Vis and IPCE measurements showed enhanced light absorption, with IPCE values of 9.33% and 5.01% at 380 nm and 480 nm, respectively. The 3.85 wt% graphene-modified photocatalyst achieved a hydrogen evolution rate of 4.97 μmolh⁻¹cm⁻², more than triple that of pristine In_0.2Cd_0.8S. These enhancements are attributed to improved charge transport and interfacial activity provided by the graphene. Full article

Electrochemical nitrate reduction (eNO₃⁻RR) to NH₃ is a sustainable solution. However, it faces challenges like poor selectivity and competitive hydrogen evolution (HER). We report a novel Ga@FeGa₃ catalyst for efficient eNO₃⁻RR. Its unique rough, flaky morphology provides abundant active sites. The optimized electron structure enhanced the nitrogen intermediate binding. The catalyst also shows exceptional hydrophilicity. This aids reactant access, rapid product desorption, and suppresses HER. These effects give Ga@FeGa₃ outstanding eNO₃⁻RR performance. It achieves an NH₃ Faradaic efficiency of 97.84% at −1.4 V (vs. Ag/AgCl) and a 3.87 mg h⁻¹ cm⁻² yield at −1.5 V. It also maintains high selectivity and stability for over 12 h. This work highlights rational intermetallic design. Such design optimizes active sites, electronic structure, and surface wettability. This is crucial for multi-electron transfer reactions. It offers a general strategy for high-performance electrocatalysts. Full article

In the present research, a new type of biomimetic material loaded with chlorophyll derivatives (CpDs) for photodynamic therapy based on poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) was fabricated by the electrospinning method. Such matrices showed great potential for the advanced delivery of photodynamic therapeutic reagents to targeted regions and options for prolonged local application. The key morphological characteristics of fibrous materials were investigated. It was found that incorporation of CpDs leads to a change in the average fiber diameter from 3.5 µm to 2.1 µm, increasing porosity from 80% to 90% and accompanied by an over 3-fold increased proportion of open pores. Moreover, the CpD application facilitated fine hydrophilicity tuning, allowing an increase of this parameter up to 10% under different conditions, neutralizing the hydrophobic nature of the matrix polymer and photosensitizer. Moreover, changes in physical properties, supramolecular structure, photosensitizing effect, and singlet oxygen generation were investigated. The data obtained show that the proposed materials are great examples of convenient and reliable carriers for advanced PDT. The results obtained demonstrate high antimicrobial activity in the presence of irradiation as well as noticeable efficacy against carcinoma, both light and dark. Full article