The functionalization of electrospun nanofibers with a wide range of materials allows them to be used for a variety of applications. In this work, Ag NPs, ZnO NPs and CuO NPs were synthesized through green methods and characterized then incorporated separately in PAN nanofibers using electrospinning technique to fabricate antibacterial membranes with high-dispersed green synthesized nanoparticles. The nanofibers composites PAN/AgNPs, PAN/ZnO NPs and PAN/CuONPs and plain PAN were characterized using SEM, FTIR, EDX, furthermore, antibacterial properties and mechanical properties were also analyzed. The nanofiber composites were used for filtration of contaminated drinking water. The results indicated that the surface morphology of PAN loaded with NPs became uneven, rough and irregular compared with plain PAN. The mechanical properties of PAN can be effectively enhanced with the addition of NPs. The cumulative amounts of the released NPs and the bactericidal activities of the nanofiber composites against Gram negative Escherichia coli was evaluated. All samples exhibited antibacterial properties; however, the sample with Ag NPs exhibited better antibacterial activity. By considering the excellent results of nanofibrous composites, they can therefore be recommended for water disinfection applications.

Accurate and efficient salient object detection (SOD) of strip-steel surface defects plays a critical role in maintaining product quality in modern industrial manufacturing. However, existing SOD methods often struggle to balance detection accuracy with inference efficiency, especially when handling complex defect patterns in real-time production environments. To address this challenge, we propose a novel framework named Multi-Scale Fusion Convolution Network with Progressive Dilation (MSFNet-PD), which is specifically designed for real-time salient defect detection. The proposed MSFNet-PD introduces a multi-scale feature fusion architecture that aggregates contextual information from different receptive fields, enabling the model to capture both fine-grained local textures and broader semantic structures of surface defects. In addition, we incorporate a progressive dilation strategy, where dilation rates are gradually increased across convolutional layers. This design enhances the model's ability to perceive defects of varying sizes without significantly increasing computational cost or degrading feature resolution. Furthermore, MSFNet-PD employs a lightweight backbone and an efficient fusion mechanism, which collectively contribute to faster inference speed, making the network well-suited for deployment in real-world, high-speed strip steel inspection lines. Extensive experiments conducted on the SD-Saliency-900 dataset demonstrate that our method achieves competitive performance in both detection accuracy and processing speed compared with several recent baselines. The promising results affirm the effectiveness of our approach in practical industrial defect inspection scenarios.

Air anions are molecules that have gained one or more additional electrons. While there have been several studies on the application of air anions in various fields such as air pollution, microorganisms, and plants, there has been no reported application to insects. This study explored the effects of air anions on greenhouse pests, Tetranychus urticae and Aphis gossypii, and analyzed their potential as an eco-friendly pest control method. The results showed that air anions exhibited insecticidal and repellent effects on both T. urticae and A. gossypii. Moreover, treatment with air anions for three weeks increased the total phenolic content in kidney beans, and the consumption of these leaves resulted in mortality effects on T. urticae. Additionally, in a greenhouse assay, a three-week air anion treatment on kidney beans resulted in approximately 92.3% control efficacy against T. urticae. In conclusion, air anions negatively impacted T. urticae, suggesting their potential use as an eco-friendly pest control method.

Ultrafast femtosecond lasers, with their unique "cold ablation" characteristics, exhibit broad application prospects in the machining of complex hard surfaces of high-end aerospace equipment (e.g., face gears). However, existing femtosecond ablation prediction models are mostly based on the assumption of normal plane irradiation, severely ignoring the drastic variations in the dynamic angle of incidence (θ) caused by complex three-dimensional geometric topologies. Addressing this theoretical gap, this paper innovatively proposes a 3D nonlinear ablation prediction model coupling the dynamic evolution of local incident angles and the multi-pulse incubation effect. First, the spatial incident angles at the micro-nodes of the face gear tooth surface are extracted via a discrete meshing method. Subsequently, by integrating the dynamic polarization reflectivity of the 18Cr2Ni4WA alloy with the spatial projection distortion of the Gaussian beam, closed-form analytical solutions for the elliptical spot area, the effective material removal area, and the central pit depth-incorporating the effective penetration depth-are derived. Simultaneous five-axis laser machining experiments and computer vision-based morphological feature extraction (eccentricity quantification) confirm that: within the range of small to medium incident angles ([Formula: see text]), the experimentally measured morphological evolution is highly consistent with the theoretical model ([Formula: see text]). However, approaching the extreme large angle ([Formula: see text]), the ablation spot severely degrades into an asymmetrical "spindle" shape, and the machining depth experiences an anomalous nonlinear plunge. Combined with ultrafast dynamic analysis, it is revealed that this extreme morphological distortion is primarily attributed to the asymmetrical plasma inverse Bremsstrahlung shielding induced by the large angle, as well as the hindered recast layer expulsion dynamics under high-frequency thermal accumulation. This study profoundly reveals the microscopic evolution laws of laser-material spatiotemporal coupling on complex continuous surfaces, providing a solid theoretical foundation for adaptive trajectory and energy compensation strategies in future multi-axis femtosecond laser precision modifications.

ELISA-based assay testing offers a practical, high-throughput approach for early detection of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP), the causative agent of Johne's disease (JD), particularly for identifying subclinically infected animals within a herd. As no ELISA has been developed specifically for sika deer, the aim of this study was to compare the diagnostic performance of two commercial ELISA assays (ID.VET and IDEXX) designed for cattle, sheep and goats, and the Paralisa™ assay developed for red deer. Serum and faecal samples (n = 105) were collected from 36 clinically affected sika deer at postmortem, 40 apparently healthy sika deer from the same infected herd at slaughter, and 29 sika deer from a JD-free herd at postmortem. Individual liquid faecal culture confirmed infection and MAP shedding status, with 73 animals (69.5%) testing culture positive. Sensitivities were 48% (Paralisa™), 43% (ID.VET) and 4% (IDEXX), while all assays showed 100% specificity. Paralisa™ and ID.VET assays demonstrated almost perfect agreement (κ = 0.86), whereas the IDEXX assay showed poor agreement with both assays. ID.VET assay also showed excellent inter-laboratory repeatability (ICC = 0.93). Overall, Paralisa™ and ID.VET assays provided superior sensitivity for MAP antibody detection in sika deer and may aid JD monitoring in infected herds.

Stored grains are highly vulnerable to insect pests, which can cause significant post-harvest losses worldwide. The invasive bark beetle Pagiocerus frontalis (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) poses a major threat to maize and avocado seeds, yet the influence of temperature on its biology and damage potential is poorly understood. Here, we examined the effects of six constant temperatures (13, 17, 21, 25, 29, 33°C) on survival, development, reproduction, and grain damage. Beetles thrived under moderately warm conditions (21, 25 and 29°C), with the highest progeny, grain damage, and weight loss at 25°C, while extreme temperatures (13or33°C) suppressed activity and reproduction. These findings clarify the species' thermal preferences and suggest that controlling storage temperature, either by cooling or heat treatment, could reduce pest-induced losses, providing a sustainable, non-chemical strategy for protecting stored grains. This information can also be incorporated into climate-based predictive models to forecast pest survival, establishment, and potential damage.

The drug resistance is one of the challenges in cancer chemotherapy, due to the development of different drug-efflux pumps that expels the drug out of the cells, thus, searching for new compounds with multiple targets in tumor cells, could be an affordable chemotherapy. Alternariol monomethyl ether (AME) was preliminary recognized as a cytotoxic compound, however, its availability and equivocal activity are the hurdles for further applications. Alternaria alternata EFBL-025, PV342518.1, endophyte of Catharanthus roseus, exhibited the highest AME productivity (550 μg/l). Chemically, the structure of putative compound of A. alternata was committed from the TLC, HPLC and LC-MS/MS, with molecular mass 274.2 m/z, and typical fragmentation pattern of authentic AME. The purified AME of A. alternata exhibited a substantial activity against the MCF-7 (IC50 2.5 μM), HepG-2 (IC50 3.5 μM), Caco2 (IC50 3.9 μM), compared to OEC (IC50 13.5 μM), i.e with selectivity indices 5.4, 3.9 and 3.5, respectively. The AME has a highest inhibitory activity of Topoisomerase II (IC50 10.2 nM), than Topoisomerase I (IC50 16.7 nM), with a noticeable ability to arrest the division of MCF-7 cells at the G2/M and S phases by 1.5 and 2 folds, respectively, compared to the control. The AME of A. alternata significantly induces the total apoptosis, early apoptosis and necrosis of MCF-7 by 20, 22 and 2.9 folds. The docking analysis showed that AME had a favorable binding affinity for topoisomerases I/II with binding scores -7.72 and -6.06 kcal/mol, normalized to camptothecin and etoposide that have binding scores -9.44 and -6.82 kcal/mol, respectively. The molecular dynamics simulations explored the reliable stability of protein-AME complexes.

Conjugated porous polymers are an important class of advanced materials whose precise synthesis is critical for applications in energy storage, photocatalysis, and next-generation electronics. Developing greener routes remains challenging due to solvent-intensive, energy-consuming methods. Ball milling has emerged as a powerful and versatile tool in organic synthesis and materials chemistry, offering a sustainable and solvent-free alternative to traditional solution-phase methods. Here, we report the optimization of a triple Sonogashira cross-coupling reaction under room-temperature ball-milling conditions, achieving high yields in short reaction times of 60min. The optimal catalytic conditions involved PdCl2(PPh3)2 and CuI as co-catalysts, triethylamine (TEA) organobase, and mechanochemical activation with low frequency (25Hz) in air. The ball-milling coupling also proceeds with solid bases such as Cs2CO3 and under Pd-free or Cu-free variants, albeit with lower yields. Using triethynylbenzene as the core, ten derivatives incorporating electron-rich and electron-deficient aryl halides were synthesized, demonstrating scope and functional-group tolerance. The methodology extends to synthesis of CPPs, reporting three representative macromolecules comprising electron-neutral, rich, and deficient aromatics in high yields (71-89%). This mechanochemical approach enables a green, solvent-free, and operationally simple route to precisely structured advanced materials.

Evidence regarding the association between the serum creatinine-to-cystatin C ratio (CCR) and digestive disease risk remains limited. This study examined whether CCR is associated with incident digestive diseases among middle-aged and older adults in China. This prospective cohort study included 5,234 participants from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). CCR was calculated as serum creatinine divided by cystatin C. Incident digestive diseases were identified through self-reports. Multivariable Cox regression models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs), and restricted cubic spline analysis was performed to assess the dose-response relationship. Stratified analyses were also conducted. During a mean follow-up of 8.23 ± 2.01years, 1,131 participants developed digestive diseases (26.25 per 1000 person-years). Each standard deviation increase in CCR was associated with a lower risk of digestive disease (HR = 0.92, 95% CI 0.86-0.98). Compared with the lowest tertile, the middle and highest tertiles showed reduced risks (HR = 0.80, 95% CI 0.70-0.92; HR = 0.78, 95% CI 0.67-0.92). Restricted cubic spline analysis indicated a significant inverse linear association. Lower CCR levels were associated with an increased risk of digestive diseases among middle-aged and older adults. CCR may serve as a simple indicator for early risk assessment, with a preliminary cutoff of < 0.70 identifying high-risk individuals.

The upgrading of biogas to biomethane requires efficient and energy-conservative removal of carbon dioxide (CO₂) to enhance calorific value and downstream usability. In this study, a gravity-driven hydrophobic polysulfone (PSf) hollow-fiber membrane contactor was systematically evaluated for CO₂ removal from a synthetic CH₄/CO₂ (60/40 v/v) gas mixture under ambient conditions (23 ± 1°C and 1atm). Unlike conventional membrane contactor systems that rely on mechanically driven liquid circulation, the present configuration operates without liquid pumping, thereby eliminating liquid-phase energy demand and simplifying system architecture. Comparative experiments were conducted using tap water as a physical absorbent and a low-concentration Ca(OH)₂ solution (0.1wt%) as a reactive absorbent to assess hydrodynamic, mass transfer, and energy performance under realistic decentralized operating conditions. CO₂ removal efficiencies exceeding 90% were achieved for both absorbents at optimized operating conditions (gas flow rate: 122.5mL min-1; liquid flow rate: 800mL min-1), with maximum values of 92-93% for tap water and approximately 94% for Ca(OH)₂. The gravity-driven falling-film liquid flow regime promoted effective gas-liquid interfacial contact while minimizing liquid-side mass transfer resistance. Specific energy consumption was calculated by accounting exclusively for gas handling and analytical power requirements, yielding low values of 0.47kWh kg-1 CO₂ for tap water and 0.45kWh kg-1 CO₂ for Ca(OH)₂. Long-term stability tests conducted over 30days (8h day-1) demonstrated sustained CO₂ removal performance with only gradual efficiency decline, attributed primarily to progressive CaCO₃ precipitation rather than membrane wetting or structural degradation. The novelty of this work lies not in the introduction of new membrane materials or absorbents, but in the system-level demonstration of a pump-free, gravity-driven membrane contactor that integrates low energy consumption, operational simplicity, and stable performance. The results provide practical insights into the design of modular, low-maintenance membrane contactor systems for decentralized and energy-efficient biogas upgrading applications.