Assessment of Nanobag as a New Safety System in the Frontal Sled Test

Objective: The future mobility challenges leads to considering new safety systems to protect vehicle passengers in non-standard and complex seating configurations. The objective of this study is to assess the performance of a brand new safety system called nanobag and to compare it to the traditional airbag performance in the frontal sled test scenario. Methods: The nanobag technology is assessed in the frontal crash test scenario and compared with the standard airbag by numerical simulation. The previously identified material model is used to assemble the nanobag numerical model. The paper exploits an existing validated human body model to assess the performance of the nanobag safety system. Using both the new nanobag and the standard airbag, the sled test numerical simulations with the variation of human bodies are performed in 30 km/h and 50 km/h frontal impacts. Results: The sled test results for both the nanobag and the standard airbag based on injury criteria shows a good and acceptable performance of the nanobag safety system compared to the traditional airbag. Conclusion: The results show that the nanobag system has its performance compared to the standard airbag, which means that thanks to the design, the nanobag safety system has a high potential and extended application for multi-directional protection against impact.

Multi-omics analysis for potential inflammation-related genes involved in tumor immune evasion via extended application of epigenetic data

Background: Accumulating evidence suggests that inflammation-related genes may play key roles in tumor immune evasion. Programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) is an important immune checkpoint involved in mediating antitumor immunity. We performed multi-omics analysis to explore key inflammation-related genes affecting the transcriptional regulation of PD-L1 expression. Methods: The open chromatin region of the PD-L1 promoter was mapped using the assay for transposase-accessible chromatin using sequencing (ATAC-seq) profiles. Correlation analysis of epigenetic data (ATAC-seq) and transcriptome data (RNA-seq) were performed to identify inflammation-related transcription factors whose expression levels were correlated with the chromatin accessibility of the PD-L1 promoter. Chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing (ChIP-seq) profiles were used to confirm the physical binding of the TF STAT2 and the predicted binding regions. We also confirmed the results of the bioinformatics analysis with cell experiments. Results: We identified chr9:5449463-5449962 and chr9:5450250-5450749 as reproducible open chromatin regions in the PD-L1 promoter. Moreover, we observed a correlation between STAT2 expression and the accessibility of the aforementioned regions. Furthermore, we confirmed its physical binding through ChIP-seq profiles and demonstrated the regulation of PD-L1 by STAT2 overexpression in vitro. Multiple databases were also used for the validation of the results. Conclusion: Our study identified STAT2 as a direct upstream TF regulating PD-L1 expression. The interaction of STAT2 and PD-L1 might be associated with tumor immune evasion in cancers, suggesting the potential value for tumor treatment.

Duckweeds: their utilization, metabolites and cultivation

Duckweeds are floating plants of the family Lemnaceae, comprising 5 genera and 36 species. They typically live in ponds or lakes and are found worldwide, except the polar regions. There are two duckweed subfamilies—namely Lemnoidea and Wolffioideae, with 15 and 21 species, respectively. Additionally, they have characteristic reproduction methods. Several metabolites have also been reported in various duckweeds. Duckweeds have a wide range of adaptive capabilities and are particularly suitable for experiments requiring high productivity because of their speedy growth and reproduction rates. Duckweeds have been studied for their use as food/feed resources and pharmaceuticals, as well as for phytoremediation and industrial applications. Because there are numerous duckweed species, culture conditions should be optimized for industrial applications. Here, we review and summarize studies on duckweed species and their utilization, metabolites, and cultivation methods to support the extended application of duckweeds in future.

A gravity-driven sintering method to fabricate geometrically complex compact piezoceramics

Highly compact and geometrically complex piezoceramics are required by a variety of electromechanical devices owing to their outstanding piezoelectricity, mechanical stability and extended application scenarios. 3D printing is currently the mainstream technology for fabricating geometrically complex piezoceramic components. However, it is hard to print piezoceramics in a curve shape while also keeping its compactness due to restrictions on the ceramic loading and the viscosity of feedstocks. Here, we report a gravity-driven sintering (GDS) process to directly fabricate curved and compact piezoceramics by exploiting gravitational force and high-temperature viscous behavior of sintering ceramic specimens. The sintered lead zirconate titanate (PZT) ceramics possess curve geometries that can be facilely tuned via the initial mechanical boundary design, and exhibit high piezoelectric properties comparable to those of conventional-sintered compact PZT (d33 = 595 pC/N). In contrast to 3D printing technology, our GDS process is suitable for scale-up production and low-cost production of piezoceramics with diverse curved surfaces. Our GDS strategy is an universal and facile route to fabricate curved piezoceramics and other functional ceramics with no compromise of their functionalities.

Effect of extended application time of universal adhesives on bond strength of brackets and enamel integrity

The objective of this study to evaluate the effect of universal adhesives application time to enamel through shear bond strength (SBS), adhesive remnant index (ARI), and morphological enamel integrity. Bovine incisors were divided into four groups according to bonding system protocol (n=20): (1) conventional etch-and-rise adhesive – Transbond XT Primer (P-XT); (2) one-step self-etching adhesive –­ Transbond Self Etching Primer (T-SEP); (3) one universal adhesive – Single Bond Universal, which were rubbed for 20s (SBU-20) or (4) 40s (SBU-40). Transbond XT composite was used to bond the brackets to enamel. SBS was evaluated in a universal test machine at 0.5mm/minute. ARI was determined under x12.5 magnification and enamel damage was evaluated through scanning electron microscope (SEM) after debonding (n=10). SBS data were compared using one-way ANOVA and Tukey’s test. The Kruskal–Wallis test was used to compare the ARI scores (α =0.05). The P-XT and T-SEP groups showed significantly higher bond strength than SBU-20 and SBU-40 (p<0.05). The ARI was similar for all groups (p>0.05). SEM showed enamel damage only in T-SEP and P-XT groups. Conventional ‘etch and rinse’ and ‘self-etch’ adhesives had the highest shear bond strength, but they were associated with more enamel damage compared to universal adhesives. The application of universal adhesives with the time recommended by the manufacturer — ensure satisfactory bond strength and enamel integrity.

Improvement and Optimization of Electromagnetic Integrated Scanning Micromirror

In this paper, the effect of driving system on working performance of electromagnetic integrated scanning micromirror (ISM) is studied. To further improve the optimization design of the electromagnetic ISM, the detailed theoretical analysis, simulation analysis, and experimental test are carried out, respectively. By changing the force form and external magnetic field of the device, the mechanical scanning angle, driving voltage, and resonant frequency of the electromagnetic ISM will be changed accordingly, and then the change of the working performance of the ISM is explored. Through the optimization analysis and comparative test, the optimal design scheme of driving system is obtained, and the effect of driving system on the working performance of the electromagnetic ISM is verified. The experimental results show that by optimizing the structure of the driving system, the mechanical scanning angle of the electromagnetic ISM is increased by about 20%, and the driving voltage is decreased about 10% observably, and the working performance of the electromagnetic ISM is significantly improved. The research results have important significance and practical application value for the extended application of the electromagnetic ISM in the field of optical detection.