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Intercalation of HKUST-1: A strategy for conferring GOM with accurate size-sieving, self-cleaning, and antibacterial multi-functionalities
No full textPrecise regulation of pore sizes and fouling issues related to filter cake formation and bacterial growth continue to impede the practical application of GOMs. Though metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) with specific structures and semiconductor features are a potential candidate for addressing the above issues, it is still difficult to accurately control the GOM pore with MOFs, due to the difficulty of removing interfacial gaps. In this study, we successfully employed the specific pore size of HKUST-1 (Cu-BTC, BTC: benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxylate) to control the channel size of GOMs by self-assembling a pH-regulated HKUST-1/GO dispersion, followed by moderate- to high-temperature vacuum drying. Consequently, the incorporation of HKUST-1 dramatically influenced the rejection performance of GOMs, enabling the selective rejection of molecules larger than 9 Å (e.g., Rh B, CV, and TB) while effectively separating sub-9 Å impurities (e.g., MB and NaCl), and resulting in a nearly 14-fold increase in water flux. Moreover, the photodegradation and Cu2+ release properties of HKUST-1 endowed the GO@HKUST-1 membrane (GHM) with remarkable self-cleaning, antibacterial and long-term stable characteristics. Our approach provides a simple and universal method for conferring GOM with accurate size-sieving, self-cleaning, and antibacterial multi-functionalities, thereby enabling high-quality and sustainable molecular separation and dye desalination
Monoclonal Anti-CD47 Therapy and its Haematological Effects, including Anaemia and Thrombocytopenia
No full textMonoclonal anti-CD47 therapy is a new form of immunotherapy, which has been used in a clinical setting in recent years for the treatment of haematological and solid malignancies. Anti-CD47 functions by blocking the CD47-SIRPα interaction and promotes the phagocytosis of cancer cells, which attempt to invade the immune systems mechanisms via this interface. This review aims to highlight the significance of anaemia and thrombocytopenia associated with anti-CD47 therapy, as the expression of CD47 on healthy cells can lead to premature removal by phagocytes. Using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis guidelines, eligible studies formed the basis of this systematic review. The screening process of the literature was conducted in multiple phases and studies were considered relevant if the data fit the specified eligibility criteria. Of the original 395 reports obtained, 7 eligible clinical trials were used as they contained relevant statistical data for comparison. Using a proportional, binary random-effects meta-analysis, the incidence of both anaemia and thrombocytopenia was considered significant with a p value < 0.001. Both plots were generated with a confidence interval of 95% [CI 0.207-0.445 anaemia; CI 0.075-0.259 thrombocytopenia]. Using the findings of this review, the occurrence of both anaemia and thrombocytopenia is significant in participants undergoing treatment with various forms of anti-CD47 therapies. However, large-scale studies should be considered in future to determine which specific anti-CD47 therapy can effectively promote the removal of cancer cells with limited adverse effects
Design of optimal truss components for fabrication via multi-axis additive manufacturing
No full textAdditive manufacturing (AM) has developed rapidly in recent years and has the potential to enable fabrication of structurally optimized components that have hitherto been impossible to manufacture. When the degree of design freedom is high it can be observed that structurally optimized components are often truss-like in form, such that truss topology (or ‘layout’) optimization methods can be used to rapidly and directly identify optimal forms. However, these forms are often geometrically complex, and the presence of overhanging elements means that they generally need to be manufactured with support structures when traditional 3-axis AM machines are employed. To reduce, or even completely eliminate, the need for support structures, multi-axis AM machines with 5 or more axes can instead be used. In this contribution a novel process-aware truss layout optimization strategy tailored for multi-axis AM machines is proposed, which involves combining curved printing surface identification with truss layout and geometry optimization. Due to the non-linear and non-convex nature of the resulting optimization formulation, two strategies are proposed: (i) performance-based, to obtain highly materially-efficient structures, though which have as little need for support structures as possible; (ii) printability-based, to obtain fully self-supportable structures, though which consume as little material as possible. Several examples are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. It is shown that fully self-supporting optimized structures can often be identified, with little or no sacrifice in terms of structural performance
Methods: A bioinformatic protocol for rapid analysis of zebrafish embryo photo-motory responses (PMR) in neurotoxicity testing
No full textChemobehavioural phenotyping presents unique opportunities for analyzing neurotoxicants and discovering behavior-modifying neuroceuticals in small aquatic model organisms such as zebrafish (Danio rerio). A recently popularized approach in this field involves the utilization of zebrafish embryos for a photo-motor response (PMR) bioassay. The PMR bioassay entails stimulating zebrafish embryos between 24 and 36 h post fertilization (hpf) with a high-intensity light stimulus, inducing a transient increase in the frequency of photo-induced embryo body flexions. These flexions can be computationally analyzed to derive behavioral signatures, enabling the categorization of neuromodulating chemicals. Despite the significant advantages of the PMR bioassay, its widespread implementation is hindered by lack of well described and straightforward high-throughput bioinformatic analysis of behavioral data. In this methods article, we present an easily implementable bioinformatics protocol specifically designed for rapid behavioral analysis of large cohorts of zebrafish specimens in PMR bioassays. We also address common pitfalls encountered during PMR analysis, discuss its limitations, and propose future directions for developing next-generation biometric analysis techniques in chemobehavioural assays utilizing zebrafish embryos
Supply chain network design with financial considerations: A comprehensive review
No full textSupply chain network design (SCND) is a large and growing area of research. Although SCND has a remarkable effect on companies’ main financial accounts, our examination reveals that most of the models only investigate roughly the costs and revenues related to the design project and neglect other significant financial factors linked to its future performance. This study carries out a comprehensive survey of SCND articles published from 2008 to 2021 by systematically selecting 689 journal papers and exploring their types, paradigms, modelling methods, and uncertainty factors, with special attention to financial considerations. We develop a framework to classify and analyse all these aspects. We also analyse the most recent survey studies related to SCND models, notably facility location problems (FLPs), hub location problems (HLPs), reverse logistics (RL), and closed-loop supply chains (CLSC). Compared to these studies, a broad range of topics is added to the search process. We recommend a framework for detecting and reporting financial perspectives by employing useful concepts, e.g., the duality principle, charts of accounts, and financial statements analysis. We identify several research gaps and offer future research directions such as using specific complementary equations, e.g., depreciation, amortisation, and inventory valuation, to improve the applicability of the SCND models
Context Matters: Distilling Knowledge Graph for Enhanced Object Detection
No full textThe human visual system is capable of not only recognizing individual objects but also comprehending the contextual relationship between them in real-world scenarios, making it highly advantageous for object detection. However, in practical applications, such contextual information is often not available. Previous attempts to compensate for this by utilizing cross-modal data such as language and statistics to obtain contextual priors have been deemed sub-optimal due to a semantic gap. To overcome this challenge, we present a seamless integration of context into an object detector through Knowledge Distillation. Our approach intuitively represents context as a knowledge graph, describing the relative location and semantic relevance of different visual concepts. Leveraging recent advancements in graph representation learning with Transformer, we exploit the contextual information among objects using edge encoding and graph attention. Specifically, each image region propagates and aggregates the representation from its highly similar neighbors to form the knowledge graph in the Transformer encoder. Extensive experiments and a thorough ablation study conducted on challenging benchmarks MS-COCO, Pascal VOC and LVIS demonstrate the superiority of our method
Reconciling multiple institutional logics for ambidexterity: human resource management reforms in Chinese public universities
No full textOver the past several decades, Chinese universities have introduced various Western-style human resource management (HRM) practices to improve organizational performance. Such HRM innovations have resulted in new employment relations and paradoxical HR practices, which cannot be explained by the unitary institutional logic assumed by conventional HRM theories. Based on in-depth interviews of academic and administrative members, this study examines how Chinese universities struggle to reconcile competing institutional logics through HR innovations for ambidexterity. Our research reveals a unique transformation trajectory of personnel management in Chinese public universities. The findings indicate that human resource management in Chinese universities has been influenced by multiple logics of socialism, market, and corporation, heading along the neoliberal and managerial route while being shaped by strong state regulations. Chinese universities still have a long way to go to reconcile multiple institutional logics and achieve ambidexterity
Linking leader-member exchange and work–nonwork balance: the mediating role of thriving at work and the moderating role of gender
No full textPurpose: The authors tested (1) the mediating role of thriving in the association between leader-member exchange (LMX) and work–nonwork balance (WNWB) and (2) the moderating effect of gender in the relationship between LMX and thriving. Design/methodology/approach: Cross-sectional data were collected from six separate participant groups across an eight-month period (n = 522). Data analysis included confirmatory factor analysis to assess the construct validity of the proposed three-factor model. Hierarchical regression and the PROCESS macro were used to test three hypotheses. Findings: The authors found thriving mediated an indirect effect of LMX on WNWB. In addition, we found that the relationship between LMX and thriving was moderated by gender, such that the relationship was found for females. Overall, the authors identified a moderated-mediation effect indicating an indirect effect of LMX on WNWB via thriving for females. Research limitations/implications: Cross-sectional design suggests their results are theory driven. The authors suggest future studies replicate the study employing experimental designs. Practical implications: The authors suggest organisations develop programs to enhance leadership and thriving capabilities as tools to manage WNWB. Originality/value: The authors add to the thriving literature by revealing gender differences in the effectiveness of relational resources (i.e. LMX) in fostering employee thriving. Furthermore, the authors extend the efficacy of thriving beyond the workplace to include WNWB. The authors demonstrate the skills and knowledge acquired at work can be used to lessen the impact of WNWB
Efficient Throughput Maximization in Dynamic Rechargeable Networks
No full textIn the Dynamic Rechargeable Networks (DRNs), to maximize the throughput by efficient energy allocation, the existing studies usually consider the spatio-temporal dynamic factors of the harvested energy, and seldom the network dynamic factors simultaneously, such as the time variable network resources and wireless interference. To take the network dynamic factors together, this paper studies the quite challenging problem, the network throughput maximization in the DRNs. We introduce the Time-Expanded Graph (TEG) to describe the above dynamic factors in an obvious way and design the Single Pair Throughput maximization (SPT) algorithm based on TEG. In the case of multiple pairs of source-targets, this paper introduces the Garg and Könemann's framework and then designs the Multiple Pairs Throughput (MPT) algorithm to maximize the overall throughput of all pairs. To reduce the time complexity, this paper proposes a Distributed and Parallel Throughput algorithm (DPT). In real applications, the network dynamic factors may not be known in advance. This paper proposes an Online Time-Span Algorithm (OTA) with Markov approximation and Lyapunov optimization, and conducts the extensive numerical evaluation based on the simulated data and the data collected by our real system. The numerical simulation results demonstrate the throughput improvement of our algorithms
Robust Collision-Avoidance Formation Navigation of Velocity and Input-Constrained Multirobot Systems
No full textIn this work, we consider the safe deployment problem of multiple robots in an obstacle-rich complex environment. When a team of velocity and input-constrained robots is required to move from one area to another, a robust collision-avoidance formation navigation method is needed to achieve safe transferring. The constrained dynamics and the external disturbances make the safe formation navigation a challenging problem. A novel robust control barrier function-based method is proposed which enables collision avoidance under globally bounded control input. First, a nominal velocity and input-constrained formation navigation controller is designed which uses only the relative position information based on a predefined-time convergent observer. Then, new robust safety barrier conditions are derived for collision avoidance. Finally, a local quadratic optimization problem-based safe formation navigation controller is proposed for each robot. Simulation examples and comparison with existing results are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed controller