N-doped CoAl oxides from hydrotalcites with enhanced oxygen vacancies for excellent low-temperature propane oxidation.

A series of nitrogen-doped CoAlO (N-CoAlO) were constructed by a hydrothermal route combined with a controllable NH3 treatment strategy. The effects of NH3 treatment on the physico-chemical properties and oxidation activities of N-CoAlO catalysts were investigated. In comparison to CoAlO, a smallest content decrease in surface Co3+ (serving as active sites) while a largest increased amount of surface Co2+ (contributing to oxygen species) are obtained over N-CoAlO/4h among the N-CoAlO catalysts. Meanwhile, a maximum N doping is found over N-CoAlO/4h. As a result, N-CoAlO/4h (under NH3 treatment at 400°C for 4 hr) with rich oxygen vacancies shows optimal catalytic activity, with a T90 (the temperature required to reach a 90% conversion of propane) at 266°C. The more oxygen vacancies are caused by the co-operative effects of N doping and suitable reduction of Co3+ for N-CoAlO/4h, leading to an enhanced oxygen mobility, which in turn promotes C3H8 total oxidation activity dominated by Langmuir-Hinshelwood mechanism. Moreover, in situ diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTs) analysis shows that N doping facilities the decomposition of intermediate species (propylene and formate) into CO2 over the catalyst surface of N-CoAlO/4h more easily. Our reported design in this work will provide a promising way to develop abundant oxygen vacancies of Co-based catalysts derived from hydrotalcites by a simple NH3 treatment.

Putative signal peptides of two BURP proteins can direct proteins to their destinations in tobacco cell system.

Plant-specific BURP family proteins have a diverse subcellular localization with different functions. However, only limited studies have investigated the functions of their different domains. In the present study, the role of the N-terminal putative signal peptide in protein subcellular localization was investigated using a tobacco cell system. The results showed that SALI3-2 was present in vacuoles, whereas AtRD22 was directed to the apoplast. The N-terminal putative signal peptides of both proteins were confirmed to be the essential and critical domains for targeting the proteins to their destinations. We also demonstrate that the expression and accumulation of mGFP in tobacco cells was increased when mGFP was fused to the putative signal peptide of SALI3-2. The findings offer the potential application of this short peptide in protein production in plants.

Neuroadaptive Output-Feedback Tracking Control for Stochastic Nonlower Triangular Nonlinear Systems With Dead-Zone Input.

For stochastic nonlower triangular nonlinear systems subject to dead-zone input, a neuroadaptive tracking control frame is constructed by applying the dynamic surface technique with a state observer in this work. Its primary contribution lies in extending the stability criteria to encompass stochastic nonlinear systems characterized by nonlower triangular structures and unmeasured states. The control strategy is delineated as follows. First, the state observer is designed to address the issue of unmeasured states, thereby facilitating the generation of an error dynamics system for subsequent analysis. Second, within the backstepping design framework, a neural network-based tracking controller is devised using dynamic surface control technique and variable separation approaches, ensuring system performance despite the presence of unmeasured states. Finally, stability analysis is conducted to guarantee that all the system signals remain bounded. Simulation examples are presented to illustrate the validity and practicality of the framework.

Relationship between preoperative psychological stress and short-term prognosis in elderly patients with femoral neck fracture.

BACKGROUND: Older adults are at high risk of femoral neck fractures (FNFs). Elderly patients face and adapt to significant psychological burdens, resulting in different degrees of psychological stress response. Total hip replacement is the preferred treatment for FNF in elderly patients; however, some patients have poor postoperative prognoses, and the underlying mechanism is unknown. We speculated that the postoperative prognosis of elderly patients with FNF may be related to preoperative psychological stress. AIM: To explore the relationship between preoperative psychological stress and the short-term prognosis of elderly patients with FNF. METHODS: In this retrospective analysis, the baseline data, preoperative 90-item Symptom Checklist score, and Harris score within 6 months of surgery of 120 elderly patients with FNF who underwent total hip arthroplasty were collected. We analyzed the indicators of poor short-term postoperative prognosis and the ability of the indicators to predict poor prognosis and compared the correlation between the indicators and the Harris score. RESULTS: Anxiety, depression, garden classification of FNF, cause of fracture, FNF reduction quality, and length of hospital stay were independent influencing factors for poor short-term postoperative prognoses in elderly patients with FNF (P < 0.05). The areas under the curve for anxiety, depression, and length of hospital stay were 0.742, 0.854, and 0.749, respectively. The sensitivities of anxiety, depression, garden classification of FNF, and prediction of the cause of fracture were 0.857, 0.786, 0.821, and 0.821, respectively. The specificities of depression, FNF quality reduction, and length of hospital stay were the highest at 0.880, 0.783, and 0.761, respectively. Anxiety, depression, and somatization scores correlated moderately with Harris scores (r = -0.523, -0.625, and -0.554; all P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Preoperative anxiety, depression, and somatization are correlated with poor short-term prognosis in elderly patients with FNF and warrant consideration.

Fuzzy-Affine-Model-Based Sliding-Mode Control for Discrete-Time Nonlinear 2-D Systems via Output Feedback.

This work investigates the issue of output-feedback sliding-mode control (SMC) for nonlinear 2-D systems by Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy-affine models. Via combining with the sliding surface, the sliding-mode dynamical properties are depicted by a singular piecewise-affine system. Through piecewise quadratic Lyapunov functions, new stability and robust performance analysis of the sliding motion are carried out. An output-feedback dynamic SMC design approach is developed to guarantee that the system states can converge to a neighborhood of the sliding surface. Simulation studies are given to verify the validity of the proposed scheme.

An Adaptive Fuzzy Approach to Fault Estimation Observer Design With Actuator Fault and Digital Communication.

This article investigates the fault estimation (FE) problem for a class of nonlinear systems via an adaptive fuzzy approach. Considering the limited communication capacity of networks, the quantized measurement signals are used to construct adaptive laws instead of the real measurements in the designed fuzzy observer. By injecting the quantizer parameter into the observer inputs, the quantization effects on the convergence of estimation errors can be compensated. It is also shown that nondifferentiable actuator faults can be reconstructed by the developed FE approach. Finally, two simulation examples are provided to illustrate the validity of the presented scheme.

Trajectory Tracking of Variable Centroid Objects Based on Fusion of Vision and Force Perception.

Compared with traditional rigid objects' dynamic throwing and catching by the robot, the in-flight trajectory of nonrigid objects (incredibly variable centroid objects) throwing is more challenging to predict and track. This article proposes a variable centroid trajectory tracking network (VCTTN) with the fusion of vision and force information by introducing force data of throw processing to the vision neural network. The VCTTN-based model-free robot control system is developed to perform highly precise prediction and tracking with a part of the in-flight vision. The flight trajectories dataset of variable centroid objects generated by the robot arm is collected to train VCTTN. The experimental results show that trajectory prediction and tracking with the vision-force VCTTN is superior to the ones with the traditional vision perception and has an excellent tracking performance.

Optimal Consensus Control for Continuous-Time Linear Multiagent Systems: A Dynamic Event-Triggered Approach.

This article investigates the optimal consensus problem for general linear multiagent systems (MASs) via a dynamic event-triggered approach. First, a modified interaction-related cost function is proposed. Second, a dynamic event-triggered approach is developed by constructing a new distributed dynamic triggering function and a new distributed event-triggered consensus protocol. Consequently, the modified interaction-related cost function can be minimized by applying the distributed control laws, which overcomes the difficulty in the optimal consensus problem that seeking the interaction-related cost function needs all agents' information. Then, some sufficient conditions are obtained to guarantee optimality. It is shown that the developed optimal consensus gain matrices are only related to the designed triggering parameters and the desirable modified interaction-related cost function, relaxing the constraint that the controller design requires the knowledge of system dynamics, initial states, and network scale. Meanwhile, the tradeoff between optimal consensus performance and event-triggered behavior is also considered. Finally, a simulation example is provided to verify the validity of the designed distributed event-triggered optimal controller.

Fuzzy-Affine-Model-Based Filtering Design for Continuous-Time Roesser-Type 2-D Nonlinear Systems.

This article tackles the problem of filtering design for continuous-time Roesser-type 2-D nonlinear systems via Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy affine models. The aim is to design an admissible piecewise affine (PWA) filter such that the filtering error system is asymptotically stable with a prescribed disturbance attenuation level. First, 2-D Roesser nonlinear systems are approximated by a kind of 2-D fuzzy affine models with norm-bounded uncertainties. Then, the premise variable space of the 2-D fuzzy affine systems is partitioned into two classes of subspaces, that is: 1) crisp regions and 2) fuzzy regions. For each region, boundary continuity matrices and characterizing matrices are constructed by utilizing the space partition information and 2-D structure. After that, novel piecewise Lyapunov functions are constructed, based on which together with S -procedure, the asymptotic stability with H∞ performance is guaranteed for the filtering error system. By the projection lemma and some elegant convexification techniques, the PWA H∞ filtering design conditions are obtained. Finally, the less conservativeness and effectiveness of the proposed approach over a common Lyapunov function-based one are illustrated by simulation studies.

Fuzzy Adaptive Switching Control for Stochastic Systems With Finite-Time Prescribed Performance.

The issue of fuzzy adaptive switching control for stochastic systems with arbitrary switching signal and finite-time prescribed performance is investigated in this article. A piecewise function is adopted to characterize finite-time prescribed performance, and the error signal is converted to a new state variable via the tangent function. Unknown functions are approximated via fuzzy-logic systems (FLSs). Based on the stochastic stability theory and common Lyapunov function, a fuzzy adaptive switching control scheme is presented. The control law is proposed for the stochastic switched closed-loop system so that not only all the signals are ensured to be semiglobally uniformly ultimately bounded (SGUUB) in probability but also a residual error related to the finite-time prescribed performance bound is guaranteed. Eventually, simulation studies for a practical system are given to show the effectiveness of the presented fuzzy adaptive switching control scheme.

Leader-Following Consensus of Multiple Uncertain Euler-Lagrange Systems via Fully Distributed Event-Triggered Adaptive Fuzzy Control.

This article deals with the leader-following consensus problem of multiple uncertain Euler-Lagrange systems with unknown nonlinear dynamics. By introducing a dynamic compensator for each agent, a fully distributed control strategy is developed based on the fuzzy approximation approach, which is independent of any priori global information associated with the communication topology. Meanwhile, a distributed event-triggering mechanism (ETM) is designed such that each agent broadcasts its states only when an event occurs. It is shown that with the proposed ETM, the leader-following consensus is achieved with aperiodic intermittent communication and Zeno behavior is excluded by contradiction. Moreover, the consensus tracking errors converge to small sets around the origin. Finally, an example is provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the obtained theoretical results.

A New Sampled-Data Output-Feedback Controller Design of Nonlinear Systems via Fuzzy Affine Models.

This article focuses on the sampled-data output-feedback control problem for nonlinear systems represented by Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy affine models. An input delay approach is adopted to describe the sample-and-hold behavior of the measurement output. Via augmenting the system states with the control input, the resulting closed-loop system is converted into a singular system first. Based on the piecewise quadratic Lyapunov-Krasovskii functionals, some novel results on the sampled-data piecewise affine output-feedback controller design are attained by employing some convexification techniques. The simulation studies are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.

Event-Triggered Adaptive Fuzzy Output-Feedback Control for Nonstrict-Feedback Nonlinear Systems With Asymmetric Output Constraint.

This article addresses the event-triggered adaptive fuzzy output-feedback control problem for a class of nonstrict-feedback nonlinear systems with asymmetric and time-varying output constraints, as well as unknown nonlinear functions. By designing a linear observer to estimate the unmeasurable states, a novel event-triggered adaptive fuzzy output-feedback control scheme is proposed. The barrier Lyapunov function (BLF) and the error transformation technique are used to handle the output constraint under a completely unknown initial tracking condition. It is shown that with the proposed control scheme, all the solutions of the closed-loop system are semiglobally bounded, and the tracking error converges to a small set near zero, while the output constraint is satisfied within a predetermined finite time, even when the constraint condition is violated initially. Moreover, with the proposed event-triggering mechanism (ETM), the Zeno behavior can be strictly ruled out. An example is finally provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control method.

Hierarchical Multiobjective Heuristic for PCB Assembly Optimization in a Beam-Head Surface Mounter.

This article proposes a hierarchical multiobjective heuristic (HMOH) to optimize printed-circuit board assembly (PCBA) in a single beam-head surface mounter. The beam-head surface mounter is the core facility in a high-mix and low-volume PCBA line. However, as a large-scale, complex, and multiobjective combinatorial optimization problem, the PCBA optimization of the beam-head surface mounter is still a challenge. This article provides a framework for optimizing all the interrelated objectives, which has not been achieved in the existing studies. A novel decomposition strategy is applied. This helps to closely model the real-world problem as the head task assignment problem (HTAP) and the pickup-and-place sequencing problem (PAPSP). These two models consider all the factors affecting the assembly time, including the number of pickup-and-place (PAP) cycles, nozzle changes, simultaneous pickups, and the PAP distances. Specifically, HTAP consists of the nozzle assignment and component allocation, while PAPSP comprises place allocation, feeder set assignment, and place sequencing problems. Adhering strictly to the lexicographic method, the HMOH solves these subproblems in a descending order of importance of their involved objectives. Exploiting the expert knowledge, each subproblem is solved by an elaborately designed heuristic. Finally, the proposed HMOH realizes the complete and optimal PCBA decision making in real time. Using industrial PCB datasets, the superiority of HMOH is elucidated through comparison with the built-in optimizer of the widely used Samsung SM482.

Reachable Set Estimation for Markovian Jump Neutral-Type Neural Networks With Time-Varying Delays.

The reachable set estimation problem for a class of Markovian jump neutral-type neural networks (MJNTNNs) with bounded disturbances and time-varying delays is tackled in this article. With the aid of the delay partitioning method, a novel stochastic Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional containing triple integral terms is constructed in mode-dependent augmented form. To begin with, transition probabilities of the concerned Markovian jump neural networks (NNs) are considered to be completely known. By employing the integral inequality approach and reciprocally convex combination method, it is proved that all state trajectories which start from the origin by bounded inputs can be constrained by an ellipsoid-like set if a group of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) is feasible. Then, the free-connection weighting matrix technique is utilized to handle the case of partially known transition probabilities. As byproducts, some sufficient conditions are also obtained to guarantee the stochastic stability of the concerned NNs. The validity of the theoretical analysis is confirmed by numerical simulations.

Photoresponsive Hydrogel-Coated Upconversion Cyanobacteria Nanocapsules for Myocardial Infarction Prevention and Treatment.

Myocardial infarction (MI) is a common disease that seriously threatens human health. It is noteworthy that oxygen is one of the key factors in the regulation of MI pathology procession: the controllable hypoxic microenvironment can enhance the tolerance of cardiac myocytes (CMs) and oxygen therapy regulates the immune microenvironment to repair the myocardial injury. Thus, the development of an oxygen-controllable treatment is critically important to unify MI prevention and timely treatment. Here, a hydrogel encapsulated upconversion cyanobacterium nanocapsule for both MI prevention and treatment is successfully synthesized. The engineered cyanobacteria can consume oxygen via respiration to generate a hypoxic microenvironment, resulting in the upregulation of heat shock protein70 (HSP70), which can enhance the tolerance of CMs for MI. When necessary, under 980 nm near-infrared (NIR) irradiation, the system releases photosynthetic oxygen through upconversion luminescence (UCL) to inhibit macrophage M1 polarization, and downregulates pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-6 and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), thereby repairing myocardial injury. To sum up, a photoresponsive upconversion cyanobacterium nanocapsule is developed, which can achieve MI prevention and treatment for only one injection via NIR-defined respiration and photosynthesis.

Barrier Lyapunov Function-Based Adaptive Fault-Tolerant Control for a Class of Strict-Feedback Stochastic Nonlinear Systems.

This article investigates the adaptive fuzzy fault-tolerant control problem for a class of strict-feedback stochastic nonlinear systems with quantized input signal. A hysteretic quantizer is utilized to avoid chattering caused by quantized input signals. The fuzzy-logic systems are utilized to approximate the unknown nonlinear functions and also to construct the fuzzy state observer, which is used to estimate the immeasurable state vector. The actuator faults considered in this article are loss of effectiveness and lock-in-place faults. By using the Lyapunov stability theory, the closed-loop stochastic nonlinear system is guaranteed to be stable in probability, and all the signals of the closed-loop system are bounded in probability in the presence of quantized input and actuator faults. Finally, a simulation example is given to verify the validity of the proposed control strategy.

Gradient Descent-Based Adaptive Learning Control for Autonomous Underwater Vehicles With Unknown Uncertainties.

This article investigates the adaptive learning control problem for a class of nonlinear autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) with unknown uncertainties. The unknown nonlinear functions in the AUVs are approximated by radial basis function neural networks (RBFNNs), in which the weight updating laws are designed via gradient descent algorithm. The proposed gradient descent-based control scheme guarantees the semiglobal uniform ultimate boundedness (SUUB) of the system and the fast convergence of the weight updating laws. In order to reduce the computational burden during the backstepping control design process, the command-filter-based design technique is incorporated into the adaptive learning control strategy. Finally, simulation studies are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Asynchronous Sampled-Data Filtering Design for Fuzzy-Affine-Model-Based Stochastic Nonlinear Systems.

This article studies the asynchronous sampled-data filtering design problem for Itô stochastic nonlinear systems via Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy-affine models. The sample-and-hold behavior of the measurement output is described by an input delay method. Based on a novel piecewise quadratic Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional, some new results on the asynchronous sampled-data filtering design are proposed through a linearization procedure by using some convexification techniques. Simulation studies are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Adsorption-desorption behavior of methylene blue onto aged polyethylene microplastics in aqueous environments.

In this study, polyethylene microplastics were artificially photoaged by xenon light. Experiments were then performed with methylene blue (MB) dye to compare the changes in the structure, properties, and adsorption-desorption behaviors of the aged and virgin polyethylene microplastics. The results showed that the aged polyethylene microplastics were hydrophilic with oxygen-containing functional groups, which enhanced the adsorption capacity of polyethylene for MB from 0.63 mg·g-1 to 8.12 mg·g-1. The adsorption isotherms changed from the Henry model (virgin polyethylene microplastics) to the Langmuir model (aged polyethylene microplastics), indicating that the partitioning function was gradually replaced by a single-layer covering during the adsorption process. In addition, 7% and 17.8% of the MB loaded onto the aged polyethylene microplastics was desorbed into water and a simulated intestinal fluid, respectively. These findings reveal that aged polyethylene microplastics can accumulate MB, thus posing potential risks to aqueous environments and biological tissues.