Abstract Membrane capacitive deionization (MCDI) has been investigated as a promising desalination technology, offering reduced operational voltage and enhanced electrode regeneration capability. Traditional materials used for ion exchange membranes rely on fluorinated polymers, which face drawbacks on fabricating processes and high cost. This study introduces a natural-based cellulose acetate membrane, with improvements by both chemical...
Abstract In the IoT era, wearable photodetectors play a crucial role in remote healthcare and environmental monitoring. Semiconductors are the most important component of these devices. Among them, ZnO is a potential candidate due to its high charge carrier mobility, mechanical stability, low cost, and non-toxicity. However, ZnO has a limited working range within the...
Abstract Counterfactual explanations (CE) can make face classifiers more transparent, yet existing methods implicitly target a single attribute at a time, yield unnatural imagery, overly broad or off-target edits, and weak interpretability. We introduce a unified framework that (i) constrains edits with FacePart-based segmentation masks, (ii) performs localized blended latent diffusion on Stable Diffusion 2.1,...
Abstract Hydrated vanadium pentoxide, V2O5·1.75H2O has emerged as a promising cathode material for multivalent ion batteries due to its tunable layered structure and enhanced ion transport properties. In this study, density functional theory (DFT) simulations are applied to investigate bilayer V2O5·nH2O material, focusing on how water content (n = 0, 1, 1.75, 2 and 2.25) influences...
Abstract Syntactic features such as dependency and constituency are well known to improve Semantic Role Labeling (SRL), yet existing syntax-aware SRL models remain largely opaque. Related explainable NLP methods focus primarily on token-level representations and do not quantify how such relations contribute to individual SRL predictions. This limitation is particularly concerning in high-stakes domains such...
Abstract Acute kidney injury (AKI) involves oxidative stress, inflammation, and metabolic toxin accumulation, leading to renal dysfunction and systemic metabolic disorders. Current treatments provide limited efficacy and fail to address the interplay between renal and intestinal pathologies. Here, we present a noninvasive dual-action oral platform that integrates systemic and gut-targeted therapeutic effects to restore homeostasis...
Abstract In this study, we investigate a nonsmooth and nonconvex optimization problem with an unbounded feasible set. Leveraging recent advancements in variational analysis at infinity, we establish novel necessary and sufficient optimality conditions formulated in terms of the normal cone and limiting subdifferentials at infinity. Moreover, by introducing newly defined sets, we analyze asymptotic conditions...
Abstract Cell surface receptors play vital roles in cancer growth and metastasis. Integrin αvβ3 is overexpressed in various cancer cells and interacts with different growth factors to stimulate cancer progression. Thyroid hormone binds to αvβ3 to activate signal transduction and cell proliferation. However, thyroxine (T4) deaminated analogue, tetraiodothyronine (tetrac), competes for the binding on integrin...
Abstract This paper investigates conditions under which a matrix over an involutory division ring can be expressed as a product of Hermitian matrices, and estimates the minimal length of such factorizations. Let D be a division ring with center F and involution ⁎. Among others, we prove the following results: (1) every non-invertible square matrix over D is the product of...
Abstract Paper waste sludge (PWS) generated by the pulp and paper industry is a cellulose-rich residue that remains largely underutilized and presents disposal challenges. In this study, an integrated chemical–biological process was developed to valorize PWS into high-value bacterial cellulose (BC) through sulfuric acid–catalyzed hydrolysis followed by fermentation with Acetobacter xylinum. The hydrolysis step was statistically...
