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Identification of novel drugs for anti-African swine fever (ASF) applications is of utmost urgency, as it negatively affects pig farming and no effective vaccine or treatment is currently available. African swine fever virus (ASFV) encoded pS273R is a cysteine protease that plays an important role in virus replication. E64, acting as an inhibitor of cysteine protease, has been established as exerting an inhibitory effect on pS273R. In order to obtain a better understanding of the interaction between E64 and pS273R, common docking, restriction docking, and covalent docking were employed to analyze the optimal bonding position between pS273R−E64 and its bonding strength. Additionally, three sets of 100 ns molecular dynamics simulations were conducted to examine the conformational dynamics of pS273R and the dynamic interaction of pS273R−E64, based on a variety of analytical methods including root mean square deviation (RMSD), root mean square fluctuation (RMSF), free energy of ligand (FEL), principal component analysis (PCA), and molecular mechanics/Poisson–Boltzmann surface area (MM/PBSA) analysis. The results show that E64 and pS273R exhibited close binding degrees at the activity center of ASFV pS273R protease. The data of these simulations indicate that binding of E64 to pS273R results in a reduction in flexibility, particularly in the ARM region, and a change in the conformational space of pS273R. Additionally, the ability of E64 to interact with polar amino acids such as ASN158, SER192, and GLN229, as well as charged amino acids such as LYS167 and HIS168, seems to be an important factor in its inhibitory effect. Finally, Octet biostratigraphy confirmed the binding of E64 and pS273R with a KD value of 903 uM. Overall, these findings could potentially be utilized in the development of novel inhibitors of pS273R to address the challenges posed by ASFV.

We used the one-step hydrothermal controlled synthesis method for Co-Ni3S2 ultrathin nanosheets grown directly on nickel foam(NF). The as-synthesized Co-Ni3S2/NF showed enhanced activities in the hydrogen evolution reaction(HER), oxygen evolution reaction(OER) and better overall water splitting(OWS) efficiency than the un-doped Ni3S2/NF. The voltage of Co-Ni3S2/NF for OWS was only 1.58 V at the current density of 10 mA/cm2 and with long time(>30 h) current output during the current-density(i-t) test. The good i-t performance was also observed in both HER and OER processes. Additionally, the Co-Ni3S2/NF showed a large current density(>1 A/cm2) for both HER and OER. When the current densities reached 100 and 1000 mA/cm2, the required overpotentials for Co-Ni3S2/NF were 0.35 and 0.75 V for OER and 0.30 and 0.85 V for HER. Therefore, after introducing Co, th e activity of Ni3S2-based material was strongly enhanced.

High-yield synthesis (>90%) of two dimeric diphenyl cyclopentadienyl–phenoxyoxochlorotitanium(IV) complexes 3, and 4 has been achieved by hydrolysis of the monomeric 2-(3,4-diphenyl-cyclopentadienyl)-4,6-di-tert-butyl phenoxytitanium dichloride (1) and 2-(3,4-diphenyl-cyclopentadienyl)-6-tert-butyl phenoxytitanium dichloride (2). The molecular structure of 3 has been determined by single-crystal X-ray analysis. Both complexes have been characterized by 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy. When activated with iBu3Al and Ph 3 C + B ( C 6 F 5 ) 4 - , complexes 3 and 4 exhibit reasonable catalytic activity for ethene polymerization, producing polyethylenes with moderate molecular weights and melting temperatures.

The effects of thermal treatments on the microstructure and magnetic properties of NiFe2O4-silica nanocomposites were investigated in this paper. The samples with matrices of silica and mullite gels were prepared by sol-gel processes at different calcination temperatures. The interactions between the magnetic nanocrystals and the matrices as well as the coordination state changes during the crystallization were revealed by Mossbauer spectroscopy. The results show that the sorts and the relative content of the matrix gels strongly affect the structural evolution of the nickel spinel from amorphous state to nanocrystallites.

In this paper, we report a novel photovoltaic phenomenon in a low cost manganite/ZnO p-n heterojunction grown on ITO glass substrate by pulsed laser depositon (PLD) under relative low growth temperature. The heterostructure ITO/La0.62Ca0.29K0.09MnO3(LCKMO)/ZnO/Al exhibits reproducible rectifying characteristics and consists of four parts: aluminum top electrode, ITO bottom electrode, manganite and ZnO semiconductor films. Moreover, the light current can generate under continuous laser ({\lambda}=325nm) irradiation. In this article, we investigate the influence of manganite and ZnO film thickness on the electrical and photoelectric characteristics of the heterostructure at room temperature. The maximum power conversion efficiency (PCE) is achieved not only when the LCKMO and ZnO layer is thin enough, but also when the full space charge layer is sufficient. We obtain the maximum value(0.0145%) of PCE when the thickness of LCKMO and ZnO layer is 25nm and 150nm, respectively. Under this condition, the open circuit voltage is 0.04V, which can be attributed to internal photoemission., Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures

Three types of pentasil silica-zeolites, silicalite-1, ZSM-39 and ZSM-48, have been synthesized from organic solvents in the presence of specific templating agents or crystal seeds. The crystalline products were characterized by means of X-ray diffraction(XPD), infrared(IR), thermoanalysis and composition analysis. The kind of product was remarkably dependent on the contents of alkali and templating agents used in the reaction mixtures. The present results showed that not only the zeolites with 4- and 6-membered rings but also the zeolites with 5-membered ring can be synthesized in nonaqueous media.

Four novel types of microporous alumino-borates had been hydrothermally synthesized from systems of Na2O-CaO-Al2O3-B2O3-R-H2(R=tetraethylammonium hydroxide(TEAOH), tripropylamine(Pr3N) and triethylamine(Et3N). The studies of X-ray diffraction (XRD), infrared(IR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) showed that the crystalline alumino-borates had novel, unique framework structures. The basic building units are triangular BO3, tetrahedral BO4 and A104. The gas adsorption isotherms demonstrated that they possess characteristic zeolite-like adsorption properties. The measurements of, micropore distribution indicated that the pore size has the range from 5A to 6A. Some factors affecting the crystallization of products, such as pH value, the kinds of cations and compositions of reaction mixture were discussed.

A gallophosphate, Ga9P9O36OH·HNEt3, has been synthesised and its framework structure has been determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction.

The structure of the microporous gallophosphate, Ga2P2O8(OH)H2O·NH 4·H2O·0.16 PrOH, consists of gallium-centred octahedra and phosphorus-centred tetrahedra as basic building units to form three-dimensional channels with the 8-ring running along the a,b, and c axes in which NH4+ cations are located in pairs.

A novel microporous alumino-borate, named B–C7, has been synthesized from CaO–Al2O3–B2O3–(TEA)2O–H2O systems (TEA = tetraethylammonium), and characterized by means of X-ray powder diffraction, infrared, composition, thermal analyses, and gas adsorption.

Several pentasil-type silica zeolites (silicalite-1, ZSM-39, and ZSM-48) have been synthesized from non-aqueous systems in the presence of specific templating agents and characterized by means of composition analysis and X-ray powder diffraction.