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Oxygen incorporation is investigated as a strategy to improve heterojunction of CZTSSe solar cell. 12.04% PCE has been achieved due to the suppressed defects and optimized carrier collection.

ABSTRACTThe cultural landscape is valuable for global ecological conservation, as it embodies human history and cultural heritage. Cultural landscapes, as treasures of human history and culture, have a place in the globalization process of ecological conservation. This paper uses Citespace based on the W.O.S. database for a bibliometric analysis to explore cultural landscape research. The history of the development of cultural landscapes is summarized and supported by theory and data. The study analyzes 2506 publicly available publications from various disciplines, including ecology, environmental sciences, multidisciplinary studies, social sciences, anthropology, and more. The research reveals that the discipline has a multi-layered nature, an uneven distribution of research institutions, and a single depth of analysis. The number of keywords in the literature has been increasing year-by-year, covering many hotspots and spanning a wide range of topics. To bridge the gap in the comprehensive study of cultural landscapes caused by psychological factors, we recommend starting with the historical context, cultural history, and human behavioral adaptations. Additionally, we suggest that the cultural ecosystem services provided by cultural landscapes should be explored in the context of human-driven ecotourism. The current phase of cultural ecosystem services aims to translate theory into practice by creating spiritual services and cultural psychology for humans in the post-popular era. Inter-institutional cooperation among scholars should be strengthened in research to respond to the trend of the globalization of ecological civilization-building. These efforts will provide suitable and feasible solutions for the globalization of ecological civilization and contribute to the development of the cultural landscape around cultural ecosystems.

Intelligent visual surveillance (IVS) is being gradually introduced into the field of airport surface surveillance. The first task of IVS is to detect and recognize objects moving on the airport surface. Specialty vehicles play a considerable role in airport ground handling processes and are considerably monitored targets. Because specialty vehicles have diverse appearances and irregular shapes, pixel-level detection would enable them to be targeted more accurately. Specialty vehicles on the surface undertake different jobs in airport ground handling processes, and therefore subcategory classification would more precisely determine the function of these specialty vehicles. Moreover, pixel-level detection and subcategory classification are very useful for detecting key milestone nodes of airport ground handling processes. Thus, in this article, a two-stage framework for specialty vehicle pixel-level detection and subcategory classification for IVS of the airport surface is exploited, which seamlessly integrates state-of-the-art algorithms and techniques, and consists of two segmentation stages (coarse mask generation and refined mask generation). Furthermore, to evaluate related methods, a dataset of airport surface specialty vehicles is established, which contains four types of representative specialty vehicles and corresponding accurate mask labels. All samples in the dataset were captured from surveillance videos of civil airports. Experimental results on the dataset clearly demonstrate that the proposed framework performed favorably compared with the classic instance segmentation methods and achieved pixel-level detection and subcategory classification of specialty vehicles for airport surface surveillance.

Elevating traditional 2-dimensional (2D) plane display to 4-dimensional (4D) light field display can significantly enhance users’ immersion and realism, because light field image (LFI) provides various visual cues in terms of multi-view disparity, motion disparity, and selective focus. Therefore, it is crucial to establish a light field image quality assessment (LF-IQA) model that aligns with human visual perception characteristics. However, it has always been a challenge to evaluate the perceptual quality of multiple light field visual cues simultaneously and consistently. To this end, this paper proposes a Transformer-based explicit learning of light field geometry for the no-reference light field image quality assessment. Specifically, to explicitly learn the light field epipolar geometry, we stack up light field sub-aperture images (SAIs) to form four SAI stacks according to four specific light field angular directions, and use a sub-grouping strategy to hierarchically learn the local and global light field geometric features. Then, a Transformer encoder with a spatial-shift tokenization strategy is applied to learn structure-aware light field geometric distortion representation, which is used to regress the final quality score. Evaluation experiments are carried out on three commonly used light field image quality assessment datasets: Win5-LID, NBU-LF1.0, and MPI-LFA. Experimental results demonstrate that our model outperforms state-of-the-art methods and exhibits a high correlation with human perception. The source code is publicly available at https://github.com/windyz77/GeoNRLFIQA.

The ability of the model organism, Caenorhabditis elegans, to distinguish and escape from pathogenic bacteria has been extensively studied; however, studies on the repulsive response of Meloidogyne incognitaare still in their infancy. We have recently demonstrated that biocontrol bacteria induce a repulsive response in M. incognitavia two classical signaling pathways. The present study aimed to identify the novel genes and signaling molecules of M. incognitathat potentially contribute to its defense reaction. Analysis of the transcriptome data of M. incognitawith and without a repulsive response against Bacillus nematocidaB16 obtained 15 candidate genes, of which the novel genes Minc3s01748g26034and Minc3s02548g30585were found to regulate the aversive behavior of M. incognita, and their functions were further validated. To further confirm the neuronal localization of the two novel genes in M. incognita, in situ hybridization was conducted using the digoxin-labeled probes of ten tag genes, and preferentially profiled the localization of amphid sensory neurons of M. incognita. Analysis of the overviewed neuronal map suggested that Minc3s01748g26034and Minc3s02548g30585functioned in ASK/ASI and CEPD/V neurons, respectively. During their interactions, the volatile compounds 3-methyl-butyric acid and 2-methyl-butyric acid produced by the biocontrol bacteria were predicted as the primary signaling molecules that promoted the repulsive behavior of M. incognitaagainst biocontrol bacteria. The findings provided novel insights into the mechanisms underlying the repulsive response of M. incognitathat are different from the canonical molecular pathways previously found in C. elegansand can aid in developing novel strategies for controlling root-knot nematodes.

As one of the most widely used federated chains, hyperledger fabric uses many cryptographic algorithms to ensure the security of information on the chain, but the ECDSA cryptographic algorithm used in the fabric system has backdoor security risks. In this paper, the authors adopt SM2 algorithm to replace the corresponding ECDSA algorithm for blockchain design based on fabric platform. Firstly, they optimize the part of SM2 signature algorithm process with inverse operation and effectively reduce the time complexity by reducing the inverse operation in the whole process, and the experimental results show that the improved SM2 algorithm improves the signature and verification efficiency by about 5.7%. Secondly, by adding SM2 algorithm template and interface to the BCCSP module of fabric platform to realize the shift value of SM2 algorithm and compare the performance with the native fabric system, the network startup time is reduced by about 29%. The experimental results show the effectiveness of the improved SM2 algorithm, and also the performance of the optimized fabric system is improved.

Nickel iron layered double hydroxide (NiFe LDH) is one of the best oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalysts in alkaline electrolytes. However, it performs poorly in neutral electrolytes, and the detailed mechanism is still unclear. Herein, we introduce electrochemical measurements, operando surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy and operando 57Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy to elucidate the mechanism of NiFe LDH for OER process in different pH electrolytes. Our results show that even though there exist Ni3+and Fe4+species, the NiFe LDH based electrocatalysts still show worse OER performance in neutral electrolytes than in alkaline conditions. Combining the electrochemical measurements with spectroscopic investigations, we demonstrated that the rate-determining step (RDS) of OER on NiFe LDH based electrocatalysts is from *O to *OOH in alkaline medium while *OH formation is the RDS in neutral conditions. Our work provides new insights into elucidating the OER mechanism in different pH electrolytes.

Fluorine 18 fluoroestradiol is a U.S. Food and Drug Administration–approved radiopharmaceutical that targets estrogen receptor in patients with recurrent or metastatic breast cancer, with growing utilization and experience in clinical practice.

The kesterite Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4(CZTSSe) solar cells have shown a continuous rise in power conversion efficiencies in the past years. However, the encountered interfacial problems with respect to charge recombination and extraction losses at the CdS/CZTSSe heterojunction still hinder their further development. In this work, an additional plasmonic local electric field is imposed into the CdS/CZTSSe interface through the electrostatic assembly of a two-dimensional (2D) ordered Au@SiO2NP array onto an aminosilane-modified surface absorber. The interfacial electric properties are tuned by controlling the coverage particle distance, and the finite-difference time domain (FDTD) simulation demonstrates that the strong near-field enhancement mainly occurs near the p-n junction interface. It is shown that the imposed local electric field leads to interfacial electrostatic potential (Velec) augmentation and improves the charge extraction and recombination processes. These electric benefits enable remarkable improvements in open-circuit voltage (Voc) and short-circuit current (Jsc), leading to the cell efficiency being increased from 10.19 to 11.50%. This work highlights the dramatic role of the plasmonic local electric field and the use of the 2D Au@SiO2NP array to modify a surface absorber instead of the extensively used ion passivation, providing a new strategy for p-n junction engineering in kesterite photovoltaics.

Single-atom catalysts have recently attracted considerable attention because of their highly efficient metal utilization and unique properties. Finding a green, facile method to synthesize them is key to their widespread commercialization. Here we show that single-atom catalysts (including iron, cobalt, nickel and copper) can be prepared via a top-down abrasion method, in which the bulk metal is directly atomized onto different supports, such as carbon frameworks, oxides and nitrides. The level of metal loading can be easily tuned by changing the abrasion rate. No synthetic chemicals, solvents or even water were used in the process and no by-products or waste were generated. The underlying reaction mechanism involves the mechanochemical force in situ generating defects on the supports, then trapping and stably sequestering atomized metals.

A surface defects ordering structure is established in CZTSSe system via local substitution of Cu by Ag to suppress disordered CuZndefects and generate benign n-type ZnAgdonors.

Indium doping of cadmium sulfide (CdS) by chemical bath deposition (CBD) can be an efficient strategy to boost the CIGSSe efficiency. However, limited by the extremely low solubility of In2S3, it is difficult to increase the In doping contents and inhibit the band energy-level regulation for CdS through the traditional CBD process. In this work, we perform a novel CBD method to prepare an indium-doped CdS (In:CdS) buffer, in which the indium source is sequentially slowly added in the growing aqueous solution. In this process, the In ion concentration involved in the real-time deposition is significantly reduced. Thus, compact and uniform In:CdS with higher indium doping content is obtained. Indium doping can elevate the CdS conduction band edge and construct a more favorable spike band alignment with a CIGSSe absorber. Moreover, it introduces efficient carrier transport and reduced interface defect density. As a result, improved CIGSSe heterojunction quality is realized by utilizing In:CdS. Also, the solution-processed CIGSSe device with In:CdS as a buffer yields a high efficiency of 16.4%, with a high VOCof 670 mV and an FF of 75.3%.

Herein, a smart nanohydrogel with endogenous microRNA-21 toehold is developed to encapsulate gemcitabine-loaded mesoporous silica nanoparticles for targeted pancreatic cancer therapy. This toehold mediated strand displacement method can simultaneously achieve specific drug release and miRNA-21 silencing, resulting in the up-regulation of the expression of tumor suppressor genes PTEN and PDCD4.

Exploring the relationship between high-valent iron content and current intensity of NiFe0.2-OxHyduring oxygen evolution reaction by operando57Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy.

Wet NH4-N deposition plays a significant role in the ecosystem safety in China, and thus it is highly imperative to estimate the national wet NH4-N deposition flux accurately. In this study, a new methodology named space–time ensemble machine-learning model was first applied to constrain the high-resolution NH4-N deposition fluxes over China based on the satellite data, assimilated meteorology, and various geographical covariates. A small gap between site-based cross-validation (CV) R2value (0. 73) and 10-fold CV R2value (0.76), along with remarkable improvement in predictive accuracy (0.76) compared with previous studies (0.61), demonstrated the strong prediction capability of the space–time ensemble model in data mining. The higher wet NH4-N deposition fluxes mainly occurred in North China Plain (NCP), Sichuan Basin, Hunan, Jiangxi, and Guangdong provinces, whereas other regions retained the lower values. In addition, the wet NH4-N deposition fluxes, removing the precipitation effect in some major developed regions (e.g., Beijing and Shanghai) of China, displayed gradual increases from 2011 to 2014, while they suffered from dramatic decreases during 2014–2016, which was due to the strict implementation of the Action Plan for Air Pollution Prevention and Control (APPC-AP). The high-quality NH4-N deposition data sets are greatly useful to assess the potential ecological risks.

Although silver (Ag) substitution offers several benefits in eliminating bulk defects and facilitating interface type inversion for Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4(CZTSSe) photovoltaic (PV) technology, its further development is still hindered by the fairly low electrical conductivity due to the significant decrease of acceptors amount. In this work, a versatile Li–Ag co-doping strategy is demonstrated to mitigate the poor electrical conductivity arising from Ag through direct incorporating Li via postdeposition treatment (PDT) on top of the Ag-substituted CZTSSe absorber. Depth characterizations demonstrate that Li incorporation increases p-type carrier concentration, improves the carrier collection within the bulk, reduces the defects energy level as well as inverts the electric field polarity at grain boundaries (GBs) for Ag-substituted CZTSSe system. Benefiting from this lithium-assisted complex engineering of electrical performance both in grain interior (GI) and GBs, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) is finally increased from 9.21% to 10.29%. This systematic study represents an effective way to overcome the challenges encountered in Ag substitution, and these findings support a new aspect that the synergistic effects of double cation dopant will further pave the way for the development of high efficiency kesterite PV technology.

Material crystallinity is the overriding factor in the determination of the photoelectric properties of absorber materials and the overall performance of the photovoltaic device. Nevertheless, in the Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4(CZTSSe) photovoltaic device, the bilayer or trilayer structure for the absorber has been broadly observed, which is generally harmful to the cell performance because the probability of photogenerated carrier recombination at grain boundaries significantly increased. Herein, our experiment reveals that the application of anions to a new family of (Cu,Ag)2ZnSn(S,Se)4(CAZTSSe) materials leads to an increase in grain size and crystallinity. It is inspiring that using acetate starting materials in the precursor solution, a uniform, compact, and pinhole-free CAZTS precursor film was obtained, and the smoothness of the films surpassed that of films fabricated from the oxide route. More importantly, the crystallization of the CAZTSSe film has been considerably enhanced after selenization, and large grains going through the entire absorber layer was successfully obtained. Additionally, it is observed that the Vocaccompanied by excellent crystallinity improved significantly due to the pronouncedly reduced carrier recombination loss at grain boundaries. As a consequence, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the CAZTSSe photovoltaic device is successfully increased from 10.35% (oxide route) to 11.32% (acetate route). Importantly, our work attests to the feasibility of tuning the crystallization of the CZTSSe film by simple chemistry.

An online inquiry service (OIS) is an innovative service designed to make medical resources more accessible, especially in remote areas. An OIS provides patients with an alternative method of consulting a physician. This study develops a game-theoretical queueing model to examine the impact of OISs on gatekeeping systems. In such systems, patients are heterogeneous in terms of their travel costs. Here, we compare the performance of gatekeeping systems with and without an OIS. As such, we show that, owing to physicians’ reduced diagnostic ability when working online, an OIS reduces patients’ travel costs, increases the flow of patients to specialists, increases the total waiting time in the system, and decreases the total health surplus of patients. Moreover, we demonstrate that when patients are not sensitive to delays, introducing an OIS always reduces their total cost. These findings are consistent with the intuition that patients are better off when more options are available. Interestingly, when patients are sensitive to delays, introducing an OIS may increase their total cost. This paradoxical result occurs when patients’ sensitivity to delays is high, because those who consult a physician online impose negative externalities on the system by increasing the waiting cost in both the online and offline channels (which is proportional to patients’ delay sensitivity). Finally, we numerically illustrate that the benefit of introducing an OIS is non-monotonic in the system parameters; thus, caution is required when designing policies to regulate OISs.

The earth-abundant Cu2ZnSnS4(CZTS) quantum dots (QDs) have emerged as one potential substitute to toxic cadmium or rare indium QDs, but their application in quantum dot-sensitized solar cells (QDSSCs) is still limited by the improper particle size and the rigorous synthesis and ligand exchange conditions. Herein, we developed a one-pot hot injection method by using Tri-n-octylphosphine oxide (TOPO) as the solvent and oleylamine as the capping agent to synthesize Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4(CZTSSe) QDs with adjustable size and narrow size distribution. The key feature of this approach is that we can take advantage of the high-temperature nucleation, low-temperature growth, and strong reducibility of NaHB4to prepare small-sized CZTSSe QDs without using 1-dodecanethiol (DDT) and to extend the light harvesting range through Se incorporation. After Se incorporation, it turns out that the conduction band (CB) level of CZTSSe QDs decreases, implying that the injection driving force of the electron to the CB of TiO2films becomes weaker and a larger recombination would be induced at the TiO2/QDs/electrolyte interface. Benefiting from the broadened optoelectronic response range, the induced higher Jsc(16.80 vs 14.13 mA/cm2) finally leads to the increase of the conversion efficiency of CZTSSe QDSSC from 3.17% to 3.54% without further modification. Despite the fact that the efficiency is still far behind those of literature reported values through use of other chalcogenide sensitizers, this DDT-free approach solves the main hindrance for the application of CZTSSe QDs in QDSSCs and holds a more convenient way for ligand exchange, light absorption improvement, and particle size control.

Background: The relationship of metabolic issues to pregnancy outcomes during assisted reproductive technology (ART) is gaining much attention. Fasting Plasma Glucose (FPG) is one of the most common metabolic indicators. Abnormal FPG not only affects the quality of life of human body, but also has a bearing on reproductive health. However, most attentions are paid on women's physical health and reproductive assessment, the health status of the male partner on pregnancy outcomes during ART treatment is often neglected. This study investigated whether male fasting hyperglycemia (FH, FPG > 6.1 mmol/L) can affect live birth rates (LBR) in singleton intrauterine clinical pregnancy women with cryo-thawed embryo transfer (CET) cycles. Material and methods: A retrospective cohort study (370 CET cycles with first singleton clinical intrauterine pregnancy and grouped by male FPG) was conducted to analyze the relationship between male FH and clinical pregnancy outcomes using binary logistic regression; the odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated as a measure of relevancy. Live birth rate was the main outcome measure. Results: The live birth rate (LBR) was significantly lower [58.6% vs. 81.8%, P= 0.007, adjusted OR 0.635, 95% CI 0.456–0.884] and miscarriage rate (MR) was significantly higher [41.4% vs. 18.2%, P= 0.007, adjusted OR 1.575, 95% CI 1.131–2.195] in the FH group when compared with the Con group. There was no difference in healthy baby rate [88.2% vs. 89.6%, P= 0.058, adjusted OR 2.143, 95% CI 0.974–4.716] or abnormal birth weight rate (23.5% vs. 11.8%, P= 0.238, adjusted OR 2.859, 95% CI 0.777–10.460] between the FH and control group. No birth defects were observed in the present study. Conclusion: Male FH is an independent risk factor for lower LBR and higher MR in singleton intrauterine pregnancy women with CET cycles.

Underwater pottery relics salvaged from shipwrecks are vulnerable to physical, chemical and biological corrosion. In this study, the microscopic morphology and structural composition of glazed pottery fragments excavated from the South China Sea as well as purple clay teapot samples from the Yangtze River Estuary II shipwreck were analyzed by means of optical microscopy, scanning electron microscope equipped with energy dispersive spectrometer, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Fourier infrared transform spectroscopy and photoluminescence spectroscopy. According to the research results, the corrosion products deposited on the surface of the glazed pottery fragment from the South China Sea mainly included FeOOH and MnO2, whereas those on the surface of the purple clay teapot fragment from the Yangtze River Estuary II shipwreck primarily incorporated FeS2and FeS. According to the corrosion phenomenon, it was speculated that the underwater pottery relics were mainly corroded by different microorganisms in the underwater environment, including manganese-oxidizing bacteria, dissimilatory metal-reducing bacteria and sulfate-reducing bacteria. As the corrosion process of these cultural artifacts was described and related models were established, this study provides valuable reference for the disease removal and protection of pottery relics.

In the field of nonlinear frequency conversion, the cascaded frequency conversion scheme is an effective means to obtain new wavelengths. In this paper, we demonstrate efficient frequency conversion through three cascaded three-wave mixing processes based on Stark-chirped rapid adiabatic passage, which are different from previous cascaded wavelength conversion processes based on stimulated Raman adiabatic passage. Further, by analyzing the relevant parameters in the three-process cascaded frequency conversion models we have established, we find that the new scheme increases the conversion range and has lower restrictions on the conversion conditions while maintaining extremely low intermediate frequency intensity. These advantages allow our work to be applied to the acquisition of a mid-infrared or visible laser.

A multi-energy Demand response management (DRM) approach in Energy Internet is proposed by employing Stackelberg game theory. The multi-energy trading problem in DRM is formulated as a Stackelberg game, where an energy provider, as a leader, adjusts energy prices, and residential smart energy hubs, as followers, dynamically schedule multiple energy flows according to the prices. The existence and uniqueness of the equilibrium of the proposed game model are analyzed. A multi-energy DRM algorithm for reaching the game equilibrium is developed. Simulation results show that the proposed game-based approach can effectively reduce residential energy costs and improve revenues of the energy provider.

Abstract Three-dimensional-printed (3D-P) titanium implants display many advantages, such as design flexibility, higher efficiency, the capability to easily construct complex or customized structures, etc. , and is believed to potentially replace traditional implants. However, the biological performance of the 3D-P titanium surface has not been investigated systematically. Herein, we analyzed the surface characteristics of 3D-P Ti6Al4V implants and evaluated the biological responses of bone marrow derived mesenchymal stromal cells (BMSCs) to the 3D-P surface in vitro. Moreover, after implantation into the rat femoral condyle for 3 and 6 weeks, the osseointegration performance was evaluated. The results showed the 3D-P Ti6Al4V implant presented distinct fluctuant macroscale rough surface and relatively better hydrophilicity which enhanced the adhesion, proliferation, osteogenic differentiation and angiogenetic factor expression of BMSCs. Moreover, the in vivo osseointegration performance was also better than that of the control group at the early stage. The present study suggested the 3D-P titanium alloy is a promising candidate to be used as implant material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Owing to the high theoretical specific capacity, long cycle life, abundant resources and environmental benignity, iron-based Prussian blue analogues (PBAs) as cathode materials for sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) have been investigated widely in recent years. Although major efforts have been concentrated on exploitation of high performance’s PBAs cathode materials, there is still deficiency of a deep understanding of the relevance between the reaction processes and capacity degradation mechanism with the active high-spin (HS)/ low-spin (LS) iron sites, which is of great significance. In this work, well-crystallized and shape-controlled monoclinic Prussian blue (M-PB) was successfully prepared, with remarkable electrochemical performance, especially in cycling performance (88% capacity retention after 500 cycles at 120 mAh g−1, and 81% after 980 cycles). More significantly, with state-of-the-art operandoMössbauer spectroscopy, ex-situ77 K Mössbauer spectroscopy, ex-situX-ray absorption spectroscopy and operandoX-ray diffraction, the reaction and capacity degradation mechanism were investigated thoroughly and the detailed reaction process was figured out for the first time. The result showed clearly that the HS Fe in M-PB reacts completely and contributes to most capacity, while only part of LS Fe reacts. Therefore, the capacity enhancement should be achieved by activating LS Fe. Furthermore, the LS Fe (Fe-CN) results in more severe crystal structure change than HS Fe (Fe-NC) of the same amount in the electrochemical reaction process, thus the partial reaction of LS Fe in M-PB could be the reason for its excellent cycling performance. This work not only investigated the reaction and capacity degradation mechanism, but also shed light on the design of high-performance PBAs-based cathodes for SIBs.

In proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs), the performance of the cathode catalyst layer depends on the effective formation and uniform distribution of the three-phase boundary (catalyst, ionomer, and oxygen). However, traditional cathode catalyst layer structures based on heterogeneous catalysis have reduced the catalyst utilization rate and mass transfer efficiency for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), which further restricts the development of PEMFCs. Here, we covalently grafted an ORR molecular catalyst, tetrakis(4-methoxyphenyl) porphyrin iron (II), onto the side chain of a Nafion ionomer. This strategy allows the catalytic center of the transition metal macrocycle to be anchored inside the ion flow channel. Mössbauer spectroscopy showed that the kinetics of the electrode reaction were improved owing to the increase in electron density around the Fe center. Additionally, the improvement in catalytic active site utilization and mass (protons, oxygen) transfer effectively promotes the performance output of the fuel cell. This novel catalyst layer structure may provide a new platform for the development of high-performance molecular catalysts for applications in fuel cells and other energy devices.

The partial substitution of Cu+with Ag+into the host lattice of Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4thin films can reduce the open-circuit voltage deficit (Voc,deficit) of Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4(CZTSSe) solar cells. In this paper, elemental Cu, Ag, Zn, Sn, S, and Se powders were dissolved in solvent mixture of 1,2-ethanedithiol (edtH2) and 1,2-ethylenediamine (en) and used for the formation of (Cu1–xAgx)2ZnSn(S,Se)4(CAZTSSe) thin films with different Ag/(Ag + Cu) ratios. The key feature of this approach is that the impurity atoms can be absolutely excluded. Further results indicate that the variations of grain size, band gap, and depletion width of the CAZTSSe layer are generally determined by Ag substitution content. Benefiting from the Vocenhancement (∼50 mV), the power conversion efficiency is successfully increased from 7.39% (x= 0) to 10.36% (x= 3%), which is the highest efficiency of Ag substituted devices so far.

Novel engineered NanoLuc (Nluc) luciferase being smaller, brighter, and superior to traditional firefly (Fluc) or Renilla(Rluc) provides a great opportunity for the development of numerous biological, biomedical, clinical, and food and environmental safety applications. This new platform created an urgent need for Nluc inhibitors that could allow selective bioluminescent suppression and multiplexing compatibility with existing luminescence or fluorescence assays. Starting from thienopyrrole carboxylate 1, a hit from a 42 000 PubChem compound library with a low micromolar IC50against Nluc, we derivatized four different structural fragments to discover a family of potent, single digit nanomolar, cell permeable inhibitors. Further elaboration revealed a channel that allowed access to the external Nluc surface, resulting in a series of highly potent cell impermeable Nluc inhibitors with negatively charged groups likely extending to the protein surface. The permeability was evaluated by comparing EC50shifts calculated from both live and lysed cells expressing Nluc cytosolically. Luminescence imaging further confirmed that cell permeable compounds inhibit both intracellular and extracellular Nluc, whereas less permeable compounds differentially inhibit extracellular Nluc and Nluc on the cell surface. The compounds displayed little to no toxicity to cells and high luciferase specificity, showing no activity against firefly luciferase or even the closely related NanoBit system. Looking forward, the structural motifs used to gain access to the Nluc surface can also be appended with other functional groups, and therefore interesting opportunities for developing assays based on relief-of-inhibition can be envisioned.

A game theory based scheduling method for household electricity consumption in smart grid is proposed in this paper. A non-cooperative game model is employed during the scheduling. All household consumers compete with each other and control their loads to maximize their payoffs. For solving the scheduling problem, we formulate the Utility optimization (UO) model, in which the electricity cost reduction and the improvement of consumers' comfort and preference are considered simultaneously. The System optimization (SO) model only minimizes the electricity cost when scheduling the consumers' electricity consumption. Then we compare and analyze the two models in numerical simulation. The existence and the uniqueness of Nash equilibrium for proposed game model are proved. Simulation results show that the UO model provides an effective scheduling approach to achieve higher comfort and preference and at the same time decrease the energy cost.

Overabundance of Slug protein is common in human cancer and represents an important determinant underlying the aggressiveness of basal-like breast cancer (BLBC). Despite its importance, this transcription factor is rarely mutated in BLBC, and the mechanism of its deregulation in cancer remains unknown. Here, we report that Slug undergoes acetylation-dependent protein degradation and identify the deacetylase SIRT2 as a key mediator of this post-translational mechanism. SIRT2 inhibition rapidly destabilizes Slug, whereas SIRT2 overexpression extends Slug stability. We show that SIRT2 deacetylates Slug protein at lysine residue K116 to prevent Slug degradation. Interestingly, SIRT2is frequently amplified and highly expressed in BLBC. Genetic depletion and pharmacological inactivation of SIRT2 in BLBC cells reverse Slug stabilization, cause the loss of clinically relevant pathological features of BLBC, and inhibit tumor growth. Our results suggest that targeting SIRT2 may be a rational strategy for diminishing Slug abundance and its associated malignant traits in BLBC.