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There is an urgent need to develop phototherapeutic agents with imaging capabilities to assess the treatment process and efficacy in real-time during cancer phototherapy for precision cancer therapy. The safe near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent dyes have garnered significant attention and are desirable for theranostics agents. However, until now, achieving excellent photostability and fluorescence (FL) imaging capability in aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ) dyes remains a big challenge. Here, for the only FDA-approved NIR dye, indocyanine green (ICG), we developed a dual-ferrocene (Fc) chimeric nanonetwork ICG@HFFC based on the rigid-flexible strategy through one-step self-assembly, which uses rigid Fc-modified hyaluronic acid (HA) copolymer (HA-Fc) and flexible octadecylamine (ODA) bonded Fc (Fc-C18) as the delivery system. HA-Fc reserved the ability of HA to target the CD44 receptor of the tumor cell surface, and the dual-Fc region provided a rigid space for securely binding ICG through metal–ligand interaction and π–π conjugation, ensuring excellent photostability. Additionally, the alkyl chain provided flexible confinement for the remaining ICG through hydrophobic forces, preserving its FL. Thereby, a balance is achieved between outstanding photostability and FL imaging capability. In vitrostudies showed improved photobleaching resistance, enhanced FL stability, and increased singlet oxygen (1O2) production efficiency in ICG@HFFC. Further in vivoresults display that ICG@HFFC had good tumor tracing ability and significant tumor inhibition which also exhibited good biocompatibility.. Therefore, ICG@HFFC provides an encouraging strategy to realize simultaneous enhanced tumor tracing and photothermal/photodynamic therapy (PTT/PDT) and offers a novel approach to address the limitations of ACQ dyes.

Solid oxide electrolysis cells (SOECs) provide a promising way for converting renewable energy into chemical fuels. Traditionally, NiO/CGO (nickel-gadolinium doped ceria) cermet has shown its excellent properties in ionic and electronic conductivity under reducing conditions. Herein, we developed a novel 1D NiO/CGO cathode through a cerium metal-organic framework (MOF) derived process. The cathode’s 1D nanostructure integrated with a microchannel scaffold facilitates enhanced mass transport, providing vertically aligned pathways for CO2and H2O diffusion. Additionally, the 1D framework increases the number of interfacial sites and reduces ion diffusion distances, thereby simplifying electron/ion transport. Consequently, this advanced cathode achieved a significant breakthrough in SOEC performance, maintaining efficient CO2and H2O electrolysis at an extraordinary current density of 1.41 A/cm2at 1.5 V and excellent stability over 24 h at 850 °C. The enhanced performance of this newly developed cathode not only achieves a remarkable 100% improvement compared to those of NiO/CGO cathodes with varying geometrical configurations but also surpasses those of commercial NiO/CGO catalysts by an outstanding 40% when tested under identical conditions. The development of the 1D NiO/CGO enhances the efficiency and durability of ceramic cathodes for CO2and H2O co-electrolysis in SOECs and improves the scalability and effectiveness of SOECs in renewable energy applications.

Control over the pore structure of zeolite is very important, so researchers are trying to regulate the pore structure of zeolite through various methods to endow it with better performance in industrial applications. Here, a confined etching route that could selectively increase the microporous structure of zeolite is developed using ethanol/amine buffer solution. Ethanol is introduced into an aqueous amine solution, where it could decrease the migration rate and concentration of hydroxyl ions which can etch the framework atoms of zeolite to fabricate various porous structures, consequently developing a confined etching route that could selectively increase the microporous structure of zeolite, unlike conventional approaches that generally increase mesoporous and macroporous architectures. In addition, ethanol enhances the solubility of amine in water, and a buffer solution (ethanol/amine) is formed, which is able to release hydroxyl ions continuously. Based on the above confined etching route, a micropore-increased beta crystal is synthesized and when used as a carrier in ZnLaY/beta catalysts, it achieves excellent ethanol conversion of 96.04% and butadiene selectivity of 64.22% in 20 h time-on-stream in an ethanol to butadiene reaction.Keywords: Ethanol; Confined etching route; Micropore-increased; Beta zeolite; Ethanol to butadiene.

C20H22N2O4, monoclinic, P21/n(no. 14), a= 11.4033(15) Å, b= 14.2998(16) Å, c= 11.6486(16) Å, β= 91.197(8)°, V= 1899.1(4) Å3, Z= 4, Rgt(F) = 0.0513, wRref(F2) = 0.1542, T= 296.2 K.

ABSTRACT To accurately analyze the temperature and relative humidity (RH) distribution in concrete structures under ambient conditions, based on Krstulovic-Dabic hydration kinetics, an improved hydration model is proposed to geometrically [...]

ABSTRACT To investigate the cracking process of concrete cover due to corrosion of reinforcement for concrete specimens subjected to semi-immersed accelerated corrosion, digital image correlation (DIC) was applied to quantitatively [...]

In the field of recycling CO2, the photocatalytic CO2reduction reaction (CO2RR) is a typical example, and researchers have designed a variety of photocatalysts to improve the conversion rate of CO2over the years. In this paper, two metal–oxygen clusters are designed and formulated as [Co3Zn(OH)6(SO4)]·4H2O (1) and [Ni3Zn(OH)6(SO4)]·4H2O (2). As for compound 1, the main structure is composed of {CoO6} octahedra connected by edge-sharing to form a two-dimensional layer, on which {ZnO4} and {SO4} tetrahedra are supported. More interestingly, compound 1has outstanding photocatalytic activity, which is mainly attributed to the open-framework structure and the cobalt ions as active sites. Upon catalysis for eight hours, its maximum CO generation rate is 9982.13 μmol g–1h–1, with a selectivity of 81.8%. Additionally, compound 1takes on weak antiferromagnetic coupling due to Co(II) ions.

Constructing efficient nanocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is crucial for the widespread application of metal–air batteries. Herein, we construct carbon-guarded cobalt-based nanospheres composed of metal nanoparticles encased in a nitrogen doped carbon shell (M@NC NPs, where M stands for metal or alloy) through a bifunctional gas phase heat treatment technique. Compared to monometallic and polymetallic nanospheres, bimetallic nanospheres of Ni/Co@NC NPs exhibit enhanced ORR activity, even comparable to that of the commercial Pt/C catalyst, and have robust catalytic stability. In situRaman spectra analysis during the ORR electrocatalysis reveals a strong interaction between the carbon shell of Ni/Co@NC NPs and the ORR intermediates. Moreover, Ni/Co@NC NPs show superior catalytic capability compared to Pt/C in a battery system, resulting in improved discharging performance in a home-made zinc–air battery, this includes higher peak power density (185.5 mW cm−2), better rate performance, and larger discharging capacity (817 mA h gZn−1). These impressive catalytic performances are attributed to the three-dimensional structure that contains carbon-guarded Ni/Co alloy nanoparticles, the partially graphitized nitrogen-doped carbon shell that is dispersed with Ni/Co active moieties, and the electronic effect of the Ni/Co alloy on the carbon shell. This work provides a general strategy for synthesizing durable carbon-guarded and metal-diversified nanosphere electrocatalysts for efficient energy conversion.

Limited information is available on long-term effects of metal(loid)s pollution incidents. Here, we analyze the distribution characteristics and quantification of elements in the Southwest China Keda mining site, which is one of the most populated sites and enables human health and ecological risk assessments of elemental pollution. The results on modified degree of contamination indicated that the soil and sediment were highly contaminated near Dahu Lake. The health risk of children was almost 2.5 times that of adults in surface water, and 7.1 times in soil, respectively. Moreover, Tl and As were the main health risk contributors in surface water and soil, respectively, and As posed the highest ecological risk both in soil and sediment. These results indicated the potential impact of toxic metal(loid)s on the health of residents and environment. Hence, more scientific attention and proper management need to be paid to this environmental challenge in the future.

Recently, image restoration transformers have achieved comparable performance with previous state-of-the-art CNNs. In this work, we present Dual-former whose critical insight is to combine the powerful global modeling ability of self-attention modules and the local modeling ability of convolutions in an overall architecture. With convolution-based Local Feature Extraction modules equipped in the encoder and the decoder, we only adopt a novel Hybrid Transformer Block in the latent layer to model the long-distance dependence in spatial dimensions and handle the uneven distribution between channels. Such a design eliminates the substantial computational complexity in previous image restoration transformers and achieves superior performance on multiple image restoration tasks. Experiments demonstrate that Dual-former achieves a 1.91 dB gain over the state-of-the-art MAXIM method on the Indoor dataset for single image dehazing while consuming only 4.2% GFLOPs as MAXIM. For single image deraining, it exceeds the SOTA method by 0.1 dB PSNR on the average results of five datasets with only 21.5% GFLOPs. Dual-former also substantially surpasses the latest methods on various tasks, with fewer parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Selective functionalization of C–F bonds in trifluoromethyl groups has recently received a growing interest, as it offers atom- and step-economic pathways to access highly valuable mono- and difluoroalkyl-substituted organic molecules using simple and inexpensive trifluoromethyl sources as the starting materials. In this regard, impressive progress has been made on the defluorinative functionalization reactions that proceed viaradical intermediates. Nevertheless, it is still a great challenge to precisely control the defluorination process, due to the continuous decrease of the C–F bond strength after the replacement of one or two fluorine atoms with various functionalities. This review article is aimed to provide a brief overview of recently reported methods used to functionalize C–F bonds of CF3groups viaradical intermediates. An emphasis is placed on the discussion of mechanistic aspects and synthetic applications

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In this paper, we utilize d-dimensional Bell states to construct a multi-party semiquantum private comparison (MSQPC) protocol with two supervisors, which can determine the size relationship of more than two classical users’ private inputs under the control of two supervisors within one round implementation. The two supervisors, i.e., one quantum third party (TP) and one classical TP, are both semi-honest, which means that they can misbehave at their own wishes but are not permitted to conspire with anyone else. Neither quantum entanglement swapping nor unitary operations are required in the proposed MSQPC protocol. The security analysis certifies that the proposed MSQPC protocol can overcome both the outside attacks and the participant attacks.

cis-Diol-containing metabolites are widely distributed in living organisms, and they participate in the regulation of various important biological activities. The profiling of cis-diol-containing metabolites could help us in fully understanding their functions. In this work, based on the characteristic isotope pattern of boron, we employed a boronic acid reagent as the isotope tag to establish a sensitive and selective liquid chromatography–high-resolution mass spectrometry method for the screening and annotation of cis-diol-containing metabolites in biological samples. Boronic acid reagent 2-methyl-4-phenylaminomethylphenylboronic acid was used to label the cis-diol-containing metabolites in biological samples to improve the selectivity and MS sensitivity of cis-diol-containing metabolites. Based on the characteristic 0.996 Da mass difference of precursor ions and the peak intensity ratio of 1:4 originating from 10B and 11B natural isotopes, the potential cis-diol-containing metabolites were rapidly screened from biological samples. Potential cis-diol-containing metabolites were annotated by database searching and analysis of fragmentation patterns obtained by multistage MS (MSn) via collision-induced dissociation. Importantly, the cis-diol position could be readily resolved by the MS3spectrum. With this method, a total of 45 cis-diol-containing metabolites were discovered in rice, including monoglycerides, polyhydroxy fatty acids, fatty alcohols, and so forth. Furthermore, the established method showed superiority in avoiding false-positive results in profiling cis-diol-containing metabolites.

•The framework of mobilities and health is used to explain the multi-dimensional health consequences of frequent business travel.•Perceptions of health impacts vary among respondents with different travel pattern and personal situations.•With longer experiences, travelers are more aware about the potential health cost but health impairment has been accumulated.•Public glamorization of business travel needs to be changed.

Ammonia is one of the most important industrial intermediates due to the mass-demand for the production of various chemicals. Since the development of the Haber–Bosch process, most ammonia production has been conducted using Fe-, Co-, and Ru-based catalysts. Meanwhile, the low-cost and earth-abundant elements, such as Ni, typically show much inferior activity due to their weak nitrogen adsorption energy. Here, we show that LaNi5, a representative hydrogen-absorbing material, offers stable and high ammonia production through surface decomposition to a unique Ni–LaN core–shell structure. The reaction rate is as high as 4500 μmol·g–1·h–1, which is much higher than those of other reported Co and Ni intermetallic catalysts and comparable to those of reported Ru-based intermetallic catalysts. TEM observations demonstrated that the nanosized Ni–LaN core–shell structures were self-organized during ammonia synthesis and generated a Ni–LaN active nanostructure, accounting for the high and stable catalytic performance in ammonia synthesis. Since the Ni–LaN active structure allows for the transition metal–nitride composite to generate ammonia universally, these discoveries show that hydrogen-storage materials can be a promising playground for designing brand-new ammonia synthesis catalysts without including expensive rare metals.

Ammonia is one of the most important feedstocks for the production of fertilizer and as a potential energy carrier. Nitride compounds such as LaN have recently attracted considerable attention due to their nitrogen vacancy sites that can activate N2for ammonia synthesis. Here, we propose a general rule for the design of nitride-based catalysts for ammonia synthesis, in which the nitrogen vacancy formation energy (ENV) dominates the catalytic performance. The relatively low ENV(ca. 1.3 eV) of CeN means it can serve as an efficient and stable catalyst upon Ni loading. The catalytic activity of Ni/CeN reached 6.5 mmol·g–1·h–1with an effluent NH3concentration (ENH3) of 0.45 vol %, reaching the thermodynamic equilibrium (ENH3= 0.45 vol %) at 400 °C and 0.1 MPa, thereby circumventing the bottleneck for N2activation on Ni metal with an extremely weak nitrogen binding energy. The activity far exceeds those for other Co- and Ni-based catalysts, and is even comparable to those for Ru-based catalysts. It was determined that CeN itself can produce ammonia without Ni-loading at almost the same activation energy. Kinetic analysis and isotope experiments combined with density functional theory (DFT) calculations indicate that the nitrogen vacancies in CeN can activate both N2and H2during the reaction, which accounts for the much higher catalytic performance than other reported nonloaded catalysts for ammonia synthesis.

The sluggish oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and costly noble-metal oxide catalysts hinder the vast usage of environmentally friendly water splitting for hydrogen production. Elemental doping by partial replacing of parent metal elements with elements of higher electronegativity is considered to be one of the most efficient strategies to promote the electrocatalytic OER performance. In this work, we synthesize an efficient hierarchical highly wrinkled NiFeCu phosphide nanosheet on nanodendrite Ni3S2/NiF substrates through partial replacement of Cu instead of Ni and Fe in NiFeP@Ni3S2/NiF by using a facile electrodeposition method. The NiFeCuP@Ni3S2/NiF electrocatalyst needs only 230, 282, and 351 mV to reach 10, 50, and 100 mA × cm–2, respectively. Notably, this electrocatalyst shows one of the lowest OER overpotentials at 10 mA/cm–2for metal phosphides and endured the OER at 20 mA × cm–2for 18 h with negligible voltage elevation. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), double-layer capacitance (Cdl) plots, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy show that the partial Cu doping in NiFeP@Ni3S2/NiF not only can change the electron density around Ni and Fe but also can increase the electrochemically active surface area and conductivity of electrocatalysts.

Ammonia (NH3) is pivotal to the fertilizer industry and one of the most commonly produced chemicals1. The direct use of atmospheric nitrogen (N2) had been challenging, owing to its large bond energy (945 kilojoules per mole)2,3, until the development of the Haber–Bosch process. Subsequently, many strategies have been explored to reduce the activation barrier of the N≡N bond and make the process more efficient. These include using alkali and alkaline earth metal oxides as promoters to boost the performance of traditional iron- and ruthenium-based catalysts4–6via electron transfer from the promoters to the antibonding bonds of N2through transition metals7,8. An electride support further lowers the activation barrier because its low work function and high electron density enhance electron transfer to transition metals9,10. This strategy has facilitated ammonia synthesis from N2dissociation11and enabled catalytic operation under mild conditions; however, it requires the use of ruthenium, which is expensive. Alternatively, it has been shown that nitrides containing surface nitrogen vacancies can activate N2(refs. 12–15). Here we report that nickel-loaded lanthanum nitride (LaN) enables stable and highly efficient ammonia synthesis, owing to a dual-site mechanism that avoids commonly encountered scaling relations. Kinetic and isotope-labelling experiments, as well as density functional theory calculations, confirm that nitrogen vacancies are generated on LaN with low formation energy, and efficiently bind and activate N2. In addition, the nickel metal loaded onto the nitride dissociates H2. The use of distinct sites for activating the two reactants, and the synergy between them, results in the nickel-loaded LaN catalyst exhibiting an activity that far exceeds that of more conventional cobalt- and nickel-based catalysts, and that is comparable to that of ruthenium-based catalysts. Our results illustrate the potential of using vacancy sites in reaction cycles, and introduce a design concept for catalysts for ammonia synthesis, using naturally abundant elements.

Objective: To investigate perceptions and acceptability of, and attitudes towards, acupuncture for post-acute stroke and rehabilitation care by exploring the views of different stakeholders.Methods: Three electronic surveys were conducted to gauge the breadth of knowledge and acceptance of acupuncture in post-acute stroke and rehabilitation care among three stakeholder groups: (1) traditional acupuncturists registered with the British Acupuncture Council (BAcC); (2) National Health Service (NHS) professionals attending the 2017 UK Stroke Forum conference; and (3) the UK network of Stroke Club co-ordinators.Results: Of 278 NHS respondents, 31% were doctors. Over half (52%) of all NHS respondents reported they had insufficient knowledge about acupuncture, its effectiveness (23%) or how to refer (21%). Only 12% had previously referred stroke patients for acupuncture but 46% thought that there was role for acupuncture in post-acute stroke care (50% were unsure). Two thirds of BAcC acupuncturist respondents had treated at least one stroke patient, with 70.1% having treated 1–5 stroke patients and 71% having provided treatment in the last year, most commonly for motor impairment (88.2%). Of 99 Stroke Club coordinators who responded, only seven had ever been asked about acupuncture by patients, but most felt there would be interest.Conclusion: Interest in the provision of acupuncture for post-acute stroke care was expressed by both NHS practitioners and acupuncturists. Further research is required on the acceptability of acupuncture to patients as well as evidence of its clinical and cost effectiveness.

The shear rheological properties of Laponite RD as a transparent soil have been investigated by a thixotropic test, dynamic strain sweep, dynamic frequency sweep, and a creep test. The thixotropic test revealed the thixotropic curve of Laponite RD that consisted of deformation, flow, and destruction regions. The apparent viscosity in the flow region matched well with the result calculated from the Herschel-Buckley model. Dynamic tests showed that the elastic properties of Laponite RD were promoted with the increase in concentration. When the strain was less than 10 %, it exhibited linear viscoelasticity with slight frequency dependence. Under constant external force, the Burgers model was used to characterize Laponite RD; thereby, the parameters of the creep model were obtained. Our results shed light on the understanding of the rheological properties of Laponite RD to extend its application as transparent soil in geotechnical engineering.

RNA contains diverse modifications that exert important influences in a variety of cellular processes. So far more than 150 modifications have been identified in various RNA species, mainly in rRNA and tRNA. Recent research advances in RNA modifications have been sparked by the discovery of dynamic and reversible modifications in mRNA. Moving beyond the abundant tRNA and rRNA to mRNA is opening new directions in understanding RNA modification-mediated regulation of gene expression. Recently, it was reported that N3-methylcytidine (m3C) existed in mRNA of mammalian cells, and methyltransferase-like 8 (METTL8) was identified to be the writer enzyme of m3C. However, little is known about the eraser enzyme of m3C in mRNA. In the current study, we found that the AlkB homologue 1 (ALKBH1) was capable of demethylating m3C in mRNA of mammalian cells in vitro. Overexpression and knockdown of ALKBH1 in cultured human cells can induce decrease and increase of the level of m3C in mRNA, respectively, revealing the eraser enzyme property of ALKBH1 on m3C in mRNA. In addition, we observed significant decrease of the level of m3C in mRNA in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissues compared to tumor-adjacent normal tissues, which could be attributed to the increased expression of ALKBH1as well as the decreased expression of METTL8in HCC tissues. These results indicated that m3C in mRNA may play certain roles in tumorigenesis. Our study shed light on understanding the demethylation of m3C in mRNA.

The as-cast microstructure of Fe–4Cr–B alloy has been systematically investigated, which contains 1 wt%B, 4 wt%Cr, 0.35 wt%C, 0.8 wt%Si and 0.8 wt%Mn. The investigation was carried out by optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (EDS/SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), hardness tester and wear tester, and the quenching temperature effect on its microstructure and mechanical property was studied. The results showed that ferrite, pearlite, martensite and borocarbides were the main composition of the solidification microstructure of casting Fe–4Cr–B alloy. After water quenching at 950–1150 °C, the matrix transformed to martensite, and the secondary borocarbides M23(C, B)6precipitated from the matrix, and then the continuous distribution of M2(B, C) (M = Fe, Cr, Mn) among dendrites began to break. As the water quenching temperature increased, the phenomenon of disconnection became more clearly. When the water quenching temperature was 1100 °C, the network borocarbides fractured and formed an isolated distribution. The hardness of the alloy increased first and then decreased. At water quenching temperature of 1100 °C, the hardness reached the maximum of 62.8 HRC. The abrasive resistance and hardness of casting Fe–4Cr–B alloy changed at the same trend.

The recent discovery of reversible chemical modifications on mRNA has opened a new era of post-transcriptional gene regulation in eukaryotes. Among the 15 types of modifications identified in mRNA of eukaryotes, N7-methylguanosine (m7G) is unique owing to its presence in the 5′ cap structure. It remains unknown whether m7G is also present internally in mRNA, and this is largely attributed to the lack of an appropriate analytical method to differentiate internal m7G in mRNA from that in the 5′ cap. To address this analytical challenge, we developed a novel strategy of combining differential enzymatic digestion with liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry analysis to quantify the levels of these two types of m7G modifications in mRNA. In particular, we found that S1 nuclease and phosphodiesterase I exhibit differential activities toward internal and 5′-terminal m7G. By using this method, we found that internal m7G was present in mRNA of cultured human cells as well as plants and rat tissue. In addition, our results showed that plants contain higher levels of internal m7G in mRNA than mammals. We also observed that exposure of rice to cadmium (Cd) stimulated marked diminution in the levels of m7G at both the 5′ cap and internal positions of mRNA, which was correlated with the Cd-induced elevated expression of m7G-decapping enzymes. Taken together, we reported here a strategy to distinguish internal and 5′-terminal m7G in mRNA, and by using this method, we demonstrated the prevalence of internal m7G modification in mRNA, which we believe will stimulate future functional studies of m7G on post-transcriptional gene regulation in eukaryotes.

An efficient and selective pretreatment method of one-step hydrophilic interaction chromatography-based solid phase extraction (HILIC SPE) was developed using silica as the sorbent to quickly and sensitively detect endogenous ABA and its five catabolites in fresh Oryza sativatissues. The extracted analytes were sensitively quantified with ultra high performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC–MS/MS). Under the optimized conditions, good linearity of the developed analytical method was obtained in the range of 0.2–1000 ng/mL with linear correlation coefficients (r) greater than 0.9987. The limits of detection (LODs, signal/noise = 3) ranged from 0.01 to 0.74 ng/mL. The relative recoveries were between 83.3% and 112.0% with the relative standard deviations (RSDs) ranging from 0.5 to 15.0%. Using the proposed method, the concentration variations of ABA and its catabolites were monitored in the salt-stressed rice tissues.

In this paper, by utilizing d-dimensional single-particle states, three semiquantum cryptography protocols, i.e., the multi-party semiquantum private comparison (MSQPC) protocol, the multi-party semiquantum multiplication (MSQM) protocol and the multi-party semiquantum summation (MSQS) protocol, can be achieved simultaneously under the assistance of two semi-honest quantum third parties (TPs). Here, the proposed MSQPC scheme is the only protocol which is devoted to judging the size relationship of secret integers from more than two semiquantum participants without a pre-shared key. And the proposed MSQM protocol absorbs the innovative concept of semiquantumness into quantum multiplication for the first time, which can calculate the modulo dmultiplication of private inputs from more than two semiquantum users. As for the proposed MSQS protocol, it is the only semiquantum summation protocol which aims to accomplish the modulo daddition of more than three semiquantum users’ private integers. Neither quantum entanglement swapping nor unitary operations are necessary in the three proposed protocols. The security analysis verifies in detail that both the external attacks and the internal attacks can be resisted in the three proposed protocols.

Destination image plays a crucial role in tourism, and its dynamic process of formation and change is still being studied. A famous World Heritage site, the old town of Lijiang has obtained an image of 'the capital of Yanyu', which has emerged alongside mass tourism development. This does not conform to the officially promoted image and is unique in the Chinese context. Based on field observations, interviews and web data, the study explores this Yanyu image from the perspectives of various relevant actors. The findings show that the formation process of the Yanyu image has been dominated by market forces under the effects of autonomous, induced, and organic agents, and constructed as an image of freedom, leisure and romance. The complex and dynamic characteristics of destination image are discussed, and possible causes of the Yanyu phenomenon are also explored.

AbstractGender imbalance in academia has received increasing attention all over the world. However, research on this highly important issue with regard to tourism academia is still in its infancy. To address the research agenda on gender, this study explores Chinese women scholars’ perceptions of gender issues in Chinese tourism academia through qualitative interviews. The findings show that Chinese women scholars generally have a low awareness of gender issues, influenced by several factors such as personal experience, family supports, and characteristics of tourism academia. Thirteen gender-related differences in tourism academia were further identified under three themes: the representation of gender gaps, gender factors contributing to these gender gaps, and gender inequality or discrimination. The paper concludes that more research on this issue is needed.

A new method for the synthesis of α-amino phenylpropanoids under blue light-emitting diode irradiation has been developed through α-C-H benzylation of readily available N-phenyl glycine ester with benzyl oxalates as a coupling partner under mild conditions. A range of N-phenyl glycine esters were successfully converted to α-amino phenylpropanoid products in moderate to good yields. The utility of this methodology is underlined by its application to the late-state modification of natural products.

Purpose: This study aimed to analyze the distribution of IgG subclass in diabetic nephropathy (DN) and its association with clinicopathological features. Methods: This is a single-center retrospective study enrolling 108 patients with biopsy-proven DN. Immunofluorescence and immunohistochemistry staining were applied, and clinicopathological features and renal outcomes were compared between patients with different patterns or categories of IgG subclass deposition. Results: Both IgG and its subclasses colocalized with collagen IV α5 on glomerular basement membrane (GBM) and some of tubular basement membrane (TBM). IgG1 and the Mixed type were two predominant types of deposition, no matter on GBM or TBM, and IgG1 showed a much higher deposition rate on GBM than that on TBM (P= 0.004). IgG subclass deposit on multi-location was more associated with a shorter duration of nephropathy and severer tubular interstitial injury (P< 0.05). The mixed type of IgG subclass deposit on GBM was merely associated with higher levels of proteinuria, whereas the deposition on TBM was more associated with higher levels of proteinuria, lower levels of albumin, more KIM-1 positive area, and thicker TBM (P< 0.05). Survival analysis revealed that none of the pattern or the category of IgG subclass deposit was a risk factor or a renal outcome indicator. Conclusions: IgG subclass was selectively deposited along GBM and/or TBM in DN, and the mixed type of IgG subclass deposition on TBM had more clinical significance than the isotype and that on GBM. IgG subclass deposition is merely a manifestation or a consequence rather than a cause in DN.

Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the renoprotective effects of exosomes derived from rat bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (rBMSCs) in a rat model of 5/6 nephrectomy (Nx)-induced chronic kidney disease (CKD). Methods: A rat model of 5/6 Nx-induced CKD was established using conventional method. rBMSC-derived exosomes were isolated using ultracentrifugation and characterized. The exosomes were injected into 5/6 Nx rats through the caudal vein. After 12 weeks, 24 h proteinuria, serum creatinine (SCr), and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) levels were evaluated, and renal pathology was analyzed by H&E and Masson staining, and transmission electron microscopy. The expression of klotho was analyzed and the activity of the klotho promoter was evaluated using a luciferase reporter assay. Results: The isolated exosomes showed typical morphological features. Exosomes transplantation reduced 24 h urinary protein excretion, and SCr and BUN levels in 5/6 Nx-induced CKD rats. Furthermore, renal pathology was improved in the exosome-treated 5/6 Nx rats. Mechanistically, the exosomes significantly upregulated the activity of klotho promoter and its expression. Conclusions: Transplantation of rBMSC-derived exosomes may protect against kidney injury, probably by regulating klotho activity and expression. Our results provide a theoretical basis for the application of rBMSC-derived exosomes in CKD therapy.

In this paper, a novel semiquantum private comparison (SQPC) protocol based on single kind of Bell states is proposed, which allows two classical parties to judge the equality of their private inputs securely and correctly under the help of a semi-honest third party (TP) who possesses complete quantum capabilities. TP is allowed to misbehave on her own but cannot conspire with anyone else. Our protocol needs none of unitary operations, quantum entanglement swapping or the reordering operations. Moreover, our protocol only needs to prepare single kind of Bell states as initial quantum resource. Detailed security analysis turns out that our protocol is secure against various outside and participant attacks. Compared with most of the existing SQPC protocols based on Bell states, our protocol is more feasible in practice.

Being as unique nonlinear components of block ciphers, substitution boxes (S-boxes) directly affect the security of the cryptographic systems. It is important and difficult to design cryptographically strong S-boxes that simultaneously meet with multiple cryptographic criteria such as bijection, non-linearity, strict avalanche criterion (SAC), bits independence criterion (BIC), differential probability (DP) and linear probability (LP). To deal with this problem, a chaotic S-box based on the artificial bee colony algorithm (CSABC) is designed. It uses the S-boxes generated by the six-dimensional compound hyperchaotic map as the initial individuals and employs ABC to improve their performance. In addition, it considers the nonlinearity and differential uniformity as the fitness functions. A series of experiments have been conducted to compare multiple cryptographic criteria of this algorithm with other algorithms. Simulation results show that the new algorithm has cryptographically strong S-box while meeting multiple cryptographic criteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Design of large-area hybrid paper for directly using as electrodes in hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) can provide an efficient approach for the extension of electrochemical hydrogen industry. Here we construct MoS2decorated hybrid carbon papers (MoS2-CPs) that consist of tiny MoS2nanosheets coupled with 3D graphene–carbon nanofiber papers. MoS2-CPs can function as large-area working electrodes for HER with an overpotential (at 10mA/cm2) of 80mV in acid media and 186mV in basic media, surpassing the Mo-based catalysts ever reported thus far in acid and basic solution respectively. It is the highly coupled interface of carbon frameworks and MoS2components that resulted in the formation of patched and few-layer MoS2nanosheets with rather small size and thus ensured the abundance of exposed active edge sites. Stability tests through long-term potential cycles and extended electrolysis confirm the outstanding durability of MoS2-CPs in both acid and basic electrolytes.

Carbocatalysts with low cost and high stability are highly desirable to substitute expensive Pt-based materials for electrocatalysis. High conductivity, highly porous structure and high concentration of dopants are essential for efficient metal-free carbon-based electrocatalysts. Herein, a facile method was utilized to fabricate nitrogen-rich holey graphene monoliths (Nr-HGM) from cheap molecules and ammonium sulfate with the nitrogen content close to the upper limit of nitrogen-doped carbons. Our sample showed relatively high electrochemical catalytic activity and stability for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in both acid and base electrolytes, surpassing state-of-the-art metal-free HER catalysts in the literature.

Supramolecular assemblies are introduced here as new-concept hard templates for the synthesis of hollow nanostructures (exemplified with TiO2hollow nanostructures in this work). Supramolecular templates with tunable morphology and rich surface functional groups facilitate the tight coating of other materials for the formation of hollow nanostructures. The weak interaction between the supramolecules or micromolecules benefits the facile removal of the templates for large-scale synthesis of hollow nanostructures and also affords excellent template reusability. This method allows for the incorporation of various metal dopants into the TiO2lattice, as a typical example of nanocatalyst, by introducing the corresponding metal salt as a dopant source. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and UV-vis absorption spectroscopy investigations suggested substitution of Ti4+sites by Co2+, which increased the activity of the catalytic sites in the doped materials, reducing the overpotential of TiO2for the oxygen evolution reaction. 超分子自组装化合物具有可调控的形貌和丰富的表面官能团. 超分子或小分子单体之间的弱相互作用有利于除去模板, 作为硬模板合成空心纳米结构(以TiO2为例), 不仅能得到具有可调控形貌的空心纳米结构, 并且超分子模板可以回收和重复利用. 实验表明, 用三聚氰氨和三聚氰酸作为原料合成的超分子模板, 有利于在模板表面复合无机组分, 并且模板中的氢键在水中易断裂, 因此可以通过透析方法除去模板得到空心纳米结构. 这种超分子模板法也可以用于合成掺杂金属离子的空心结构纳米催化剂, 进一步调控电子结构增加析氧反应的活性位点, 降低超电势. 更重要的是, 此模板合成方法简单、 耗能低、 可重复利用, 可以用于合成大批量的空心结构纳米催化剂.

The BICEP2 experiment confirms the existence of primordial gravitational wave with the tensor-to-scalar ratio r= 0 ruled out at 7σ level. The consistency of this large value of rwith the Planck data requires a large negative running n′sof the scalar spectral index. Herein we propose two types of the single field inflation models with simple potentials to study the possibility of the consistency of the models with the BICEP2 and Planck observations. One type of model suggested herein is realized in the supergravity model building. These models fail to provide the needed n′seven though both can fit the tensor-to-scalar ratio and spectral index.