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The alkaline mineral amendment is a practical means of alleviating Cd concentration in rice grain (Cd R) in the short-term; however, the long-term remediation effect of mineral amendment on the Cd R and the eco-environmental controls remains unknown. Here a mineral (Si–Ca–Mg) amendment, calcined primarily from molybdenum tailings and dolomite, was applied biannually over 6 years (12 seasons) to acidic and moderately Cd-contaminated double-rice cropping ecosystems. This study investigated the inter-annual variation of Cd in the rice-soil ecosystem and the eco-environmental controls in subtropical rice ecosystems. Cd R was reduced by 50%–86% following mineral amendment. The within-year reduction in Cd R was similar between early rice (50%–86%, mean of 68%) and late rice (68%–85%, mean of 74%), leading to Cd R in all early rice and in 83% of late rice samples below the upper limit (0.2 mg kg−1) of the China National Food Safety Standards. In contrast, the inter-annual reduction in Cd R was moderately variable, showing a greater Cd R reduction in the later 3 years (73%–86%) than in the former 3 years (54%–79%). Three years continuous mineral amendment was required to guarantee the safety rice production. The concentrations of DTPA-extractable and exchangeable Cd fractions in soil were reduced, while the concentration of oxides-bound Cd was increased. In addition, the soil pH, concentrations of Olsen-P and exchangeable Ca and Mg were elevated. These imply a lower apparent phytoavailability of Cd in the soil following mineral amendment. An empirical model of the 3-variable using soil DTPA-Cd, soil Olsen-P, and a climatic factor (precipitation) effectively predicted temporal changes in Cd R. Our study demonstrates that Cd phytoavailability in soil (indexed by DTPA-extractable Cd) and climatic factors (e.g., temperature and precipitation) may directly/indirectly control the inter-annual reduction in Cd R following mineral amendment in slightly and moderately Cd-contaminated paddy ecosystems. [Display omitted] • Continuous mineral amendment (MA) in mild Cd-contaminated paddy immobilized Cd. • Three years continuous MA was required to guarantee safety rice production. • Inter-annual reduction of rice Cd (Cd R) was variable in 6-year biannual MA. • Cd R reduction was similar in early and late rice. • Temporal Cd R was effectively predicted by soil DTPA-Cd, Olsen-P, and precipitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• It combines the branch outage simulation and DC power flow calculation. • It decouples the equivalent susceptance and the equivalent power injection. • It gets rid of initial value setting and convergence issue in nonlinear equations. • It depresses the impact of measurement errors and ensure equivalence accuracy. • It needs less data and calculation burden during the parameter estimation. Due to the guarded nature of technology and industry with respect to their proprietary information, real-time data sharing among subsystems of an interconnected power grid is not a viable option. To estimate external equivalent parameters accurately when the external network information is unavailable or not considered, a two-port black-box external equivalent method, using an improved branch outage simulation based on direct current (DC) power flow (BOSDC) approach, is proposed as an alternative to some existing non-topology based, static equivalent techniques with an assumption lies in that the state of the external network remains almost unchanged before and after the branch outage. Moreover, use of BOSDC improves the accuracy of equivalent parameters and the performance of static security analysis in particular by retaining the quadratic term, which is represented as the product between network susceptance increment and the voltage phase angle increment. The linearity of the parameter estimation equation in the proposed method gets rid of potential issues with setting initial values and convergence criteria. Additionally, the significant power flow change before and after the branch outage can effectively adapt the interference of measurement errors. Simulation results on the modified IEEE 39-bus system and the practical Guangdong-Hong Kong power system verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) is a life-threatening immune disorder categorized as familial HLH or secondary HLH. Our case report describes a 63-year-old woman with epilepsy whose clinical signs were unremitting fever and altered consciousness. Primary abnormalities consisted of fever, splenomegaly, cytopenia, hypertriglyceridemia, hyperferritinemia and hemophagocytosis in the bone marrow. Results of blood next generation sequencing and blood culture confirmed Brucella infection. This report illustrates a sHLH case caused by Brucella melitensis infection. Here, we review the classification, clinical features, diagnostic methods, treatment regimens, differential diagnosis, and prognosis of HLH and brucellosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cu(II) is generally considered to be a poor activator for PMS decomposition, thus the potential impact of trace Cu(II) on PMS induced oxidation of typical pollutants is always overlooked. In this study, we reported that trace Cu(II) could significantly promote PMS induced degradation of four selected sulfonamide antibiotics (SAs), namely, sulfamehoxazole (SMX), sulfathiazole (STZ), sulfamerazine (SMZ), and sulfamonomethoxine (SMM). Different from conventional PMS-induced oxidation process, high-valent Cu(III) was ascertained as the primary reactive intermediate for SAs degradation, which was confirmed by raman tests and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR). High concentrations of Cu(II) or PMS were beneficial to degradation of the selected contaminants. In PMS/Cu(II) oxidation system, all the selected SAs could undergo several different degradation pathways including continuous oxidation of aniline group, hydroxylation and S–N bond cleavage. In particular, for six-membered SAs, such as SMZ and SMM, a SO 2 extrusion pathway was also detected. The potential mechanism for Cu(III) formation was also proposed, which was believed to be highly related to the nature of the SAs. Hydroxylamine-SAs (N4–OH–SAs), generated from direct PMS oxidation of SAs, was deduced as the "promoter" for the whole oxidation process. And the generation of Cu(III) was likely to proceed through the interaction between PMS and Cu(I), which possibly derived from the reduction of Cu(II) by N4–OH–SAs. The results obtained in this study validated the contribution of Cu(III) to the elimination of pollutants and expanded our understanding of the oxidation process of PMS in the presence of trace amounts of Cu(II). [Display omitted] • Trace Cu(II) can significantly enhance PMS-induced oxidation of selected SAs. • The addition of Cu(II) increases the %RSE value of the system. • Cu(III) was identified as the main reactive intermediate in Cu(II)/PMS system. • Hydroxylamine-SAs was proposed as a key intermediate for the generation of Cu(III). • Six-membered SAs underwent a SO 2 extrusion path while five-membered SAs not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photoelectrocatalysis (PEC) oxidation is an efficient and eco-friendly advanced oxidation process (AOP), which is a hot research topic in the treatment of organic wastewater. The selection of superior photoelectrode materials is the critical factor affecting PEC efficiency and the main challenge in practical application. In this work, novel NiMoO 4 @Co 3 O 4 hierarchical core-shell heterogeneous photoanodes were prepared through a two-step hydrothermal method and exhibited superior catalytic performance in the degradation of reactive brilliant blue KN-R. The wrapping of NiMoO 4 nanosheets on Co 3 O 4 nanowires electrode can enlarge its contact area with electrolyte, enable fast redox reaction and improve the long-term durability. The unique Z-scheme heterojunction structure between the two components ensured the effective separation of photo-generated carriers, facilitating the generation of OH and O2- during the PEC degradation process. The optimal NiMoO 4 @Co 3 O 4 -1.25 hierarchical architecture anode catalyst exhibited the highest removal rate of 83.65% of reactive brilliant blue KN-R in 120 min with long-term stability (∼12000 s) in 1.0 mol·L-1 H 2 SO 4 solution. This report may inspire the design and fabrication of heterostructure photoanode in water purification. [Display omitted] • NiMoO 4 @Co 3 O 4 core-shell heterogeneous was synthesized by a hydrothermal process. • It exhibited excellent degradation efficiency for reactive brilliant blue KN-R. • Its Z-scheme band structure was investigated. • The mechanism of the synergistic photoelectrocatalytic effect was explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Cretaceous Huahui basin lies along the Dunhua–Mishan fault (Dun–Mi fault), which is one of the northern branches of Tan–Lu fault in northeastern China. The study of the formation and the tectonic movements that took place in the basin can provide very important information for deciphering the tectonic evolution of northeastern China during Cretaceous–Early Cenozoic. The field analysis of fault-slip data collected from different units in the basin, demonstrates changes in the paleo-stress state that reveals a three-stage tectonic movement during the Cretaceous–Early Cenozoic. The earliest tectonic movement was NW–SE extension, which was responsible for the formation of the basin and sedimentary infilling during the Early Cretaceous. Dating of the andesite in the fill indicates it began during about 119.17 ± 0.80 Ma. The extensional structures formed in the Latest Early Cretaceous imply that this tectonic movement lasted until the beginning of the Late Cretaceous. The second stage began during the Late Cretaceous when the tectonic stress state changed and was dominated by NW–SE compression and NE–SW extension, which caused the inversion of the extensional basin. This compression folded the Early Cretaceous deposits and reactivated pre-existing faults and uplifted pre-existing granite in the basin. The strata and the unconformity in the basin shows that this compressive phase probably took place during the Late Cretaceous and ended in the Early Paleogene by a compressional regime with NE–SW compression and NW–SE extension that constitutes the third stage. The tectonic stress fields documented in the Huahui basin provide insight into the influences of plate tectonics on the crustal evolution of northeastern China during the Cretaceous to Early Cenozoic. These results show that the development of Huahui basin was controlled by the northwestward subduction of the paleo-Pacific plate during the Cretaceous, and later by the far-field effects of India–Asia collision in the Paleogene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Gold-titania/protonated zeolite (Au–TiO2/HZSM-5) composite photocatalysts were prepared via the sol–gel and impregnation processing. The structural features of the photocatalysts were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and ultraviolet visible diffuse reflection spectroscopy (UV–vis); the adsorption and photo-degradation of Methyl Orange (MO) were studied in the aqueous solution. The results showed that the nanoAu particles were incorporated in TiO2/HZSM-5. The introduction of Au particles not only maintained the adsorption capacity of photocatalysts, but also promoted the photodegradation efficiency of Methyl Orange (MO). The effects of Au content, TiO2 content, catalyst amount and calcination temperature were examined and the repeatability of photocatalytic activity was also tested. Moreover, the Methyl Orange (MO) photodegradation activity of 0.32%Au-25%TiO2/HZSM-5 nanocomposites is the best. A plausible mechanism is proposed for the route of degradation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]