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Colorectal cancer (CRC), one of the most prevalent cancers, has complex etiology. The dysbiosis of intestinal bacteria has been highlighted as an important contributor to CRC. Fusobacterium nucleatum , an oral anaerobic opportunistic pathogen, is enriched in both stools and tumor tissues of patients with CRC. Therefore, F. nucleatum is considered to be a risk factor for CRC. This review summarizes the biological characteristics and the mechanisms underlying the regulatory behavior of F. nucleatum in the tumorigenesis and progression of CRC. F. nucleatum as a marker for the early warning and prognostic prediction of CRC, and as a target for prevention and treatment, is also described. Fusobacterium nucleatum has been related to genetic and epigenetic lesions, such as microsatellite instability (MSI), CpG island methylator phenotype (CIMP), and genome mutation in colorectal cancer (CRC) tissues. F. nucleatum could promote the proliferation and metabolism, remodel the immune microenvironment, and facilitate metastasis and chemoresistance in the tumorigenesis and development of CRC. F. nucleatum could function as a biomarker for screening the high-risk population for CRC. Although further in-depth studies are warranted, several virulence- or phage-based therapeutics specific to F. nucleatum may be novel promising methods in CRC treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs) have received considerable attention as promising energy storage devices because of their impressive energy densities and inexpensive cost. However, there are still challenges to be addressed regarding the performance and cycling stability of ZIBs. In this work, a straw-sheaf-like AgVO 3 structure assembled from multiple strongly bonded nanowires was successfully synthesized using a one-step hydrothermal route. We investigate the structural advantages offered by the AgVO 3 compound for ZIBs. The AgVO 3 , which is distinguished by one-dimensional nanowires and a straw-sheaf-like architecture, possesses remarkable properties that facilitate efficient zinc ion deintercalation and electron transfer processes. These include the shortened diffusion length caused by the presence of nanowires, which allows for faster ion migration. The tightly bundled nanowires also provide robust structural support, accommodating the significant volume changes caused by repeated electrochemical reactions. Notably, a single crystal structure enables excellent conductivity and electrochemical kinetics. Remarkably, the straw-sheaf-like AgVO 3 electrode exhibited excellent reversible capacity (292.3 mAh g−1 at 0.1 A g−1) and long cycling stability. The remarkable electrochemical properties illuminate the potential of AgVO 3 as a viable material for ZIBs, paving the way for improved performance and durability in this promising energy storage technology. [Display omitted] • The Straw-sheaf-like (SSL) AgVO 3 nanowires are successfully synthesized. • SSL structure can accommodate volume change by repetitive electrochemical reactions. • Nanowires shorten the diffusion length, allowing for faster ion migration. • Single-crystal structure enables good conductivity and electrochemical kinetics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is regarded as a critical component in the water splitting system. Creating vacancies, increasing active surface area, and optimizing electronic structure would improve electrocatalytic performance. Herein, a facile electrochemical reduction method is used to generate sulfur vacancies in nickel iron sulfide (NiFe-S) with a large geometry area of 15 × 16 cm2, which is synthesized using an electrodeposition process assisted with the ion exchange (IOE) method. The X-ray absorption spectroscopies (XAS) are applied for atomic-level structural analysis, verifying that electrochemical desulfurization generates abundant S vacancies. The NiFe-S with abundant sulfur vacancies (NiFe-S-V s) exhibits a low overpotential (252 mV at 100 mA cm−2), and long stability for 260 h at 500 mA cm−2. More importantly, the NiFe-S-V s catalyst also delivers a small overpotential (235 mV at 1000 mA cm−2) and high alkaline tolerance (140 h at 500 mA cm−2) in 6 M KOH at 60 °C), implying a potentially significant industrial application prospect. Finally, theory calculation further illustrates the high performance of as-prepared vacancies-rich catalyst. [Display omitted] • Rich vacancies were created by electrochemical reduction. • Sulfur vacancy can modulate the electronic structure from XAS and DFT results. • Scaled-up sulfides with more than 15 × 16 cm2 were prepared. • NiFe-S-0.6/NF only needs 235 mV to reach 1000 mA cm−2 in industry conditions. • NiFe-S-0.6/NF can maintain over 140 h in industry-like conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • SOC prediction in the agro-pastoral transitional zone of northwest China was realised using VIS-NIRS and chemometrics. • Ten spectral transforms coupled with correlation analysis and the Boruta algorithm for feature wavelength selection. • SOC content prediction model based on Boruta-FD-RF was developed. • Integrating spectral preprocessing, feature selection and chemometrics strategies has good prediction accuracy and stability. Rapidly and accurately grasp the change of soil organic carbon content in farmland, which is of great significance in guiding the timely and effective mastery of farmland soil fertility and improvement of soil physical properties. In this study, an ASD FieldSpec 4 spectrometer was used to collect spectral reflectance data on 128 agricultural soil samples taken from Jingbian County, Yulin City, Shaanxi Province, China. Firstly, descriptive statistics of the SOC in the study area were performed, and secondly, after 10 spectral transformations were performed, the correlation analysis and the Boruta algorithm were used to extract the characteristic wavebands of soil organic carbon, respectively, in order to reduce the redundancy of the data. Finally, by comparing the accuracies of different strategies, we constructed a spectral prediction model of soil organic carbon in farmland of the Northwest Agricultural and Animal Husbandry Intertwined Zone that integrates the optimal preprocessing, feature selection strategy and modelling method. The results indicate that: 1) The mean SOC content of the farmland in the study area was low and at the nutrient deficient level, with the standard errors and coefficients of variation for the modelling and validation sets were 1.596 g kg−1, 1.457 g kg−1, 54 % and 52 %, respectively; 2) The shape and trend of spectral special curves with different SOC contents show consistency, and the SOC content is negatively correlated with spectral reflectance; 3) CA selects more feature bands, but the feature bands are more homogeneous, while the Boruta algorithm can effectively remove irrelevant variables and improve the SOC feature selection effect; 4) The SOC prediction model based on Boruta-FD-RF can be better for soil organic carbon estimation, with R2 of 0.899 and 0.748 for the training set and validation set, respectively, RMSE of 1.432 g kg−1 and 1.967 g kg−1, and RPD of 2.557 and 1.647, respectively. The results show that the SOC model established by integrating optimal spectral pre-processing, feature selection strategy and chemometrics strategy has obvious improvement in prediction accuracy and stability, and this study provides an important reference for the fast and accurate estimation of SOC content in farmland of Agro-pastoral Transitional zone in northwest China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A strategy is developed on in-situ SEM and Swin transformer to predict fatigue life. • The method is image-driven without using prior knowledge or manual characterization. • The proposed pipeline exhibits accurate prediction and generalization ability. Remaining fatigue life prediction is vital for engineering structures to ensure safety and reliability. The successive and dynamic changes in morphology are valuable informational reminders of the remaining life of a material. This study proposed a novel strategy to monitor and predict the remaining life of materials in a successive and dynamic manner, incorporating the in-situ scanning electron microscope (SEM) and deep learning algorithm. Two in-situ SEM fatigue experiments were conducted to simulate the practical service conditions of additively manufactured Inconel 718 alloy. A series of SEM image sequences reflecting the changing morphology were collected and used for downstream deep learning-based remaining life prediction. Original SEM images were cropped and grouped for training, validation, and test purposes. Results showed that the deep learning-based method exhibited high prediction ability. The proposed method's predicted life values were highly close to the experimental results. The visualization result showed that the microstructure evolution, such as accumulation of slip bands, surface fluctuation changes resulting from coordinated grain deformation, and fatigue crack growth, provide much information and decision support to the network. These results demonstrated the great promise of monitoring and predicting the remaining fatigue life of materials based on morphology. We believe this image and deep learning-based strategy will inspire current fatigue life prediction and facilitate the move toward successive, automatic, and accurate life monitoring in practical engineering structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The "shuttle effect" caused by polysulfide (LiPSs) dissolution and diffusion is a great challenge for sulfur (S) cathode in lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs). Herein, we have successfully constructed Co/CoV 2 O 6 tandem catalytic heterostructure anchored by N-doped carbon (Co/CoV 2 O 6 /NC) via an impregnation-assisted pyriaolysis method. The "adsorption-transfer-conversion" tandem catalytic mechanism for LiPSs is realized by utilizing the three behaviors of the strong chemical adsorption of CoV 2 O 6 to LiPSs, the strong conversion of Co to LiPSs, and the transport effect of CoV 2 O 6 ←Co interfacial built-in electric field to polysulfide ions. This can effectively suppress the "shuttle effect" by separating the adsorption and conversion process of LiPSs at different active sites. The tandem catalytic characteristic coupled with the interfacial Co-N and V-N bonds among Co, CoV 2 O 6 and NC, the high electrical conductivities of metal Co and NC conducting network, the hierarchical porous structure of polyhedral framework, collectively endow Co/CoV 2 O 6 /NC@S cathode with strong structural stability, weak electrochemical polarization, good electrochemical reversibility and fast electrochemical kinetics. As a result, Co/CoV 2 O 6 /NC@S cathode presents the significantly enhanced electrochemical performance with a high capacity of 558.4 mAh g−1 at 0.2 C after 100 cycles and a low-capacity decay rate of 0.123% per cycle during 300 cycles at 1 C. • Co/CoV 2 O 6 tandem catalytic heterostructure was successfully constructed. • The adsorption-transfer-conversion tandem catalytic mechanism was realized. • The shuttle effect was suppressed by separating adsorption and conversion. • A high capacity of 558.4 mAh g−1 at 0.2 C after 100 cycles was achieved. • A low-capacity decay rate of 0.123%/cycle during 300 cycles at 1 C was achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The Pd 13 /Fe-N-Gra exhibits high activity for the decomposition of formic acid. • The Pd 13 /Fe-N-Gra catalyst shows higher activity for CO 2 production than Pd 13 /Gra. • The deformation of Pd 13 will improve the selectivity for CO production. • The Fe-N-C site can keep the electron of Pd 13 to prevent its deformation. The reaction mechanism of HCOOH dissociation on the Fe-N 4 -Gra supported Pd 13 (Pd 13 /Fe-N-Gra) is systematically investigated by using the density functional method. For Pd 13 /Fe-N-Gra, the two possible active sites, i.e., the top site (T) and interface (synergy) site (S site), are all considered. The results show that, besides pathway via HCOO (HCOOH → HCOO → CO 2), there is a new favorable channel (HCOOH → COOH → CO 2) for producing the CO 2 , which is different from that of pure Pd (prefer HCOO pathway). More importantly, the new pathway at T site shows higher selectivity and activity for HCOOH dissociation to CO 2 , compared with the S site. Further analysis based on energy splitting method and electronic structure indicate that the higher electron transfer during the intermediate COOH dissociation brings the deformation of Pd 13 , which increases the selectivity for CO. In conclusion, the Fe-N 4 can not directly act as the active center for the reaction, while it can effectively keep the number of active electrons in Pd 13 , especially for the T site, to keep high activity and selectivity for the HCOOH dissociation to CO 2. Meanwhile, the results also propose that the effective method for reducing the adsorption of OH species at the interface site or fast release the OH species can further improve the catalytic activity and life of Pd 13 /Fe-N-Gra for HCOOH dissociation. The Pd 13 /Fe-N-Gra catalyst shows high activity for the dissociation of formic acid to form CO 2 and H 2. The Fe-N 4 site will modulate the electronic structure of Pd cluster and prevent the deformation of Pd cluster, which is beneficial for hindering the formation of CO. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biofilms on the surface of food processing equipment act as potential reservoirs of microbial contamination. Bacterial interactions are believed to play key roles in both biofilm formation and antimicrobial tolerance. In this study, Aeromonas hydrophila, Chryseobacterium oncorhynchi, and Pseudomonas libanensis, which were previously isolated from Chinese raw milk samples, were selected to establish two dual-species biofilm models (P. libanensis plus A. hydrophila and P. libanensis plus C. oncorhynchi) on stainless steel at 78C. Subsequently, three disinfectants, hydrogen peroxide (100 ppm), peracetic acid (100 ppm), and sodium hypochlorite (100 ppm), were used to treat the developed sessile communities for 10 min. Structural changes after exposure to disinfectants were analyzed with confocal laser scanning microscopy. The cell numbers of both A. hydrophila and C. oncorhynchi recovered from surfaces increased when grown as dual species biofilms with P. libanensis. Dual-species biofilms were more tolerant of disinfectants than were each single-species biofilm. Peracetic acid was the most effective disinfectant for removing biofilms, followed by hydrogen peroxide and sodium hypochlorite. The results expand the knowledge of mixed-species biofilms formed by psychrotrophic bacteria and will be helpful for developing effective strategies to eliminate bacterial mixed-species biofilms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Owing to the large number of wind turbines (WTs) and long transmission lines in large wind farms (WFs), the wake effect and power loss in a WF have a more significant impact on the active output of the WF. The improper operation of WTs decreases their lifetime and increases their maintenance costs. To minimise the levelised production cost of a WF, this study proposes an optimal active and reactive power cooperative dispatch strategy that considers the minimisation of total WF power loss, maximisation of WF lifetime, and maximisation of total WF power generation. The proposed strategy is compared with a traditional control strategy in a 125 MW WF, and the simulation results prove the effectiveness of the proposed strategy. • An optimal active and reactive power cooperative dispatch strategy of wind farm is proposed to minimise the LPC. • The total power generation, power losses, the lifetime of wind farm are considered in finding the optimal strategy. • The proposed strategy can reduce the LPC compared with traditional strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As wind power penetration increases, large wind farms (WFs) need to provide reactive power according to modern grid codes. Permanent magnet synchronous generator-based wind turbines (WTs) can generate reactive power, by assigning the appropriate reactive power to each WT to meet the reactive power requirements of the grid. This is a more economical method than setting up additional reactive power compensation equipment. This study proposes an optimal reactive power dispatch strategy for minimising a levelised production cost, and is implemented in two ways: minimising the power loss of a WF, and maximising the lifetime of WTs. The reactive power references of each WT are chosen as the optimisation variables, and a particle swarm optimisation algorithm is adopted to solve the optimisation problem. The proposed and traditional reactive power dispatch strategies are demonstrated and compared on a WF with 25 WTs to validate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. • An optimal reactive power dispatch of wind farm is proposed to minimise the LPC. • The power loss and lifetime of wind farm are both considered in the optimal strategy. • The LPC of proposed strategy is 3.59 DKK/kWh smaller than traditional strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract With the development of wind power, wind farms are required to provide reactive power to the power system. For permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG) based large wind farms (WF), it may be an economical way to generate reactive power using the power electronic devices inside each wind turbine (WT). In this paper, an optimal reactive power dispatch of PMSG WF is proposed to minimize the power loss. Both the losses inside WTs and the losses of transmission system are all considered. Particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm is adopted to find the reactive power references of each WT which makes the total loss of WF minimal. A WF with 25 5 MW PMSG WTs arranged in 5 rows and 5 columns is used in the case study. And two traditional reactive power dispatch strategies are compared comprehensively with the proposed strategy at different scenarios, the results have shown that the proposed strategy obtains lower power loss than the other two traditional strategies in all the studied cases. Highlights • An optimal reactive power dispatch is proposed to minimize the total power loss of wind farms. • The power losses of wind turbines and transmission system of wind farms are both considered. • Compared to the traditional strategy, the proposed strategy can reduce the power loss of 0.98% in the most effective case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microstructure significantly affects materials' physical properties. Predicting and characterizing temporal microstructural evolution is valuable and helpful for understanding the processing-structure-property relationship but is rarely conducted on experimental data for its scarcity, unevenness, and uncontrollability. As such, a self-designed in-situ tensile system in conjunction with a scanning electron microscope was adopted to observe the grain evolution during the tensile process. We then used a deep learning-based model to capture grain growth behavior from the experimental data and characterize grain boundary and orientation evolution. We validated the framework's effectiveness by comparing the predictions and ground truths from quantitative and qualitative perspectives, using data from (1) a tensile experimental dataset and (2) a phase-field simulation dataset. Based on the two datasets, the model's predicted results showed good agreement with ground truths in the short term, and local differences emerged in the long term. This pipeline opened an opportunity for the characterization of microstructure evolution and could be easily extended to other scenarios, such as dendrite growth and martensite transformation. [Display omitted] • It's the first study using a deep learning method to predict and characterize temporal grain evolution on experimental data. • We accurately predict future grain evolution without any subjective assumptions and hand-crafted features. • We can provide valuable reference and guidance for future experiments based on the model's performance. • This pipeline opens a new way of shortening experimental time and characterizing temporal microstructure evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy system optimization models are widely used to aid long-term investment decision-making for energy systems. From a socio-technical system viewpoint, existing models focus on the cost modeling of the technical subsystem, while the indirect costs of the social subsystem are not often modeled. This paper incorporates indirect costs into such a model, including those associated with generation capacity, energy production, and bilateral trades, respectively. As a proof-of-concept, the model has been applied to a case study for the Dutch power system, reflecting the Dutch national program Regional Energy Strategies, where regions collectively plan wind and solar energy capacities. We conclude that incorporating indirect costs significantly changed the optimal investment capacities and the associated costs for the regions compared to benchmark results from the conventional models. Furthermore, in this case study, a potential free-rider problem with regard to the national climate target occurs. Our model is used as a negotiation simulator to inform the regions about the hypothetical free-riding behaviors and thus helps to achieve a socially acceptable investment plan. The proposed energy system optimization model with indirect costs goes beyond the prevalent cost-minimization paradigm, and can be used to study transaction costs, trading barriers, and willingness to pay. • Existing energy system optimization models largely ignore the social subsystem. • We propose a model incorporating several indirect costs. • This unique model goes beyond the prevalent cost-minimization paradigm. • A proof-of-concept case study for the Dutch power system is conducted. • The model is used as a negotiation simulator for a hypothetical free-rider problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphical abstract A facile and low-cost approach is developed to fabricate magnetic, durable, and superhydrophobic carbon sponges, which facilitate potential applications in oil/water separation and remote controlled oil removal from oil spills. Highlights • Magnetic superhydrophobic carbon sponges (MSCS) were fabricated via a facile and low-cost approach. • MSCS can act as "smart absorbents" to adsorb oils from oil-water mixtures. • MSCS exhibit stable adsorption efficiencies and recyclability, as well as robust durability against harsh environment. Abstract The clean-up of oil spills is a worldwide challenge for the prevention of serious environmental pollution. Therefore, it is imperative to develop materials for oil-spill cleanup that have high absorption/separation capacity, good selectivity, controlled collection and easy recyclability. Here, we present a facile and low-cost approach for fabricating magnetic, durable, and superhydrophobic carbon sponges. The resultant carbon sponges feature fast magnetic response, excellent superhydrophobicity/superoleophilicity, high chemical resistance, environmental stability and mechanical durability, as well as high oil/water separation efficiency and oil absorbency. More importantly, given the magnetically controllable property endowed by magnetic particles to superhydrophobic carbon sponges, which act as magnetically controlled "smart absorbents", the carbon sponges can therefore controllably and selectively adsorb oils from oil-water mixtures. Thus, our strategy may open up a new avenue for developing magnetic responsive intelligent oil sorbent materials suitable for practical applications in the fields of water remediation, oil spill clean-up and oil recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Novel nanostructured Fe 2 O 3 with a network of 3D mesoporous nanosheets was synthesized by depositing on carbon fabric (Fe 2 O 3 @CF) for use as an anode using a potentially low-cost electrodeposition technique. The electrode with freestanding binder-free Fe 2 O 3 @CF of high surface area displayed an exceptional specific capacitance of 394.2 F g−1. Moreover, a flexible solid-state asymmetric supercapacitor (ASC) was fabricated with a negative electrode based on Fe 2 O 3 @CF and a positive electrode based on MnO 2 @CF in the presence of PVA-LiCl as gel electrolyte. The above ASC exhibited a high operating potential up to 1.8 V, a favorable specific capacitance of 93.5 F g−1 (2.92 F cm−3), long-term stability (91.3% retention of initial value over 5000 cycles), and remarkable mechanical stability and flexibility, suggesting its potential application for wearable electronics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Herein, we propose a facile incomplete phase separation strategy unlike the tedious synthesis approaches of the past to fabricate P/N co-doped porous and interconnected carbon (PNPC) particles with a specific surface area (S A) of 1920 m2 g−1. The heteroatom doped porous carbons were demonstrated to possess improved conductive property and excellent stability for supercapacitor application. The PNPC bunch delivered a high specific capacitance of 318 F g−1 at 1 A g−1 and a remarkable cycling stability, i.e., 96.2% initial capacitance after 10,000 cycles in 6 M KOH electrolyte solution. In addition, an asymmetric supercapacitor (ASC) employing LaNi 0.5 Co 0.5 O 3 /0.333Co 3 O 4 hollow spheres with a mesoporous shell as a positive electrode and PNPC bunch as a negative electrode showed a maximum specific capacitance of 109.6 F g−1 at 1 A g−1 in a potential window of 0–1.7 V. More importantly, the reformative ASC can be discharged up to 0.5 s at a charge current density of 1 A g−1 to deliver an ultrahigh power density of 89.7 kW kg−1, much higher than those of the reported ASCs. This exciting result paves a way for practical application in high power devices. Graphical abstract Image 1 Highlights • A facile incomplete phase separation strategy to fabricate doped porous carbon. • The sample delivers a high specific capacitance of 318 F g−1 at 1 A g−1. • The assembled ASC exhibits a specific capacitance of 109.6 F g−1 at 1 A g−1 in 0–1.7 V. • An ultra-high power density of 89.7 W kg−1 can be addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphical abstract Partly nitrogenized NiO hollow spheres with mesoporous shell are developed as hybrid supercapacitors exhibited superior energy density and outstanding cyclic stability. Highlights • Partly nitrogenized nickel oxide hollow spheres with mesoporous shell are prepared. • Our sample contains multiple compositions including NiO, Ni 2 O 3 , Ni 3 N, and N-doped NiO. • Excellent conductivity is confirmed by measurement results and first-principles calculations. • Our sample can compare favorably with the NiO/CNT and NiO/rGO composites in electrochemical properties. Abstract In order to improve the conductivity of NiO, a simple and effective strategy has been utilized. Here, we synthesized partly nitrogenized nickel oxide hollow spheres and used them as an electrode material of a supercapacitor. It was found that the prepared partly nitrogenized material possessed a mesoporous shell of multiple compositions consisting of NiO, Ni 2 O 3 , Ni 3 N, and N-doped NiO, the latter partly substituted with nitrogen. The first-principles calculations were also employed to investigate the composite structure and the result demonstrated an improved electronic conductivity. The partly nitrogenized NiO spheres acted as a battery-type electrode material delivering a gravimetric specific capacity of 492C g−1 at 1 A g−1 and a long-term stability in a three-electrode system. The assembled hybrid supercapacitor exhibited a maximum capacitance of 121F g−1 at 1 A g−1, a high energy density of 37.8 Wh kg−1 and power density of 37.5 kW kg−1, and high capacitance retention after 5000 charge–discharge cycles. The excellent electrochemical performance indicates that the partly nitrogenized NiO hollow spheres can compare favorably with nanostructured NiO materials composited with carbon nanotubes and reduced graphene oxide for application in energy storage devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here, we report a new synthetic strategy to fabricate mesoporous film of Ni 0.8 Fe 0.2 nanosheets for high performance oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Mesoporous Ni 0.8 Fe 0.2 film self-supported on stainless steel mesh (SLS) was prepared via a novel hydrothermal electrodeposition process. Hydrothermally driven electrodeposition method showed significant advantages toward OER: (1) high temperature makes H 2 generated on the cathode to overflow faster. Both the gas generated on the cathode and hydrothermal condition impacted coating surface, hence, the film possessed more active sites to improve OER properties and (2) hydrothermal condition improved the crystallization of the coating leading to excellent electrode stability under OER test. The mesoporous Ni 0.8 Fe 0.2 film exhibited an overpotential of 206 mV at 10 mA cm −2 (i.e., 1.436 V vs. RHE), a Tafel slope of 64 mV dec −1 and excellent stability after 2 × 10 5  s (more than 55 h) at 10 mA cm −2 . The superior OER properties could be attributed to the film’s novel synthetic process, porous structure and high electrical conductivity. This work shows a new strategy to fabricate mesoporous alloy films as OER catalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new diffusive gradients in thin films (DGT) technique with a micro-sized biochar-zeolite-zirconium oxide mixed binding phase is described for simultaneous sampling of dissolved orthophosphate and ammonium in freshwaters. The performance of mixed binding layer (MBL) DGT technique was characterized by evaluation of the following parameters: (1) the adsorption efficiency of phosphate and ammonium by the mixed binding phase, (2) the elution efficiency, (3) the time-series accumulation, and (4) the influences of pH, coexisting cations and DOC on DGT uptake. The mixed binding phase had high uptake for both phosphate and ammonium. The accumulated analyte mass increased linearly with time over 48 h ( Δ g = 1.3 mm) and 84 h ( Δ g = 1.9 mm), respectively. Simultaneous sampling of phosphate and ammonium using MBL-DGT was consistent over the 10–80 mg C L −1 DOC concentration range and the 3–8 pH range for a 24 h deployment. The coexisting cations (Na + , K + , Mg 2+ , and Ca 2+ ) were found to compete with the ammonium accumulation by MBL-DGT, but ammonium accumulation was consistent over concentration ranges typically found in most freshwaters (up to 0.01 mol L −1 Na + , 0.001 mol L −1 K + , 0.01 mol L −1 Mg 2+ , 0.03 mol L −1 Ca 2+ ). The MBL-DGT method also performed predictably in natural freshwaters containing different concentrations of metal ions and dissolved organic carbon. The results of this project have demonstrated that this new DGT method can offer a more cost-efficient method for simultaneously determining time-weighted average concentrations of ammonium and dissolved orthophosphate in most freshwaters, but inefficiently in high salinity waters because of its extremely high concentration of competing cations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel strategy is proposed through the in-situ growth of one-dimensional H-VOOH nanorod arrays on flexible conducting substrates as ZIBs cathode material. The synergistic effect between the hollandite-type tunnel structure and the functional group-modified conductive collector, not only accelerates the charge transfer rate and increases zinc ion intercalation capacity but also enhances the structural stability of the electrode by improving the interface stability and alleviating the detachment between the active material and the collector during the charge/discharge process. Benefitting from these merits, as-prepared H-VOOH@CF achieves high reversible capacity and ultralong cyclic stability. [Display omitted] • Novel H-VOOH was prepared by solvothermal insitu growth on conducting carbon cloth. • Hollandite-type tunnel structure accelerates the charge transfer rate. • In-situ growth improves the interface stability between the H-VOOH and the C cloth. • Such a nanostructure enhances the structural stability of the electrode. • H-VOOH@CC delivers high reversible capacity and ultralong cyclic stability. As cathodes for aqueous zinc ion batteries (ZIBs), vanadium-based materials have received a lot of attention in recent years because of their high theoretical capacities and suitable working potentials. However, the sluggish kinetics and volume expansion effects lead to their rapid capacity decay and poor rate performance. Herein, a novel strategy is proposed through the in-situ growth of one-dimensional hollandite-type VO 1.52 (OH) 0.77 nanorod arrays on flexible carbon fiber cloth as ZIBs cathode material. The synergistic effect between the hollandite-type tunnel structure and the functional group-modified conductive collector, not only accelerates the charge transfer rate and increases zinc ion intercalation capacity but also enhances the structural stability of the electrode by improving the interface stability and alleviating the detachment between the VO 1.52 (OH) 0.77 nanorod arrays and the conducting substrate during the charge/discharge process. Benefitting from these merits, as-prepared VO 1.52 (OH) 0.77 achieves an impressive reversible capacity of 305.6 mAh g−1 at 100 mA g−1 and ultralong cyclic stability (96.4% retention over 1000 cycles). This work reveals a concise approach to the construction of hollandite-type and demonstrates that the structural stability of vanadium-based oxide cathodes can be significantly enhanced by elegant structural design, thereby improving their Zn ion storage performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we utilized a eutectic gallium-indium liquid metal (LM) with high thermal conductivity to immerse carbon-based phase change material (PCM) capsules to acquire a PCM-LM composite. This produced a scalable, thermally stable, mechanically reliable, high thermally conductive, and leakage-free material. This composite was then applied as a heat mitigator for CPU cooling. Results demonstrate that clear improvements could be made compared to traditional pin-fin heat-sink cooling. Here the continuous full-load operating time could be prolonged by 414.3%. Moreover, the temperature difference between the idle and full-load operating states could be significantly decreased, and prevent damage from thermal stress. Significantly, a 23% energy-saving performance was attained because of the thermal buffering effect and high responsive ability of the composite. Guidelines for an effective match between the heat absorption of the composite and the heat generation from the CPU could also be established. Here the proposed PCM-LM composite can be applied to other PCM-based energy storage industries and efficient temperature control applications, contributing to carbon neutralization and global warming mitigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three previously undescribed flavone C -glycosides ( 1 – 3 ), along with seven known ones ( 4 – 10 ), were isolated and characterized from the smallest flowering aquatic plant, Lemna japonica . On the basis of spectroscopic analysis and alkaline hydrolysis, compounds 1 – 3 were identified to be luteolin 6- C -(2″- O - trans -caffeoyl- d -malate)- β -glucoside ( 1 ), apigenin 6- C -(2″- O - trans -caffeoyl- d -malate)- β -glucoside ( 2 ), and luteolin 6- C -(2″- O - trans -coumaroyl- d -malate)- β -glucoside ( 3 ). Compounds 1 – 3 are characteristic of a trans -coumaroyl- d -malate or trans -caffeoyl- d -malate linked to C-2″ of the glucose, which was reported for the first time. Compounds 1 – 3 exhibited weak cytotoxicity against HepG-2, SW-620, and A-549 cell lines, with IC 50 values between 42.5 and 19.2 μg/ml, and moderate antioxidant activity. Meanwhile compound 3 displayed moderate nematocidal activity with an EC 50 value of 1.56 mg/ml. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Nonlinear relationships between activities of Pt/CeO 2 and discharge time was found. • Pt particle size and oxygen vacancies can be regulated by controlling the discharge time. • Discharge time has a stronger impact on oxygen vacancy than Pt atom. • Pt/CeO 2 -PT5 demonstrated poor activity due to carbon deposition on the surface. This work demonstrated that a dielectric barrier discharge plasma was applied to modify the performance of catalyst. The Pt/CeO 2 catalyst was treated with various plasma discharge time to reveal the effect of plasma on the performance of Pt/CeO 2 catalyst for toluene oxidation. It is interesting that two volcanic peaks appeared at discharge time of 30 min (Pt/CeO 2 -PT3) and 3 h (Pt/CeO 2 -PT6). Compared to Pt/CeO 2 without plasma treatment, their catalytic activities (T 90) decreased by 24 °C for Pt/CeO 2 -PT3 and 34 °C for Pt/CeO 2 -PT6, respectively. By contrast, the Pt/CeO 2 -PT5 (2 h) showed the lowest activity due to the surface carbon deposition. We demonstrated that the plasma discharge time significantly affects the Pt particle size, CeO 2 -rod length, oxygen vacancies, and redox ability of the Pt/CeO 2 catalyst by using the characterizations of X-ray power diffraction patterns (XRD), specific surface area (BET), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and hydrogen temperature-programmed reduction (H 2 -TPR). The linear relationship between catalytic activities and turnover frequency values (TOF Pt and TOF Ov) were observed in the discharge time ≤1 h. Furthermore, we found that discharge time has a more profound impact on oxygen vacancy than Pt particle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coordination environment and pore structure of Co nanoparticles anchored in N-doped C (Co/N-doped C) host is crucial for the Li+ storage property of S cathode. Herein, we report the design and synthesis of two typical Co/N-doped C hosts with different coordination environment and pore structure. It is found the low Co(NO 3) 2 ∙6 H 2 O/2-methylimidazole ratio induces the missing of the Co nodes in the crystal structures, thus resulting in the generation of the L -Co/NC (Co/N-doped C with lower Co content) polyhedral possessing more abundant pyridinic N, pyrrolic N, Co-N and C-N bond, and larger pore volume with higher meso-macropores. Benefiting from their synergistic effect, L -Co/NC host provides more active sites for strong physical and chemical adsorption of lithium polysulfides (LiPSs) than Co/N-doped C host with higher Co content (L -Co/NC), and further accelerates the conversion of LiPSs to Li 2 S/Li 2 S 2. As a result, L -Co/NC@S cathode shows better electrochemical performance with a reversible capacity of 400 mA h g−1 after 100 cycles at 0.2 C and a capacity retention of 50% after 300 cycles at 1 C. This work can provide a reference for the structural design of metal-organic framework as the host of S cathode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study reports the fabrication and characterization of mesoporous LaNiO 3 /NiO composite with a very high specific surface area for a battery-type electrode. The mesoporous LaNiO 3 /NiO composite was synthesized via a sol–gel method by using silica gel as a template, the colloidal silica gel was obtained by the hydrolysis and polymerization of tetraethoxysilane in the presence of La and Ni salts. We investigated the structure and the electrochemical properties of mesoporous LaNiO 3 /NiO composite in detail. The mesoporous composite sample showed a specific surface area of 372 m 2 g −1 with 92.7% mesoporous area and displayed remarkable electrochemical performance as a battery-type electrode material for supercapacitor. The specific capacity values were found to be 237.2 mAh g −1 at a current density of 1 A g −1 and 128.6 mAh g −1 at a high current density of 20 A g −1 in 1 M KOH aqueous electrolyte. More importantly, this mesoporous composite also showed an excellent cycling performance with the retention of 92.6% specific capacitance after 60,000 charging and discharging cycles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A flow atomization method that is suitable for commercial preparation was employed to fabricate the monodisperse nickel/cobalt oxide composite (NCOC) hollow spheres by means of silica as the template. The prepared hollow spheres present a spinel NCOC and mesoporous shell structure with a specific surface area of 343 m 2 g -1 and a mean pore size of 2.5 nm. The monodisperse NCOC hollow-sphere electrode exhibits a maximum specific capacity of 175 mAh g −1 at 1 A g −1 and delivers a 92.5% capacity retention after 50,000 cycles, suggesting superior long cycle stability. A hybrid supercapacitor with a total mass of 5 mg cm -2 has been assembled using monodisperse NCOC hollow spheres as positive electrode and nitrogen-doped mesoporous carbon derived from the pyrolysis of polypyrrole as negative electrode material. This device can be operated in a potential region of 0–1.5 V, displays a high energy density of 38.5 Wh kg −1 at a power density of 750.8 W kg −1 , and remains at 22.9 Wh kg −1 at 21.4 kW kg −1 . The long-term cyclic life up to 20,000 cycles with 9.5% capacitance loss also meets the growing demand for mass-produced energy-related devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-porosity MnO 2 with a mesoporous structure is synthesized through a facile redox reaction, and the polypyrrole (PPy) nanofilms are grown on the synthesized mesoporous MnO 2 by chemical vapor deposition to form a 3D nanocomposite structure. The as-prepared high-porosity MnO 2 /PPy with a nanocomposite structure presents a high specific capacitance of 320 F g −1 and a 91.4% capacitance retention after 5000 charge–discharge cycles. MnO 2 /PPy and N-doped active carbon are employed as a positive electrode and a negative electrode, respectively, to assemble an asymmetric supercapacitor (ASC), which exhibits a high energy density of 38.6 Wh kg −1 at 0.5 A g −1 and long-term cyclic stability (90.6% capacity retention after 5000 cycles). Such high-performance capacitive behavior is attributed to the high porosity, mesoporous structure, and improved electrical conductivity of the fabricated ASC, which is promising for various supercapacitor applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, mesoporous NiCo 2 O 4 has been successfully synthesized by in situ removal of template method. The NiCo 2 O 4 composite was precipitated by hydrolysis method using ethylene glycol as a high boiling point solvent at 140 °C under atmospheric environment. Zinc hydroxide is used as the sacrificial template to construct the mesoporous structure with high specific surface area. The structure and morphology characteristics were carried out by X–ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, high resolution transmission electron microscopy, and N 2 adsorption experiments. The electrochemical properties were investigated through AC impedance spectroscopy, cycling voltammetry and charge/discharge test in 7 M KOH. The results exhibit that the as–prepared mesoporous NiCo 2 O 4 shows a large specific surface area of 219.2 m 2 g − 1 , a high specific capacity of 660.53 C g − 1 at current density of 1 A g − 1 . The mesoporous NiCo 2 O 4 electrodes still remain 90% specific capacity retention compared with the first cycle over 32,000 cycles, which exhibits the as–prepared electrode possess long–term stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Haematococcus pluvialis was modified for higher astaxanthin production compatible with the superiorities of high biomass and high activity by three-stage mutagenesis breeding. UV irradiation mutants named UV11-4 made an increase on cell dry weight, but showed a longer growth circle than the wild type. On the basis of UV mutants, ethyl methane sulphonate (EMS) mutants E2-5 cut down the latent phase, brought forward and extended the logarithmic phase. The inhibitor diphenylamine (DPA) was employed to screen high-yield astaxanthin producer by the color change of colonies from green to red on solid medium. Via the contravariant cultivation, proliferation and transformation, the mutant DPA12-2 possessed an 1.7-fold astaxanthin production compared to the wild type, reaching 47.21 ± 3.30 mg/g dry cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Silver and nickel based catalysts with γ-Al 2 O 3 support were synthesized via impregnation method for the removal of toluene in the presence of continuous discharge or adsorption- discharge plasma. An elaborate FT-IR analysis confirmed the formation of transient species during the plasma-catalytic oxidation of toluene. TOF-MS analysis indicated benzoic acid was not an important pathway of aromatic rings opening. NiO/Al 2 O 3 catalyst displayed a higher enhancement of CO 2 selectivity and ozone decomposition ability. Moreover, the active component (O and OH ) areas would increase during the discharge process in adsorption-discharge plasma system that were conducive to the removal of the organic byproducts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Selenium partially reduced Co 3 O 4 mesoporous nanowires array on carbon cloth was synthesized as high-performance and stable electrode for supercapacitors. [Display omitted] • Abundant defects in spinel Co 3 O 4 on carbon cloth are introduced by Se partially reduction. • Oxygen vacancies improve the charge storage kinetics of Co 3 O 4 @CC electrode. • The COS@CC electrode exhibits high specific capacitance up to 2039.9F g−1. • The electrode exhibits excellent capability and superior cyclic stability. The electrodes with high conductivity, large specific surface area and homogeneous pore size distribution are greatly desirable for supercapacitors applications. Herein, a hydrothermal and subsequent annealing approach was adopted to fabricate 3D interconnected nanowires architecture of selenium partially reduced spinel Co 3 O 4 grew on the carbon cloth (COS@CC). The binder-free COS@CC electrode displays excellent specific capacitance, 1046.9 C g−1 at 1 A g−1, superior rate capability, 51.6% capacitance retention and superior cyclic stability, 92.0% capacitance retention after 15,000 cycles. These electrochemical performances were found to be better than that of the Co 3 O 4 @CC electrode. The enhanced electrochemical performance was ascribed to the fact that 3D interconnected architecture nanowires could shorten the ion transfer distance and heighten the rate of the redox reaction. In addition, increased specific surface area and homogeneous mesopore size distribution could assist effective diffusion and transfer of OH– between electrodes and electrolyte. The enhancement of conductivity, which is caused by the selenium partial reduction and more oxygen vacancies in the structure, facilitates electrons transfer and consequently improves the electrochemical properties of supercapacitors. These remarkable electrochemical performances indicate that the CSO@CC can be employed for developing high-energy and power-density supercapacitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 1-Gd 2 compound displays cryogenic magnetocaloric effect, while 2-Tb 2 and 3-Ho 2 compounds shows SMMs behaviors under H dc = 0 Oe filed. (3) The Tb 2 and Ho 2 compounds show SMM behaviors under H dc = 0 Oe filed. [Display omitted] • Four new LnIII 2 compounds have been synthesized and structurally characterized. • The Gd 2 compound displays cryogenic magnetocaloric effect with − Δ S m = 21.07 J kg−1 K−1. • The Tb 2 and Ho 2 compounds show SMM behaviors under H dc = 0 Oe filed Four new LnIII 2 compounds [Ln 2 (dbm) 2 (L) 2 (CH 3 OH)] (Ln(III) = Gd (1), Tb (2), Ho (3), and Tm (4)), where H 2 L is 2-hydroxyamino-propionic acid (3,5-di- tert -butyl-2-hydroxy-benzylidene)-hydrazide and Hdbm is dibenzoylmethane, were successfully synthesized via solvothermal method and characterized structurally and magnetically. Magnetic studies reveal the anti-ferromagnetic interaction was existed in compound 1. Moreover, magnetic refrigeration property study suggests that compound 1 exhibits magnetocaloric effect with − Δ S m = 21.07 J kg−1 K−1 for Δ H = 7.0 T at 2.0 K. Alternating-current (ac) magnetic susceptibility study of 2 and 3 suggests that single-molecule magnet (SMM) behavior occurs for 2 and 3 under H dc = 0 Oe with the effective energy barrier Δ E / k B of 20.05 K and τ 0 of 2.93 × 10−6 s for 2 and Δ E / k B = 0.85 K and τ 0 = 3.47 × 10−5 s for 3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanoporous NiCo 2 O 4 thin films have been deposited on ITO glass by a sol–gel approach and X-ray diffraction spectroscopy has been employed to characterize their crystalline structure showing the successful synthesis of spinel phase. Scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscope demonstrate the nanoporous surface morphologies. The electrochemical properties of nanoporous NiCo 2 O 4 thin films investigated as supercapacitor electrodes by cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic charge/discharge in 2 M KOH aqueous solution, show the nanoporous NiCo 2 O 4 thin films to exhibit a high areal specific capacitance of 40.6 mF cm − 2 (corresponding to mass specific capacitance of 2157 F g −1 ) at a current density of 0.133 mA cm −2 and a long-term cyclic stability (96.5% retention of initial specific capacitance after 10,000 cycles). Both the nanoporous morphology and binder-free frame have been experienced to play an important role for the enhancement of electrochemical performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work aims to fabricate low-density, porous, non-conductive, structural poly(divinylbenzene/styrene) foam columns by high-internal-phase emulsion templating. We prepare these non-conductive foam columns coated with a thin gold layer by electrochemical deposition and the reversed preparation technique. As expected, the density of the foam obtained through this novel method was about 12 mg cm −3 , and the thickness of the gold coating was about 3 μm. We performed field emission scanning electron microscopy to morphologically and microstructurally characterize the products and X-ray diffraction and energy dispersive spectroscopy to determine the composition of the gold coating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrogen is recognized as the most promising sustainable energy carrier. It is important to boost oxygen evolution reaction (OER) to produce more hydrogen. High-entropy compounds are a potential category of electrocatalysts for water splitting due to their outstanding reactivity and stability. Noble metal-free high-entropy FeCoNiMn (oxy)hydroxide was synthesized over a large area of 100 cm2 on nickel foam using a facile approach of one-step electrodeposition. High-entropy FeCoNiMnOOH led to outstanding OER activity with a low overpotential of 282 mV at current density of 100 mA cm−2 and showed excellent performance at room temperature as determined by the stability test for over 200 h at a high current density of 500 mA cm−2 in 1.0 M KOH. Under quasi-industrial condition of using 6.0 M KOH solution at 333 K, only 1.64 V was required to reach a high current density of 3000 mA cm−2. In addition, the high-entropy catalyst maintained its stability at a high current density of 1000 mA cm−2 for over 40 h, suggesting its suitability for practical application. High-entropy (oxy)hydroxide with excellent OER performance has boosted hydrogen production. [Display omitted] • Large size electrocatalyst is synthesized by facile electrodeposition method. • High-entropy material displays low overpotential of 291 mV at 100 mA cm−2 for OER. • High-entropy material for quasi-industrial water splitting is reported. • Only 1.64 V is demanded to reach 3 A cm−2 under the quasi-industrial condition. • The stability was over 40 h at 1A cm−2 under quasi-industrial condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate real time tidal prediction is essential for human activities in coastal and marine fields. Tidal changes are influenced not only by periodic revolutions of celestial bodies but also by time-varying meteorological factors. For accurate real-time tidal prediction, a hybrid prediction mechanism is constructed by taking both advantages of harmonic analysis and neural network. In the proposed mechanism, conventional harmonic analysis is employed for representing the influences of celestial factors; and neural network is used for representing the nonlinear influences of meteorological factors. Furthermore, to represent time-varying tidal dynamics influenced by meteorological factors, a variable neural network is real-time constructed with the neurons and the connecting parameters are adaptively adjusted based on a sliding data window (SDW). The hybrid prediction method uses only the latest short-period data to generate predictions sequentially. Hourly tidal data measured at four American tidal stations are used to validate the effectiveness of the hybrid sequential tidal prediction model. Simulation results of tidal prediction demonstrate that the proposed model can generate accurate short-term prediction of tidal levels at very low computational cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• VS 4 /MWCNTs shell-core nanoarchitectures are successfully synthesized. • The interfacial V-C bonds between VS 4 and MWCNTs are successfully constructed. • A facile hydrothermal method is performed. • Synergistic effect of shell-core structure and interfacial V-C bond is revealed. • The specific capacity reaches 448 mAh g−1 at 1.0 A g−1 after 100 cycles. VS 4 /MWCNTs (multi-walled carbon nanotubes) shell-core nanoarchitectures with interfacial V-C bonds are successfully constructed using a facile hydrothermal method. The synergistic effect of shell-core structure and interfacial V-C bond significantly enhances its rate capacity with the specific capacities of 734, 531 and 448 mAh g−1 at 0.1, 0.2 and 1.0 A g−1 after 15, 15 and 100 cycles, respectively, as sodium-ion battery anode. The work opens up new insights for the design and construction of the metal sulfides/carbon composite structure, and their application in energy storage and conversion field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the system with the highest solar hydrogen conversion efficiency, the further improvement of photovoltaic-photoelectrocatalysis (PV-PEC) efficiency is dependent on the light transmittance, activity and stability of the photoanode. Here, a highly permeable BiVO 4 thin film was fabricated through controlled magnetron sputtering. The thickness of the thin film was merely 345 nm, while its transmittance in the visible light range reached as high as 70%. Moreover, large-scale production of such films could be achieved. By incorporating NiFeO x oxygen extraction cocatalyst, under AM 1.5G illumination, the photocurrent density at 1.23 V on reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) increased to 4.2 mA cm−2 and the incident photon-current conversion efficiency reached 70%. A PV-PEC system was designed to efficiently harness sunlight by integrating the photoanode with a solar photovoltaic panel. Upon connection with the solar photovoltaic panel (with an efficiency of only 7%), spontaneous water decomposition could be achieved, resulting in a solar-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency (η STH) of 4.2% for the series system. This study contributes to the realization of cost-effective and highly efficient PV-PEC hydrogen production. The PV-PEC series system with BiVO 4 thin film photoanode prepared by magnetron sputtering method improves the overall utilization rate of sunlight and realizes spontaneous water decomposition. [Display omitted] • BiVO 4 films with large area and high transmittance can be prepared by low rate controlled magnetron sputtering. • The PEC performance of films was improved by optimizing the magnetron sputtering process and supporting catalyst. • Photovoltaic and photoanode in PV-PEC cells can be irradiated in series to improve the utilization rate of sunlight. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Spoilage effects on milk were superimposed from multiple thermophilic bacteria. • Competitive relationship existed between B. licheniformis and G. stearothermophilus. • Synergistic impacts were observed between B. licheniformis and A. flavithermus. • Interspecific interactions played a role in community structure of mixed-species biofilm. • The predominant strain was dynamic with development of multi-species biofilm. Thermophilic bacteria, such as Bacillus licheniformis , Geobacillus stearothermophilus , Bacillus Subtilis and Anoxybacillus flavithermus , are detected frequently in milk powder products. Biofilms of those strains act as a major contamination to milk powder manufactures and pose potential risks in food safety. In this study, we explored the developing process of multi-species biofilm formed by the four thermophilic bacteria on stainless steel immerged in skimmed milk. The results showed that the thermophilic strains possessed strong capacities to decompose proteins and lactose in skimmed milk, and the spoilage effects were superimposed from multiple strains. B. licheniformis was the most predominant species in the mixed-species biofilm after 12-h incubation. From 24 h to 48 h, G. stearothermophilus occupied the highest proportion. Within the multi-species biofilm, competitive relation existed between B. licheniformis and G. stearothermophilus , while synergistic impacts were observed between B. licheniformis and A. flavithermus. The interspecies mutual influences on biofilm development provided important evidences for understanding colonization of the predominant thermophilic bacteria during milk powder processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing share of renewable distributed generations has raised a challenge about the frequency stability. Under-frequency load shedding (UFLS) can deal with this challenge, but it usually considers a prorated load-shedding strategy and neglects the impact of uncertainty from renewable generation. This may result in unnecessary additional economic losses from the system blackout. In this paper, a risk-decision-based optimal adaptive decentralized UFLS method is proposed to coordinate the distribution of shedding load in the smart distribution network to avoid unnecessary additional economic losses, while considering the wind power uncertainty. Firstly, the uncertainty from wind power generation is modeled by confidence intervals and evaluated by the calculation of the conditional value at risk (CVaR). Then, to economically distribute the power deficit among load agents, a decentralized consensus on the incremental cost among decentralized agents is reached, where the interruption cost of the local agent varies with its load as a nonlinear relationship. Finally, a two-layer adaptive risk-decision decentralized UFLS control framework is proposed to enable the frequency stability and economic operation of the smart distribution network. With the proposed strategy, local information sharing and important global information discovery are achieved in a distributed way. Simulations on an improved IEEE 33-bus system show that the proposed strategy can effectively avoid rigid shedding and implement the optimal allocation of the system power deficit. • An adaptive risk-decision UFLS strategy is proposed to consider the uncertainty of wind power. • A confidence level selection method is designed to improve the accuracy of the reference of CVaR. • A CVaR-based deficiency estimation method to minimize the risk of load shedding under wind power uncertainty. • The shedding load is distributed among different load agents from the perspective of the overall social welfare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This article proposes an adjusted empirical likelihood estimation (AMELE) method to model and analyze accelerated life testing data. This approach flexibly and rigorously incorporates distribution assumptions and regression structures by estimating equations within a semiparametric estimation framework. An efficient method is provided to compute the empirical likelihood estimates, and asymptotic properties are studied. Real-life examples and numerical studies demonstrate the advantage of the proposed methodology. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A novel measurement scheme for a three dimensional (3D) object''s surface boundary perimeter is proposed. This scheme consists of three steps. First, a binocular stereo vision measurement system with two CCD cameras is devised to obtain the two images of a detected object''s 3D surface boundary. Second, two B-spline active contours are applied to converge to the object''s contour edges accurately in the two CCD images to perform the stereo matching. Finally, for the reconstructed 3D active contour, its true contour length is computed as the detected object''s true boundary perimeter. An experiment on a bent surface''s perimeter measurement indicates that this scheme''s measurement repetition error decreases to 0.6%. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

[Display omitted] • Summarizing the ORR features of bioinspired N 4 -metallomacrocycles. • Discussing the structural effects of N 4 -metallomacrocycles on ORR. • Summarizing immobilization methods for loading N 4 -metallomacrocycles on various supports. • Summarizing electrocatalytic ORR materials derived from N 4 -metallomacrocycles. • Discussing potential applications of N 4 -metallomacrocycles in new energy conversion techniques. Oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is an important process involved in natural and artificial energy conversion schemes. As inspired by cytochrome c oxidases (C c Os), which are metalloenzymes catalyzing selective reduction of O 2 to water at heme Fe porphyrin sites, metal macrocyclic complexes containing square-planar M−N 4 coordination sites, such as metal porphyrins, corroles and phthalocyanines, have been extensively studied as catalysts and pre-catalysts for electrocatalytic ORR. This review addresses structural effects of these molecular metal macrocycles on the selectivity and activity of electrocatalytic ORR, including the effects of meso - and β -substituents, axial ligands, and second coordination spheres. In order to realize the practical use of molecular electrocatalysis, catalysts are required to be immobilized on appropriate supporting materials. Therefore, this review also addresses the effects of immobilization methods and interactions between molecular catalysts and supports on ORR. Moreover, the use of N 4 -metallomacrocycles and their derived materials in metal-air batteries is discussed, underlining the potential and promising applications of molecular electrocatalysis in new energy conversion techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In real-world applications, features can be generated continuously one by one or by groups, such as image analysis and physical examination. Online streaming feature selection deals with streaming features on the fly. Existing streaming feature selection methods focus on removing irrelevant and redundant features and selecting the most relevant features, but they ignore the interaction between features. Interacting features appear to be irrelevant or weakly relevant to the class individually. However, if they are combined, they may highly correlate with the class. Features within the same group are more likely to interact with each other. Therefore, in this paper, we focus on feature interaction within and between the streaming groups and propose an Online Group Streaming Feature Selection method that can select Features to Interact with each other, named OGSFS-FI. OGSFS-FI consists of two stages: online intra-group selection and online inter-group selection. For intra-group selection, we design a new pair selection strategy that can select features interacting with each other. For inter-group selection, we use the regularization and variable selection method elastic net, which encourages a grouping effect. Extensive experiments conducted on synthetic and real-world datasets demonstrate our new method's efficiency and effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A novel scheme for an object''s surface area measurement is proposed, which is suitable for area computation of an object with smooth and irregular edges. A multi-resolution dynamic contour is applied and this scheme consists of four steps. Firstly, a photoelectric image collimation system is applied to obtain a target image of a detected object. An image pyramid for the target image is constructed by wavelet decomposition and reconstruction. Secondly, in the image pyramid, a multi-resolution dynamic contour converges to the target''s contour edge from coarse to fine scale, via feature search and an iteration algorithm. Thirdly, for the convergent dynamic contour, two formulas for the area and centroid computation of a closed B-spline curve are applied to compute the image target''s area and centroid exactly. Finally, a novel centroid self-calibration technology is applied, which measures the pixel''s size equivalence with the computed centroid and a dual-frequency laser to measure the true object''s surface area exactly. Experiments indicate that this scheme''s single-measurement error decreases to ±0.2%, when the number of control points is 20. Compared to conventional measurement approaches, this scheme is robust for a target image with noises or complicated edges. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

DEL is the weakest known D-positive phenotype and is detectable only by adsorption and elution tests. RHD c.1227G>A is an important marker for DEL phenotype in East Asians. The aim of this study was to develop a method for RHD c.1227G>A genotyping by single-tube PCR with melting curve analysis. Two GC-rich tails of different lengths were attached to the 5′-end of allele-specific primers for RHD 1227G and 1227A alleles, such that RHD c.1227G>A could be distinguished by the melting temperature. A total of 145 D-negative Chinese Han blood donors were genotyped for RHD c.1227G>A by melting curve analysis, conventional polymerase chain reaction with sequence-specific primers (PCR-SSP), and sequencing. In 143 subjects (143/145, 98.6%), PCR-SSP and melting curve analysis produced consistent results with RHD exon 9 sequencings. Two samples were genotyped as RHD 1227G/A by PCR-SSP, but as RHD 1227A/A or A/- by melting curve analysis. These two samples were confirmed to be RHD 1227A/A or A/-. Based on RHD exon 9 sequencing, the accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of the melting curve analysis for detecting both RHD 1227A and 1227G were all 100%. In contrast, the accuracy, specificity and positive predictive value of PCR-SSP for RHD 1227G detection were 98.62%, 98.21% and 94.29%, respectively, which were lower than those observed with the melting curve analysis. Melting curve analysis for RHD c.1227G>A genotyping is a simple, rapid, and reliable method, superior to conventional PCR-SSP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Melatonin restores circadian disruption through regulation of clock genes. • Melatonin reduces AD pathology through autophagy mechanisms of BECN1 and mTOR pathway. • Melatonin enhances autophagosome formation and inhibition of autophagic degradation. Melatonin (MLT) is a neurohormone that is regulated by the circadian clock and plays multifunctional roles in numerous neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD). AD is the most common form of dementia and is associated with the degradation of axons and synapses resulting in memory loss and cognitive impairment. Despite extensive research, there is still no effective cure or specific treatment to prevent the progression of AD. The pathogenesis of AD involves atrophic alterations in the brain that also result in circadian alterations, sleep disruption, and autophagic dysfunction. In this scenario, MLT and autophagy play a central role in removing the misfolded protein aggregations. MLT also promotes autophagy through inhibiting methamphetamine toxicity to protect against neuronal cell death in AD brain. Besides, MLT plays critical roles as either a pro-autophagic indicator or anti-autophagic regulator depending on the phase of autophagy. MLT also has antioxidant properties that can counteract mitochondrial damage, oxidative stress, and apoptosis. Aging, a major risk factor for AD, can change sleep patterns and sleep quality, and MLT can improve sleep quality through regulating sleep cycles. The primary purpose of this review is to explore the putative mechanisms of the beneficial effects of MLT in AD patients. Furthermore, we also summarize the findings from preclinical and clinical studies on the multifunctional roles of MLT on autophagic regulation, the control of the circadian clock-associated genes, and sleep regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bacillus licheniformis is a major source of microbial contamination to dairy industry, and biofilm formation by this spoilage bacterium aggravates the safety issues. Especially for milk powder manufactures, the evaporation process at temperatures between 50 °C and 70 °C before spray drying, is a critical control point against thermophilic bacteria multiplication. In our study, metabolomics analysis was performed to investigate dynamic changes of the metabolites and their roles during process of biofilm development of B. licheniformis at 55 °C for 24 h. Amino acid metabolism was quite active, with cooperation from lipid metabolism, carbohydrate metabolism and nucleotide metabolism. Amino acid biosynthesis provided significant contributions especially during early biofilm development from 8 to 12 h. Metabolites involved in specific pathways of arginine biosynthetic, galactose metabolism and sphingolipid metabolism played a crucial role in building biofilm. This work provided new insights into dynamic metabolic alternations and a comprehensive network during B. licheniformis biofilm development, which will extend the knowledge on the metabolic process of biofilm formation by B. licheniformis. The results are helpful in creating better environmental hygiene in dairy processing and new strategies for ensuring quality of dairy products. • Dynamic metabolic process was established during biofilm formation by Bacillus licheniformis. • The most notable metabolic alternations were detected in early biofilm development. • Arginine biosynthesis played a key role on B. licheniformis biofilm development. • Galactose metabolism and sphingolipid metabolism were crucial for B. licheniformis biofilm. • Amino acid, carbohydrate, lipid metabolism interacted and cooperated in B. licheniformis biofilm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]