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Objective: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), specifically targeting the programmed cell death protein-1 or its ligand (PD-1/PD-L1), have been extensively used in the treatment of a spectrum of malignancies, although the predictive biomarkers remain to be elucidated. This study aims to investigate the association between baseline circulating levels of cytokines and the creatinine/cystatin C ratio (CCR) with the treatment outcomes of ICIs in patients with advanced cancer. Methods: The pre-treatment circulating levels of 10 cytokines (PD-L1, CTLA4, CXCL10, LAG3, HGF, CCL2, MIG, GRANB, IL-18, and IL-6) were measured via automated capillary-based immunoassay platform in the serum of 65 advanced cancer patients treated with anti-PD-1/PD-L1-based systemic therapy and 10 healthy volunteers. The levels of cytokines and CCR were quantified and categorized into high and low groups based on the median value. The associations of serum cytokines and CCR with response to treatment, survival, and immune-related adverse events were assessed. Results: Elevated circulating levels of 6 cytokines (PD-L1, CXCL10, HGF, CCL2, MIG, and IL-6) were observed in cancer patients compared with that in healthy volunteers. The correlation coefficients between cytokines, CCR and nutritional risk index were also calculated. In the cancer cohort (N = 65), low circulating HGF (P = 0.023, P = 0.029), low IL-6 (P = 0.002, P < 0.001), and high CCR (P = 0.031, P = 0.008) were associated with significantly improved progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). Multi-variable COX analyses adjusted for clinicopathological factors revealed that low HGF, low IL-6, and high CCR were independent favorable prognostic factors for PFS (P = 0.028, P = 0.010, and P = 0.015, respectively) and OS (P = 0.043, P = 0.003, and P = 0.026, respectively). Grade 2 irAEs occurred more frequently in patients with low levels of circulating CCL2 and LAG3. Conclusions: Pre-treatment circulating levels of serum IL-6, HGF, and CCR may serve as independent predictive and prognostic biomarkers in advanced cancer patients treated with ICIs-based systemic therapy. These findings might help to identify potential patients who would benefit from these therapies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drought mechanisms vary markedly within different ecogeographical regions. Existing drought indices do not reflect the impact of climate anomalies on drought. In this study, the climate anomaly index was incorporated into the drought model based on the study of the effects of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) on drought in different eco-geographic zones of China. The model uses climate anomaly indices, meteorological drought indices, vegetation growth condition data, surface temperature, and biophysical attributes as characteristic variables and the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) as the dependent variable for model construction based on the Random Forest (RF) method. The results showed that the model has high accuracy for drought monitoring. The correlation coefficients between model results and observed drought condition values for all four seasons were above 0.95. The model was applied to drought monitoring in North China and the Huang-Huai-Hai region from 2006 to 2018. The statistical interpolation results of the meteorological drought indices and precipitation data were used to verify the application effect of the model. It was found that the model can accurately monitor drought caused by precipitation scarcity and reflect local variations in drought. This study provides a new model (Climate Anomaly Considering Integrated Surface Drought Index, CAC-ISDI) for drought monitoring that aims at quantitative and detailed monitoring of drought conditions and regional differences. It provides a robust method for accurate drought monitoring and evaluation in China and the rest of the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Liver fibrosis is a predisposing factor for liver cancer. This study will investigate the predictive role of the Triglyceride-glucose and Gamma-glutamyl transferase index (TyG-GGT) as a non-invasive indicator of advanced liver fibrosis in individuals with obesity or overweight. Method: We enrolled patients who underwent metabolic and bariatric surgery as well as intraoperative liver biopsies at Zhejiang provincial people's hospital from August 2020 to March 2023. Clinical characteristics, comorbidities, laboratory data, and pathological variables of patients were collected and analysed. Then, we conducted logistics regression model to compare the performance of the TyG-GGT index with other 4 non-invasive models. Results: A total of 65 patients were included in this study. 43(66.2%) of them were female, with the mean body mass index (BMI) of 39.0 ± 7.3 kg/m2. Meanwhile, 24(36.9%) patients were diagnosed with diabetes. Advanced liver fibrosis were observed in 16.9% of patients, while liver cirrhosis was found in 4.6% of patients. The multivariable logistics regression showed that TyG-GGT was an independent risk factor of advanced liver fibrosis (OR = 6.989, P = 0.049). Additionally, compared to another 4 non-invasive liver fibrosis models (NFS = 0.66, FIB4 = 0.65, METS-IR = 0.68, APRI = 0.65), TyG-GGT exhibits the highest AUC value of 0.75. Conclusions: More than one-third of patients undergoing metabolic and bariatric surgery are afflicted with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), and a significant proportion exhibit advanced fibrosis. TyG-GGT was a potentially reliable predictor for screening individuals with overweight or obesity at high risk of advanced liver fibrosis, thus providing clinical guidance for early intervention in this targeted group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exploring the expected quantizing scheme with suitable mixed-precision policy is the key to compress deep neural networks (DNNs) in high efficiency and accuracy. This exploration implies heavy workloads for domain experts, and an automatic compression method is needed. However, the huge search space of the automatic method introduces plenty of computing budgets that make the automatic process challenging to be applied in real scenarios. In this paper, we propose an end-to-end framework named AutoQNN, for automatically quantizing different layers utilizing different schemes and bitwidths without any human labor. AutoQNN can seek desirable quantizing schemes and mixed-precision policies for mainstream DNN models efficiently by involving three techniques: quantizing scheme search (QSS), quantizing precision learning (QPL), and quantized architecture generation (QAG). QSS introduces five quantizing schemes and defines three new schemes as a candidate set for scheme search, and then uses the Differentiable Neural Architecture Search (DNAS) algorithm to seek the layer- or model-desired scheme from the set. QPL is the first method to learn mixed-precision policies by reparameterizing the bitwidths of quantizing schemes, to the best of our knowledge. QPL optimizes both classification loss and precision loss of DNNs efficiently and obtains the relatively optimal mixed-precision model within limited model size and memory footprint. QAG is designed to convert arbitrary architectures into corresponding quantized ones without manual intervention, to facilitate end-to-end neural network quantization. We have implemented AutoQNN and integrated it into Keras. Extensive experiments demonstrate that AutoQNN can consistently outperform state-of-the-art quantization. For 2-bit weight and activation of AlexNet and ResNet18, AutoQNN can achieve the accuracy results of 59.75% and 68.86%, respectively, and obtain accuracy improvements by up to 1.65% and 1.74%, respectively, compared with state-of-the-art methods. Especially, compared with the full-precision AlexNet and ResNet18, the 2-bit models only slightly incur accuracy degradation by 0.26% and 0.76%, respectively, which can fulfill practical application demands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To analyze the interrelation between radiation dose and radiation-induced nasopharyngeal ulcer (RINU) in locoregional recurrent nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) treated with intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT). Methods: Clinical data were collected from 363 patients with locoregional recurrent NPC who received re-irradiated with definitive IMRT from 2009 to 2017. Twenty-nine patients were diagnosed with RINU. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to re-evaluate the first and second radiotherapy plans and to identify predictive dosimetric factors. Results: All dosimetric parameters were notably associated with the progression to RINU (p < 0.01) using paired samples Wilcoxon signed rank tests. Multivariate analysis showed that EQD2_ ∑ D80 (dose for 80 percent volume of the unilateral nasopharynx lesion) was an independent prognostic factor for RINU (p = 0.001). The area under the ROC curve for EQD2_ ∑ D80 was 0.846 (p < 0.001), and the cutoff point of 137.035 Gy could potentially be the dose tolerance of the nasopharyngeal mucosa. Conclusions: The sum of equivalent dose in 2 Gy fractions (EQD2) in the overlapping volumes between initial and re-irradiated nasopharyngeal mucosal tissue can be effective in predicting the hazard of developing RINU in NPC patients undergoing radical re‑irradiation with IMRT and we propose a EQD2_ ∑ D80 threshold of 137.035 Gy for the nasopharynx. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Equine infectious anemia (EIA) is a contagious disease of horses caused by the equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV). The clinical signs at the acute phase include intermittent high fever, thrombocytopenia, hemorrhage, edema, and anemia. The clinical signs at chronic and relapsing subclinical levels include emaciation and progressive weakness. Surviving horses become lifelong carriers because of the integration of the viral genome into that of the host, and these horses can produce and transmit the virus to other animals. This increases the difficulty of imposing practical control measures to prevent epidemics of this disease. Serological tests measuring the antibodies in equine sera are considered to be a reliable tool for the long-term monitoring of EIA. However, the standard serological tests for EIV either have low sensitivity (e.g., agar gel immunodiffusion test, AGID) or are time consuming to perform (e.g., ELISA and western blotting). The development of a rapid and simple method for detecting the disease is therefore critical to control the spread of EIA. In this study, we designed and developed a colloidal gold immunochromatographic (GICG) test strip to detect antibodies against EIAV based on the double-antigen sandwich. Both the p26 and gp45 proteins were used as the capture antigens, which may help to improve the positive detection rate of the strip. We found that the sensitivity of the test strip was 8 to 16 times higher than those of two commercially available ELISA tests and 128 to 256 times higher than AGID, but 8 to 16 times lower than that of western blotting. The strip has good specificity and stability. When serum samples from experimental horses immunized with the attenuated EIAV vaccine (n = 31) were tested, the results of the test strip showed 100% coincidence with those from NECVB-cELISA and 70.97% with AGID. When testing clinical serum samples (n = 1014), the test strip surprisingly provided greater sensitivity and a higher number of "true positive" results than other techniques. Therefore, we believe that the GICG test strip has demonstrated great potential in the field trials as a simple and effective tool for the detection of antibodies against EIAV. Key points: • A colloidal gold immunochromatographic (GICG) fast test strip was developed with good specificity, sensitivity, stability, and repeatability • The test strip can be used in point-of-care testing for the primary screening of EIAV antibodies • Both the p26 and gp45 proteins were used as the capture antigens, giving a high positive detection rate in the testing of experimentally infected animal and field samples [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A composite material comprising carbon black and Sb-doped SnO2 (ATO) is employed as a support for a Pt catalyst in a membrane electrode assembly (MEA) to improve the performance of a proton-exchange membrane fuel cell under low-humidity conditions. The effects of Sb-doping on the crystal, structural, and electrochemical characteristics of ATO particles are being examined. In a single cell test, the ratio of Sb in ATO is systematically optimized to improve performance. The distribution of Pt nanoparticles is uniform on carbon black and ATO carrier, forming notable triple-junction points at the interface of carbon black and ATO carrier. This structure thus induces a strong interaction between Pt and ATO, promoting the content of metallic Pt. Compared with a Pt/C catalyst, the best-performing Pt/C–ATO catalyst exhibits superior electrochemical activity, stability, and CO tolerance. The power density of MEA with the Pt/C–ATO catalyst is 15% higher than that of the MEA with the Pt/C catalyst [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nonbenzenoid polycyclic arenes have attracted great attention because of their unique topological structures and appealing properties; however, they are generally considered as poor luminescent materials due to the ring puckering behavior of the nonhexagons. Acepleiadylene (APD), a nonbenzenoid isomer of pyrene, has been demonstrated as an excellent building block for optoelectronic applications, but its poor photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) has hampered its application in luminescent materials. Considering that the ring puckering character can be suppressed by increasing the rigidity of the nonhexagon rings, herein, we propose a novel strategy for enhancing the aromaticity of the nonhexagons to improve the PLQYs of APD derivatives. Electron-withdrawing cyano groups are introduced on the five-membered ring of APD to enhance the charge-separated character and thus the aromaticity of the nonhexagons, endowing the cyano-substituted APDs (CNAPD and 2CNAPD) with better rigidity. Therefore, the cyano substitution successfully suppresses the nonradiative energy dissipation caused by the ring puckering, improving the PLQY from 2.4% for APD to 14% for CNAPD, and to 63% for 2CNAPD. In addition, the enhanced rigidity also suppresses the vibration sideband of the photoluminescence spectra, leading to an ultra-narrowband emission from 2CNAPD with a full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) of 13 nm (47 meV), which is a new record in organic molecules. These results demonstrate that APD derivatives have great potential in highly efficient luminescent materials with high color purity via the aromaticity regulation strategy, which provides a novel concept for designing nonbenzenoid luminescent materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Few prognostic biomarkers exist for lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC), which has a poor five-year survival rate. Using bioinformatics, this study evaluated NPLOC4 as a prognostic marker for patients with lung squamous cell carcinoma. Shorter survival periods and tumor growth were linked to high NPLOC4 expression.Disulfiram (DSF) combined with copper (Cu) targets NPLOC4 to achieve antitumor effects in lung squamous cell carcinoma. Thus, we investigated the effects of DSF with Cu in LUSC. Gene-set enrichment analysis identified ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis as the NPLOC4-associated mechanism influencing LUSC prognosis. In SK-MES-1 cell lines, DSF + Cu increased K48-linked ubiquitinated protein expression and apoptosis. This study identified NPLOC4 as a prognostic biomarker and a potential therapeutic target for LUSC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrocatalytic CO2 reduction into value-added multicarbon products offers a means to close the anthropogenic carbon cycle using renewable electricity. However, the unsatisfactory catalytic selectivity for multicarbon products severely hinders the practical application of this technology. In this paper, we report a cascade AgCu single-atom and nanoparticle electrocatalyst, in which Ag nanoparticles produce CO and AgCu single-atom alloys promote C-C coupling kinetics. As a result, a Faradaic efficiency (FE) of 94 ± 4% toward multicarbon products is achieved with the as-prepared AgCu single-atom and nanoparticle catalyst under ~720 mA cm−2 working current density at −0.65 V in a flow cell with alkaline electrolyte. Density functional theory calculations further demonstrate that the high multicarbon product selectivity results from cooperation between AgCu single-atom alloys and Ag nanoparticles, wherein the Ag single-atom doping of Cu nanoparticles increases the adsorption energy of *CO on Cu sites due to the asymmetric bonding of the Cu atom to the adjacent Ag atom with a compressive strain. Electrocatalytic CO2 reduction into multicarbon products offers a means to close the anthropogenic carbon cycle using renewable electricity. Here, the authors report a cascade AgCu single-atom and nanoparticle electrocatalyst with favorable properties to improve the selectivity of multicarbon products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To determine the effect of muscle activation on the dynamic responses of the neck of a pilot during simulated emergency ejections. A complete finite element model of the pilot's head and neck was developed and dynamically validated. Three muscle activation curves were designed to simulate different activation times and levels of muscles during pilot ejection: A is the unconscious activation curve of the neck muscles, B is the pre-activation curve, and C is the continuous activation curve. The acceleration-time curves obtained during ejection were applied to the model, and the influence of the muscles on the dynamic responses of the neck was investigated by analyzing both angles of rotation of the neck segments and disc stresses. Muscle pre-activation reduced fluctuations in the angle of rotation in each phase of the neck. Continuous muscle activation caused a 20% increase in the angle of rotation compared to pre-activation. Moreover, it resulted in a 35% increase in the load on the intervertebral disc. The maximum stress on the disc occurred in the C4–C5 phase. Continuous muscle activation increased both the axial load on the neck and the posterior extension angle of rotation of the neck. Muscle pre-activation during emergency ejection has a protective effect on the neck. However, continuous muscle activation increases the axial load and rotation angle of the neck. A complete finite element model of the pilot's head and neck was established and three neck muscle activation curves were designed to investigate the effects of muscle activation time and level on the dynamic response of the pilot's neck during ejection. This increased insights into the protection mechanism of neck muscles on the axial impact injury of the pilot's head and neck. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The long-term performance of ground anchors, in particular prestressed anchors, is influenced by the stress relaxation behavior over the soil–anchor interface. The phenomenon of stress relaxation is characterized by a reduction of interface shear stress with time elapsed under constant displacement or strain. However, an adequate understanding for this behavior is still lacking. Twelve groups of element-scale stress relaxation pullout tests were performed using a specially developed pullout device. The specimens were prepared using red clay with a combination of different dry densities and moisture contents. The test setup and procedures were described in detail. The ultimate interface shear strengths were predetermined via the matching short-term pullout tests to facilitate the design of long-term loads applied in the stress relaxation pullout tests. Significant influences of stress level, soil dry density and moisture content on the soil–anchor interface stress relaxation behavior were observed from the test results. Based on disturbed state concept (DSC), a novel stress relaxation model was established by paralleling a spring model and a Merchant model. The effect of stress level on the interface stress relaxation behavior was characterized by developing the stress-dependency correlations of model parameters. The fitted and predicted interface stress relaxation curves both matched well with the experimental data, confirming the applicability and effectiveness of the proposed DSC-based theoretical model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Equine infectious anemia (EIA) is an important viral disease characterized by persistent infection in equids worldwide. Most EIA cases are life-long virus carriers with low antibody reactions and without the appearance of clinical symptoms. A serological test with high sensitivity and specificity is required to detect inapparent infection. In this study, a B-cell common epitope-based blocking ELISA (bELISA) was developed using a monoclonal antibody together with the EIAV p26 protein labelled with HRP. The test has been evaluated against the standard and with field serum samples globally. This bELISA test can be completed within 75 min, and the sensitivity is higher than those of either the AGID or one commercial cELISA kit. This bELISA assay was 8–16 times more analytically sensitive than AGID, and 2 to 4 times more analytically sensitive than one cELISA kit by testing three sera from the USA, Argentina, and China, respectively. The 353 serum samples from Argentina were tested, in comparison with AGID, the diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of our bELISA assay were 100% (154/154) and 97.0% (193/199), respectively, and the accuracy of the bELISA test was 98.3%. The bELISA test developed in this study is a rapid, sensitive, specific method for the detection of EIAV infection, and could be a promising candidate for use in the monitoring of the EIA epidemic worldwide. Key points: • A universal epitope-based blocking enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (bELISA) was developed for detection of antibodies to EIAV. • The bELISA assay can be used to test EIAV serum samples from different regions of the world including North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. • The bELISA assay was evaluated in three different international labs and showed a better performance than other commercial kits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The corrosion and passivation behavior of the as-cast CoCrFeNiMox (x = 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, and 1.0) high entropy alloys (HEAs) are investigated. With the addition of Mo, increasing Mo and Cr riched σ phase precipitates from the primary FCC phase. The corrosion resistance of the CoCrFeNiMox HEAs strongly depends on the phase structure and the passive film. Generally, Mo promotes the selective dissolution of the FCC phase and the enrichment of Cr2O3 in the passive film, the former deteriorates the corrosion resistance while the latter enhances it. Interestingly, the hypoeutectic Mo0.6 exhibits a higher corrosion resistance than that of Mo0.4, eutectic Mo0.8, and hypereutectic Mo1. Analysis of surface passive film and the composition of alloy phases implies that the Cr2O3 enrichment dominates in Mo0.6 while selective dissolution governs in Mox (x = 0.4, 0.8, and 1.0). Mo content-depended competition between the Cr2O3 enrichment and selective dissolution is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For an orbifold, there are two naturally associated differential graded algebras, one is the de Rham algebra of orbifold differential forms and the other one is the differential graded algebra of piecewise polynomial differential forms of a triangulation of the coarse space. In this paper, we prove that these two differential graded algebras are weakly equivalent; hence, the formality of these two differential graded algebras is consistent, when the triangulation is smooth. We show that global quotient orbifolds and global homogeneous isotropy orbifolds admit smooth triangulations; hence, the two kinds of formality coincide with each other for these orbifolds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we consider double ramification cycles with orbifold targets. An explicit formula for double ramification cycles with orbifold targets, which is parallel to and generalizes the one known for the smooth case, is provided. Some applications for orbifold Gromov—Witten theory are also included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In geological disasters, the slope instability of open-pit mining may result in a natural disaster. Thus, a reliable decision-making strategy of slope stability is a critical issue. In the slope stability assessment process, it is difficult for humans to usually obtain exact/certain information due to the uncertainty and vagueness/impreciseness of the measurement data and human knowledge and judgments. To enhance the credibility measure of the interval-valued fuzzy information assessment, an interval-valued fuzzy number (IVFN) should be combined with its credibility degree as a single framework for expressing the hybrid information of both. From this perspective, this study first proposes an interval-valued fuzzy credibility set/number (IVFCS/IVFCN) to express the hybrid information of IVFNs and credibility degrees. Then, we define logic relations of IVFCNs and propose a generalized distance between IVFCSs and the similarity measure and cosine and tangent similarity measures based on the generalized distance. Next, the proposed similarity measures are used for the decision-making of slope stability to assess risk grades of slope stability. Finally, the proposed DM strategy is applied to nine cases/slope samples of slope stability to illustrate its usability and effectiveness. The established strategy not only makes the decision results more reasonable and credible but also overcomes the defect of existing assessment methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Disulfiram (DSF) is an approved drug for the treatment of alcohol dependence. Accumulating evidence indicates that DSF, alone or in combination with copper (Cu), possesses strong antitumor activity in various malignancies. This study investigated the effects of DSF on gastric cancer (GC) and the potential mechanisms involved.Methods: GC cell proliferation and apoptosis upon treatment with DSF with or without copper were analyzed using CCK-8 assay, colony formation assay, and flow cytometry. Glucose metabolism was investigated using glucose consumption and lactate production assays. The expression of caspase-3, Bcl-2, LC-3, P62, S6K1, c-Myc, GLUT1, PKM2, and LDHA was analyzed using western blot assay. In vivo nude mice studies were performed to verify the findings from in vitro analyses.Results: Our study showed that DSF was highly toxic to GC cells in a Cu-dependent manner. Nontoxic concentrations of Cu enhanced the inhibitory effects of DSF on cell viability and colony formation. DSF also induced apoptotic and autophagic cell death in the presence of Cu. In addition, DSF/Cu inhibited glycolysis and xenograft growth of GC cells by suppressing the expression of S6K1, c-Myc, and their downstream molecules, including GLUT1, PKM2, and LDHA.Conclusion: Our study demonstrated that DSF/Cu exerted antitumor activity against GC cells both in vitro and in vivo. DSF/Cu may represent a promising therapeutic strategy for the treatment of GC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

TiVCrAl films were co-sputtered from TiVCr and Al targets at room temperature. The effects of Al target power on the phase, microstructure, and mechanical, and electrical properties of the TiVCrAl films were investigated. The Al concentration in the films varied from 0 at.% to 70.3 at.% by modulating the Al target power. Results showed that all the TiVCrAl films exhibited a single body-centered cubic phase. Columnar structures became dense and featureless with the increase in Al target power because of the enhanced bombardment with sputtered species and gas ions. Moreover, valence electron concentration decreased when the Al alloys were prepared with TiVCr. Accordingly, mechanical and electrical properties improved. The incorporation of Al increased hardness and reduced electrical resistivity to 12.0 GPa and 164 μΩ·cm, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we use nitrogen-doped to improving the gas-sensing properties of reduced graphene oxide. Graphene oxide was prepared according to a modified Hummers' method and then nitrogen-doped reduced graphene oxide (N-rGO) was synthesized by a hydrothermal method using graphene oxide and NH4OH as precursors. The rGO is flat and smooth with a sheet-like morphology while the N-rGO exhibits folded morphology. This type of folding of the surface morphology can increase the gas sensitivity. The N-rGO and the rGO sensors showed n-type and p-type semiconducting behaviors in ambient conditions, respectively, and were responsive to low concentrations of NO gases (< 1000 ppb) at room temperature. The gas-sensing results showed that the N-rGO sensors could detect NO gas at concentrations as low as 400 ppb. The sensitivity of the N-rGO sensor to 1000 ppb NO (1.7) is much better than that of the rGO sensor (0.012). Compared with pure rGO, N-rGO exhibited a higher sensitivity and excellent reproducibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this work was to study the impact of large petrochemical plants and mining operations on the accumulation of heavy metals in farmland and rice, as well as assess their potential risks on human health. The contents of seven heavy metals, Cd, Pb, Cr, Ni, Co, Cu, and Mn, were monitored in a typical polluted paddy soil-rice system near a petrochemical plant and mining area in Maoming, China. The results showed that the content of Cd in the soil exceeds the standard rate by 100%, and the single factor pollution index of Cd was 5.12, which is considered heavy pollution. Excessive heavy metals can inhibit and poison the growth of rice plants. Rice plants can maintain a certain level of heavy metal content by reducing the absorption or interception in the root cells, leading to great differences in the distribution of different heavy metals in plant tissues. Cadmium, Cu, Co, and Mn are easily absorbed from the soil by rice roots, while other heavy metals are relatively difficult to absorb by rice roots. Cuprum, Cd, Co, Pb, and Cr were mainly accumulated in the root of rice, but Mn and Ni migrate to the above ground plant tissues quickly. The brown rice produced in the paddy fields in the study area was seriously polluted. The concentration of Cd, Pb, and Ni in brown rice exceeded the standard by 100%, and Cr in brown rice also exceeded the standard by 80%. If residents consume rice from the study area, their daily intake of Cr and Cd will be 1.02 and 3.24 times higher, respectively, than the standard limit recommended by the FAO/WHO. The irrigation streams were polluted due to the discharge of petrochemical plants and mining wastewater, causing the serious pollution of heavy metals in the surrounding paddy fields. The rice produced in this area poses a serious risk to consumers, and so this problem of pollution should be addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Naturally occurring phenanthroindolizidine and phenanthroquinolizidine alkaloids (PIAs and PQAs) are two small groups of herbal metabolites sharing a similar pentacyclic structure with a highly oxygenated phenanthrene moiety fused with a saturated or an unsaturated N-heterocycle (indolizidine/quinolizidine moieties). Natural PIAs and PQAs only could be obtained from finite plant families (such as Asclepiadaceae, Lauraceae and Urticaceae families, etc.). Up to date, more than one hundred natural PIAs, while only nine natural PQAs had been described. PIA and PQA analogues have been applied to the development of potent anticancer agents all along because of their excellent cytotoxic activity. However, in the last two decades, other great biological properties, such as anti-inflammatory and antiviral activities were revealed successively by different pharmacological assays. Especially because of their potent antiviral activity against coronavirus (TGEV, SARS CoV and MHV) and tobacco mosaic virus, PIA and PQA analogues have attracted much pharmaceutical attention again, some of them have been used to present interesting targets for total or semi synthesis, and structure–activity relationship (SAR) study for the development of antiviral agents. In this review, natural PIA and PQA analogues obtained in the last two decades with their herbal origins, key spectroscopic characteristics for structural identification, biological activity with possible SARs and application prospects were systematically summarized. We hope this paper can stimulate further investigations on PIA and PQA analogues as an important source for potential drug discovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A systematic study of the effect of Al2O3 doping concentration in targets on the structure and optoelectronic characteristics of sputtered MgZnO films was conducted. The films were prepared on glass substrates by radio frequency magnetron sputtering from a MgZnO target mixed with 0–4 wt.% Al2O3. X-ray diffraction analysis demonstrated that the Al-doped MgZnO films had a highly (002) preferred orientation with only one intense diffraction peak. The electrical properties of the Al-doped MgZnO films were dependent on the Al2O3 concentration. Optimal results of Al-doped MgZnO films were obtained at an Al2O3-doping concentration of 2 wt.%, with low resistivity of 2.82 × 10−3 Ω-cm and high transmittance of 91% in the visible region. Outstanding electrical properties were achieved because of the significantly increased carrier concentration. The optical bandgap of the Al-doped MgZnO films showed a short-wavelength shift with increased Al2O3-doping concentration. The low electrical resistivity and high transparency of Al-doped MgZnO films indicated their potential as transparent conductive oxide window materials for UV optoelectronic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid development of optoelectronic fibers of multi-materials and structures, coupling between the optoelectronic fibers and the conventional optical fibers with high transmission is desirable. In this article, we propose a mode coupler to facilitate the transmission of electromagnetic wave from a dielectric fiber to a simple metal-core optoelectronic fiber in the terahertz regime. The coupler mainly consists of an air cone along its symmetric axis. The transmission characteristics of the terahertz wave of the frequency ranging from 2 to 8 THz for five hybrid modes are investigated using finite difference time domain method. We show the dependence of the transmission on the height of the air cone for the selected frequencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mesoporous carbon with high mesoporosity could overcome the diffusion limitations in the application fields requiring fast mass transportation. However, traditional templating approaches-derived carbons usually own low mesoporosity resulted from the microporosity dominated nanostructure. Herein, we developed a versatile method adopting self-made Fe(OH)3 as coordinative template to absorb phenols by coordination effect and in situ inducing the polymerization of phenol and formaldehyde to form phenolic resin at Fe(OH)3. Then, the generated H2O and the derived iron oxide from the template upon high temperature could serve as activation regents and mold constructing rich mesoporosity and graphitic structure. The derived products possess foam-like morphology, worm-like mesoporous structure, good graphitization degree, large surface area (1590 m2/g), large pore volume (2.86 cm3/g), uniform pore size distribution (~ 3.1 nm), ultrahigh mesoporosity (98.6%) and exhibit an excellent energy storage performance for aqueous supercapacitor including large energy density of 30.6 Wh/kg, superior capacitance retention of 76.8% and long cycling stability with near 100% capacitance retention after 10 000 cycles at large current density of 20 A/g. The superior capacitance retention for SC implies a wide application potentiality of the developed mesoporous carbon in other fields closely related to fast mass transfer such as catalysis, sorption and so on. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Increasing evidence suggests that many adipokines are involved in cancer-related anorexia and cachexia syndrome (CACS), although the underlying mechanism remains to be clarify. Asprosin is a new peptide hormone mainly secreted by white adipose tissues that can increase appetite and body weight. In this cross-sectional study, we tested whether asprosin may intervene in the development of CACS. Methods: The fasting plasma asprosin levels were determined via enzyme-linked immune-sorbent assay. Anorexia was determined using the anorexia/cachexia subscale (A/CS) of the functional assessment of anorexia/cachexia therapy (FAACT) questionnaire. The body composition was assessed using bioelectrical impedance analysis. The association of plasma asprosin with anorexia, cachexia, and nutritional status was analyzed. Results: One hundred twenty treatment-naïve patients with pathological confirmed gastrointestinal or lung cancer and 14 mild gastritis patients were recruited. We found no significant difference in asprosin levels between subgroups of patients by age, sex, cancer types or stage. Correlation analysis suggested that asprosin levels were positively associated with body fat mass (r = 0.248, p = 0.043). No correlations were found between asprosin levels and hemoglobin, white blood cell count, blood platelet count, albumin, C-reactive protein, glucose, cholesterol, triglyceride, high density lipoprotein, low density lipoprotein, body mass index, body fat percentage, protein, skeletal muscle, muscle mass, lean body mass, and basal metabolic rate. Furthermore, asprosin levels were not significantly different between patients with or without cachexia. However, patients with anorexia had significantly lower asprosin levels compared with patients without anorexia. No significant difference in asprosin levels between gastritis and gastric cancer patients. Similarly, no significant change of asprosin levels occurred postoperatively in 10 gastric cancer patients. Conclusions: Patients with anorexia had significantly lower asprosin levels compared with patients without anorexia. We therefore speculated that asprosin might intervene in the development of cancer anorexia and serve as a potential therapeutic target. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consider a compact symplectic sub-orbifold groupoid S of a compact symplectic orbifold groupoid (X, ω). Let Xa be the weight-a blowup of X along S, and Da = PNa be the exceptional divisor, where N is the normal bundle of S in X. In this paper we show that the absolute orbifold Gromov-Witten theory of Xα can be effectively and uniquely reconstructed from the absolute orbifold Gromov-Witten theories of X, S and Dα, the natural restriction homomorphism H*CR(X) → H*CR(S) and the first Chern class of the tautological line bundle over Dα. To achieve this we first prove similar results for the relative orbifold Gromov-Witten theories of (Xα | Dα) and (Nα | Dα). As applications of these results, we prove an orbifold version of a conjecture of Maulik and Pandharipande (Topology, 2006) on the Gromov-Witten theory of blowups along complete intersections, a conjecture on the Gromov-Witten theory of root constructions and a conjecture on the Leray-Hirsch result for the orbifold Gromov-Witten theory of Tseng and You (J Pure Appl Algebra, 2016). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Follower loads are used to simulate physiological compressive loads on the human spine. These compressive loads represent the load-carrying capacity of the human cervical spine and play an important role in maintaining its stability. However, under different follower loads the biomechanical response of the cervical spine is unknown. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the effect of follower load on the biomechanics of the cervical spine. A three-dimensional nonlinear finite element (FE) model of the cervical spine (C3–C7) was developed and validated. Using this FE model, we evaluated the effect of different follower loads (0 N, 50 N, 100 N, and 150 N) on the range of motion (ROM), facet joint forces (FJFs), and intradiscal pressure (IDP) in the cervical spine. In addition, a moment of 1 Nm was applied in three anatomical planes (sagittal, coronal, and transverse planes) to simulate different postures. The results indicate that as follower load was increased, the ROM of the cervical spine in extension decreased (4.06°–0.95°), but increased in other postures (flexion 4.19°–6.04°, lateral bending 1.74–3.03°, axial rotation 2.64°–4.11°). Follower loads increased the FJF in all postures (0 N–52 N). In lateral bending (LB), FJFs were only generated in the ipsilateral facet joints. In axial rotation (AR), there was large asymmetry in the FJF, which increased as follower load increased. The IDP of each segment increased nonlinearly with increasing follower load in all postures (0.01 MPa–1.23 MPa). In summary, follower loads caused changes in motion and loading patterns in the cervical spine (C3–C7). Therefore, in common daily activities, we should pay attention to the muscle strength of the neck through exercise to adapt to the biomechanical changes in the cervical spine following an increase in follower load. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, motivated by Chen–Ruan's stringy orbifold theory on almost complex orbifolds, we construct a new equivariant cohomology ring H G ∗ (X) for an equivariant almost complex pair (X, G), where X is a compact connected almost complex manifold, G is a connected compact Lie group which acts on X and preserves the almost complex structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heteroatom doping provides an effective strategy for boosting the capacity and energy density of carbon-based supercapacitors. In this work, we proposed an easy and feasible chemical activation method to synthesize the nitrogen, oxygen codoped hierarchical porous carbons with camellia pollen as carbon source, ammonium chloride as nitrogen source, and sodium carbonate as activating agent. The as-prepared carbon material exhibits a high specific surface area of 1049.1 m2 g−1, hierarchical pore structure, high heteroatom doping amount, and improved electrical conductivity. Benefiting from the synergistic effects of the above features, the hierarchical porous carbon exhibits a high specific capacitance (362.1 F g−1 at 0.5 A g−1), superior rate capability (178.1 F g−1 at 100 A g−1), and good cycling stability with a loss of 2.7% after 10,000 cycles. Moreover, the symmetrical supercapacitor delivers a high energy density of 31.5 Wh kg−1 at a power density of 181.0 W kg−1 and outstanding cycle stability with high capacitance retention of 93.6% after 20,000 cycles. This synthesis method provides a promising route to produce nitrogen, oxygen codoped porous carbon materials for high energy supercapacitor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of high-performance biomass-derived porous graphitic carbon materials is in high demand for applications in supercapacitors. Herein, a novel N, S self-codoped porous graphitic carbon is synthesized by one-step carbonization of lotus leaves together with urea and ferric chloride. Due to the combination of urea as a nitrogen doping agent and ferric chloride as both activating agent and graphitization catalyst, the obtained lotus leaf–derived porous graphitic carbon material possesses a high specific surface area of 975.7 m2 g−1, appropriate pore structure with interconnected macropores, suitable graphitization level, and high N, S contents. The resultant porous graphitic carbon electrode shows a high specific capacitance of 385.0 F g−1 at 0.5 A g−1 (based on a three-electrode system in 6 M KOH electrolyte), and good rate capability (140.0 F g−1 at 100 A g−1). Furthermore, the assembled carbon-based symmetric supercapacitor delivers a high energy density of 29.5 Wh kg−1 at a power density of 545.6 W kg−1 and excellent long-term cycling stability (95.3% of the initial capacitance after 20,000 cycles at 5 A g−1). This work provides a general method to synthesize porous graphitic carbon from biomass for electrochemical energy storage and conversion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evolutions of the surface morphologies, cross-sectional microstructures, and mechanical properties of two types of Ag-based alloy wires with different Au contents under a 105 A/cm2 electrical current density across various times were compared in this study. Ag-based alloy wires that contain 8 wt% Au and 15 wt% Au with 3 wt% Pd were produced via rapid drawing and multiple annealing processes to replace commercial Au-bonded wires in the electronic packaging industry. The surface morphologies of these wires were revealed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and cross-sectional microstructures were analyzed by electron back scattering diffraction (EBSD). The SEM observations showed grain- and step-like structures in the Ag–8Au–3Pd and Ag–15Au–3Pd wires after a 5-h treatment, respectively. EBSD results revealed a change in the main preferred orientation from <001> slender grains to <111> equiaxed grains because the high-angle grain boundaries (HAGB) were reduced, and the twin boundaries (TB) were multiplied along the drawing direction. In terms of mechanical properties, Ag–15Au–3Pd wire showed better breaking loads and elongations than Ag–8Au–3Pd wire. The Au effect in Ag-based alloy wires reduced the atomic diffusion to stabilize grain structures and induce a dislocation accumulation, which subsequently improved the mechanical properties by retaining and forming HAGBs, LAGBs, and TBs under high current stressing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The diagnostic potential of hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) and γδT cells for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and their synergistic contributions to the prognosis of these patients have not yet been investigated. The aim of this study was to elucidate the prognostic value of these cells in HCC. Methods: The prognostic significance of the ratio of HSCs to γδT cells (SGR) was assessed in a total of 339 HCC patients undergoing resection. The correlation between the circulating tumor cell (CTC) level and SGR in 71 HCC patients was determined using the CellSearch system. In vitro experiments were performed to validate the synergistic effects of HSCs and γδT cells on hepatoma cells. Results: Peritumoral SGR was closely associated with overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) of HCC patients after resection. In the testing cohort, two nomograms incorporating the SGR were constructed for the prediction of OS and RFS. The predictive accuracy of the two nomograms was verified by the validation cohort. CTC levels were positively correlated with SGR (r = 0.479, p < 0.001). Among the patients with CTCs > 2/7.5 ml, those with a high SGR exhibited higher early recurrence rates than those with a low SGR. In vitro experiments revealed that the secretion of INF-γ, IL-17, and TNF-α from γδT cells was increased after culture with HSC-conditioned medium. In addition, γδT cells cultured with HSC-conditioned medium decreased the proliferative and invasive abilities of hepatoma cells. Conclusions: The peritumoral SGR is related to aggressive tumor behavior and has a powerful predictive value in HCC. Early recurrence in patients with a high peritumoral SGR might be associated with high CTC levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Let X be a compact symplectic orbifold groupoid with S being a compact symplectic sub-orbifold groupoid, and X ̲ a be the weight- a blowup of X along S with Z being the exceptional divisor. We show that there is a weighted-blowup correspondence between some certain absolute orbifold Gromov–Witten invariants of X relative to S and some certain relative orbifold Gromov–Witten invariants of the pair (X ̲ a | Z) . As an application, we prove that the symplectic uniruledness of symplectic orbifold groupoids is a weighted-blowup invariant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanosilver paste as a state-of-the-art die-attach material for power electronics has been widely used in bare copper bonding. In this paper, bonding performance of sintered nanosilver joints on bare copper substrates with different grain structures was investigated. The bare copper joint with optimum bonding performance was obtained with copper substrate possessing smallest grain size (1.88 μm), strongest (001) texture and largest surface roughness (750.31 nm). It was thought copper substrate with smaller grain size provided more grain boundaries to facilitate the diffusion rate of Ag atoms on the surface of copper substrate and into the substrate, further leading to the greater contact area and longer inter-diffusion band to achieve stronger interfacial bonding. Meanwhile, faster diffusion at the interface did not interfere with the densification of sintered Ag layer. Therefore, the stronger interfacial bonding and well-densified Ag layer strengthened the sintered joint. It was also found (001) orientation could possibly be the most contributing to bonding strength, since the decrease of relative texture coefficient of (200) coincided with the reduced strength. Besides, rougher surface of copper substrate with smaller grain size after polishing could be another factor to improve bonding strength due to the larger contact area and mechanical interlocking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the microstructure and performance of different Ag-based conductive wires were investigated. Ag-based wires that contain 8, 15, 20, and 28 wt% Au were produced by multiple drawing and rapid annealing processes to substitute commercial gold wires in electronic packaging industries. The cross-sectional gain structures observed using focused ion beam showed the formation of a slender granular structure at the center, and the outer portion changed from equiaxed to elongated grains with the increase in Au content. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy showed a remarkable decrease in the twin thickness and stacking defect of 9R structures dissociated from incoherent twin boundaries. Electron backscatter diffraction analysis revealed that slender grains at the center showed strong < 001 > crystallographic orientation, and the equiaxed grains near the surface were in the < 111 > preferred orientation. The high Au solute concentration in Ag-based wires induced strong interaction on dislocations, thereby resulting in the formation of low-angle grain boundaries (LAGBs) and nano-twins. Ternary Ag-based alloy wires exhibited high strength and hardness but low conductivity and elongation with the increase in Au content because relatively the high LAGB density and Au solute atoms caused strengthening and electron scattering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To design efficient and low-cost core-shell electrocatalysts with an ultrathin platinum shell, the balance between platinum dosage and durability in acid solution is of great importance. In the present work, trimetallic Au@PdPt core-shell nanoparticles (NPs) with Pd/Pt molar ratios ranging from 0.31:1 to 4.20:1 were synthesized based on the Au catalytic reduction strategy and the subsequent metallic replacement reaction. When the Pd/Pt molar ratio is 1.19:1 (designated as Au@Pd1.19Pt1 NPs), the superior electrochemical activity and stability were achieved for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in acid solution. Especially, the specific and mass activities of Au@Pd1.19Pt1 NPs are 1.31 and 6.09 times higher than those of commercial Pt/C catalyst. In addition, the Au@Pd1.19Pt1 NPs presented a good durability in acid solution. After 3000 potential cycles between 0.1 and 0.7 V (vs. Ag/AgCl), the oxygen reduction activity is almost unchanged. This study provides a simple strategy to synthesize high-performance trimetallic ORR electrocatalyst for fuel cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Silver-based bonding wires such as Ag-4Pd and Ag-8Au-3Pd have drawn remarkable attention in the packaging industry because they are cheaper and more conductive than Au- and Cu-based wires, respectively. This study aimed to investigate the intermetallic compound (IMC) formation and growth at the bonding interface between Ag-4Pd wire and Al-pads and between Ag-8Au-3Pd wire and Al-pads. The as-bonded and reliability-tested Ag-4Pd/Al and Ag-8Au-3Pd/Al specimens were then investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning transmission electron microscopy equipped with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (STEM-EDS). The bonding properties were examined by ball shear and wire pull tests. In the as-bonded state, hexagonal close-packed (HCP) (Ag, Pd)2Al and HCP Ag2Al were formed at the Ag-4Pd/Al interfaces, whereas dual phase consisting of face-centered cubic Ag alloy with HCP precipitates (Ag, Au, Pd)2Al crystals and HCP Ag2Al layers were observed at the Ag-8Au-3Pd/Al interfaces. The IMCs showed significant growth and oxidation during reliability tests at 130 °C and 85 pct relative humidity for 192 hours. Alloying Au in Ag-4Pd wires promoted the growth of the IMC layer and it also enhanced the mechanical properties in the as-bonded material. By contrast, overgrowth of the IMCs in the Ag-8Au-3Pd/Al system induced microcrack formation in bonding and thus degraded the reliability of the material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Cu-deficient Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) absorber layer with different deposition time of third stage was fabricated using three-stage co-evaporation process. An appropriate deposition time not only eliminated excess Cu2−xSe but also formed the order defect compound (ODC) phase near the CIGS surface. This ODC surface phase can minimize the recombination rate between absorber and buffer layer. The highest efficiency of 15.82% was achieved when the deposition time was 7 min and bulk [Cu]/([In] + [Ga]) ratio at the end of the three-stage process was 0.98. It indicated that the suitable deposition time of third stage and [Cu]/([In] + [Ga]) ratio could improve the defect concentration, surface properties and recombination of interface between CIGS/CdS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It was found that the mechanosensitivity of osteocytes could be altered under simulated microgravity. However, how the mechanical stimuli as the biomechanical origins cause the bioresponse in osteocytes under microgravity is unclear yet. Computational studies may help us to explore the mechanical deformation changes of osteocytes under microgravity. Here in this paper, we intend to use the computational simulation to investigate the mechanical behavior of osteocytes under simulated microgravity. In order to obtain the shape information of osteocytes, the biological experiment was conducted under simulated microgravity prior to the numerical simulation The cells were rotated by a clinostat for 6 hours or 5 days and fixed, the cytoskeleton and the nucleus were immunofluorescence stained and scanned, and the cell shape and the fluorescent intensity were measured from fluorescent images to get the dimension information of osteocytes The 3D finite element (FE) cell models were then established based on the scanned image stacks. Several components such as the actin cortex, the cytoplasm, the nucleus, the cytoskeleton of F-actin and microtubules were considered in the model. The cell models in both 6 hours and 5 days groups were then imposed by three magnitudes (0.5, 10 and 15 Pa) of simulating fluid shear stress, with cell total displacement and the internal discrete components deformation calculated. The results showed that under the simulated microgravity: (1) the nuclear area and height statistically significantly increased, which made the ratio of membrane-cortex height to nucleus height statistically significantly decreased; (2) the fluid shear stress-induced maximum displacements and average displacements in the whole cell decreased, with the deformation decreasing amplitude was largest when exposed to 1.5Pa of fluid shear stress; (3) the fluid shear stress-induced deformation of cell membrane-cortex and cytoskeleton decreased, while the fluid shear stress-induced deformation of nucleus increased. The results suggested the mechanical behavior of whole osteocyte cell body was suppressed by simulated microgravity, and this decrement was enlarged with either the increasing amplitude of fluid shear stress or the duration of simulated microgravity. What’s more, the mechanical behavior of membrane-cortex and cytoskeleton was suppressed by the simulated microgravity, which indicated the mechanotransduction process in the cell body may be further inhibited. On the contrary, the cell nucleus deformation increased under simulated microgravity, which may be related to either the decreased amount of cytoskeleton or the increased volume occupied proportion of nucleus in whole cell under the simulated microgravity. The numerical results supported our previous biological experiments, and showed particularly affected cellular components under the simulated microgravity. The computational study here may help us to better understand the mechanism of mechanosensitivity changes in osteocytes under simulated microgravity, and further to explore the mechanism of the bone loss in space flight. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbothermic reduction reactions at the metal-slag interface and the mechanisms of iron loss during the smelting of vanadium-bearing titanomagnetite in a blast furnace are still not clear as a result of the limited ability to observe the high-temperature zone of a blast furnace. The chemical composition of a Ti-bearing slag was determined by x-ray fluorescence and x-ray diffraction. The interfaces were characterized by scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy. The interfacial chemical reactions were deduced based on the characterization results and on the thermodynamic calculations performed using Factsage 6.4. The results indicated that the forms of iron in the slag were iron droplets wetted by Ti(C, N), mechanically separated by iron and iron oxide. The different forms possessed unique characteristics and were formed by different mechanisms. Iron droplets wetted by Ti(C, N) were generated through a series of interfacial reactions between TiO in the slag and [C] and [N] in the metal. Iron droplets without attached Ti(C, N) were mainly located on the edges of pores and were attributed to the reduction of FeO in the slag. Insufficient reduction of iron-bearing minerals made it difficult for iron droplets to aggregate and separate from the slag, which created an FeO-enriched zone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the ferrous burden of blast furnaces in China, sinter generally accounts for more than 70% and the sintering process accounts for approximately 6-10% of the total energy consumption of the iron and steel enterprise. Therefore, saving energy during the sintering process is important to reduce the energy consumption in the iron and steel industry. This paper aims to illustrate recent advances and the research status of energy conservation of iron ore sintering in China. It focuses on the development and application of energy-saving technologies such as the composite agglomeration process, sintering with high-proportion flue gas recirculation sintering, recovery of sensible heat from the sinter cooling process, homogeneous deep-bed sintering technology, and comprehensive treatment technology of leakage of sintering. Moreover, some suggestions for the future development of energy-saving technologies are put forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The safe and efficient storage and release of hydrogen is one of the key technological challenges for the fuel cell-based hydrogen economy. Hydrazine monohydrate has attracted considerable attention as a safe and convent chemical hydrogen-storage material. Herein, we report the facile synthesis of NiPt-CeO nanocomposites supported by three-dimensional nitrogen-doped graphene hydrogels (NGHs) via a simple one-step co-reduction synthesis method. These catalysts were composition-dependent for hydrogen generation from an alkaline solution of hydrazine. (NiPt)-(CeO)/NGH exhibited the highest catalytic activity, with 100% hydrogen selectivity and turnover frequencies of 408 h at 298 K and 3,064 h at 323 K. These superior catalytic performances are attributed to the electronic structure of the NiPt centers, which was modified by the electron interaction between NiPt and CeO and the strong metal-support interaction between NiPt-CeO and the NGH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the influence of process parameters, including sputtering power, oxygen partial pressure ( R ), and substrate temperature on the optical property of Zn(S,O) thin films fabricated by radio frequency magnetron sputtering technology and deposited on glass substrates. The chemical composition, structural and optical properties of the samples were investigated by electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis, X-ray diffraction, and spectrophotometer. All the films mainly exhibited β-ZnS phase with (111) preferred orientation. [S]/([S]+[O]) ratio increased at high sputtering power, low RO, and low substrate temperature. Moderate ranges in sputtering power and substrate temperature and low RO resulted in large grain size. Adatoms are expected to exhibit increased mobility under these conditions. Average transmittance exceeded 75% in the visible wavelength region. Bandgap under these conditions was dominated strongly by the change in grain size and [S]/([S]+[O]) ratio. Optical properties of Zn(S,O) thin films could be modified, which is promising for optoelectronic applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]