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In this study, a quasi-experiment of the special economic zones (SEZs) in China was conducted to explore whether green industrial parks play a role in enhancing local entrepreneurship. A household-level panel dataset of 9-year data across counties was built to compare the effects of green and non-green SEZs on the participation of local residents in entrepreneurial activities in a difference-in-differences (DID) setting. According to the empirical results, SEZs can promote local entrepreneurial activities, and such effects are more evident for green ones. An examination of the channels was conducted to reveal that SEZs have an entrepreneurial impact by reducing financial constraints, creating a connection between customers and suppliers, and spreading knowledge. Green SEZs were found to promote entrepreneurship mainly by reducing financial constraints and spreading knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Full activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome needs two sequential signals: a priming signal, followed by a second, assembly signal. Several studies have shown that the two signals trigger post-translational modification (PTM) of NLRP3, affecting activity of the inflammasome, however, the PTMs induced by the second signal are less well characterized. Here, we show that the assembly signal involves acetylation of NLRP3 at lysine 24, which is important for the oligomerization and the actual assembly of NLRP3 without affecting its recruitment to dispersed trans-Golgi network (dTGN). Accordingly, NLRP3 inflammasome activation is impaired in NLRP3-K24R knock-in mice. We identify KAT5 as an acetyltransferase able to acetylate NLRP3. KAT5 deficiency in myeloid cells and pharmacological inhibition of KAT5 enzymatic activity reduce activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome, both in vitro and in vivo. Thus, our study reveals a key mechanism for the oligomerization and full activation of NLRP3 and lays down the proof of principle for therapeutic targeting of the KAT5-NLRP3 axis. The NLRP3 inflammasome is activated in two steps, priming and assembly, in response to endogenous, microbial, and other environmental danger signals. Here authors show that the assembly step is regulated by acetylation, and inhibition of this post-translational modification prevents full activation of the inflammasome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The near-Earth (within ∼100 pc) supernova explosions in the past several million years can cause the global deposition of radioactive elements (e.g., 60Fe) on Earth. The remnants of such supernovae are too old to be easily identified. It is therefore of great interest to search for million-year-old near-Earth neutron stars or black holes, the products of supernovae. However, neutron stars and black holes are challenging to find even in our Solar neighbourhood if they are not radio pulsars or X-ray/γ-ray emitters. Here we report the discovery of one of the nearest (127.7 ± 0.3 pc) neutron star candidates in a detached single-lined spectroscopic binary LAMOST J235456.73+335625.9 (hereafter J2354). Utilizing the time-resolved ground-based spectroscopy and space photometry, we find that J2354 hosts an unseen compact object with Minv being 1.4–1.6 M⊙. The follow-up Swift ultraviolet (UV) and X-ray observations suggest that the UV and X-ray emission is produced by the visible star rather than the compact object. Hence, J2354 probably harbours a neutron star rather than a hot ultramassive white dwarf. Two-hour exceptionally sensitive radio follow-up observations with Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope fail to reveal any pulsating radio signals at the 6σ flux upper limit of 12.5 µJy. Therefore, the neutron star candidate in J2354 can only be revealed via our time-resolved observations. Interestingly, the distance between J2354 and our Earth can be as close as ∼ 50 pc around 2.5 million years (Myrs) ago, as revealed by the Gaia kinematics. Our discovery demonstrates a promising way to unveil the hidden near-Earth neutron stars in binaries by exploring the optical time domain, thereby facilitating understanding of the metal-enrichment history in our Solar neighbourhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SiC composite ceramics for solar absorber and storage integration are new concentrating solar power materials. SiC composite ceramics for solar absorber and storage integration were fabricated using SiC, black corundum and kaolin as the raw materials, Co2O3 as the additive via pressureless graphite-buried sintering method in this study. Influences of Co2O3 on the microstructure and properties of SiC composite ceramics for solar absorber and storage integration were studied. The results indicate that sample D2 (5wt% Co2O3) sintered at 1 480 °C exhibits optimal performances for 119.91 MPa bending strength, 93% solar absorption, 981.5 kJ/kg (25–800 °C) thermal storage density. The weight gain ratio is 12.58 mg/cm2 after 100 h oxidation at 1 000 °C. The Co2O3 can decrease the liquid phase formation temperature and reduce the viscosity of liquid phase during sintering. The liquid with low viscosity not only promotes the elimination of pores to achieve densification, but also increases bending strength, solar absorption, thermal storage density and oxidation resistance. A dense SiO2 layer was formed on the surface of SiC after 100 h oxidation at 1 000 °C, which protects the sample from further oxidation. However, excessive Co2O3 will make the microstructure loose, which is disadvantageous to the performances of samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mammalian Müller glia (MG) possess limited regenerative capacities. However, the intrinsic capacity of mammalian MG to transdifferentiate to generate mature neurons without transgenic manipulations remains speculative. Here we show that MAP4K4, MAP4K6 and MAP4K7, which are conserved Misshapen subfamily of ste20 kinases homologs, repress YAP activity in mammalian MG and therefore restrict their ability to be reprogrammed. However, by treating with a small molecule inhibitor of MAP4K4/6/7, mouse MG regain their ability to proliferate and enter into a retinal progenitor cell (RPC)-like state after NMDA-induced retinal damage; such plasticity was lost in YAP knockout MG. Moreover, spontaneous trans-differentiation of MG into retinal neurons expressing both amacrine and retinal ganglion cell (RGC) markers occurs after inhibitor withdrawal. Taken together, these findings suggest that MAP4Ks block the reprogramming capacity of MG in a YAP-dependent manner in adult mammals, which provides a novel avenue for the pharmaceutical induction of retinal regeneration in vivo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mullite thermal storage ceramics were prepared by low-cost calcined bauxite and kaolin. The phase composition, microstructure, high temperature resistance and thermophysical properties were characterized by modern testing techniques. The experimental results indicate that sample A3 (bauxite/kaolin ratio of 5:5) sintered at 1 620 °C has the optimum comprehensive properties, with bulk density of 2.83 g·cm−3 and bending strength of 155.44 MPa. After 30 thermal shocks (1 000 °C-room temperature, air cooling), the bending strength of sample A3 increases to 166.15 MPa with an enhancement rate of 6.89%, the corresponding thermal conductivity and specific heat capacity are 3.54 W°(m°K)−1 and 1.39 kJ°(kg°K)−1 at 800 °C, and the thermal storage density is 1 096 kJ°kg−1 (25–800 mullite ceramics; sintering properties; high-temperature thermal storage; thermal shock resistance). Mullite forms a dense and continuous interlaced network microstructure. which endows the samples high thermal storage density and high bending strength, but the decrease of bauxite/kaolin ratio leads to the decrease of mullite content, which reduces the properties of the samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microbial keratitis, a nonviral corneal infection caused by bacteria, fungi, and protozoa, is an urgent condition in ophthalmology requiring prompt treatment in order to prevent severe complications of corneal perforation and vision loss. It is difficult to distinguish between bacterial and fungal keratitis from image unimodal alone, as the characteristics of the sample images themselves are very close. Therefore, this study aims to develop a new deep learning model called knowledge-enhanced transform-based multimodal classifier that exploited the potential of slit-lamp images along with treatment texts to identify bacterial keratitis (BK) and fungal keratitis (FK). The model performance was evaluated in terms of the accuracy, specificity, sensitivity and the area under the curve (AUC). 704 images from 352 patients were divided into training, validation and testing set. In the testing set, our model reached the best accuracy was 93%, sensitivity was 0.97(95% CI [0.84,1]), specificity was 0.92(95% CI [0.76,0.98]) and AUC was 0.94(95% CI [0.92,0.96]), exceeding the benchmark accuracy of 0.86. The diagnostic average accuracies of BK ranged from 81 to 92%, respectively and those for FK were 89–97%. It is the first study to focus on the influence of disease changes and medication interventions on infectious keratitis and our model outperformed the benchmark models and reaching the state-of-the-art performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mxenes, a general term for a novel class of two-dimensional carbon–nitrogen compounds, which attracted extraordinary attention because of their unique electrochemical property. In this paper, an Ag-TiO2/MXene composite material was prepared for paraquat (PQ) detection by differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). It was found that the detection limit reached as low as 0.01 μM and linear range was from 0.05 to 15 μM (split into two sections: 0.05 to 1 μM and 1 μM to 15 μM). The Ag-TiO2/MXene composite electrode material exhibits excellent anti-interference properties to the species including the ions such as Cu2+, Na+, Ca2+, Zn2+, Cl−, SO42− and biomass molecules such as glucose, ascorbic acid and uric acid. In the presence of organophosphorus pesticides, the electrode also showed good anti-interference. The excellent paraquat detection capability of the Ag–TiO2/MXene electrode material should be attributed to the synergistic effect obtained by decorating Ag and TiO2 on MXene. In conclusion, the functionalization of MXenes through surface-modification provided a feasible route for ultrasensitive electrochemical sensors construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is characterized by a strong production of inflammatory cytokines such as TNF and IL-6, which underlie the severity of the disease. However, the molecular mechanisms responsible for such a strong immune response remains unclear. Here, utilizing targeted tandem mass spectrometry to analyze serum metabolome and lipidome in COVID-19 patients at different temporal stages, we identified that 611 metabolites (of 1,039) were significantly altered in COVID-19 patients. Among them, two metabolites, agmatine and putrescine, were prominently elevated in the serum of patients; and 2-quinolinecarboxylate was changed in a biphasic manner, elevated during early COVID-19 infection but levelled off. When tested in mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) and macrophages, these 3 metabolites were found to activate the NF-κB pathway that plays a pivotal role in governing cytokine production. Importantly, these metabolites were each able to cause strong increase of TNF and IL-6 levels when administered to wildtype mice, but not in the mice lacking NF-κB. Intriguingly, these metabolites have little effects on the activation of interferon regulatory factors (IRFs) for the production of type I interferons (IFNs) for antiviral defenses. These data suggest that circulating metabolites resulting from COVID-19 infection may act as effectors to elicit the peculiar systemic inflammatory responses, exhibiting severely strong proinflammatory cytokine production with limited induction of the interferons. Our study may provide a rationale for development of drugs to alleviate inflammation in COVID-19 patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving high-efficient spin injection in semiconductors is critical for developing spintronic devices. Although a tunnel spin injector is typically used, the construction of a high-quality tunnel barrier remains a significant challenge due to the large lattice mismatch between oxides and semiconductors. In this work, van der Waals h-BN films with the atomically flat interface were engaged as the tunnel barrier to achieve high spin polarization in GaN, and the spin injection and transport in GaN were investigated systematically. Based on the Hanle precession and magnetic resistance measurements, CoFeB was determined as an optimal spin polarizer, bilayer h-BN tunnelling barrier was proven to yield a much higher spin polarization than the case of monolayer, and appropriate carrier concentration as well as higher crystal equality of n-GaN could effectively reduce the defect-induced spin scattering to improve the spin transport. The systematic understanding and the high efficiency of spin injection in this work may pave the way to the development of physical connotations and the applications of semiconductor spintronics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The mortality of extensively drug-resistant Gram-negative (XDR GN) bacilli-induced ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is extremely high. The purpose of this study was to compare the efficacy and safety of inhaled (IH) plus intravenous (IV) polymyxin B versus IV polymyxin B in XDR GN bacilli VAP patients. Methods: A retrospective multi-center observational cohort study was performed at eight ICUs between January 1st 2018, and January 1st 2020 in China. Data from all patients treated with polymyxin B for a microbiologically confirmed VAP were analyzed. The primary endpoint was the clinical cure of VAP. The favorable clinical outcome, microbiological outcome, VAP-related mortality and all-cause mortality during hospitalization, and side effects related with polymyxin B were secondary endpoints. Favorable clinical outcome included clinical cure or clinical improvement. Results: 151 patients and 46 patients were treated with IV polymyxin B and IH plus IV polymyxin B, respectively. XDR Klebsiella pneumoniae was the main isolated pathogen (n = 83, 42.1%). After matching on age (± 5 years), gender, septic shock, and Apache II score (± 4 points) when polymyxin B was started, 132 patients were included. 44 patients received simultaneous IH plus IV polymyxin B and 88 patients received IV polymyxin B. The rates of clinical cure (43.2% vs 27.3%, p = 0.066), bacterial eradication (36.4% vs 23.9%, p = 0.132) as well as VAP-related mortality (27.3% vs 34.1%, p = 0.428), all-cause mortality (34.1% vs 42.0%, p = 0.378) did not show any significant difference between the two groups. However, IH plus IV polymyxin B therapy was associated with improved favorable clinical outcome (77.3% vs 58.0%, p = 0.029). Patients in the different subgroups (admitted with medical etiology, infected with XDR K. pneumoniae, without bacteremia, with immunosuppressive status) were with odd ratios (ORs) in favor of the combined therapy. No patient required polymyxin B discontinuation due to adverse events. Additional use of IH polymyxin B (aOR 2.63, 95% CI 1.06, 6.66, p = 0.037) was an independent factor associated with favorable clinical outcome. Conclusions: The addition of low-dose IH polymyxin B to low-dose IV polymyxin B did not provide efficient clinical cure and bacterial eradication in VAP caused by XDR GN bacilli. Keypoints Additional use of IH polymyxin B was the sole independent risk factor of favorable clinical outcome. Patients in the different subgroups were with HRs substantially favoring additional use of IH polymyxin B. No patients required polymyxin B discontinuation due to adverse events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The polarization properties of asymmetric plasmonic nanostructures originating from optical anisotropy show great application prospects in many fields, such as display, sensing, filtering, and detection. Here, we report the realization of polarization control in the deep ultraviolet (UV) region using Al nano-dimer structures. The simulation results indicated that the polarization effect was generated by the modulation of inter-coupling between the quadrupole plasmon resonances of the asymmetric dimer. By further optimizing the size and gap of the dimer, the extinction in the 200-nm deep UV region obtained a polarization ratio of 18%. This research is helpful for understanding the resonance hybridization of high-order surface plasmons in UV region and is of great significance to the emerging polarized micro-nano photonics fields, such as spin optoelectronics and deep UV optoelectronic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China national forest villages are the agents to promote rural greening and beautification, as well as further implementation of the rural revitalization strategy. It is of great significance to study their spatial distribution characteristics and influencing factors. Therefore, taking 7586 China national forest villages as examples, the methods of nearest neighbor index, Tyson polygon, cold and hot spot analysis, and nuclear density index are used to study the spatial distribution characteristics of China national forest villages and their influencing factors. The results show that (1) since the nearest neighbor index is less than 1, and the Tyson polygon area variation coefficient is much greater than 64%, it is comprehensively determined that the distribution of China national forest villages belongs to agglomerated distribution. (2) The spatial clustering is characterized by "hot in the south and cold in the north." The hot spots are dominated by southern regions such as Sichuan, Hubei, and Jiangsu, and the cold spots are dominated by northern regions such as Heilongjiang, Jilin and Xinjiang. (3) The distribution characteristics of nuclear density have a strong correlation with the distribution characteristics of forest vegetation and urban agglomerations. Most high-density areas are located within the forest vegetation coverage. The first batch forms the Yangtze River Delta and Central Plains urban agglomerations high-density areas, and the second batch forms the Yangtze River Delta and Central Plains high-density areas. (4) Elevation, aspect, river, forest resources endowment, traffic, economic development level, and population size are important factors affecting the distribution of China national forest villages, and their distribution presents the characteristics of "low altitude, positive direction, near water, rich forest resources, convenient transportation, developed economy, and dense population." The research can provide reference for the evaluation and construction of China national forest villages and the implementation of village beautification and rural revitalization strategies in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Respiratory motion may compromise the dose delivery accuracy in liver stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT). Motion management can improve treatment delivery. However, external surrogate signal may be unstable and inaccurate. This study reports the first case of liver SBRT based on internal electromagnetic motion monitoring (Calypso, Varian Medical Systems, USA) in China. Materials and methods: The patient with a primary liver cancer was treated with respiratory-gated SBRT guided by three implanted electromagnetic transponders. The treatment was carried out in breath-hold end-exhale with beam-on when the centroid of the three transponders drifted within 5 mm (left–right (LR), anterior–posterior (AP) and cranio-caudal (CC) directions) from the planned position. The motion monitoring treatments were delivered in breath-hold end-exhale mode with the energy of 6 MV in FFF mode with 1200 monitor units (MU) per minute. For each fraction, QA results, intertransponder distances, geometric checks as well as tumor motion logs were explicitly recorded. Results: Comparing with the plan data, distance variances between each two transponders were − 0.56 ± 0.32 mm, 0.17 ± 0.33 mm and − 0.82 ± 0.68 mm. Geometric residual, the pitch, roll and yaw angles were 0.48 ± 0.21 mm (threshold 2.0 mm), 2.17° ± 1.85° (threshold 10°), − 2.42° ± 1.51° (threshold 10°) and 1.67° ± 1.07° (threshold 10°), respectively. The delivery time of the five fields were 13.8 s, 13.1 s, 11.2 s, 11.6 s, and 11.6 s with the average value of 12.3 ± 1.1 s. Treatment duration of each fraction ranged from 6.2 to 21.4 min, with the average value of 11.3 ± 5.0 min. Conclusions: The first case of liver SBRT patient of China based on internal electromagnetic motion monitoring was performed. The system had a high tracking accuracy, and it did not delay the treatment time. In addition, the patient did not show any severe side effects except for grade I myelotoxicity. The internal electromagnetic motion monitoring system provides a real-time and direct way to track liver tumor targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paraquat is a quaternary ammonium herbicide with an excellent herbicidal effect but is highly toxic to human and animals. Although prohibited by many countries, paraquat intoxication occurred occasionally and caused severe consequences. Rapid and accurate determination of paraquat concentration in intoxication samples is urgently needed in the clinic to promptly evaluate the prognosis of poisoning patients. Here we report an internal standard surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (IS-SERS) quantification method on paraquat in mouse plasma and lung tissues for the first time. One measurement per sample was fulfilled within 10 s via this IS-SERS method. Paraquat had good linearity in the range of 1 ~ 500 μg/L (plasma sample) and 1 ~ 100 μg/g (lung sample), with the LOD and LOQ of 0.5 μg/L and 0.1 μg/g (plasma sample), and 5 μg/L and 1 μg/g (lung sample), respectively. This IS-SERS method was validated according to the international guidelines and applied to a quantitative determination and the toxicokinetics on paraquat in mouse plasma and lung tissues. The results indicated that paraquat had a fast absorption rate and a slow elimination rate in mouse plasma and lung tissues. Paraquat was prone to accumulate in target organs after entering the blood. It also proved its good practical applicability in one clinical intoxication sample. Meanwhile, we unveiled an underestimation of free paraquat amount towards common biological sample pretreatment, a certain amount of paraquat bound to components with molecular weight less than 30 kDa in the plasma; we hope it could provide some interesting information for possible clinic treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metformin, the most prescribed antidiabetic medicine, has shown other benefits such as anti-ageing and anticancer effects1–4. For clinical doses of metformin, AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) has a major role in its mechanism of action4,5; however, the direct molecular target of metformin remains unknown. Here we show that clinically relevant concentrations of metformin inhibit the lysosomal proton pump v-ATPase, which is a central node for AMPK activation following glucose starvation6. We synthesize a photoactive metformin probe and identify PEN2, a subunit of γ-secretase7, as a binding partner of metformin with a dissociation constant at micromolar levels. Metformin-bound PEN2 forms a complex with ATP6AP1, a subunit of the v-ATPase8, which leads to the inhibition of v-ATPase and the activation of AMPK without effects on cellular AMP levels. Knockout of PEN2 or re-introduction of a PEN2 mutant that does not bind ATP6AP1 blunts AMPK activation. In vivo, liver-specific knockout of Pen2 abolishes metformin-mediated reduction of hepatic fat content, whereas intestine-specific knockout of Pen2 impairs its glucose-lowering effects. Furthermore, knockdown of pen-2 in Caenorhabditis elegans abrogates metformin-induced extension of lifespan. Together, these findings reveal that metformin binds PEN2 and initiates a signalling route that intersects, through ATP6AP1, the lysosomal glucose-sensing pathway for AMPK activation. This ensures that metformin exerts its therapeutic benefits in patients without substantial adverse effects.The molecular target of the antidiabetic medicine metformin is identified as PEN2, a subunit of γ-secretases, and the PEN2–ATP6AP1 axis offers potential targets for screening for metformin substitutes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Hydrogeology Journal is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

CO2 + O2in-situ leaching (ISL) of sandstone-type uranium ore represents the third generation of solution mining in China. In this study, reactive transport modeling of the interaction between hydrodynamic and geochemical reactions is performed to enable better prediction and regulation of the CO2 + O2in-situ leaching process of uranium. Geochemical reactions between mining solutions and rock, and the kinetic uranium dissolution controlled by O2 (aq) and bicarbonate ( HCO 3 - ) are considered in the CO2 + O2 ISL reactive transport model of a typical sandstone-hosted uranium ore deposit in northern China. The reactive leaching of uranium is most sensitive to the spatial distribution of the mineralogical properties of the uranium deposit. Stochastic geostatistical models are used to represent the uncertainty on the spatial distribution of mineral grades. A Monte Carlo analysis was also performed to simulate the uranium production variability over an entire set of geostatistical realizations. The ISL stochastic simulation performed with the selected geostatistical realizations approximates the uranium production variability well. The simulation results of the ISL reactive transport model show that the extent of the uranium plume is highly dependent on mineralogical heterogeneity. The uncertainty analysis suggests the effect of uranium grade heterogeneity was found to be important to improve the accurate capture of the uncertainty. This study provides guidance for the accurate simulation and dynamic regulation of the CO2 + O2 leaching process of uranium at the scale of large mining areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enforcing the additional structural constraints to improve localization, the plane feature can express better environment information, and thereby is widely used in Visual Inertial Odometry (VIO) method. To enforce regularities between planes, this paper proposes a novel factor graph formulation based on key plane. Firstly, key plane selection criterion is adopted to filter trivial planes. Then structural regularities between each plane detected in previous steps and key plane are implemented by adding corresponding residual terms into optimization function. Furthermore, in addition to gravity, the normal directions of all key planes continually update actual buildings plane normal direction in the world frame, which is used for detecting plane. Finally, experiments was conducted on public dataset and results show that our proposed method obtains better accuracy than state-of-the-art algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Hydrogeology Journal is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Al2O3/SiC composite ceramics were prepared from α-Al2O3 and SiC by a pressureless sinter method in this study. The effect of SiC contents on the mechanic properties, phase compositions and microstructure is studied. Experimental results show that the vickers hardness, wear resistance and thermal conductivity of the samples increase with the increase in the SiC content, and the hardness of the sample reaches 16.22 GPa, and thermal conductivity of the sample reaches 25.41 W/(m.K) at room temperature when the SiC content is 20 wt%(B5) and the sintering temperature is at 1 640 °C. Higher hardness means higher scour resistance, and it indicates that the B5 material is expected to be used for the solar heat absorber of third generation solar thermal generation. The results indicate the mechanism of improving mechanical properties of Al2O3/SiC composite ceramics: SiC plays a role in grain refinement that the grain of SiC inhibits the grain growth of Al2O3, while the addition of SiC changes the fracture mode from the intergranular to the intergranular-transgranular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: From previous studies of pharmacodynamic data in mice, rats, beagle dogs and mini pigs, frequently in direct comparison to induction doses of propofol, ciprofol produced a rapid onset of anesthesia/sedation. Methods: A phase 1 study suggested potential clinical advantages of ciprofol as a sedation/anesthetic agent, with no evidence of drug-related toxicity. However, the sedation effects and safety of ciprofol in intensive care unit (ICU) patients with mechanical ventilation should be further confirmed in a phase 3 study with a larger cohort of patients. During a phase 3, non-inferiority, multicenter, single-blind, randomized, propofol controlled trial, Chinese ICU patients undergoing mechanical ventilation and requiring endotracheal intubation will be sedated for 6–24 h after randomization. Considering a success rate for ICU sedation of 99% for ciprofol and the positive control drug propofol, a total sample size of 120 subjects with mechanical ventilation will be required to achieve 80% power to determine non-inferiority with a margin of 8%. Finally, taking into account 10% losses, 135 patients will be enrolled and randomly assigned to ciprofol (90 cases) and propofol (45 cases) groups in a 2:1 ratio. The primary outcome will be the success rate of sedation satisfied by the following conditions: the time within the range of Richmond Agitation and Sedation Score (+ 1 ~ − 2) must account for ≥ 70% of the study drug administration time and without other rescue treatments. Secondary outcomes will include the average time to reach the sedation goal, study drug usage, rescue medication given per unit weight, extubation time, recovery time to full consciousness and nursing scores. Safety endpoints will include adverse events (AEs), drug related AEs and serious AEs. Planned Outcomes: The results of this study will provide crucial information on the use of ciprofol for sedation of patients in ICUs. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier, NCT04620031. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To examine the refractive lens power (RLP) and lens thickness and their associated factors in children from North-Western China. Children from two schools (primary school and junior high school) in the North-Western Chinese province of Qinghai underwent a comprehensive ophthalmic examination including biometry and cycloplegic refractometry. The RLP was calculated using Bennett's equation. The study included 596 (77.9%) individuals (mean age: 11.0 ± 2.8 years; range: 6–16 years) with a mean axial length of 23.65 ± 1.24 mm (range: 20.02–27.96 mm). Mean lens thickness was 3.30 ± 0.16 mm (range: 2.85–3.99 mm) and mean RLP was 24.85 ± 1.98D (range: 19.40–32.97). In univariate analysis, girls as compared to boys had a significantly thicker lens and greater RLP, shorter axial length, smaller corneal curvature radius and shorter corneal curvature radius (all P < 0.001). Both sexes did not differ significantly in refractive error (P = 0.11) and corneal thickness (P = 0.16). RLP was positively associated with refractive error (correlation coefficient r = 0.33; P < 0.001) and lens thickness (r = 0.62; P < 0.001) and negatively with axial length (r = − 0.70; P < 0.001). In univariate analysis, RLP decreased significantly with older age in the age group from age 6–13, while it plateaued thereafter, with no significant difference between boys and girls. In multivariate regression analysis, a higher RLP was associated with younger age (P < 0.001; standard regression coefficient β = − 0.07), female sex (P < 0.001; β = − 0.08), shorter axial length (P < 0.001; β = − 0.48) and higher lens thickness (P < 0.001; β = 0.42). In Chinese children, RLP with a mean of 24.85 ± 1.98D decreases with older age, male sex, longer axial length, and thinner lens thickness. Changes in RLP and axial length elongation are important players in the emmetropization and myopization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transcription coactivator YAP plays a vital role in Hippo pathway for organ-size control and tissue homeostasis. Recent studies have demonstrated YAP is closely related to immune disorders and inflammatory diseases, but the underlying mechanisms remain less defined. Here, we find that YAP promotes the activation of NLRP3 inflammasome, an intracellular multi-protein complex that orchestrates host immune responses to infections or sterile injuries. YAP deficiency in myeloid cells significantly attenuates LPS-induced systemic inflammation and monosodium urate (MSU) crystals-induced peritonitis. Mechanistically, YAP physically interacts with NLRP3 and maintains the stability of NLRP3 through blocking the association between NLRP3 and the E3 ligase β-TrCP1, the latter increases the proteasomal degradation of NLRP3 via K27-linked ubiquitination at lys380. Together, these findings establish a role of YAP in the activation of NLRP3 inflammasome, and provide potential therapeutic target to treat the NLRP3 inflammasome-related diseases. YAP is known to play a role both in organ size via the Hippo signalling pathway and in inflammation, though the precise mechanism are unclear. Here, the authors report that YAP promotes activation of the NLRP3 inflammosome through binding interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, sialon/SiC composite ceramics were synthesized in situ from SiC, α-Si3N4, AlN, calcined bauxite, quartz, and Y2O3 via layered buried sintering at different temperatures (1540–1640 °C). The sialon/SiC composite ceramics designed in this study are expected to be used as thermal absorb materials in solar thermal power generation based on the good mechanical character and thermal shock resistance. The results showed that the β-sialon/SiC sample with 60 wt% silicon carbide sintered at 1600 °C exhibited the optimal performances with dense microstructure, high bending strength, and good thermal shock resistance. After 30 thermal shock cycles, the bending strength of β-sialon/SiC sample with 60 wt% silicon carbide was 66.68 MPa with a decrease of 4.79%. In thermal shock tests, SiC and Si3N4 in the sample were oxidized into amorphous SiO2, and small amount of sialon was decomposed into mullite, which resulted in good thermal shock resistance. It was believed that in situ sialon/SiC composite ceramics can be a promising candidate for solar absorber owing to good thermal shock resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High quality-factor (Q) optical resonators are a key component for ultra-narrow linewidth lasers, frequency stabilization, precision spectroscopy and quantum applications. Integration in a photonic waveguide platform is key to reducing cost, size, power and sensitivity to environmental disturbances. However, to date, the Q of all-waveguide resonators has been relegated to below 260 Million. Here, we report a Si3N4 resonator with 422 Million intrinsic and 3.4 Billion absorption-limited Qs. The resonator has 453 kHz intrinsic, 906 kHz loaded, and 57 kHz absorption-limited linewidths and the corresponding 0.060 dB m−1 loss is the lowest reported to date for waveguides with deposited oxide upper cladding. These results are achieved through a careful reduction of scattering and absorption losses that we simulate, quantify and correlate to measurements. This advancement in waveguide resonator technology paves the way to all-waveguide Billion Q cavities for applications including nonlinear optics, atomic clocks, quantum photonics and high-capacity fiber communications. Integrated photonic all-waveguide resonators are a critical component in many future applications. Here the authors develop an optimized photonic all-waveguide resonator with an ultra-high quality factor, Q, of almost half a billion, and a narrow sub-MHz linewidth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sialon/SiC composites were synthesized in situ from SiC, α-Si3N4, AlN, calcined bauxite, quartz and Y2O3 via layered buried sintering at different temperatures (1 540–1 640 °C). The results showed that the O'-sialon/SiC sample with 60 wt% silicon carbide sintered at 1 600 °C exhibited excellent mechanical properties, with apparent porosity of 16.01%, bulk density of 2.06 g·cm−3, bending strength of 52.63 MPa, and thermal expansion coefficient of 5.83×10−6 °C−1. The oxide film formed on the surface was linked closely to O'-sialon, so the oxide film was not easily broken. After 100 h oxidization, the sample surface was smoother and denser, with oxidation weight gain rate 23.6 mg/cm2 and oxidation rate constant 2.0 mg2·cm−4·h−1. Therefore, the sample had the excellent high-temperature oxidation resistance. It was confirmed that the in-situ sialon/SiC composites could be a promising candidate for solar absorber owing to its high-temperature oxidation resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Despite many neuroimaging studies in the past years, the neuroanatomical substrates of major depressive disorder (MDD) subcortical structures are still not well understood. Since hippocampus and amygdala are the two vital subcortical structures that most susceptible to MDD, finding the evidence of morphological changes in their subregions may bring some new insights for MDD research. Combining structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with novel morphometry analysis methods, we recruited 25 MDD patients and 28 healthy controls (HC), and investigated their volume and morphological differences in hippocampus and amygdala. Relative to volumetric method, our methods detected more significant global morphological atrophies (p<0.05). More precisely, subiculum and cornu ammonis (CA) 1 subregions of bilateral hippocampus, lateral (LA) and basolateral ventromedial (BLVM) of left amygdala and LA, BLVM, central (CE), amygdalostriatal transition area (ASTR), anterior cortical (ACO) and anterior amygdaloid area (AAA) of right amygdala were demonstrated prone to atrophy. Correlation analyses between each subject's surface eigenvalues and Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD) were then performed. Correlation results showed that atrophy areas in hippocampus and amygdala have slight tendencies of expanding into other subregions with the development of MDD. Finally, we performed group morphometric analysis and drew the atrophy and expansion areas between MDD-Medicated group (only 19 medicated subjects in MDD group were included) and HC group, found some preliminary evidence about subregional morphological resilience of hippocampus and amygdala. These findings revealed new pathophysiologic patterns in the subregions of hippocampus and amygdala, which can help with subsequent smaller-scale MDD research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aetiology of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a multifactorial interplay between heredity and environment1,2. Here we report that deficiency in SETDB1, a histone methyltransferase that mediates the trimethylation of histone H3 at lysine 9, participates in the pathogenesis of IBD. We found that levels of SETDB1 are decreased in patients with IBD, and that mice with reduced SETDB1 in intestinal stem cells developed spontaneous terminal ileitis and colitis. SETDB1 safeguards genome stability3, and the loss of SETDB1 in intestinal stem cells released repression of endogenous retroviruses (retrovirus-like elements with long repeats that, in humans, comprise approximately 8% of the genome). Excessive viral mimicry generated by motivated endogenous retroviruses triggered Z-DNA-binding protein 1 (ZBP1)-dependent necroptosis, which irreversibly disrupted homeostasis of the epithelial barrier and promoted bowel inflammation. Genome instability, reactive endogenous retroviruses, upregulation of ZBP1 and necroptosis were all seen in patients with IBD. Pharmaceutical inhibition of RIP3 showed a curative effect in SETDB1-deficient mice, which suggests that targeting necroptosis of intestinal stem cells may represent an approach for the treatment of severe IBD. In mouse models of bowel inflammation, depletion of the SETDB1 histone methyltransferase leads to genome instability, which releases repression of endogenous retroviruses that triggers ZBP1-dependent necroptosis and inflammation in gut. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Targeted SWATH-MS data analysis is critically dependent on the spectral library. Comprehensive spectral libraries of human or several other organisms have been published, but the extensive spectral library for mouse, a widely used model organism is not available. Here, we present a large murine spectral library covering more than 11,000 proteins and 240,000 proteotypic peptides, which included proteins derived from 9 murine tissue samples and one murine L929 cell line. This resource supports the quantification of 67% of all murine proteins annotated by UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot. Furthermore, we applied the spectral library to SWATH-MS data from murine tissue samples. Data are available via SWATHAtlas (PASS01441). Measurement(s) Mouse Protein • mass spectrum • spectral library Technology Type(s) mass spectrometry • combined ms-ms + spectral library search Sample Characteristic - Organism Mus musculus Machine-accessible metadata file describing the reported data: 10.6084/m9.figshare.11968230 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mullite and corundum co-bonded SiC-based composite ceramics (SiC-mullite-Al2O3) were prepared by using SiC, calcined bauxite and kaolin via pressureless carbon-buried sintering. The low-cost SiCbased composite ceramics designed in this study are expected to be used as thermal storage materials in solar thermal power generation based on the high density and excellent thermal shock resistance. The influences of calcined bauxite addition and sintering temperature on the microstructures, phase compositions, and physical properties of the samples were investigated. Results demonstrated that the introduction of calcined bauxite containing two bonding phases greatly reduced the lowest sintering temperature to 1 400 °C. The SiC-mullite- Al2O3 composite with 40 wt% calcined bauxite sintered at 1 500 °C exhibited optimum performance. The density and bending strength were 2.27 g·cm−3 and 77.05 MPa. The bending strength increased by 24.58% and no cracks were observed after 30 thermal shock cycles, while general clay would reduce the thermal shock resistance of SiC. The SiC-mullite-Al2O3 composites with satisfied performance are expected to be used as thermal storage materials in solar thermal power generation systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coal series kaolin (CSK) is used as the raw material to prepare CSK cordierite electronic ceramics. Sintering process is analyzed by a heating microscope. The microstructure of green body, phase transformation, and microstructure evolution during sintering process is elucidated by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Comprehensive evaluations of our product are made for physical properties, electrical properties, and coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE), respectively. According to test results of the obtained CSK cordierite ceramic, the sintering temperature range is 1280~1420 °C, synthetic temperature is 1160~1280 °C, densification process is 1360~1420 °C, and large deformations of cordierite ceramic happen above 1420 °C. The optimum performance of the obtained CSK cordierite ceramics is summarized as follows: volume density is 1.81 g·cm3, apparent porosity is 28%, bending strength is 65 MPa, CTE is 1.41 × 10−6 °C−1 (600 °C), and dielectric constant is 4.6 (100 Hz). As a result, this cordierite electronic ceramics from CSK have great potential to do with applications in electric heater supports, such as electric stove, ceramic heater base, and electric heater cooling plate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We developed cordierite-mullite composite ceramic materials to package and encapsulate PCM, and presented a preparation process from raw materials of kaolin, talc and alumina. The properties and microstructre of cordierite-mullite composite ceramic were studied. Due to the strengthening effects of mullite, the sample C2 (80 wt% of cordierite and 20 wt % of mullite) sintered at 1 420 °C possessed excellent physical properties. Determined by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) analysis, cuboid-shaped cordierite crystals and needle-like or long quadrilateral-prism mullite crystals with staggered patterns were found, which endowed the composites preferable mechanical strength. After 30 cycles of thermal shock (room temperature to about 1 100 °C, air-cooled), the sample presented superior thermal shock resistance, which is suitable to be applied as solar thermal storage materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Peritoneal dialysis (PD) catheter implantation is necessary for patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) to maintain continuous ambulatory PD (CAPD). In this study, we aimed to introduce a half-percutaneous technique based on a modified trocar device for the placement of a PD catheter and to evaluate the safety and efficacy of this technique and its associated short-term postoperative outcomes. Methods: Eighty-four ESRD patients who underwent PD catheter implantation with the half-percutaneous technique were recruited retrospectively between September 2016 and October 2017 from the Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine. All catheter implantation procedures were performed by the same three nephrologists. The surgical protocol was described in detail, and the general intraoperative parameters and short-term complications were evaluated. Results: All ESRD patients underwent successful PD catheterization with our novel technique. Neither conversion from this method to traditional open surgery nor major intraoperative complications were observed. The mean operative time was 20.8 ± 4.5 min, and the incision length was 2.28 ± 0.53 cm. The operative cost was CN ¥ 1762.45 (US $261), and the length of hospital stay was 7.5 ± 0.58 days. One patient (1.19%) showed leakage, and one patient (1.19%) experienced bleeding 2 weeks after the surgery. Catheter dysfunction due to catheter tip migration occurred in nine patients (10.7%) 2 weeks after the procedure, and the placement of the catheter was corrected with conservative treatment. No visceral injuries or PD-related infections were observed up to 4 weeks after the catheters were implanted. Conclusions: This half-percutaneous technique for PD catheter implantation appears to be a safe, effective and feasible procedure. This technique has the advantages of reduced surgical trauma, a shorter operative time and faster postsurgical recovery. In particular, this novel technique is easy for nephrologists to perform and therefore may help to promote and popularize PD treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the effect of location-based tax incentives on local economy through attracting entrepreneurial activities in the context of China. We exploit the differentials in the entry of new private firms across counties on the border of China's Western Regional Development Strategy (WRDS). This strategy introduces an 18% reduction in corporate income tax rates for firms in the western areas in China after 2000 if they belong to the sectors encouraged by the central government. Comparing contiguous border county pairs in a triple difference-in-difference framework, we find that the increase in the number of new entrants eligible for tax reduction is larger in the treatment counties than in the control ones. We also find that new entrants increase in treated counties not at the cost of significant loss in nearby untreated counties. Our further analysis shows that whether a treatment county is more favored by new firms due to tax incentives depends on its local industrial base and market environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spectrally pure lasers, the heart of precision high-end scientific and commercial applications, are poised to make the leap from the laboratory to integrated circuits. Translating this performance to integrated photonics will dramatically reduce cost and footprint for applications such as ultrahigh capacity fibre and data centre networks, atomic clocks and sensing. Despite the numerous applications, integrated lasers currently suffer from large linewidth. Brillouin lasers, with their unique properties, offer an intriguing solution, yet bringing their performance to integrated platforms has remained elusive. Here, we demonstrate a sub-hertz (~0.7 Hz) fundamental linewidth Brillouin laser in an integrated Si3N4 waveguide platform that translates advantages of non-integrated designs to the chip scale. This silicon-foundry-compatible design supports low loss from 405 to 2,350 nm and can be integrated with other components. Single- and multiple-frequency output operation provides a versatile low phase-noise solution. We highlight this by demonstrating an optical gyroscope and a low-phase-noise photonic oscillator. Brillouin lasing with 0.7 Hz fundamental linewidth is observed by optically exciting a monolithic bus-ring Si3N4 waveguide resonator. The Brillouin laser is applied to an optical gyroscope and a low phase-noise photonic microwave oscillator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The connected door space is an enigmatic topological space in which every proper nonempty subset is either open or closed, but not both. This paper provides an elementary proof of the classification theorem of connected door spaces. More importantly, we show that connected door topologies can be viewed as solutions of the valuation f(A)+f(B)=f(A∪B)+f(A∩B) and the equation f(A)+f(B)=f(A∪B). In addition, some special solutions, which can be regarded as a union of connected door spaces, are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We demonstrate a facile and effective approach to significantly improve the photoluminescence of bulk MoS2 via laser thinning followed by gold particle decoration. Upon laser thinning of exfoliated bulk MoS2, photoluminescence emerges from the laser-thinned region. After further treatment with an AuCl3 solution, gold particles self-assemble on the laser-thinned region and thick edges, further increasing the fluorescence of bulk MoS2 28 times and the Raman response 3 times. Such fluorescence enhancement can be attributed to both surface plasmon resonance and p-type doping induced by gold particles. The combination of laser thinning and AuCl3 treatment enables the functionalization of bulk MoS2 for optoelectronic applications. It can also provide a viable strategy for mask-free and area-selective p-type doping on single MoS2 flakes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inter-basin water transfer projects (IBWTPs) can involve basins as water donors and water receivers. In contrast to most studies on IBWTPs, which mainly impact the surface-water eco-environment, this study focuses on the impacts of an IBWTP on groundwater and its eco-environment in a water donor basin in an arid area, where surface water and groundwater are exchanged. Surface water is assumed to recharge groundwater and a groundwater numerical simulation model was constructed using MODFLOW. The model was used to quantitatively evaluate the impact of an IBWTP located in the upstream portion of Nalenggele River (the biggest river in the Qaidam basin, Northwest China). The impact involved decrease in spring flow, drawdown of groundwater, reduction in oasis area, and an increase in species replacement of oasis vegetation in the midstream and downstream of the river. Results show that the emergence sites of springs at the front of the oasis will move 2-5 km downstream, and the outflow of springs will decrease by 42 million m3/a. The maximum drawdown of groundwater level at the front of the oasis will be 3.6 m and the area across which groundwater drawdown exceeds 2.0 m will be about 59.02 km2, accounting for 2.71% of the total area of the oasis. Under such conditions, reeds will gradually be replaced by Tamarix, shrubs, and other alternative plant species. These findings have important implications for the optimization of water resource allocation and protection of the eco-environment in arid regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To efficiently utilize the kaolin, an economical way of preparing cordierite ceramic with high performance for electric heater supports was put forward. In this study, sintering process, phase transformation, microstructure evolutions were systematically studied by heating microscope, X-ray diffraction, scanning electronic microscope and thermal analysis. Properties (physical properties, electrical properties and coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE)) were tested for comprehensive performance evaluation. The results showed that the utilization of poor quality kaolin broadened the firing range of cordierite ceramic which was from 1 200 to 1 380 °C. Microstructure becomes loose with increasing of the pore size, which had significant influence on bending strength and electrical properties. High content of K2O in poor quality kaolin was the reason for liquid phase generation in sintering process, which further leads to microstructural changes. The cordierite ceramic sintered at 1 320 °C had the properties as follows: CTE of 1.98×10-6 °C-1 (500 °C), bending strength of 90 MPa, apparent porosity of 15.1%, dielectric constant of 7.5 (100 Hz), and volume resistivity of 1.05×109 Ω·cm (100 Hz). The comprehensive properties are very suitable for use as electric heater supports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to identify the lower limb movements accurately and quickly, a recognition method based on extreme learning machine (ELM) is proposed. The recognizing target set is constructed by decomposing the daily actions into different segments. To get the recognition accuracy of seven movements based on the surface electromyography, the recognition feature vector space is established by integrating short-time statistical characteristics under time domain, and locally linear embedding algorithm is used to reduce the computational complexity and improve robustness of algorithm. Compared with BP, the overall recognition accuracy for each subject in the best dimension with ELM is above 95%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When dense nonaqueous phase liquid is released from human activities and infiltrates into groundwater system, its migration is influenced by heterogeneity of aquifer seriously. In this study, an experiment is conducted in two-dimensional heterogeneous translucent granular porous media to explore the long-term migration of perchloroethylene (PCE, 1,1,2,2-tetrachloroethene). Porosity of translucent porous media is derived by light transmission micro-tomography method. Afterward, a three-dimensional (3D) right square pyramid microstructure for granular media is developed to obtain the permeability and entry pressure. Representative elementary volume (REV) of translucent granular porous media is estimated using a criterion of relative gradient error ( $$\varepsilon_{\text{g}}^{i}$$ ). Based on the obtained heterogeneities of media and corresponding REV estimation, simulation models with consideration of inner heterogeneities of media and without consideration of inner heterogeneities are compared to reveal the simulation effects. The discretization of simulation region is conducted according to results of REV estimation. Compared with model without consideration of inner heterogeneities, the model based on inner heterogeneities is more capable of characterizing the migration of PCE and is in good agreement with the experiment during the entire long-term contaminant migration including calibration, verification and validation periods. Moreover, observed PCE infiltration and spreading behavior are validated through moment analysis. This study reveals the complexity of PCE behavior during long-term contaminant migration periods and the importance of quantification of media heterogeneity for accurate simulation. Simultaneously, 3D microstructures of porous media should be delineated effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organophosphorous nerve agents (NAs) pose a great threat to nations and people because of their acute and extreme toxicities. The rapid detection of NAs has attracted growing interest in the first emergency response field. In this work, we demonstrate a simple and sensitive surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopic (SERS) method for NAs detection, and G- and V-agents discrimination. The results show that VX (V-agents) can be directly detected at a 20 ng mL level with pinhole shell-isolated gold nanoparticles (pinSHINs) as the substrate. Moreover, combined with a specific and prompt alkaline keto-oxime transformation approach in a full aqueous solution, G-agents can be measured as low as 10 ng mL with excellent discrimination from V-agents and other common organophosphorous pesticides within several minutes. The achieved discriminative detection of G-agents and VX could be significant not only for reducing the false positive and negative signals but also for providing an appropriate recommendation on the effective medical rescue. A decontamination outcome occurred alongside, any highly toxic G-agents were converted to a less toxic phosphate, and the generated cyanide was fully and firmly adsorbed onto the surface of pinSHINs substrate, which may be further used for on-site detection of extremely toxic NA prototypes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Silica phase widely existed in the process of synthesis of cordierite. In order to study the influence of silica phase on synthesis of cordierite, the reaction of quartz-alumina-magnesia system has been researched. The complex reaction process and mechanism of synthesis are elucidated by means of scanning electron microscope, X-ray diffraction, and thermoanalysis. The relationship between sintering properties and reaction process has been researched. Formation of cordierite is a multiple-step process of five stages with different reaction rates, which are controlled by the transformation of silica phase. At different stages, prevailing reactions of cordierite synthesis are as follows: (i) reaction of quartz and alumina-magnesia, (ii) reaction of quartz and MgAl2O4 spinel, and (iii) reaction of cristobalite and MgAl2O4 spinel. Each stage is correlated with different synthesis quantity of cordierite and has a great impact on sintering properties. The presence of cristobalite increases the synthesis temperature of cordierite and reduces the purity of cordierite ceramic. Therefore, the improvement of cordierite properties is possible by inhibiting quartz transformation into cristobalite in process of synthesis of cordierite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]