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Oncolytic virus is an emerging anti-cancer strategy. However, extracellular matrix (ECM), as a physical barrier, limits virus spread within the tumor. To overcome the obstacle, we constructed a recombinant Newcastle disease virus (NDV) expressing matrix metalloproteinase (MMP8) (NDV-MMP8) using with reverse genetic technology. In vitro, NDV-MMP8 was identified and verified by WB and ELISA. Cell viability was detected by CCK-8 assay. In vivo, we established two liver cancer xenograft models. NDV-MMP8 was injected into the tumor to observe the tumor volume and survival of mice. The changes in extracellular matrix were observed by Masson's trichrome staining. Virus expression in tumor tissues was detected by immunofluorescence assay. The virus titer in tumor tissues was detected by TCID50. Histopathological changes were detected by hematoxylin and eosin (HE) and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) staining. Intratumoral administration of NDV-MMP8 can effectively degrade ECM, promote the spread of the virus within the tumor, and reduce tumor growth rate. Therefore, the method of increasing intratumoral virus accumulation by degradation of the ECM to enhance the oncolytic effect has great potential for clinical application.

Environment-friendly nano-catalysts capable of activating peroxymonosulfate (PMS) have received increasing attention recently. Nevertheless, traditional nano-catalysts are generally well dispersed and difficult to be separated from reaction system, so it is particularly important to develop nano-catalysts with both good catalytic activity and excellent recycling efficiency. In this work, magnetically recoverable Fe3O4-modified ternary CoFeCu-layered double hydroxides (Fe3O4/CoFeCu-LDHs) was prepared by a simple co-precipitation method and initially applied to activate PMS for the degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB). X-ray diffraction (XRD), fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FT-IR), scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller method (BET), and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) were applied to characterize morphology, structure, specific surface area and magnetism. In addition, the effects of several key parameters were evaluated. The Fe3O4/CoFeCu-LDHs exhibited high catalytic activity, and RhB degradation efficiency could reach 100% within 20 min by adding 0.2 g/L of catalyst and 1 mmol/L of PMS into 50 mg/L of RhB solution under a wide pH condition (3.0-7.0). Notably, the Fe3O4/CoFeCu-LDHs showed good super-paramagnetism and excellent stability, which could be effectively and quickly recovered under magnetic condition, and the degradation efficiency after ten cycles could still maintain 98.95%. Both radicals quenching tests and electron spin resonance (ESR) identified both HO• and SO4•− were involved and SO4•− played a dominant role on the RhB degradation. Finally, the chemical states of the sample's surface elements were measured by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and the possible activation mechanism in Fe3O4/CoFeCu-LDHs/PMS system was proposed according to comprehensive analysis.

Temperature-responsive resistance transition behaviors of the melamine sponges wrapped with different graphene oxide derivatives (i.e. nanoribbon, wide-ribbon and sheet) were investigated. Melamine sponge composites coated by three types of GO derivatives were prepared by a simple dip-coating approach. All these composites show good mechanical flexibility and reliability (almost unchanged compressive stress at 70 % strain after 100 cycles), high hydrophobicity (water contact angle >120°), excellent flame resistance (self-extinguishing) and structural stability even after burning, which was used to construct the resistance-based fire alarm/warning sensor. Notably, the different resistance response behaviors of such sensors are strongly dependent on the GO size and network formed on the MF skeleton surface. Typically, at a fixed high temperature of ∼350 ℃, the three fire alarm sensors show different response time (to trigger the alarm light) of 6.3, 8.4 and 11.1 s for nanoribbon, wide-ribbon and sheet at the same concentration, respectively. The structural observation and chemical analysis demonstrated that the discrepancy of temperature-responsive resistance transition behaviors of various GO derivatives was strongly determined by their different thermal reduction degrees during the high-temperature or flame treating process. This work offers a design and development for construction of smart fire alarm device for potential fire prevention and safety applications.

Nowadays, given the booming demand of blood sugar control from the soaring number of diabetes patients and the insufficient stability of costly enzyme-based glucose sensors in clinic, the development of enzyme-free sensors has been drawing tremendous attraction. Herein, we fabricated a unique structure of Ni/NiO hybrid nanoparticles with mixed-valence states encapsulated in and cross-linked by nitrogen-doped graphene via a facile Ni-MOF-annealing approach and developed its notable feature in efficiently non-enzymatic glucose sensing. The microstructure and valence states, proved vital to the electrochemical activity and sensing performance, were simultaneously regulated by the annealing temperature. The optimized sample obtained at 400 °C displays the superior activation behavior and best glucose sensing performance, offering a high sensitivity of 3.2518 mA mM−1 cm−2, a wide linear range (0.001–3.568 mM), a low detection limit (0.032 μM, S/N = 3) as well as excellent selectivity, good reproducibility, long-term stability, and satisfactory applicability in real sample. By further investigation of the electrochemical kinetics mechanism, the synergistic effect of multivalent system and well-organized microstructure was proved beneficial for charge transfer, activation of reaction sites, and elimination of electrode polarization as well, thus providing a promising strategy in designing non-enzymatic biosensor platform for glucose detection in actual diagnosis.

Background CRISPR/Cas9 is a rapidly developing genome editing technology in various biological systems due to its efficiency, portability, simplicity and versatility. This editing technology has been successfully applied in in several important plants of Solanaceae such as tomato, tobacco, potato, petunia and groundcherry. Wolfberry ranked the sixth among solanaceous crops of outstanding importance in China following potato, tomato, eggplant, pepper and tobacco. To date, there has been no report on CRISPR/Cas9 technology to improve Lycium ruthenicum due to the unknown genome sequencing and the lack of efficient regeneration and genetic transformation systems. Results In this study, we have established an efficientregeneration and genetic transformation system of Lycium ruthenicum. We have used this system to validate target sites for fw2.2, a major fruit weight quantitative trait locus first identified from tomato and accounted for 30% of the variation in fruit size. In our experiments, the editing efficiency was very high, with 95.45% of the transgenic lines containing mutations in the fw2.2 target site. We obtained transgenic wolfberry plants containing four homozygous mutations and nine biallelic mutations in the fw2.2 gene. Conclusions These results suggest that CRISPR-based gene editing is effective for the improvement of black wolfberry traits, and we expect this approach to be routinely applied to this important economic fruit.

Fundamental mechanics of gas hydrates is of importance to evaluating geomechanical and geotechnical properties of gas hydrate deposits, but it remains largely unexplored yet due to insufficient direct experimental techniques and high-quality of gas hydrate samples. Here, classic molecular dynamic (MD) simulations are used to study the fracture mechanics of three main methane clathrate hydrates of sI, sII and sH types. The results show that the mechanical properties of those three methane clathrate hydrates are intrinsically different and are degraded by the presence of nanocracks. They show brittle facture and different fracture toughness. In terms of energy release rate, they are ranked as $$\text {sH}\!\!>\!\!\text {sI}>\!\!\text {sII}$$ . Moreover, the three methane clathrate hydrates with nanocracks can be explained by a modified Griffith criterion. Moreover, it is intriguingly identified tip amorphization during the crack propagation process of the three methane clathrate hydrates, and sH methane clathrate hydrate with specific nanocrack exhibits slower crack propagation than other two methane clathrate hydrates.

This paper is concerned with the asymptotic propagations for a nonlocal dispersal population model with shifting habitats. In particular, we verify that the invading speed of the species is determined by the speed c of the shifting habitat edge and the behaviours near infinity of the species’ growth rate which is nondecreasing along the positive spatial direction. In the case where the species declines near the negative infinity, we conclude that extinction occurs if c > c*(∞), while c < c*(∞), spreading happens with a leftward speed min{−c, c*(∞)} and a rightward speed c*(∞), where c*(∞) is the minimum KPP travelling wave speed associated with the species’ growth rate at the positive infinity. The same scenario will play out for the case where the species’ growth rate is zero at negative infinity. In the case where the species still grows near negative infinity, we show that the species always survives ‘by moving’ with the rightward spreading speed being either c*(∞) or c*(−∞) and the leftward spreading speed being one of c*(∞), c*(−∞) and −c, where c*(−∞) is the minimum KPP travelling wave speed corresponding to the growth rate at the negative infinity. Finally, we give some numeric simulations and discussions to present and explain the theoretical results. Our results indicate that there may exists a solution like a two-layer wave with the propagation speeds analytically determined for such type of nonlocal dispersal equations.

NAC (NAM, ATAF1/2, CUC2) transcription factors play important roles in plant growth, development, and responses to abiotic stress. In this study, we cloned an NAC2 subfamily transcription factor gene (SlNAC7) from the halophyte Suaeda liaotungensis K., and conducted a series of studies to determine the characteristics and functions of this gene. The SlNAC7 coding region contains 1719 base pairs that encode a 573 amino acid long protein. SlNAC7 is expressed in the roots, stems, and leaves of S. liaotungensis, with the highest expression in the leaves. We found that SlNAC7 expression can be induced by drought, salt, cold, and abscisic acid. Transient expression in onion epidermal cells revealed that SlNAC7 is located in both the nucleus and cytoplasm. A transcriptional activation experiment in yeast showed that the transcriptional activation domain of SlNAC7 is located at the C terminus. When SlNAC7 was transformed into Arabidopsis under the control of a CaMV 35S promoter its overexpression was found to enhance the ability of transgenic plants to resist drought, salt, and cold stress. Moreover, these plants showed multiple changes in growth characteristics and physiological and biochemical indices in response to different stresses, as well as the upregulation of numerous stress-related genes. We have thus characterized a new halophyte-derived NAC transcription factor, SlNAC7, which can regulate plant growth and physiological and biochemical changes under adverse conditions by regulating the expression of stress-related genes, thereby enhancing plant stress resistance. SlNAC7 is a promising candidate for breeding new varieties of stress-tolerant crops.

The economical and societal issues associated with the depletion of fossil feedstocks and severe accumulation of nondegradable plastics in nature have pushed the increasing efforts toward the devel...

There are wide genomic and phenotypic differences between Asian and European pig breeds, yet the current reference genome is the European Duroc pig genome. A high-quality pig genome is lacking for genetic analysis of agricultural traits in Asian pigs. Here, using a hybrid approach, a high-quality reference genome (MSCAAS v1) for the Asian Meishan breed is assembled with a contig N50 size of 48.05 Mb. MSCAAS v1 outperforms the Duroc genome as a reference genome for Asian breeds. Genomic comparison reveals 49,103 structural variations (SVs) between Meishan and Duroc, 4.02% of which are Asian-specific SVs (AP-SVs). Notably, a 30-Mb hotspot for AP-SVs on chromosome X enriched for genes associated with Asian-pig-specific phenotypes is present in Asian domestic pig breeds, but absent in Asian wild boars, suggesting that Asian domestic breeds share a common ancestor. Interbreed transcriptomics reveals transcriptional suppression roles of AP-SVs in multiple tissues. Finally, transcriptional regulation in the intron of IGF2R is reported, as genomic SV (274-bp deletion) in Tibetan pig limits its growth compared to domestic pig breeds. In summary, this study provides insights regarding the genetic changes underlying pig domestication and presents a benchmark-setting resource for the utilization of agricultural valuable loci in Asian pigs.

The hydroisomerization of n-hexadecane over Pt-Pd bimetallic catalysts is an effective way to produce clean fuel oil. This work reports a useful preparation method of bimetallic bifunctional catalysts by a co-impregnation or sequential impregnation process. Furthermore, monometallic catalysts with loading either Pt or Pd are also prepared for comparison. The effects of the metal species and impregnation order on the characteristics and catalytic performance of the catalysts are investigated. The catalytic test results indicate that the maximum iso-hexadecane yield over different catalysts increases as follows: Pt/silicoaluminophosphate SAPO-41 < Pd/SAPO-41 < Pt*-Pd/SAPO-41 (prepared by sequential impregnation) < Pt-Pd/SAPO-41 (prepared by co-impregnation). Owing to the synergic effects between Pt and Pd, the Pt-Pd/SAPO-41 catalyst prepared by the co-impregnation method demonstrates the effective promotion of (de)hydrogenation activity. Therefore, this catalyst exhibits the highest iso-hexadecane yield of 89.4% when the n-hexadecane conversion is 96.3%. Additionally, the Pt-Pd/SAPO-41 catalyst also presents the highest catalytic activity and best stability even after 150 h long-term tests.

The role of elemental partitioning between β and ω phase in embrittling an originally ductile ω-containing Ti–12Mo (wt.%) model alloy was studied using transmission electron microscopy and atom probe tomography. It is revealed that the embrittlement of this alloy already occurs after aging at 400 °C for as short as 10 min, when the size, inter-particle spacing and volume fraction of the ω particles remain almost unchanged. The origin of the aging-induced embrittlement is attributed to the significant rejection of Mo (>5 at.%) from the ω particles during aging, which leads to remarkable increase in the shear modulus (>30 GPa) of the ω particles, promoting intense plastic flow localization and facilitating crack nucleation prior to macroscopic yielding.

We establish the existence of traveling waves for a Lotka-Volterra competition-diffusion model with a shifting habitat. It is assumed that the growth rate of each species is nondecreasing along the x-axis, positive near ∞ and negative near −∞, and shifting rightward at a speed c. We show that under appropriate conditions, for the case that one species is competitively stronger near ∞ and the case that both species coexist near ∞, there exists a critical number c ¯ ( ∞ ) such that for any c > c ¯ ( ∞ ) there exists a forced traveling wave with speed c connecting the origin and a semi-trivial steady state and for c c ¯ ( ∞ ) such a traveling wave does not exist. We also show that when a coexistence steady state exists, for any c > 0 , there is a forced traveling wave with speed c connecting the origin and the coexistence steady state.

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are short pulses observed in radio band from cosmological distances. One class of models invoke soft gamma-ray repeaters (SGRs), or magnetars, as the sources of FRBs. Some radio pulses have been observed from some magnetars, however, no FRB-like events had been detected in association any magnetar burst, including one giant flare. Recently, a pair of FRB-like bursts (FRB 200428 hereafter) separated by milliseconds (ms) were detected from the general direction of the Galactic magnetar SGR J1935+2154. Here we report the detection of a non-thermal X-ray burst in the 1-250 keV energy band with the Insight-HXMT satellite, which we identify as emitted from SGR J1935+2154. The burst showed two hard peaks with a separation of 34 ms, broadly consistent with that of the two bursts in FRB 200428. The delay time between the double radio and X-ray peaks is about 8.57 s, fully consistent with the dispersion delay of FRB 200428. We thus identify the non-thermal X-ray burst is associated with FRB 200428 whose high energy counterpart is the two hard peaks in X-ray. Our results suggest that the non-thermal X-ray burst and FRB 200428 share the same physical origin in an explosive event from SGR J1935+2154., 24 pages, 9 figures, 6 tables; initial submission to a journal on May 9th, 2020. Significant changes include updated localization and detailed spectral evolution of the X-ray burst, and better determination of the two narrow X-ray peaks corresponding to the two radio pulses. Conclusions are strengthened. Nature Astronomy online on Feb. 18, 2021

DNA replication stress poses a severe threat to genome stability and is a hallmark of cancer as well as a target for cancer therapy. It is well known that the evolutionarily conserved protein kinase WEE1 regulates replication stress responses by directly phosphorylating and inhibiting the major cell cycle driver CDKs in many organisms. Here, we report a novel WEE1 pathway. We found that Arabidopsis WEE1 directly interacts with and phosphorylates the E3 ubiquitin ligase FBL17 that promotes the degradation of CDK inhibitors. The phosphorylated FBL17 is further polyubiquitinated and degraded, thereby leading to the accumulation of CDK inhibitors and the inhibition of CDKs. In strong support for this model, either loss of function of FBL17 or overexpression of CDK inhibitors suppresses the hypersensitivity of the wee1 mutant to replication stress. Intriguingly, human WEE1 also phosphorylates and destabilizes the FBL17 equivalent protein SKP2, indicating that this is a conserved mechanism. This study reveals that the WEE1-FBL17/SKP2-CKIs-CDKs axis is a molecular framework for replication stress responses, which may have clinical implications because the WEE1 inhibitor AZD1775 is currently in phase II clinical trial as an anticancer drug. The kinase WEE1 regulates replication stress responses by directly phosphorylating cell cycle driver CDKs. Now, WEE1 is found to regulate CDKs via an indirect pathway involving the E3 ligase FBL17 and CDK inhibitors, a mechanism probably shared between plants and humans.

Cu–Cr/55 vol% diamond composites with 1 wt % (Cu–1Cr/55Dia), 2 wt % (Cu–2Cr/55Dia), and 3 wt % (Cu–3Cr/55Dia) Cr additives, respectively, are fabricated by a hot forging method. The diamond particle surfaces are nearly completely covered by the formed carbides interface for the Cu–3Cr/55Dia composite, and the Cu–3Cr/55Dia has the highest measured thermal conductivity among the three fabricated composites (433 Wm−1K−1). High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy analyses suggest that a double-layered interface structure is formed between the copper matrix and the diamond particle in the Cu–3Cr/55Dia, which is composed of 160 nm-thick Cr3C2 and 2 nm-thick Cr23C6. This interface structure, together with high relative density of the composite, high interface coverage of diamond, thin interface layer, and formation of coherent atomic boundaries, significantly contributes to obtaining high thermal conductivity for the Cu–3Cr/55Dia composite. The Diffuse Mismatch Model and Differential Effective Medium model are modified for establishing the quantitative relationship among interface characteristics, interface thermal conductance, and the composite’s thermal conductivity, based on considering the composite’s interface structure and phonon transmission theory. The predicted thermal conductivity value is well matched with the measured value for the Cu–3Cr/diamond (487 Wm−1K−1 vs 433 Wm−1K−1). This helps understand heat transfer behavior in the Cu–Cr/diamond composites.

CO2 electroreduction to value-added chemicals by virtue of renewable electricity is significant for carbon emission abatement and renewable energy conversion/storage. Conventional CO2 electroreduction occurring in aqueous solution or ionic liquid suffers from insufficient CO2 solubility and a separation dilemma of the soluble products. In this work, we report that when using Sn–Cu hollow fiber electrodes, gas-phase CO2 can be directly electroreduced into various multicarbon oxygenates. The faradaic efficiencies of acetaldehyde and acetone over a 0.3 wt% Sn–Cu hollow fiber electrode are 10 and 12% at the cell voltage of −1.4 V. The presence of an appropriate amount of SnO2 nanoparticles decorated on a Cu hollow fiber surface not only facilitates the reaction kinetics with elevated current densities, but also improves the C–C coupling of intermediates, promoting the formation of multicarbon oxygenates.

The defects including halide vacancies and uncoordinated Pb in perovskite films caused by the cracking of Pb–I bonds in the thermal annealing process are responsible for the degradation of the photovoltaic performance and long-term stability of perovskite solar cells (PSCs). Passivation of halide vacancies and uncoordinated Pb defects and construction of high quality perovskite films are vital to promote carrier lifetime and reduce non-radiative recombination losses. Herein, we develop a facile and broadly applicable surface passivation strategy for various compositional perovskite films, in which cadmium bromide (CdBr2) is selected and adopted to passivate the halide vacancies and uncoordinated Pb defects of the perovskite films owing to the stronger bond energies of Cd–I and Pb–Br than that of Pb–I. CdBr2 modification is found to be able to prolong carrier lifetime and decrease defect amount together with improving film quality of the typical compositional perovskites i.e. MAPbI3, Cs0.15FA0.85PbI3 and CsPbI2Br, as evidenced by spectral and photoelectrochemical measurements. As a result, the photovoltaic performance and ambient, photo and thermal stability of perovskite devices are greatly promoted, with a high efficiency of 16.05% achieved by the CdBr2-modified PSCs with the architecture of ITO/SnO2/MAPbI3/carbon, exceeding the previous highest PCE record for carbon-based MAPbI3 PSCs.

The simple frigate shape (SFS) as defined by The Technical Co-operative Program (TTCP), is a simplified model of the frigate, which helps to investigate the basic flow fields of a frigate. In this paper, the flow fields of the different modified SFS models, consisting of a bluff body superstructure and the deck, were numerically studied. A parametric study was conducted by varying both the superstructure length L and width B to investigate the recirculation zone behind the hangar. The size and the position of the recirculation zones were compared between different models. The numerical simulation results show that the size and the location of the recirculation zone are significantly affected by the superstructure length and width. The results obtained by Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes method were also compared well with both the time averaged Improved Delayed Detached-Eddy Simulation results and the experimental data. In addition, by varying the model size and inflow velocity, various flow fields were numerically studied, which indicated that the changing of Reynolds number has tiny effect on the variation of the dimensionless size of the recirculation zone. The results in this study have certain reference value for the design of the frigate superstructure.

Ultraviolet (UV) disinfection is now widely implemented in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) worldwide, but its effect on antibiotic resistome of the surviving bacteria remains unclear. In this study, we employed high-throughput sequencing-based metagenomic and metatranscriptomic approaches to comprehensively elucidate the effects of UV disinfection on the shifts of bacterial community and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) on both DNA and mRNA levels in one WWTP. Metagenomic analyses revealed an insignificant change in the bacterial community after UV disinfection, while metatranscriptomic analyses showed that UV disinfection significantly changed the abundance of 13.79% of phyla and 10.32% of genera. In total, 38 ARG-like open reading frames (ORFs) and 327 ARG-like transcripts were identified in the DNA and RNA samples, respectively. The relative abundances of the total ARGs, each ARG type, and each ARG subtype also varied after UV disinfection. Additionally, UV disinfection significantly reduced the expression of total ARGs from 49.40 transcripts per kilobase of exon model per million mapped reads (TPM) to 47.62 TPM, and significantly changed the expression of 10.75% of ARG subtypes in wastewater (p

The microstructure of advanced high-strength steels (AHSSs) is usually designed via adjusting austenite decomposition behavior upon cooling, while relatively less attention was paid to austenite formation upon heating. Here we explore the potentials of flash heating in tuning the microstructure and mechanical behavior of Quenching & Partitioning (Q&P) steels with an emphasis on the role of chemical heterogeneity. Besides substantially refining intercritical austenite grains (e.g. austenite formed during intercritical annealing), it was interestingly found that flash heating can also allow intercritical austenite to inherit Mn heterogeneity in the original pearlite-ferrite microstructure due to the kinetic mismatch between the sluggish diffusion of Mn and the rapid austenite formation. Chemical heterogeneity can to a large extent alter the decomposition of intercritical austenite and carbon partitioning upon cooling, and plays a notable role in enhancing thermal stability of austenite. The role of chemical heterogeneity in austenite decomposition and carbon partitioning behavior was explained via phase field simulations. The flash treated Q&P (FQP) steels have a broad range of tensile strength (from 980 MPa to 1180 MPa) and good ductility, which outperforms the conventional Q&P (CQP) steels. The current study demonstrates that flash heating opens alternative routes to create unique microstructures and improve the mechanical performance of AHSSs.

A type of core–shell structured N-doped C-coated Ni nanocapsules (Ni@NC) with a size range of 20–70 nm was prepared by a simple strategy of the arc discharge. And the microwave absorption capability of the Ni@NC nanocapsules can be conveniently tuned by N-doping content varying from changing nitrogen pressure in their preparation process. The study revealed that the variable microwave absorption capability of the Ni@NC nanocapsules results from their tuned dielectric behavior. The tuned dielectric responses depend on the degrees of the broken atomic symmetry of the graphite carbon for carbon atoms substituted with nitrogen ones. The optimized impedance matching of the Ni@NC nanocapsules can be achieved by the appropriate content of N doping in graphite C shells. An optimal reflection loss value − 50.7 dB at 14.43 GHz with a thin thickness of 1.8 mm is acquired while choosing the pressure of 15 kPa nitrogen for the preparation of the Ni@NC nanocapsules (the N content in Ni@NC is about 4.62 at.% estimated by XPS). Therefore, it is a feasible strategy to tuning the microwave absorption properties of the Ni@NC nanocapsules by changing the content of N doping, which is of great significance for the study microwave absorbing materials at the atomic scale.

As a unique structural moiety in natural products, cinnamoyl lipids (CLs), are proposed to be assembled by unusual type II polyketide synthases (PKSs). Herein, we demonstrate that the assembly of the CL compounds youssoufenes is accomplished by a PKS system that uniquely harbors three phylogenetically different ketosynthase/chain length factor (KS/CLF) complexes (YsfB/C, YsfD/E, and YsfJ/K). Through in vivo gene inactivation and in vitro reconstitution, as well as an intracellular tagged carrier-protein tracking (ITCT) strategy developed in this study, we successfully elucidated the isomerase-dependent ACP-tethered polyunsaturated chain elongation process. The three KS/CLFs were revealed to modularly assemble different parts of the youssoufene skeleton, during which benzene ring closure happens right after the formation of an ACP-tethered C18 polyene. Of note, the ITCT strategy could significantly contribute to the elucidation of other carrier-protein-dependent biosynthetic machineries.

Paleozoic granites can provide important insights of crustal differentiation and collision process of the North Qinling terrane. The Dafanggou leucogranites that intruded in the Qinling Complex is a Paleozoic granite with zircon U-Pb age of 404±6.4 Ma (MSWD=0.13, n=9). The leucogranites display moderate SiO2 (68.4 wt.% to 71.7 wt.%) content and high Na2O/K2O (1.07 to 2.74) and Sr/Y (42 to 65) ratios, and low A/CNK (1.04 to 1.08) and Rb/Sr (0.09 to 0.16) ratios. Combined with negative eNd(t) (−10.4) and eHf(t) (− 9.35 to −0.25) values and ancient TDM2 ages (1.2 to 1.7 Ga), suggesting the leucogranite are derived from ancient amphibolitic crust in the Qinling Group. In addition, the absence of coeval mafic igneous rocks or mafic enclaves occurred in the Dafanggou pluton and the low TZrn (∼700 °C) of leucogranites preclude that the leucogranites derived from high temperature dehydration melting of amphibolite. Thus, we propose that the occurrence of the Dafanggou leucogranite indicates that water-flux melting of middle-lower crust in postcollision setting may be a potential model for the genesis of granites in collisional orogenic belt.

Multifunctional nanocoatings with mechanical robustness, high transparence, antifogging and self-cleaning have attracted significant attention because of their wide applications in glass-related fields. However, it is still very difficult to construct this kind of multifunctional nanocoatings due to the requirement of their comprehensive structure parameters. In this work, we successfully fabricated robust transparent antifogging self-cleaning nanocoatings by employing dendritic porous silica nanoparticles (DPSNs) evenly loaded with 2–3 nm of small TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) as a building block. A series of DPSNs@X% TiO2 nanocomposites with tunable weight ratios (X%) of TiO2/DPSNs from 10% to 60% were firstly prepared by controlling the growth of TiO2 on the heterogeneous interface of center-radial large pores of DPSNs, followed by calcination. Noteworthily, DPSNs@10% TiO2 exhibited highest photocatalytic and antibacterial performance mainly due to uniform distribution of TiO2 NPs, their small sizes of 2–3 nm and center-radial pore. Therefore, DPSNs@10% TiO2 was chosen as an optimized building block and combined with acid-catalyzed silica sol (ACSS) to develop an excellent suspension for multifunctional nanocoatings. The obtained glass slide with the optimal nanocoating showed photocatalytic self-cleaning behavior, high transparence, hydrophilic (WCA = 6.2°) antifogging, and high mechanical robustness, which can withstand 4B tape adhesion test and 3H pencil scratching test. This work provides an important exploration for developing multifunctional nanocoatings.

The advent of click chemistry has had a profound impact on many fields and fueled a need for reliable reactions to expand the click chemistry toolkit. However, developing new systems to fulfill the click chemistry criteria remains highly desirable yet challenging. Here, we report the development of light-induced primary amines and o-nitrobenzyl alcohols cyclization (PANAC) as a photoclick reaction via primary amines as direct click handle, to rapid and modular functionalization of diverse small molecules and native biomolecules. With intrinsic advantages of temporal control, good biocompatibility, reliable chemoselectivity, excellent efficiency, readily accessible reactants, operational simplicity and mild conditions, the PANAC photoclick is robust for direct diversification of pharmaceuticals and biorelevant molecules, lysine-specific modifications of unprotected peptides and native proteins in vitro, temporal profiling of endogenous kinases and organelle-targeted labeling in living systems. This strategy provides a versatile platform for organic synthesis, bioconjugation, medicinal chemistry, chemical biology and materials science., Developing new click chemistry reactions for robust molecular assembly remains challenging. Here the authors report a light-induced primary amines and o-nitrobenzyl alcohols photoclick cyclization for rapid and modular functionalization of small molecules and native biomolecules, in vitro and in living systems.

In this work we investigate the implication of low-energy precision measurements on the quark-lepton charged currents in general neutrino interactions with sterile neutrinos in effective field theories. The physics in low-energy measurements is described by the low-energy effective field theory extended with sterile neutrinos (LNEFT) defined below the electroweak scale. We also take into account renormalization group running and match the LNEFT onto the Standard Model (SM) effective field theory with sterile neutrinos (SMNEFT) to constrain new physics (NP) above the electroweak scale. The most sensitive low-energy probes are from leptonic decays of pseudoscalar mesons and hadronic tau lepton decays in terms of precise decay branching fractions, the lepton flavor universality and the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) unitarity. We also consider other constraints including nuclear beta decay. The constraints on charged current operators are generally stronger than the ones for quark-neutrino neutral current operators. We find that the most stringent bounds on the NP scale of lepton-number-conserving and lepton-number-violating operators in SMNEFT are 74 (110) TeV and 9.8 (13) TeV, respectively, for the operators with down (strange) quark., Comment: 34 pages, 12 tables. Version accepted by JHEP

The mechanisms of highland barley whole grain (BWG) with rich phenolics on obese db/db mice were investigated in this study. Oral consumption of BWG reduced food intake, body weight, organ/body weight indexes of liver and fat, levels of serum and hepatic lipids, liver injury, and oxidative stress. Furthermore, BWG recovered the disorder of cecal microbiota by augmenting the Bacteroidetes/Firmicutes ratio and Alistipes abundance and decreasing the abundances of Bacteroides and Desulfovibrionaceae to modulate lipid metabolism-related genes. BWG inhibited fatty acid biosynthesis via upregulating the phosphorylation of AMP-activated protein kinase α, while downregulating sterol regulatory element binding protein-1c, fatty acid synthase (FAS), and stearoyl-CoA desaturase 1 levels. BWG also significantly downregulated miRNA-122, miRNA-33, miRNA-34a, and miRNA-206 levels. Accordingly, BWG exhibited hypolipidemic potential through modulating cecal microbiota, AMPK/SREBP-1c/FAS pathway, and related miRNAs, triggering the alleviation of dyslipidemia. These findings suggested BWG as an effective candidate to ameliorate the symptoms of hyperlipidemia.

A high-performance nickel cathode material HPMo/Ni(OH)2 for the Ni–Zn cell is developed by using phosphomolybdic acid (HPMo) as a structure-directing agent. Its three-dimensional porous flower-like structure makes the active material possess the advantages of high specific surface areas, rich active sites, easy electrolyte accesses, and fast electron transfer. Combined with these advantages, the Ni–Zn cell of HPMo/Ni(OH)2 as the cathode, ZnO as the anode, exhibits a high specific capacity of 277.5 mAh g− 1 (cut off 1.5 V), and even up to 346.9 mAh g− 1 during deep discharge (cut off 0.5 V) at 2.5 A g− 1. When the ZnO/graphene as the anode, the cycle life of HPMo/Ni(OH)2 can extend to 10,000 at 5 A g− 1. Besides, this is the first time that the three-dimensional nickel hydroxide is produced in large quantities with simple preparation process using phosphomolybdic acid as a structure directing agent. This also provides a new synthesis strategy for the self-assembly of 3D nanomaterials, and presents new prospects for the development of more advanced energy storage materials.

Regioselective protection of the polyfunctional carbohydrates with acyl groups under catalytic conditions is a prerequisite for efficient structural modification and chain extension via glycosidati...

This paper is mainly concerned with the generalised principal eigenvalue for time-periodic nonlocal dispersal operators. We first establish the equivalence between two different characterisations of the generalised principal eigenvalue. We further investigate the dependence of the generalised principal eigenvalue on the frequency, the dispersal rate and the dispersal spread. Finally, these qualitative results for time-periodic linear operators are applied to time-periodic nonlinear KPP equations with nonlocal dispersal, focusing on the effects of the frequency, the dispersal rate and the dispersal spread on the existence and stability of positive time-periodic solutions to nonlinear equations., Comment: 24 pages

Porous Si can be synthesized from diverse silica (SiO2) via magnesiothermic reduction technology and widely employed as potential anode material in lithium ion batteries. However, concerns regarding the influence of residual silicon oxide (SiOx) component on resulted Si anode after reduction are still lacked. In this work, we intentionally fabricate a cauliflower-like silicon/silicon oxide (CF-Si/SiOx) particles from highly porous SiO2 spheres through insufficient magnesiothermic reduction, where residual SiOx component and internal space play an important role in preventing the structural deformation of secondary bulk and restraining the expansion of Si phase. Moreover, the hierarchically structured CF-Si/SiOx exhibits uniformly-dispersed channels, which can improve ion transport and accommodate large volume expansion, simultaneously. As a result, the CF-Si/SiOx-700 anode shows excellent electrochemical performance with a specific capacity of ~1,400 mA·h·g−1 and a capacity retention of 98% after 100 cycles at the current of 0.2 A·g−1.

Global demand for rare earth elements (REEs), which are central to many modern high-tech industries, is increasing rapidly. For the first time, we discovered and determined the REEs concentrations ...

The construction of superstable metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) for selective gas uptake is urgently demanded but remains a great challenge. Herein, a unique bifunctional deformed [Ga3O(COO)6] inorganic secondary building unit (SBU) generated from the desymmetrical evolution of typical triangular prismatic trinuclear cluster was first introduced, which was extended by an isosceles triangular organic linker to produce a robust Ga-MOF (SNNU-63). Remarkably, SNNU-63 can stabilize in water at 25 °C for 96 h and at 80 °C for more than 24 h, which surpasses nearly all other Ga-MOFs. The combined effects of open metal sites and hydrophobic pore environment provided by deformed [Ga3O] SBUs render SNNU-63 with high C2H2 storage capacity and efficient C2H2 and natural gas purification performance. The ideal adsorbed solution theory calculation, column breakthrough tests, and grand canonical Monte Carlo simulations demonstrate that SNNU-63 is a potential material for addressing the challenge of C2H2/CO2 and C2H2/CH4 mixture separation under ambient conditions.

The nature of source rocks and the pressure-temperature-hydration (P-T-H2O) condition are the two main factors that control the geochemical properties of granites. Therefore, the evolution of P-T-H2O conditions can be used to deduce the tectonic setting of granites. In this paper, we report on three Paleozoic granite plutons along the Shangdan suture that revealed increasing melting temperature and decreasing pressure from 437 to 403 Ma, suggesting a crustal thinning process. The Tieyupu granodiorites (437 ± 4 Ma) display Na-rich adakite affinity, i.e., SiO2 = 69.1–70.1 wt%, Na2O/K2O = 1.9–2.26, positive zircon εHf(t) values (+4.29 to +12.04), and high Sr/Y (137–160) and Y/Yb (9.89–10.25) ratios, implying a garnet-rich residue in their source. In combination with moderate zircon saturation temperatures (814–822 °C), we infer that the Tieyupu granodiorites were formed by melting of Neoproterozoic metabasites under high-pressure (>1.5 GPa) and moderate-temperature (HP-MT) conditions. The Liangchahe granodiorites (415 ± 8 Ma) also display Na-rich adakite affinity, i.e., higher Na2O/K2O (2.16–3.11) and lower Sr/Y (77–88) ratios, and higher zircon saturation temperatures (854–874 °C), and they are interpreted to have been derived from melting of metabasites under moderate-pressure (>1.0 GPa) and high-temperature (MP-HT) conditions. Their variable zircon εHf(t) values (−14.97 to +9.80) and the existence of zircon xenocrysts suggest that the primitive adakitic melts were assimilated by evolved crustal components. The Yaogou monzogranites (403 ± 4 Ma) have the highest K2O/Na2O (0.81–1.00) ratios and total rare earth element (ΣREE; 105–191 ppm) contents, lowest Sr/Y (14–43) ratios, positive zircon εHf(t) values (+6.79 to +12.22), and highest zircon saturation temperatures (891–973 °C), showing they were formed by high-temperature melting of intermediate rocks under low-pressure conditions (

Despite the remarkable advances in mitigating ice formation and accretion, however, no engineered anti-icing surfaces today can durably prevent frost formation, droplet freezing, and ice accretion in an economical and ecofriendly way. Herein, sustainable and low-cost electrolyte hydrogel (EH) surfaces are developed by infusing salted water into a hydrogel matrix for avoiding icing. The EH surfaces can both prevent ice/frost formation for an extremely long time and reduce ice adhesion strength to ultralow value (Pa-level) at a tunable temperature window down to -48.4 °C. Furthermore, ice can self-remove from the tilted EH surface within 10 s at -10 °C by self-gravity. As demonstrated by both molecular dynamic simulations and experiments, these extreme performances are attributed to the diffusion of ions to the interface between EH and ice. The sustainable anti-icing properties of EH can be maintained by replenishing in real-time with available ion sources, indicating the promising applications in offshore platforms and ships.

The potential mechanisms of action of ursolic acid (UA) in regulating cell proliferation in MDA-MB-231 human breast cancer cells through Nrf2 pathway were investigated. UA significantly inhibited the proliferation of MDA-MB-231 cells at a dose ≥10 μM in a dose-dependent manner, and no cytotoxicity was observed at concentrations below 29.87 ± 2.60 μM. The expressions of Nrf2 and p-Nrf2, in whole cell and nucleus, and NQO1 were inhibited by UA treatment, whereas the Keap1 expression was upregulated. No significant difference was observed in the Nrf2 mRNA levels, indicating that UA reduced Nrf2 expression not through mRNA but through a post-translational mechanism. Additionally, EGF-induced p-Nrf2 and its downstream NQO1 and SOD1 enzymes were abolished by UA. However, EGF or p-EGFR had no effect on the expressions of Keap1. These results suggested that the proliferative inhibitory effect of UA might be partially through downregulating Nrf2 via the Keap1/Nrf2 pathway and EGFR/Nrf2 pathway in MDA-MB-231 cells.

Iron (hydr)oxide nanoparticles are one of the most abundant classes of naturally occurring nanoparticles and are widely used engineered nanomaterials. In the environment these nanoparticles may significantly affect contaminant fate. Using two goethite materials with different contents of exposed {021} facet and two hematite materials with predominantly exposed {001} and {100} facets, respectively, we show that exposed facets, one of the most intrinsic properties of nanocrystals, significantly affect the efficiency of iron (hydr)oxide nanoparticles in catalyzing acid-promoted hydrolysis of 4-nitrophenyl phosphate (pNPP, selected as a model organophosphorus pollutant). Attenuated total reflectance Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy analysis and density functional theory calculations indicate that the pNPP hydrolysis reaction on the iron (hydr)oxide surface involves the inner-sphere complexation between the phosphonate moiety of pNPP and the surface ferric iron (Fe(III)), through ligand exchange with primarily the singly coordinated surface hydroxyl groups of iron (hydr)oxides. Both the abundance and affinity of these adsorption sites are facet-dependent. Exposed facets also determine the reaction kinetics of surface-bound pNPP mainly by regulating the Lewis acidity of the surface Fe(III) atoms. These findings underline the important roles of facets in determining the reactivity of naturally occurring metal-based nanoparticles toward environmental contaminants and may shed light on the development of nanomaterial-based remediation strategies.

The South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA) is a region of weakened geomagnetic field and in the previous studies, it shows a secular variation with time which is associated with the changing of the magnetic moment. This region also consists of large amounts of energetic charged particles and is danger to space vehicle and astronauts. Thus, it is essential to know the location and movement of the SAA. In this study, three particle monitors onboard Insight-HXMT are used to track the movement and location of the SAA from 2017 June 19 to 2019 June 19. Several particle flux maps are built to show the location of the SAA peak with time. In a grid of map, the particle count is determined by the maximum count rate and the averaged count rate, respectively. We find the results of both methods are consistent very well with each other in deriving the drift rate. The result shows the SAA peak moves westwards with an average drift rate of 0.43 ± 0.01 o /yr in longitude and moves northwards with an average drift rate of 0.17 ± 0.01 o /yr in latitude, and the drift rate is slightly larger than the result from IGRF 12 ( 0.3 o /yr) in longitude, but in latitude, the result of IGRF 12 have no obvious change with time.

A central solenoid model coil (CSMC) is to verify the large-scalar superconducting coil manufacture technology for China Fusion Engineering Test Reactor (CFETR) in Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (ASIPP). The CSMC composed of Nb3Sn and NbTi hybrid superconducting magnet can reach to 12 T maximum magnetic field. The main manufacturing processes of the coil are developed and verified by R&Ds and mockup coil fabrication. For now, all the five coils winding and 2/3 of terminals fabricating are finished, and the heat treatment for the Nb3Sn inner coil is completed. The turn releasing and insulation wrapping process and station for the heat treated Nb3Sn coil has been developed. The major remaining processes for the five coils are ground insulation wrapping and vacuum pressure impregnation (VPI). The mockup coil VPI will be performed firstly to validate the process. This article introduces the main manufacturing progress of the CFETR CSMC.

Deadtime is the time period during which a detector processes the previous photon event and any later events will be ignored, thus the calculation of deadtime is of great importance to reconstruct the incident photon flux from the recorded counts. The High Energy X-ray telescope (HE) on-board the Insight-HXMT satellite records the deadtime only for a fixed time bin (i.e. 1 s), therefore it is impossible to directly obtain the deadtime for an arbitrary time interval, especially for high-energy transients much shorter than one second. Based on the electronics model of HE, we establish a deadtime calculation method to derive the deadtime in any time interval. We apply this method to transient sources observed by HE, including Gamma-ray Bursts (GRB) and Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes (TGF). Furthermore, since the data processing capacity of HE electronics is limited, HE suffers data saturation for very bright GRBs. During the saturation period, a significant part of counts signal cannot be recorded. We find that the amount of lost counts can be estimated by comparing the recorded 1 s deadtime and the calculated deadtime using the method mentioned above.

The safe and reliable operation of the China Fusion Engineering Test Reactor (CFETR) Central Solenoid Model Coil (CSMC) heat treatment system is the basis for the establishment of the CFETR central solenoid, Nb3Sn superconducting coil. The purpose of safety analysis of a heat treatment system is to find out the unreliable factors of the system, analyze the weaknesses of the system, predict the possibility and severity of system failure, and then improve the reliability of the system. The method of combining risk priority number (RPN) with Hazard and operability study (HAZOP) can make up for the deficiency of quantitative information in traditional HAZOP analysis. It is concluded that the fan subsystem is the weakest part of the heat treatment system by means of RPN-HAZOP. The deviation caused by temperature, cleanliness, and impurity gas content will greatly affect the performance of the superconducting coil. The author tries to put forward scientific and reasonable measures according to the principle of giving priority to solving the principal contradiction. Guided by the measures and suggestions, the heat treatment system runs normally, safely, and reliably. The results of the experiment show that all the process indexes meet the requirements of coil heat treatment technology.

We adopted a facile method consisting of the arc discharge method combined with the in situ self-polymerization process to synthesize the cubic TiN@CN nanocapsules in this work, and we also investigated the electrochemical performance and microwave absorption properties of the TiN@CN nanocapsules in detail. The results show that the TiN@CN nanocapsules exhibit excellent electrochemical performance. The specific capacitance of the TiN@CN nanocapsules is 119 F g−1 at 1 A g−1, and their capacitance retention rate is 92% after 5000 cycles at the current density of 2 A g −1. Besides, the cubic TiN@CN nanocapsules also exhibit powerful microwave absorption capacity. The reflection loss (RL) below − 20 dB is achieved in a wide frequency range of 7.2–15.5 GHz with a thickness range of 1.1–2.3 mm, and the optimal RL value is − 40.6 dB at 10.6 GHz with a relatively thin thickness of 1.6 mm. Therefore, TiN@CN nanocapsules are promising and applicable as electrode materials for supercapacitors and as microwave absorbers.

Tree species can produce litter with large variation in nitrogen to phosphorus (N:P) ratios. Here we examined how litter N:P ratios affected decomposer community composition and nutrient release for two contrasting tree species in the Qinling Mountains, China. Two-year-old Quercus aliena var. acuteserrata and Pinus tabulaeformis seedlings were fertilized using nutrient solutions with varying N:P ratios for four months. The obtained litters with contrasting N:P stoichiometry were left to decompose on nutrient-free quartz sand for 12 weeks with microbial inoculum. Then, the post-decomposition microbial community composition was determined using a phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analysis. The Q. aliena litter stoichiometry was more homeostatic than P. tabulaeformis litter. Litter N:P ratio was significantly related to litter nutrient loss and mass loss for P. tabulaeformis but not always for Q. aliena. The soil microbial community compositions showed larger fungal to bacterial (F:B) ratios with increasing litter N:P ratios for Q. aliena but not P. tabulaeformis. Litter N:P ratio, as determined by species-specific homeostasis, showed an interspecific difference to affect the patterns of litter decomposition dynamics, as well as related soil microbial community composition. The less variation in the soil microbial community composition than plant litter stoichiometric characteristics during decomposition is likely an important mechanism that regulates the balance of biogeochemical cycles in the Qinling Mountains.

2-(N-tert-butoxycarbonylamino) pyridine and 2-(N-tert-butoxycarbonylamino)-3-methylpyridine were synthesized in a one-step method using either 2-aminopyridine or 2-amino-3-methyphyridine with tert-butylcarbonyl anhydride as the starting materials. The products were characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, and HRMS. The biological activity of the two compounds against five fungi was determined. 2-(N-tert-butoxycarbonylamino) pyridine has more than 50% inhibitory activity against Pyricularia oryzae, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, and Alternaria alternate. In addition, the inhibitory activity of 2-(N-tert-butoxycarbonylamino)-3-methylpyridine against Alternaria alternate reached 67.69%. Two 2-BOC aminopyridine derivatives were synthesized and structurally characterized by 1H NMR, 13C NMR, HRMS analysis and X-ray crystal diffraction. The inhibitory activity both compounds was studied.

A heat treatment system for superconducting coil had been built at the Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (ASIPP) for the central solenoid model coil (CSMC) for the China Fusion Engineering Test Reactor (CFETR). The CSMC is composed of Nb3Sn and NbTi hybrid superconducting coils. As Nb3Sn is a brittle material, the technology of “wind and react” has been used to manufacture Nb3Sn coil. During the heat treatment process, various measuring instruments have been used to monitor the heat treatment parameters (e.g., temperature, pressure, impurity gas content). The heat treatment of the inner coil and the outer coil of CSMC has been completed. The evolution temperature and temperature uniformity meet the technical requirements of CSMC heat treatment. The performance of the witness sample meets the recommended value. The measurement results of the coil deformation meet the requirements of the Nb3Sn coil design. Here, the manufacture, measurements, and test results are presented, providing a solid basis for the heat treatment of large size superconducting coils.

In order to accurately determine the pre-tilt angle, we proposed a systematic method by combining optical and electrical measurement. First, the pre-tilt angles of the parallel and vertical aligned...

Northeast China is an important food producing area because it contains large areas of organic soil. However, land degradation caused by soil erosion poses a serious threat to the soil conditions in this region. It is therefore crucial to explore the mechanisms behind the soil erosion and transport processes. This study assessed the effects of precipitation and vegetation cover variations on runoff and sediment yield within nine major watersheds in Northeast China, using Pearson correlation and multiple linear regression models. There were significantly positive correlations between annual precipitation, runoff and sediment yield within all watersheds between the 1960s and 2011. In addition, the vegetation index was negatively related to differences within annual water-sediment variables within most of the watersheds from 1982 to the 2010s. Within Songhua River basin, the runoff depth and runoff coefficient had significant positive correlations with NDVI and the proportion of forest. In contrast, the vegetation had negative effects on the runoff within Liao River basin. Spatial analysis of sediment showed that area-specific sediment yield decreased with increasing drainage watershed area, and the correlations between sediment variables and NDVI were stronger within watersheds of the upper reaches and tributaries than large basins in general. The combined effects of precipitation and vegetation influence the erosion and sediment transport processes, and various human activities can influence the routing of sediment to the watershed outlet. If anthropogenic activities such as reservoir and dam construction do not decrease, the protective benefits of vegetation cover may not be realized for a long time, especially along the river mainstream due to the more complex drainage network.

Urban functional zone (UFZ) comprises the basic unit of urban planning, with various production activities. Understanding the landscape heterogeneity in UFZs may be a way to mitigate urban heat island (UHI). The region within fifth ring road in Beijing is selected as the study area. Six common UFZ types were selected to understand the effects of three types of factors (surface biophysical parameters, building form, and landscape metrics) on land surface temperature (LST). A one-way analysis of variance and geographical detector were used to express spatial heterogeneity and key influencing factors of LST in UFZ, respectively. The results indicate the following: (1) the UFZ types, in order from highest to lowest LST, are industrial, commercial, public service, government, high-density residential, and recreational zones. The LST of industrial and recreational zones are significantly different from other zones, but other four types of UFZ exhibited similar thermal conditions. (2) The key influencing factors of LST in UFZs differ. Surface biophysical parameters have a significant effect on all UFZs. Building form in areas of high building height and density, such as commercial and high-density residential zones, should be the focus of UHI mitigation, whereas optimizing land cover composition and spatial configuration in other UFZs is more likely to alleviate LST. In addition, the LST is determined not only by the UFZ type and internal structure, but also by the complexity and diversity. Identifying UHI mitigation sensitivity metrics within UFZ will help improve the thermal environment of urban areas and provide strategies for resisting UHI.

The preparation of bifunctional catalysts with high catalytic selectivity for the n-alkanes hydroisomerization still remains challenging for the production of bio-diesel. Herein, two series of Pd/SAPO-41 bifunctional catalysts are prepared by the ultrasonic-assisted impregnation (xPd/S41-U) with different treating time and conventional incipient wetness impregnation methods (0.30Pd/S41-I) on the SAPO-41 molecular sieve, respectively. The physico-chemical property of the synthesized SAPO-41 and prepared catalysts were studied by XRD, SEM, ICP, N2 physical adsorption, H2 chemisorption and Py-IR measurements. The catalytic performance for the n-hexadecane hydroisomerization over all catalysts is also studied. The characteristic results indicate that the xPd/S41-U catalysts show stronger Bronsted acidity compared with the 0.30Pd/S41-I catalyst. In addition, the Pd dispersion of the xPd/S41-U catalysts is almost two times higher than that of the 0.30Pd/S41-I catalyst, which leads more Pd cluster to enter into the micropores of the SAPO-41 molecular sieve. Furthermore, the 0.30Pd/S41-U catalyst with 0.30 wt % Pd loading shows promoted catalytic performance than that of the 0.30Pd/S41-I catalyst with the same Pd loading because of the stronger metal function and more favourable metal-acid balance caused by the larger CPd/CH+ ratio. Therefore, the ultrasonic-assisted impregnation prepared Pd/SAPO-41 catalysts are potential to be widely employed for the n-alkane hydroisomerization.