Search

In this study, we investigated the protective effects of a peptide (YGDEY, Tyr‐Gly‐Asp‐Glu‐Tyr) isolated from tilapia skin gelatin hydrolysates (TGHs), against UVB‐induced photoaging in human keratinocytes (HaCaT) cells. Results showed that YGDEY significantly decreased levels of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS), increased antioxidant factors (Superoxide Dismutase, SOD and Glutathione, GSH) expression and maintained balance between GSH and GSSG in HaCaT cells. Comet assay shows that YGDEY can protect DNA from oxidative damage. Furthermore, it significantly inhibited MMP‐1 (collagenase) and MMP‐9 (gelatinase) expression and increased Type I procollagen production. In addition, the molecular docking study showed that YGDEY may form active sites with MMP‐1 and MMP‐9. Moreover, Western blot analysis was utilized to measure the protein levels of UVB‐induced mitogen‐activated protein kinase (MAPK) and nuclear factor‐kappa B (NF‐κB) signaling pathways. Therefore, these results suggested that YGDEY has a therapeutic effectiveness in prevention of UVB‐induced cellular damage, and it is a candidate worthy of being developed as a potential natural antioxidant and food additive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to solve the problem of minimizing power cost and makespan with time-of-use electricity. A genetic algorithm based on individual concentration and similarity vector distance strategy is proposed. The proposed genetic algorithm overcomes premature convergence problem by keeping the fittest individual through computing individual concentration and similarity vector distance. Production power cost reduction is achieved by using right-shift local search algorithm. The effectiveness of the proposed algorithm is illustrated by comparing the proposed algorithm with other scheduling algorithms. The comparative experiments indicate the proposed algorithm has better performance on minimizing power cost as well as makespan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two batches of GaAs laser power converters (LPCs) with or without a localized gradient doping layer were fabricated via metalorganic chemical vapor deposition for converting the power of 808 nm lasers. The gradient doping layer was introduced into the base layer above the back surface field layer with a doping concentration that varied exponentially from 1×1018/cm3 to 5×1018/cm3. The two batches of LPCs were tested under various 808 nm laser light intensities ranging from 100 to 2500 mW. The LPC structures with and without the gradient doping layer both displayed their highest conversion efficiency of 55.1% and 53.4%, respectively, at a laser power of 1200 mW. The addition of the gradient doping layer improved the separation efficiency of the photogenerated carriers and reduced the recombination rate in the base region of the GaAs LPCs, which increased the open-circuit voltage of the LPCs by 13.3 mV and the short-circuit current density by 3.6 mA. Furthermore, the absolute value of the fill factor increased by 1.2% at an incident light intensity of 1200 mW, resulting in a 1.7% improvement in the photoelectric conversion efficiency of the GaAs LPCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review summarizes the recent findings of the roles of bombesin receptor subtype-3 (BRS-3) in various patho-physiological conditions. Studies have demonstrated that two mammalians bombesin-like peptides, GRP and NMB, exhibit a large range of functions by binding to three receptors. Knockout studies showed that the mice BRS-3 has important effects on tumor growth, energy homeostasis, glucose regulation, satiety, and lung development (1,7). BRS-3 is an orphan receptor whose natural ligand is unknown. However, several agonists and antagonists have been synthesized which facilitate its characterization, (D-Tyr6, β-Ala11, Phe13, Nle14) Bn-(6-14) and MK-5046 are agonists, whereas ML-18 and Bantag-1 are antagonists. With the development of several selective, high-affinity BRS-3 agonists and antagonists, recent studies provided some insights into the biological effects of BRS-3 in several disease states including lung cancer, obesity, diabetes mellitus, asthma, and kidney diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the environmental history and its responses to palaeoclimatic changes since the start of the Holocene in the eastern portion of the desert belt (sand seas and sandy lands) in northern China by comparing the aeolian sandpalaeosol sequences and their palaeoclimatic proxies. The optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) ages of the aeolian sandpalaeosol sedimentary sequences and a series of palaeoenvironmental proxies show that: (1) The large-scale dune landscape currently in the Kubuqi Sand Sea was formed during the Holocene in general; and the palaeosol was generally developed during the period of 4–2 ka, indicating conditions favorable for vegetation growth, soil development, and organic carbon accumulation due to increased precipitation or effective moisture and weakened aeolian activities; the large-scale expansion of dunes in the recent 2 ka is closely linked to human activities. The variable discharge of the Yellow River with diversions for irrigation may have resulted in a more consistent supply of aeolian particles for dune field expansion. (2) The dune landscape of the Hunshandake Sandy Land was likely formed around 12 ka, and before this, the western part of the Hunshandake Sandy Land would have been covered by a single large lake; it was obviously wetter than today in the sandy land during the period of 9.6–3 ka and the palaeosols were developed at the same time. But the aeolian activities have not been completely dormant in this long-lasting wetter epoch; because the Holocene wetter period was likely time-transgressive across the region. (3) The palaeosol of the Hulunbuir Sandy Land began to develop as early as 14.5 ka, probably continuing until the last 2 ka. The palaeosol development of various dune fields in the eastern portion of the desert belt (sand seas and sandy lands) in northern China is spatially heterogeneous, and even the palaeosol development time in different locations within each sandy land is inconsistent. During the middle Holocene (especially the 7.5–3.5 ka), all the sandy lands were stabilized in general and the intensity of aeolian activities was significantly weakened. The number of palaeoenvironmental records in the eastern portion of the desert belt (sand seas and sandy lands) in northern China has increased rapidly in the past decade, but the amount of published data still does not match the vast extent of the dune fields. It does require much more in-depth palaeoenvironmental studies for a full understanding of the relationship between aeolian activities and climate change in northern China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, an efficient laser surface ablation strategy for producing binder‐free carbon‐coated nanocotton CoO‐Co integrated anode is reported. The fabrication process introduces in‐situ growing nanocotton‐like CoO on the surface of Co foil via ablating with a nanosecond laser. After that, coated with dopamine as carbon source, the CoO‐Co composite foil is heated in Argon atmosphere to form a CoO@C‐Co foil as an anode of LIB. The laser surface ablation exhibits high fabrication speed (~10 minutes) and significantly reduces the processing time. The obtained binder‐free CoO@C‐Co integrated anode shows a unique cotton‐like villous structure with large specific surface area and an active material/current collector integrated architecture, which provides a stabilized rapid electronic conduction path. When tested as an anode for LIBs, the CoO@C‐Co integrated anode possesses superior performance: First discharge capacity of 1301.5 mAh g−1 is achieved at a current density of 0.1 A g−1. Also at a high current density of 1.5 A g−1, the second discharge capacity of 791.7 mAh g−1 is achieved. After 800 cycles, reversible capacities of 799.8 mAh g−1 can still be achieved with an average coulombic efficiency of nearly 100%. In addition, this strategy is suitable for the production of other carbon coated transition metal oxides integrated anodes, such as NiO@C‐Ni, Fe2O3/Fe3O4@C‐Fe, and CuO/Cu2O@C‐Cu integrated anodes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Loess deposits as a unique terrestrial archive of paleo-dust contribute to understanding the wide-scale and long-term dust transport from source to sink. This study provided diagnostic constraints on the sources of clay-sized particles in the Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP) loess by expanding the potential dust source areas with the Kyzylkum Desert and the Central Asian loess. Based on the grain sizes and the particle-size-specific trace elements, we characterized the major provenance and the sedimentary process of the Kyzylkum Desert sands. The results indicate the main derivation of Kyzylkum Desert sands from the Tian Shan-derived sediments, with limited large-scale mixing. The desert was thought to be a sink region, instead of an important dust source, which was supported by its weak genetic links to the Central Asian loess. With integration of the published data set about trace element and Sr Nd isotopic composition and our results, combined with the simulation results, we revealed that the Badain Jaran and Tengger deserts in northwestern CLP, rather than the Taklimakan and Kyzylkum deserts further west, played an important role in supply of the clay-sized particles for the CLP loess. The findings implied that the fine particles were primarily related to the East Asian winter monsoon, instead of the high-level westerly airstreams. In this context, we attributed the asynchronous timing of enhanced dust accumulation during the last glacial maximum (LGM) over Greenland and North Pacific (early LGM) and on the CLP (late LGM) to the differences in the major dust sources and in the atmospheric circulation systems. • Kyzylkum Desert makes negligible contribution to the Central Asian loess. • Origin of clay-sized components in the CLP loess is systematically characterized. • The findings of this study help to improve understanding of the Asian dust cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the development of medical technology in China, new difficulties are gradually emerging in traditional medicine. Cervical cancer MRI image segmentation technology based on wireless network is one of the most famous means. But the traditional technology is not strong enough for information processing and analysis. Manual data processing alone may lead to errors in data processing and so on. Therefore, this research was aimed at the MRI image segmentation technology of cervical cancer based on wireless network, using depth learning algorithm to calculate and analyze. Through this kind of wireless network and the computer algorithm form, the data processing ability can be improved and increase the data processing ability be increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The energy consumed during the desalination process in a flow-electrode capacitive deionization (FCDI) is recovered by a two-chamber device, where the adsorbed electrodes are discharged with constant current. When single constant discharge current is applied, the maximum energy of 36.3 J can be obtained with 0.50 mA/cm2 discharge current density. Much more energy is recovered by applying successive discharge currents. With additional conductive agent carbon nanotubes in the suspend carbon electrodes, the ratio was further enhanced by 60%. Increased salt concentration of the electrolyte could decrease the energy consumption and improve the energy recovery. The energy recovery ratio was promoted to 9.4% when the salt concentration of the electrolyte increased to 9.60 g L−1. Highlights • Two-chamber device to recover the energy from FCDI. • Successive discharging currents benefit the energy recovery. • Additional CNT improved energy recovery ratio by 60%. • Increased salt concentration of electrode improved energy recovery performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem of selecting parameters for stochastic model updating is one that has been studied for decades, yet no method exists that guarantees the ‘correct’ choice. In this paper, a method is formulated based on global sensitivity analysis using a new evaluation function and a composite sensitivity index that discriminates explicitly between sets of parameters with correctly-modelled and erroneous statistics. The method is applied successfully to simulated data for a pin-jointed truss structure model in two studies, for the cases of independent and correlated parameters respectively. Finally, experimental validation of the method is carried out on a frame structure with uncertainty in the position of two masses. The statistics of mass positions are confirmed by the proposed method to be correctly modelled using a Kriging surrogate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wax deposition on walls of oil pipes is a common occurrence in crude oil extraction and is one of the major impediments to oilfield production. The most common method of paraffin removal is superconducting car thermal washing. This study proposes a heat flow coupling model that can analyze the temperature of the tubing-casing annular space to solve the low efficiency problem caused by adjusting initial parameters empirically. Using the superconducting car thermal washing process at the test oil well in city of Daqing, Chine as research object, the real-time temperature of annulus under various initial conditions is acquired by the fully- distributed Raman optical fiber temperature monitoring system. Compared with the real time data, theoretical data has a maximum deviation of 5 °C, this result verifies the accuracy of the model. Based on the model, the study investigates the optimal initial parameters of superconducting car thermal washing by taking effective depth as an optimization goal. The optimal parameters for oil wells with different working conditions are obtained to improve the effectiveness of paraffin removal and increase thermal efficiency. This study provides theoretical support and an inspection method to promote superconducting car thermal washing and paraffin removal as well as to improve productive efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • An architectural assumption management process with guidelines is developed. • Two case studies were conducted to validate the process. • The process can help to make architectural assumptions explicit. • The process can help to identify and reduce invalid architectural assumptions. Abstract Context Architectural assumption management is critical to the success of software development projects. In this paper, we propose an Architectural Assumption Management (AAM) process, comprised of four AAM activities: Architectural Assumption Making, Description, Evaluation, and Maintenance. Objective Evaluating the AAM process in architectural assumption management, regarding the ease of understanding and the effort of conducting the AAM process, as well as the effectiveness of using the AAM process to make architectural assumptions explicit and to identify and reduce invalid architectural assumptions. Method An explanatory study with 88 first-year master students in software engineering, and an exploratory study with five practitioners from five companies. Results (1) the ease of understanding the AAM process is moderate for first-year master students but easy for practitioners; (2) the effort of conducting the AAM process is moderate for first-year master students; (3) Making and Evaluation took the students more time than Description and Maintenance; (4) the practitioners considered Evaluation as the most time consuming activity; (5) the AAM process can help to make architectural assumptions explicit and to identify and reduce invalid architectural assumptions in projects. The majority of the students and practitioners agreed that Architectural Assumption Evaluation is the most helpful activity for all these three aspects. For other activities, there are different opinions about their helpfulness; and (6) there are various factors identified that can impact the aforementioned results. Being aware of and properly adjusting these factors can facilitate the application of the AAM process in projects. Conclusions The AAM process aims at systematically managing architectural assumptions in software development. The results of the case studies provide preliminary empirical evidence for the evaluation of the AAM process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Complexation of Hg with the antibiotics resulting in the dissolution of Hg compounds from the sediment. • Hg ions in the sediment can also promote the degradation of antibiotics. • The degradation of TC/OTC radicals generates CH3+ groups which can react with Hg° to form MeHg. Abstract The role of antibiotics commonly used in fish culture activities in methylmercury (MeHg) formation in mariculture sediments (MS) and in reference sediments (RS) was studied using simulation microcosms. MS and RS were split into three equal batches. Two batches were spiked with Hg(NO 3) 2 aqueous solution at levels of 2 and 8 mg kg−1 (dry weight basis) and the remainder served as a control batch. Tetracycline (TC) and oxytetracycline (OTC) (2.5 g and 10 g of each) were added to each treatment. Sediment THg concentration decreased during the culture period possibly due to complexation of Hg with the antibiotics resulting in the dissolution of Hg compounds from the sediment. More importantly, the MeHg concentration increased after 32 days together with a decrease in the concentrations of the antibiotics in the sediment. The complexation of TC or OTC with Hg resulted in the transport of electrons from TC or OTC to Hg2+ due to the high electronegativity of Hg2+. Subsequently, Hg2+ was reduced to Hg° which reacted with CH 3 + derived from TC or OTC. The use of antibiotics may therefore promote the formation of MeHg in sediments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When the network resource information is scheduled with the current algorithm, the execution time of the resource scheduling task cannot be improved. The utilization of network resources is reduced in the case of the heavy scheduling task. To address this problem, a network resource information scheduling based on non-convex function optimization algorithm is proposed in this paper. The network resource is modeled as a non-convex function. The execution interval of task is divided into subspaces of multiple units. Task density is introduced into network resource scheduling model. In this model, computing resources and storage resources of the network are considered. Ant colony particle swarm optimization algorithm is used for scheduling with the built network resource scheduling model. The initial solution is obtained by initial search with the particle swarm algorithm. Then the initial solution is transformed into the initial pheromone distribution of the ant colony. The resource information is searched by using ant colony algorithm until the optimal solution is found, so as to achieve network resource information scheduling. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm can reduce the execution time of task and improve the utilization rate of network resource information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study constructed a 1000 L modularized MFC system, the largest volume so far, to treat practical municipal wastewater. This MFC system was operated under two different water flow connections in two municipal wastewater treatment plants (MWTP) for more than one year to test their treating abilities for wastewater with both low (average 80 mg L −1 ) and high initial COD concentration (average 250 mg L −1 ). The COD concentration in the effluent from the MFC system remained below 50 mg L −1 with a removal rate of 70–90%, which stably met the level A of the first class in discharge standard of pollutants for MWTP of China. A maximum power density of 125 W m −3 (7.58 W m −2 ) was generated when the MFC system was fed with artificial wastewater, while it lay in a range of 7–60 W m −3 (0.42–3.64 W m −2 ) when treating municipal wastewater. The energy recovery of 0.033 ± 0.005 kWh per m 3 of municipal wastewater was achieved, with a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 2 h. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to numerically investigate the flow characteristics and extend the data of friction factor and Reynolds number product of hydrodynamically developing laminar flow in three-dimensional rectangular microchannels with different aspect ratios.Design/methodology/approach Using a finite-volume approach, the friction factor characteristics of Newtonian fluid in three-dimensional rectangular ducts with aspect ratios from 0.1 to 1 are conducted numerically under no-slip boundary conditions. A simple model that approximately predicts the apparent friction factor and Reynolds number product fappRe is referenced as a semi-theoretical fundamental analysis for numerical simulations.Findings The accurate and reliable results of fappRe are obtained, which are compared with classic numerical data and experimental data, and the simple semi-theoretical model used and all comparisons show good agreement. Among them, the maximum relative error with the classic numerical data is less than 3.9 per cent. The data of fappRe are significantly extended to other different aspect ratios and the novel values of fappRe are presented in the tables. The characteristics of fappRe are analyzed as a function of a non-dimensional axial distance and the aspect ratios. A more effective and accurate fourth-order fitting equation for the Hagenbach's factor of rectangular channels is proposed.Originality/value From the reliable data, it is shown that the values of fappRe and the model can be references of pressure drop and friction factor for developing laminar flow in rectangular channels for researchers and engineering applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study offers an efficient method to improve manufacturing technique of metallic bipolar plates (BPPs) so as to simultaneously reduce contact resistance (CR) and maximize power density in proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). CR plays an important role in the energy conversion in the cell and can be normally reduced by coating on the BPP surface. Nevertheless, the effect of fabrication process on the CR has not been revealed, especially for the welding and forming characteristics. In this paper, a comprehensive three-dimensional finite element model of BPP/gas diffusion layer (GDL) assembly was established to investigate the influences of coating, weld and dimensional error on the CR, which are produced during the fabrication process of metallic BPPs. Experiments were carried out to validate the accuracy of the model. The results indicate that direction and distribution of the current in the cell change significantly with altering the weld path of metallic BPPs, which are different from graphite BPPs. 47% CR reduction is observed for the case of dense weld arrangement. For the coating process, it is found that the necessity of coating on both sides of single BPP is quite low if channel number is less than 20. Statistic simulation was conducted to investigate the effect of dimensional error on CR. Specially, 14.5% increment in CR is found when the dimensional error exceeds 30 μm. The methodology developed is beneficial to the fabrication management of metallic BPPs and the efficiency improvement of PEMFC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To realize the high value-added utilization of low-rank coal and elucidate the selectivity of solvent structure and oxygen-containing compounds in low-rank coal, Zhaotong (ZT) lignite and Naomaohu (NMH) sub-bitumite were subjected to thermal dissolution in three types of oxygen-containing solvents with different properties, namely ethanol (ET), tetrahydrofuran (THF) and ethyl acetate (EA). The soluble portions (SPs) obtained were separated by column chromatography into three types of fractions: hydrocarbon (HY), non-hydrocarbon (NHY) and asphaltene (ASP). The results indicated that the yields of SPs in all three solvents for each coal was ET > THF > EA, and the ratios of column chromatographic fractions of SPs of the two coals were significantly different, with lower asphaltene content in the SPs of NMH. The thermal dissolution process of the three solvents significantly reduced the oxygen content of low-rank coal, and the deoxygenation capacity was in the order of ET > THF > EA. More medium or low polarity compounds could be obtained from NMH than from ZT through thermal dissolution process. ET showed excellent selectivity for the generation of both phenols and esters, where the phenols were mainly alkylphenols. THF could release highly condensed polycyclic compounds from coal thus more naphthalenols containing substituent groups were detected in phenols. And it was more selective to COO bonds in NMH than ZT from the results of XPS. More esters were detected in the SPs of NMH compared with ZT. EA had a strong selectivity for C O in low-rank coals, and the thermal dissolution process released a large number of esters, which could be divided into alkanoates and aromatic acid esters. This study can provide a theoretical basis for extracting high value-added chemicals from low-rank coal under mild conditions. [Display omitted] • Thermal dissolution can obtain oxygenated chemicals and upgrading coals. • Ethanol has the strongest deoxygenation capacity. • Ethyl acetate shows selective dissociation ability for esters. • Tetrahydrofuran dissociates highly condensed polycyclic compound such as naphthols. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sea level variabilities in the southwest Pacific contribute to the variations of equatorial current bifurcation and the Indonesian Throughflow transport. These processes are closely related to the recharge/discharge of equatorial heat content and dynamic distribution of anthropogenic ocean heating over the Indo-Pacific basin, thus being of profound significance for climate variability and change. Here we identify the major features of seasonal and interannual sea level variabilities in this region, confirming the dominance of the first baroclinic mode in the tropics (contributing 60%–80% of the variances) and higher baroclinic modes in the extratropics (40%–60% of the seasonal variance). Seasonally, except in the western Coral Sea where the Ekman pumping is significant, the wind-driven first-mode baroclinic Rossby waves originating to the east of the date line control the sea level variations over most tropical Pacific regions. In the domain where the 1.5-layer reduced gravity model becomes deficient, the surface heat fluxes dominate, explaining ∼40%–80% of sea level variance. For interannual variability, ∼40%–60% of the variance are El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) related. The wind-driven Rossby and Kelvin waves east of the date line explain ∼40%–78% of the interannual variance in the tropical Pacific. Outside the tropics, small-scale diffusive processes are presumed critical for interannual variability according to a thermodynamic analysis using an eddy-permitting ocean model simulation. Further process and predictive understandings can be achieved with the coupled climate models properly parameterizing the subgrid-scale processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, a tube extrusion-shear-expanding (TESE) process was proposed to develop a high-performance magnesium alloy thin-walled tube, and then a comparison was made with the direct extrusion (DE) process. The microstructure and mechanical properties of magnesium alloy tubes under different processes were tested and analyzed. Numerical simulations were conducted by using DEFORMTM-3D software to predict the effective stresses, forming loads, and effective strains during the forming of magnesium alloy tubes. Compared with DE process, the TESE process with high effective stresses, effective strains, and forming loads generates a severe plastic deformation of the tube, leading to a more obvious grain refinement effect on the fabricated tube with a tensile strength of around 293 MPa and an elongation of around 15%. The results show that the TESE process has obvious advantages. The critical shear force and dynamic recrystallization further refine the grains and weaken the basal texture strength. The comprehensive performance of magnesium alloy tube is improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study employed an open external circuit, rather than a closed circuit applied in previous studies, to operate an microbial fuel cell (MFC) sensor for real-time nitrate monitoring, and achieved surprisingly greater sensitivity (4.42 ± 0.3–6.66 ± 0.4 mV/(mg/L)) when the nitrate was at a concentration of 10–40 mg/L, compared to that of the MFC sensor with a closed circuit (0.8 ± 0.05–1.6 ± 0.1 mV/(mg/L)). The MFC sensor operated in open circuit (O-MFC sensor) delivered much more stable performance than that operated in closed circuit (C-MFC sensor) when affected by organic matter (NaAc). The sensitivity of O-MFC sensor was twice that of C-MFC sensor at a low background concentration of organic matter. When organic matter reached a high concentration, the sensitivity of O-MFC sensor remained at an acceptable level, while that of C-MFC sensor dropped to almost zero. Challenged by a combined shock of organic matter and nitrate, O-MFC sensor delivered evident electrical signals for nitrate warning, while C-MFC failed. Another novel feature of this study lies in a new mathematical model to examine the bioanode process of nitrate monitoring. It revealed that lower capacitance of the bioanode in O-MFC was the major contributor to the improved sensitivity of the device. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Toxicity monitoring is essential for the protection of public health and ecological safety. Microbial fuel cell (MFC) sensors demonstrated good potential in toxicity monitoring, but current MFC sensors can only be used for anaerobic water monitoring. In this study, a novel gas diffusion (GD)-biocathode sensing element was fabricated using a simple method. The GD-biocathode MFC sensor can directly be used for formaldehyde detection (from 0.0005% to 0.005%) in both aerobic and anaerobic water bodies. Electrochemical analysis indicated that the response by the sensor was caused by the toxic inhibition to the microbial activity for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). This study for the first time demonstrated that the GD-biocathode MFC sensor has a detection limit of 20 ppm for formaldehyde and can be used to monitor air pollution. Selective sensitivity to formaldehyde was not achieved as the result of using a mixed-culture, which confirms that it can serve as a generic biosensor for monitoring gaseous pollutants. This study expands the realm of knowledge for MFC sensor applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

La 3 + and mixed-rare earth magnetic chitosan beads (MCLB and MCLRB) were successfully prepared for fluoride removal, respectively. The adsorbents were characterized by scanning electron microscope and magnetic response. Batch experiments were carried out to investigate the adsorbent performance based on the influence of various factors such as adsorbent dosage, contact time, initial solution pH and co-existing anions on the fluoride adsorption. Results showed that MCLB and MCLRB followed the pseudo-second-order kinetic model with the correlation coefficient value of 0.9925 and 0.9985 respectively. The adsorption process was mainly chemical adsorption. The isotherm data was well fitted both Langmuir model and Freundlich model. The adsorption capacity of the adsorbents were 20.53 and 22.35 mg/g respectively. The optimum pH value for fluoride ion removal was 5.0. The effects of co-existing anions on the fluoride sorption followed the decreasing order of CO 3 2 – > HCO 3 – > SO 4 2 − > NO 3 − > Cl − . Fluoride adsorption on MCLB and MCLRB could be attributed to ion exchange between fluoride and OH groups with the Fe O coordinate bond promotion. Our study revealed that MCLB and MCLRB performed strong adsorption capacity for fluoride ion. In particularly, MCLRB could be a more cost-effective adsorbent to remove fluoride from aqueous solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inefficient extracellular electron transfer within bioanode leads to low current production by microbial fuel cell (MFC). In this study, magnetite was sprinkled in electroactive biofilm with the aid of magnet field. Magnetite located inside biofilm (interior-doped biofilm) facilitated the electron delivery of electroactive bacteria far away from electrode surface. Electron transfer efficiency was improved by 12% and 37% compared with that of biofilms with magnetite located at the interface of biofilm/electrode (surface-doped biofilm) and that without any magnetite (control biofilm) respectively. The output power density of MFC with interior-doped biofilm (764 ± 32 mW m −2 ) was greatly increased compared with that of MFCs with surface-doped biofilm (604 ± 22 mW m −2 ) and control biofilm (475 ± 12 mW m −2 ). SEM images showed that magnetite evenly distributed inside the interior-doped biofilm and penetrated the electroactive biofilm, which would facilitate extracellular electron transfer across electroactive biofilms and thus improving the bioelectricity production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A stereospecific three-component domino reaction between glycals, alkylidene malonate and aldehydes catalyzed by Yb(OTf)3 is described. Multi-substituted cis-fused perhydropyrano[2,3-b]pyran derivatives were obtained with high diastereoselectivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research aims to study phospholipids (PL) classes and molecular species of large yellow croaker ( Pseudosciaena crocea ) roe. Both gas chromatographymass spectroscopy (GC-MS) and high-performance liquid chromatography with evaporative light-scattering detection (HPLC-ELSD) were utilized to analyze and identify the PLs fatty acids compositions and classes in the P. crocea roe, respectively. Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, C22:6) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, C20:5) account for 35.0% and 6.9% of the PLs. Phosphatidylcholines (PC), lysophosphatidylcholines (LPC), phosphatidylethanolamines (PE) and phosphatidylinositols (PI) account for 76.36 ± 0.62%, 12.30 ± 0.55%, 9.12 ± 0.02% and 1.09 ± 0.01% of the total PLs, respectively. In addition, the PLs molecular species were characterized by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-quadruple-time of flight-mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF-MS). A total of 92 PLs molecular species was identified, including 49 PCs, 13 PEs, 10 phosphatidic acids (PAs), 13 phosphatidylserines (PSs), 3 phosphatidylglycerols (PGs), 2 sphingomyelins (SMs), and 2 PIs of the P . crocea roe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In capacitive deionization (CDI), the functionalization or modification of carbon electrodes and the mitigation of positive electrode oxidation are effective methods to improve desalination capacity and stability for practical application. Here, the covalent bond attached three-dimensional (3D) graphene/carbon nanotubes hybrid (G-CNTs) with rich conductive channels was chosen as electrode material, and a periodically alternated (positive and negative) voltage operation (1.2/0/–1.2/0 V) was applied that aims to enhance the efficiency and stability of capacity deionization. The desalination capacity of the G-CNTs electrode increased gradually over the first few cycles in this operation, while the usage cycle of CDI could be pronouncedly extended almost six times, compared with the CDI of regular applied voltage operation (1.2/0 V). Through the characterization of electrode and CDI cell, this enhancement of the desalination performance is attributed to the synergistic benefits of alternating oxidation of negative and positive electrode, which can mitigate the oxidation of the positive electrode as well as achieve negative surface charge enhanced negative electrode. Therefore, a periodically alternated voltage operation is an economical and efficient method to control the oxidation of electrodes for enhancing the desalination performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose This paper aims to provide a new method for fast calculation of the recess pressure for hydrostatic bearing compensated by orifice restrictor.Design/methodology/approach Three methods (new method, old method and finite difference method) are used to calculate recess pressure for hydrostatic bearing at different eccentricity ratios and radial clearances, and the results with the three methods are compared.Findings From the results, the conclusion is that the new method has a simple calculation process and a quick calculation speed.Originality/value The new method can be used to calculate the recess pressure of hydrostatic bearing with high precision and simple computing process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focused on the issue that conventional remote sensing image classification methods have run into the bottlenecks in accuracy, a new remote sensing image classification method inspired by deep learning is proposed, which is based on Stacked Denoising Autoencoder. First, the deep network model is built through the stacked layers of Denoising Autoencoder. Then, with noised input, the unsupervised Greedy layer-wise training algorithm is used to train each layer in turn for more robust expressing, characteristics are obtained in supervised learning by Back Propagation (BP) neural network, and the whole network is optimized by error back propagation. Finally, Gaofen-1 satellite (GF-1) remote sensing data are used for evaluation, and the total accuracy and kappa accuracy reach 95.7% and 0.955, respectively, which are higher than that of the Support Vector Machine and Back Propagation neural network. The experiment results show that the proposed method can effectively improve the accuracy of remote sensing image classification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to investigate the composition of the fatty acids and phospholipids derived from large yellow croaker (Pseudosciaena crocea) roe. The composition of the total lipids and the molecular species of phospholipids were determined by gas chromatography–mass spectroscopy (GC–MS) and high performance liquid chromatography–evaporative light scattering detector (HPLC–ELSD), respectively. The results showed that large yellow croaker roe had high levels of the total lipid (19.6% ± 1.32%, w/w) and phospholipid (61.2% ± 1.22% of the total lipid). The phospholipid was rich in docosahexaenoic acid (31.0% ± 0.19% of the total phospholipids), and the major phospholipid molecular species was phosphatidylcholine (PC, 61.06% ± 0.02% of the total phospholipids, w/w). It was concluded that large yellow croaker roe is expected to be a good resource of phospholipids with a high content of PC. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this study, an attempt has been made to analyse the impact of different parameters (such as bulk density, cohesive force, internal angle of friction, angle of slip surface and pore water pressure) on the safety factor of a given slope. The analysis was done using the Swedish Arc method. Meanwhile, the sensitivity ratios between different parameters were determined by taking the partial derivatives of non-dimensional parameters. A typical case study with a uniform slope was considered to verify the efficiency of the provided method. The results showed that the change in failure path had a significant impact on the sensitivity ratio of parameters. In the meantime, unstable slopes will have higher value of sensitivity ratio in the shear strength parameters (tan φ and c). The sensitivity analysis method introduced in this article eliminated the crude assumptions made on the conventional approach. The advantage of this analytical method is that both the safety factor and the sensitivity ratio can be computed simultaneously, for slopes with any given slip surface. It is believed that the results will have an indispensible role in understanding and capturing the nature of geotechnical problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was designed to observe the effects of maternal food restriction (MFR) on the development of fetal thymus in different gestation periods. Timed pregnant rats were randomized into 3 groups: CN (free access to standard chow throughout gestation), MFR 0-21 (50% MFR throughout gestation), MFR 0-14 (50% MFR from gestational day (GD) 0 to GD14, early-mid gestation). Results showed that MFR during early-mid period had few impact on the fetal thymus and T cell subpopulations. However, MFR throughout gestation resulted in thymic atrophy, deceased frequency of both CD4 + and CD8 + single positive (SP) T cells and enhanced thymocyte apoptosis in fetus. Our results suggest the fetal thymus is more vulnerable to the adverse intrauterine environments in the late gestation period, and the decreased number of SP T cells could result from the enhanced thymocyte apoptosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Porous polymeric materials, such as textile fabrics, are elastic and widely used in our daily life for garment and household products. The mechanical and dynamic heat transfer properties of porous polymeric materials, which describe the sensations during the contact process between porous polymeric materials and parts of the human body, such as the hand, primarily influence comfort sensations and aesthetic qualities of clothing. A multi-sensory measurement system and a new method were proposed to simultaneously sense the contact and characterize the mechanical and dynamic heat transfer properties of porous polymeric materials, such as textile fabrics in one instrument, with consideration of the interactions between different aspects of contact feels. The multi-sensory measurement system was developed for simulating the dynamic contact and psychological judgment processes during human hand contact with porous polymeric materials, and measuring the surface smoothness, compression resilience, bending and twisting, and dynamic heat transfer signals simultaneously. The contact sensing principle and the evaluation methods were presented. Twelve typical sample materials with different structural parameters were measured. The results of the experiments and the interpretation of the test results were described. An analysis of the variance and a capacity study were investigated to determine the significance of differences among the test materials and to assess the gage repeatability and reproducibility. A correlation analysis was conducted by comparing the test results of this measurement system with the results of Kawabata Evaluation System (KES) in separate instruments. This multi-sensory measurement system provides a new method for simultaneous contact sensing and characterizing of mechanical and dynamic heat transfer properties of porous polymeric materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flow-electrode capacitive deionization (FCDI) is a new desalination technology that delivers sustainable desalination performance. However, higher desalination rate and charge efficiency of FCDI are still desired for practical applications. In this study, voltages greater than 1.23 V – the minimum voltage for water electrolysis – were applied to enhance the driving force for ion migration and adsorption in an FCDI so as to achieve higher desalination rates. When the voltage was raised from 0.6 to 4.8 V, the desalination rate increased by nearly 7 times but the charge efficiency reduced from 92% to 69.5% due to the occurrence of Faradaic reactions such as water electrolysis. The other major factor that influenced the FCDI's charge efficiency was found to be concentration diffusion of ions between the FCDI's middle chamber and the two electrode chambers. To improve the charge efficiency, carbon black (CB) particles with an average diameter of 12 μm were added to the activated carbon flow electrodes at a mixing ratio of 1.5 wt%. With that, the FCDI's charge efficiency increased from 83.5% to 96.5% at 2.4 V. Electrochemical impedance spectrometry (EIS) analysis indicates that the addition of CB particles significantly reduced the FCDI's internal resistance, thereby leading to enhanced desalination performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To explore the sulfur transformation in the grading utilization of coal, the forms and distributions of sulfur at different operation parameters and foreign minerals were investigated in coal pyrolysis with solid heat carrier and combustion, respectively. The results show that the increasing pyrolysis temperature increases the sulfur content in the gaseous phase. For the coal with larger particle size, more sulfur will residue in char. The change of the mass ratio of quartz sand to coal and heating rate have little effect on the sulfur distribution in gas, tar and char products. After 3 wt% CaO is introduced to the raw coal, sulfur in gas and tar decreases from 29.68 and 12.16 wt% of the raw coal to 22.31 and 10.66 wt%, respectively. Fe 2 O 3 mainly affects the migration of gaseous sulfur to solid phase sulfur during coal pyrolysis. MgO, NaOH, and KOH have no sulfur fixation effect. The sulfur-fixed efficiencies for 3 wt% CaO and 3 wt% Fe 2 O 3 are 17.17 and 38.16 wt%, respectively. When the contents of CaO and Fe 2 O 3 increase, the sulfate sulfur and sulfide sulfur in the char increase, and the sulfur fixed in ash which obtained from the combustion of char increases. The inhibitory effect of CaO on the secondary release of SO 2 in the combustion stage is stronger than that of Fe 2 O 3 . This paper provides a basic reference for the removal of sulfur during the step conversion of coal pyrolysis and combustion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The traditional microbial fuel cell (MFC) sensor with bioanode as sensing element delivers limited sensitivity to toxicity monitoring, restricted application to only anaerobic and organic rich water body, and increased potential fault warning to the combined shock of organic matter/toxicity. In this study, the biocathode for oxygen reduction reaction was employed for the first time as the sensing element in MFC sensor for toxicity monitoring. The results shown that the sensitivity of MFC sensor with biocathode sensing element (7.4±2.0 to 67.5±4.0 mA% −1 cm −2 ) was much greater than that showed by bioanode sensing element (3.4±1.5 to 5.5±0.7 mA% −1 cm −2 ). The biocathode sensing element achieved the lowest detection limit reported to date using MFC sensor for formaldehyde detection (0.0005%), while the bioanode was more applicable for higher concentration (>0.0025%). There was a quicker response of biocathode sensing element with the increase of conductivity and dissolved oxygen (DO). The biocathode sensing element made the MFC sensor directly applied to clean water body monitoring, e.g., drinking water and reclaimed water, without the amending of background organic matter, and it also decreased the warning failure when challenged by a combined shock of organic matter/toxicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the aim of improving the compatibility, high and low temperature properties of SBR modified asphalt, polyphosphoric acid (PPA) was added to achieve a further modification in this study. The effects of PPA and asphalt composition on physical properties, viscoelastic behavior, creep and recovery behavior, cracking resistance, compatibility and morphology of PPA/SBR modified asphalt were characterized, respectively. It was demonstrated that PPA dramatically enhanced the adhesion ability, high temperature elasticity and anti-rutting ability of SBR modified asphalt through deflocculation effect. The resistance against low temperature cracking of PPA/SBR modified asphalt underwent a degradation after first improvement as PPA increased. PPA also improved the compatibility between SBR and asphalt and decreased the dispersed polymer phase size, thus a more desirable microstructure was formed. Furthermore, relatively high asphaltene content of base asphalt was beneficial to achieve desired rheological properties of PPA/SBR modified asphalt. As a consequence, chemical reaction with PPA is an effective way to comprehensively improve the compatibility and thermo-rheological behavior of SBR modified asphalt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of biosensors for water alert system is critical for providing safe water to the general public. A cathode-shared microbial fuel cell (MFC) sensor array was designed improve the detection credibility by eliminating the cathode performance variation, based on the principle that only the bioanode would be used as the sensing and transducing element. Four integrated MFCs exhibited high parallelism, and independence without the cross contamination or electric signal interference. Two linear ranges were observed (from 0.25 to 0.75 mM and from 1 to 10 mM) for acetate detection. A linear relationship between inhibition ratio ( IR ) and Cu 2+ concentration from 2 to 6 mg/L was recorded. The sensor expressed an immediate voltage decrease when exposed to a pH decrease from 6 to 4. The compact design of the cathode-shared MFC sensor array assure the detection credibility, and the number of the integrated MFC sensors is alterable based on the monitoring requirement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mechanism by which leptin reverses diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) is unknown. We examined the acute insulin-independent effects of leptin replacement therapy in a streptozotocin-induced rat model of DKA. Leptin infusion reduced rates of lipolysis, hepatic glucose production (HGP), and hepatic ketogenesis by 50% within 6 hours and were independent of any changes in plasma glucagon concentrations; these effects were abrogated by coinfusion of corticosterone. Treating leptin- and corticosterone-infused rats with an adipose triglyceride lipase inhibitor blocked corticosterone-induced increases in plasma glucose concentrations and rates of HGP and ketogenesis. Similarly, adrenalectomized type 1 diabetic (T1D) rats exhibited decreased rates of lipolysis, HGP, and ketogenesis; these effects were reversed by corticosterone infusion. Leptin-induced decreases in lipolysis, HGP, and ketogenesis in DKA were also nullified by relatively small increases (15 to 70 pM) in plasma insulin concentrations. In contrast, the chronic glucose-lowering effect of leptin in a STZ-induced mouse model of poorly controlled T1D was associated with decreased food intake, reduced plasma glucagon and corticosterone concentrations, and decreased ectopic lipid (triacylglycerol/diacylglycerol) content in liver and muscle. Collectively, these studies demonstrate marked differences in the acute insulin-independent effects by which leptin reverses fasting hyperglycemia and ketoacidosis in a rodent model of DKA versus the chronic pleotropic effects by which leptin reverses hyperglycemia in a non-DKA rodent model of T1D. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A binder-free, pseudocapacitive anode was fabricated by coating reduced graphene oxide (rGO) and manganese oxide (MnO 2 ) nanoparticles on stainless steel fibre felt (SS). Microbial fuel cell (MFC) equipped with this novel anode yielded a maximum power density of 1045 mW m −2 , 20 times higher than that of a similar MFC with a bare SS anode (46 mW m −2 ). Transient-state regulation (TSR) was implemented to further improve the MFC’s power generation. The optimal TSR duty cycle ranged from 67% to 95%, and the MFC’s power density increased with TSR frequency. A maximum power density output of 1238 mW m −2 was achieved at the TSR duty cycle of 75% and the frequency of 1 Hz, 18.4% greater than that obtained from the steady state operation. The TSR mode delivered better MFC performance especially when the external resistance was small. Long-term operation tests revealed that the current density and power density yielded in the TSR mode were on average 15.0% and 32.7% greater than those in the steady state mode, respectively. The TSR mode was believed to reduce the internal resistance of the MFC while enhance substrate mass transfer and electron transfer within the anode matrix, thereby improving the MFC performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ubiquitination and deubiquitination have emerged as critical regulators in cancer. In the present study, the expression pattern of 50 ubiquitin-specific proteases (USPs) was summarized in breast cancer using a bioinformatics approach, and USP21 was identified as the most altered gene in breast cancer. In particular, expression of USP21 in triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) cell lines was greater compared with other subtypes of breast cancer. Knockdown of USP21 in TNBC cells inhibited cell proliferation, migration and invasion. Microarray profiling of the USP21 knockdown cells revealed significant downregulation of multiple genes associated with the NOD-like receptor signaling pathway. The results of the present study suggest that USP21 has a significant role in TNBC progression, and therefore may represent a novel therapeutic target. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

GINS2, a subunit of GINS complex, is critical for the initiation of DNA replication and DNA replication fork progression. The expression of GINS2 is misregulated in many malignant tumors, such as leukemia, breast cancer and melanoma. However, the role of GINS in breast cancer remains poorly characterized. We investigate the possible effect and particular mechanism of GINS in breast cancer cells. We showed that expression of GINS2 is enriched in triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) cell lines. Furthermore, GINS2 knockdown decreased the growth, invasive ability and stem-like property of TNBC cells. Mechanistically, silencing of GINS2 in TNBC cells caused dramatic decrease of matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP9). Finally, the abundance of GINS2 correlated with the advance stages of tumor in human TNBC patients. Our studies provided insight into the molecular regulation of TNBC progression and invasion. More importantly, our data suggest that GINS2 could be an outstanding therapeutic target for inhibiting invasive TNBC growth and metastasis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Generating class-agnostic object proposals followed by classification has recently become a common paradigm for object detection. Current state-of-the-art approaches typically generate generic objects, which serve as candidates for object classification. Since these object proposals are generic whereas the categories for classification are domain specific, there is a gap between the generation of object proposals and the classification of object proposals. In this paper, by taking advantages of the intrinsic structure and the complexity of each category of objects, we propose a novel tree-based hierarchical model to learn object proposals, from top proposals produced by the existing object proposals generation methods. First, we develop a tree-structured representation for each object to capture its hierarchical structure feature. Second, we propose a 23D compact feature vector to represent objects' visual features. Third, we formulate a learning schema which evaluates the objectness of each proposal. Experiments demonstrate the significant improvement of the proposed approach over the state-of-the-art method in terms of object detection rate. An application is proposed based on this approach to help children learn and recognize objects by their visual appearances and their sub-parts structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Generating class-agnostic object proposals followed by classification has recently become a common paradigm for object detection. Current state-of-the-art approaches typically generate generic objects, which serve as candidates for object classification. Since these object proposals are generic whereas the categories for classification are domain specific, there is a gap between the generation of object proposals and the classification of object proposals. In this paper, by taking advantages of the intrinsic structure and the complexity of each category of objects, we propose a novel tree-based hierarchical model to learn object proposals, from top proposals produced by the existing object proposals generation methods. First, we develop a tree-structured representation for each object to capture its hierarchical structure feature. Second, we propose a 23D compact feature vector to represent objects' visual features. Third, we formulate a learning schema which evaluates the objectness of each proposal. Experiments demonstrate the significant improvement of the proposed approach over the state-of-the-art method in terms of object detection rate. An application is proposed based on this approach to help children learn and recognize objects by their visual appearances and their sub-parts structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study was to enhance the suitability of Lu’an coal for gasification in large entrained-flow gasifiers currently used by the Lu’an Group Mining Company in its 1.8 million ton per annum coal-based oil synthesis demonstration project. The effect of coal blending and flux addition on the ash fusion temperature (AFT) and gasification reactivity was investigated. CaO, Fe2O3, and MgO decreased the AFT of Lu’an coal by 150°C, 73°C, and 68°C, respectively, by a flux addition of up to 7%. Within the range of the experimental investigation, the AFT of Lu’an coal decreased by 3°C for each 1% of Shenmu coal addition. The gradual reduction of mullite and the formation of fayalite and hessonite in blended coal ash decreased the AFT. The addition of a fluxing agent significantly increased the reaction activity of the char, with Fe2O3exhibiting the largest catalytic effect on char gasification. Blending with Shenmu char significantly increased the gasification reactivity. The random pore model best describes the gasification process of Lu’an char, and a kinetic equation for the process was developed on the basis of this model. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In environmentally sensitive areas, particularly the arid or semi-arid regions, different factors such as relief and human activity, can greatly influence the landscape on a local scale. Using satellite imageries and field investigations, we have studied the distribution of sand dunes in the Maowusu (Mu Us) Sandy Land in the southern Ordos Plateau, northern China. Key research questions are which factors are critically responsible for the spatial pattern evident in the landscape and what is the relative importance of such factors? We used a new approach, i.e., the Geographical Detector to improve our spatial analysis. Using the combined methods of the Geographical Detector, digital image processing, field investigation and spatial and temporal analysis of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), we aimed to clarify the causal relations governing the different landform patterns within this Sandy Land and beyond. The primary factors include local relief, drainage, climatically controlled potential plant productivity, wind action and rock type as explanatory parameters x and the landscape properties as the output y . Our results show the quantified links between the spatial distribution of various landscapes and their controlling factors. This study revealed that the climatic potential productivity, local relief and drainage are the key factors in shaping the landscape spatial pattern. Owing to different regional climates and land use histories, the responses to changes of external forcing between the western and eastern parts of the Maowusu Sandy Land are out-of-step. We conclude that the desertification of the eastern part of Maowusu Sandy Land has been mainly caused by human activities while the western part is governed by natural factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bioelectrochemical systems (BESs) are integrated water treatment technologies that generate electricity using organic matter in wastewater. In situ use of bioelectricity can direct the migration of ionic substances in a BES, thereby enabling water desalination, resource recovery, and valuable substance production. Recently, much attention has been placed on the microbial desalination cells in BESs to drive water desalination, and various configurations have optimized electricity generation and desalination performance and also coupled hydrogen production, heavy metal reduction, and other reactions. In addition, directional transport of other types of charged ions can remediate polluted groundwater, recover nutrient, and produce valuable substances. To better promote the practical application, the use of BESs as directional drivers of ionic substances requires further optimization to improve energy use efficiency and treatment efficacy. This article reviews existing researches on BES-driven directional ion transport to treat wastewater and identifies a few key factors involved in efficiency optimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sulfur transformation in the polygeneration process of Xinzhou high-sulfur coal employing a circulating ash heat carrier was studied using a fixed bed reactor. Circulating ash was effective in capturing the gaseous sulfur, along with ~ 80% of H 2 S, 59% of COS, 55% of CS 2 , and 48% of SO 2 . Sulfur mass balance calculations revealed that 30.88% of the total sulfur content was retained in the circulating ash at 600 °C. The sulfur retention capacity of the ash was promoted by an increase in temperature, an increase in the ash to coal mass ratio, and a decrease in ash particle size. Sulfur captured in the circulating ash released lower quantities of SO 2 than the sulfur remaining in the char during combustion. Furthermore, CaO and Fe 2 O 3 played a dominant role in the sulfur retention of the circulating ash, and the sulfur retention capacity of Fe 2 O 3 was superior to that of CaO during pyrolysis. X-ray diffraction results indicated that the sulfur captured by CaO and Fe 2 O 3 was converted into CaS and FeS. However, FeS was easily oxidized to Fe 2 O 3 , accompanied by the emission of SO 2 , while CaS tended to be oxidized to CaSO 4 during combustion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The mechanisms for organocatalytic synthesis of chiral allene by racemic propargylic alcohol and 3-phenylindole were proposed. • Eight possible reaction pathways were found after the dehydration process. • The intermolecular interactions including HBs and π-π interactions play crucial roles in determining the enantioselectivity. Organocatalytic synthesis of chiral allene can be successfully achieved through the reaction between propargylic alcohol and 3-phenylindole catalyzed by chiral phosphoric acid with high yield and high enantioselectivity. The detailed reaction mechanism and origin of enantioselectivity were uncovered by quantum mechanical calculations. The results indicate that the reactions undergo the dehydration process, the C–C bonding reaction, the hydrogen abstraction and the regeneration of catalyst. Eight possible pathways were found and the most favorable reaction paths leading to the major and minor products were evaluated which were consistent with the experimental results. The distortion/interaction analyses of the transition states in enantioselectivity-determining steps confirm the most favorable pathway in leading the major product. QTAIM and IGM analyses are used to illustrate the role of intermolecular interactions. EDA analysis is also employed to understand the origin of selectivity. This work would provide insightful viewpoints on the asymmetric organocatalytic reaction by chiral phosphoric acid. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]