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Sulphate‐reducing microorganisms, or SRMs, are crucial to organic decomposition, the sulphur cycle, and the formation of pyrite. Despite their low energy‐yielding metabolism and intense competition with other microorganisms, their ability to thrive in natural habitats often lacking sufficient substrates remains an enigma. This study delves into how Desulfovibrio desulfuricans G20, a representative SRM, utilizes photoelectrons from extracellular sphalerite (ZnS), a semiconducting mineral that often coexists with SRMs, for its metabolism and energy production. Batch experiments with sphalerite reveal that the initial rate and extent of sulphate reduction by G20 increased by 3.6 and 3.2 times respectively under light conditions compared to darkness, when lactate was not added. Analyses of microbial photoelectrochemical, transcriptomic, and metabolomic data suggest that in the absence of lactate, G20 extracts photoelectrons from extracellular sphalerite through cytochromes, nanowires, and electron shuttles. Genes encoding movement and biofilm formation are upregulated, suggesting that G20 might sense redox potential gradients and migrate towards sphalerite to acquire photoelectrons. This process enhances the intracellular electron transfer activity, sulphur metabolism, and ATP production of G20, which becomes dominant under conditions of carbon starvation and extends cell viability in such environments. This mechanism could be a vital strategy for SRMs to survive in energy‐limited environments and contribute to sulphur cycling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Air pollution exposure is closely linked to population age and socioeconomic status. Population aging and imbalance in regional economy are thus anticipated to have important implications on ozone (O3)‐related health impacts. Here we provide a driver analysis for O3 mortality burden due to respiratory disease in China over 2013–2050 driven by population aging and regional inequity. Unexpectedly, we find that population aging is estimated to result in dramatic rises in annual O3 mortality burden in China; by 56, 101–137, and 298–485 thousand over the periods 2013–2020, 2020–2030, and 2030–2050, respectively. This reflects the exponential rise in baseline mortality rates with increasing age. The aging‐induced mortality burden rise in 2030–2050 is surprisingly large, as it is comparable to the net national mortality burden due to O3 exposure in 2030 (359–399 thousand yr−1). The health impacts of O3 pollution, shown as mortality burden per capita, are inequitably distributed, with more severe effects in less developed provinces than their developed counterparts by 23.1% and 21.5% in 2019 and 2030, respectively. However, the regional inequity in O3 mortality burden is expected to be mitigated in 2050. This temporal variation reflects evolving demographic dividend characterized by a larger proportion of younger individuals in developed regions. These findings are critical for targeted improvement of healthcare services to ensure the sustainability of social development. Plain Language Summary: Air pollution exposure is closely linked to the age distribution and socioeconomic status of the population. The ongoing process of population aging and the pronounced disparities in regional economic growth across China are thus anticipated to have substantial implications for the health effects stemming from ozone (O3) exposure. Our finding reveals that population aging is projected to lead to a significant upsurge in annual O3 mortality burden; the health impacts of O3 pollution, measured in terms of mortality burden per capita, exhibit significant disparities, with more severe effects in less developed provinces than their developed counterparts. These results hold critical implications for the targeted improvement of healthcare services, ensuring the sustainable development of society in China over the coming decades. Key Points: Ozone‐related mortality burden are increasing in the future except for the SSP1 scenarioThe mortality burden increases were mainly driven by the population aging in ChinaThe O3 mortality burden per capita, are inequitably distributed, with more severe effects in developed regions [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pollution in the environment is today the biggest issue facing the globe and the main factor in the development of many fatal diseases. The main objective of the study to investigate green investments, economic growth and financial development on environmental pollution in the G-7 countries. This study used annual penal data from 1997 to 2021. The panel NARDL (Non-linear autoregressive distributed lag) results affirm that the positive change of green investment and negative shock in green investment have a significant and positive association with environment pollution in G-7 nations. Our findings provide more evidence for the long-term asymmetry between financial development and environmental performance. However, the findings confirm that a positive modification in financial development has a positive and significant effect on environment pollution. Whereas negative shock in financial development is negative and insignificant relationship with environment pollution. Moreover, the outcomes of the study reveal that both positive shock in gross domestic product growth and negative shock of economic growth have a significant and positive link with environment pollution in G-7 countries. According to the findings, by lowering carbon dioxide emissions, green investments reduced environmental pollution in the G-7 nations over the long and short term. Moreover, it is an innovative research effort that provides light on the connection between green investments, financial development, and the environment while making mention to the EKC in G-7 countries. After all these, our recommendation is to increases green investment expenditures to reduce environmental pollution in the G-7 nations based on our findings. Additionally, one important way for the nation to achieve its sustainable development goals is to improve advancements in the financial sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intelligent sensor devices are widely used in the fields of aerospace, automobile, biomedicine, and electronics. However, using traditional bulk sensors, it is challenging to meet the needs of health monitoring, human‐computer interaction, environmental monitoring, and wearable portable electronic devices because of the limitations of flexibility and wearability. Novel flexible sensors should be characterized with stretchable, bendable, breathability, and distributed sensing properties. Herein, a flexible multi‐functional fiber sensor for stress and strain monitoring is prepared using thermal drawing technology. The as‐developed sensor is used for real‐time monitoring of small stress and strain with an accuracy of 1 g (1.7 kPa), positioning spatial resolution of 2 cm, and a strain range of 30 000 µɛ with an accuracy of 86 µɛ. It can sense single‐ and multi‐points weak pressure at the same time during keyboard testing. Furthermore, pulse and breath monitoring are also demonstrated. These results reveal the high sensitivity, lightweight, and good flexibility of this multi‐functional fiber sensor, promoting its applications in fields such as biosensing, aircrafts, and intelligent robot. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Academic discourse underscores the potential of digital gameplay in facilitating adolescents' acquisition of multimodal literacy. Despite the enduring appeal of digital games among this demographic, their pedagogical merits remain predominantly overlooked and underutilized. Thus, this investigation seeks to delve into the realm of Chinese secondary students' multimodal literacy acquisition facilitated by engagement with digital gaming platforms. Method: Employing a qualitative case study methodology, this research investigated the learning dynamics and outcomes observed within two distinct cohorts of students, totalling eight participants. These students engaged in a nine-session program situated within a classroom environment, characterized by collaborative gameplay, and structured game analysis. Central to this approach was the utilization of a metalanguage framework specific to digital play. Various data collection techniques were employed, encompassing participant observation, interviews, electronic portfolios, and field notes, all of which underwent thematic analysis for comprehensive interpretation. Findings: The results uncovered the nuanced learning dynamics and outcomes pertaining to students' multimodal literacy across functional, critical, and aesthetic domains. This was achieved through a detailed examination of digital gameplay, focusing on representation, engagement, and organization perspectives. Implications: This research provided empirical evidence supporting the recognition of digital games as legitimate and authentic texts that extend the narrative scope of students' literacy endeavours beyond traditional confines, thereby warranting increased pedagogical emphasis within literacy education settings. Such emphasis is essential for cultivating adolescents' multimodal literacy skills, priming them for adept critical engagement with future media contexts. Moreover, the study offers practical insights for educators, facilitating the assessment of digital gameplay as a form of literacy practice and its subsequent integration within multimodal literacy instructional frameworks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The adjoint of the GEOS-Chem (Goddard Earth Observing System with Chemistry) model has been widely used to constrain the sources of atmospheric compositions. Here, we designed a new framework to facilitate emission inventory updates in the adjoint of the GEOS-Chem model. The major advantage of this new framework is good readability and extensibility, which allows us to support Harmonized Emissions Component (HEMCO) emission inventories conveniently and to easily add more emission inventories following future updates in GEOS-Chem forward simulations. Furthermore, we developed new modules to support MERRA-2 (Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications, version 2) meteorological data, which allows us to perform long-term analyses with consistent meteorological data for the period 1979–present. The performances of the developed capabilities were evaluated with the following steps: (1) diagnostic outputs of carbon monoxide (CO) sources and sinks to ensure the correct reading and use of emission inventories, (2) forward simulations to compare the modeled surface and column CO concentrations among various model versions, (3) backward simulations to compare adjoint gradients of global CO concentrations to CO emissions with finite-difference gradients, and (4) observing system simulation experiments (OSSEs) to evaluate the model performance in 4D variational (4D-Var) assimilations. Finally, an example application of 4D-Var assimilation was presented to constrain anthropogenic CO emissions in 2015 by assimilating Measurement of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT) CO observations. The capabilities developed in this work are important for better applications of the adjoint of the GEOS-Chem model in the future. These capabilities will be submitted to the standard GEOS-Chem adjoint code base for better development of the community of the adjoint of the GEOS-Chem model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate an unsteady incompressible laminar micropolar flow in a semi-infinite porous pipe with large injection or suction through a deforming pipe wall. Using suitable similarity transformations, the governing partial differential are transformed into a coupled nonlinear singular boundary value problem. For large injection, the asymptotic solutions are constructed using the Lighthill method, which eliminates singularity of solution in the high order derivative. For large suction, a series expansion matching method is used. Analytical solutions are validated against the numerical solutions obtained by Bvp4c.