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Among various intergranular microstructures, pore spaces in SEs play a critical role in Li-metal nucleation in SEs. To realize Li-metal nuclei-free inside the SE, removing pore spaces is essential and a commonly applicable design strategy to all SEs.

Herein, we have prepared platinum phosphide (PtP2)-based cathode electrocatalysts for HT-PEMFCs. The high activity and stability of the PtP2/C-based catalysts were attributed to the high oxyphilicity of the phosphorus atoms.

We assessed three popular force fields, AMBER ff14SB, CHARMM36m, and OPLS-AA/L in predicting conformational propensities of a β-peptide foldamer in different solvent conditions.

Carfilzomib (CFZ) is a second-generation proteasome inhibitor effective in blood cancer therapy. However, CFZ has shown limited efficacy in solid tumor therapy due to the short half-life and poor tumor distribution. Albumin-coated nanocrystal (NC) formulation was shown to improve the circulation stability of CFZ, but its antitumor efficacy remained suboptimal. We hypothesize that NC size reduction is critical to the formulation safety and efficacy as the small size would decrease the distribution in the reticuloendothelial system (RES) and selectively increase the uptake by tumor cells. We controlled the size of CFZ-NCs by varying the production parameters in the crystallization-in-medium method and compared the size-reduced CFZ-NCs (z-average of 168 nm, NC(168)) with a larger counterpart (z-average of 325 nm, NC(325)) as well as the commercial CFZ formulation (CFZ-CD). Both CFZ-NCs showed similar or higher cytotoxicity than CFZ-CD against breast cancer cells. NC(168) showed greater uptake by cancer cells, less uptake by macrophages and lower immune cell toxicity than NC(325) or CFZ-CD. NC(168), but not NC(325), showed a similar safety profile to CFZ-CD in vivo. The biodistribution and antitumor efficacy of CFZ-NCs in mice were also size-dependent. NC(168) showed greater antitumor efficacy and tumor accumulation but lower RES accumulation than NC(325) in 4T1 breast cancer model. These results support that NC formulation with an optimal particle size can improve the therapeutic efficacy of CFZ in solid tumors.

Atomic layer deposition (ALD) is a technologically important method to grow thin films with high conformality and excellent thickness control from vapor phase precursors. The development of new thermal ALD processes can be limited by precursor reactivity and stability: reaction temperature and precursor design are among the few variables available to achieve higher reactivity in gas-phase reactions, unlike in solution synthesis, where the use of solvent and/or a catalyst can promote a desired reaction. To bridge this synthesis gap between vapor-phase and solution-phase, we demonstrate the use of an ultrathin coating layer of a vapor phase-compatible solvent─an ionic liquid (IL)─on our growth substrate to perform ALD of SnO. Successful SnO deposition is achieved using tin acetylacetonate and water, a process that otherwise would require a stronger counter-reactant such as ozone. The presence of the layer of IL allows a solvent-mediated reaction mechanism to take place on the growth substrate surface. We report a growth per cycle of 0.67 Å/cycle at a deposition temperature of 100 °C in an IL comprising 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium hydrogen sulfate. Characterization of the ALD films confirms the SnO film composition, and

Computational simulations have become of major interest to screen potential photocatalysts for optimal band edge positions which straddle the redox potentials. Unfortunately, these methods suffer from a difficulty in resolving the dynamic solvent response on the band edge positions. We have developed a computational method based on the GW approximation coupled with an implicit solvation model that solves a generalized Poisson equation (GPE), that is, GW-GPE. Using GW-GPE, we have investigated the band edge locations of (quasi) 2D materials immersed in water and found a good agreement with experimental data. We identify two contributions of the solvent effect, termed a "polarization-field effect" and an "environmental screening effect", which are found to be highly sensitive to the atomic and charge distribution of the 2D materials. We believe that the GW-GPE scheme can pave the way to predict band edge positions in solvents, enabling design of 2D material-based photocatalysts and energy systems.

Summer monsoon precipitation provides crucial water resources for agriculture, industry, and life in East Asia (EA). Meanwhile, it causes disasters when occurring over highly populated regions. Recently, we have witnessed a series of extreme precipitation events in South Korea, China, and Japan during the summer monsoon season. It remains uncertain whether these events and the EA summer monsoon precipitation system are affected by the ongoing climate changes. The summer precipitation in EA is contributed by various extra-tropical cyclones, fronts, and other weather systems. Here, we focus on the stationary front-induced precipitation, which accounts for more than 30% of EA summer precipitation. Based on objectively detected frontal systems, we found that the intensity of observed frontal rainfall increased by 19.8% during 1991–2015. It was further shown that the intensity increase of frontal rainfall is mainly attributed to anthropogenic greenhouse gas forcing on the basis of the Community Earth System Model Large Ensemble simulations. We found that the reinforced western North Pacific subtropical high makes enhanced water vapor convergence in the lower troposphere along its rim. This study confirms that the frontal summer monsoon precipitation system over EA has been intensified significantly by human-induced global warming, which will likely enhance further in the future.

Irrigation is one of the crucial Nature-Human interactions and also an anthropogenic forcing in the Earth system. The literature has shown that artificial water supply to soil for example water exploitation from groundwater for irrigation can alter water and heat budgets at the land surface, resulting in changes in regional climate and hydrological cycles. Due to the expected increase in irrigation to meet growing food demand, the impact of irrigation is likely to increase further in the future. Therefore, it is essential to consider to better understand the irrigation-induced changes in the various components of the Earth system, today and in the future.Our research aims to advance the quantitative understanding of the impact of irrigation and groundwater exploitation as anthropogenic drivers of regional climate and environmental changes. We developed an earth system modeling framework coupling the updated Earth system model, MIROC-ES2L (Model for Interdisciplinary Research on Climate, Earth System version 2 for Long-term simulations) and newly implemented hydrological human activity modules. This modeling framework enables to simulate a fully coupled Nature-Human system including water cycle dynamics related to irrigation.Our preliminary results show notable differences between simulations with and without the irrigation process. Here, we show the hydrological variables affected by irrigation and identify the regions and timings of significant impact. Further, we estimate the individual contribution of groundwater and surface water use to such impacts by irrigation.

The impact of climate change on typhoon is of great concern in the East Asia. In particular, typhoon heavy rainfall has a destructive impact on our society and economy since they are many megacities along the coastal regions. Although observations suggest significant changes in typhoon heavy rainfall, the contribution of anthropogenic forcing has not been determined.In this study, we show that anthropogenic global warming has a substantial impact on the observed changes in typhoon heavy rainfall in the western North Pacific region. Observational data show that, in general, typhoon heavy rainfall has increased (decreased) in coastal East Asia (tropical western North Pacific) during latter half of 20th Century and onward. A similar spatial distribution is found in the “Anthropogenic fingerprint”, difference between Earth systems with and without human-induced greenhouse gas emission, from a set of large ensemble climate simulations. This provides evidence to support that the significant increase in the frequency of typhoon heavy rainfall along coastal East Asia is not explained solely by natural variability. Further, the results show that since mid-1970s, the signal of “Anthropogenic fingerprint” has been increasing rapidly and departs from natural variability in early-2000s.Reference:Utsumi, N., & Kim, H. (2022). Observed influence of anthropogenic climate change on tropical cyclone heavy rainfall. Nature Climate Change, 12(5), 436–440. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-022-01344-2

Myonghwa Park,1 Keunyeob Oh,2 Hyungjun Kim,3 Xing Fan,1,4 Thi-Thanh-Thnh Giap,1,5 Rhayun Song1 1College of Nursing, Chungnam National University, Daejeon, South Korea; 2College of Economics and Management, Chungnam National University, Daejeon, South Korea; 3School of Business, Chungnam National University, Daejeon, South Korea; 4College of Medicine, Lishui University, Lishui, People’s Republic of China; 5College of Health Sciences, VinUniversity, Hanoi, VietnamCorrespondence: Rhayun Song, College of Nursing, Chungnam National University, Munwha-ro 266, Jung-Gu, Daejeon, 35015, South Korea, Tel +82-42-580-8331, Fax +82-42-580-8309, Email songry@cnu.ac.kr Xing Fan, College of Nursing, Chungnam National University, Munwha-ro 266, Jung-Gu, Daejeon, 35015, South Korea, Tel +82-42-580-8331, Fax +82-42-580-8309, Email fanxing@o.cnu.ac.krPurpose: To predict the performance of infection-prevention behaviors among adults in Korea based on the health belief model, using social support as a mediator.Patients and Methods: A nationwide cross-sectional survey of 700 participants from the local community was conducted using both online and offline methods from 8 metropolitan cities and 9 provinces in Korea from November 2021 to March 2022. The questionnaire was composed of 4 sections: demographic information, motivational factors for behavior change, social support, and infection-prevention behaviors. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling with the AMOS program. The general least-squares method was applied to assess the fit of the model and the bootstrapping method was tested for indirect effect and the total effect.Results: Motivation factors that directly affected infection-prevention behaviors were self-efficacy (γ=0.58, p< 0.001), perceived barriers (γ=– .08, p=0.004), perceived benefits (γ=0.10, p=0.002), perceived threats (γ=0.08, p=0.009), and social support (γ=0.13, p< 0.001), after controlling for related demographic variables. Cognitive and emotional motivation factors together explained 59% of the variance in infection-prevention behaviors. Social support exerted significant mediating effects between each cognitive and emotional motivation variable and infection-prevention behaviors, along with a significant direct effect on infection-prevention behaviors (γ=0.12, p< 0.001).Conclusion: The engagement of prevention behaviors among community-dwelling adults was influenced by their self-efficacy, perceived barriers, perceived benefits, and perceived threats with social support as a mediator. Prevention policy approaches could include providing specific information to improve self-efficacy and build awareness of the severity of the disease while establishing a supportive social environment for promoting health behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic.Keywords: COVID-19, health belief model, prevention behavior, motivation factor, social support