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For developing high-performance organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) with thermally activated delayed fluorescent (TADF) emitters, the diphenyltriazine (TRZ) unit was introduced onto the 2′- and 3′-positions of xanthene moiety of spiro[fluorene-9,9′-xanthene] (SFX) to construct n-type host molecules, namely 2′-TRZSFX and 3′-TRZSFX. The outward extension of the TRZ unit, induced by the meta-linkage, resulted in a higher planarity between the TRZ unit and xanthene moiety in the corresponding 3′-TRZSFX. Additionally, this extension led to a perched T1 level, as well as a lower unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) level when compared with 2′-TRZSFX. Meanwhile, the 3′-TRZSFX molecules in the crystalline state presented coherent packing along with the interaction between TRZ units; the similar packing motif was spaced apart from xanthene moieties in the 2′-TRZSFX crystal. These endowed 3′-TRZSFX superior electron transport capacity in single-carrier devices relative to the 2′-TRZSFX-based device. Hence, the 3′-TRZSFX-based TADF–OLED showed remarkable electroluminescent (EL) performance under the operating luminance from turn-on to ca. 1000 cd·m−2 with a maximum external quantum efficiency (EQEmax) of 23.0%, thanks to its matched LUMO level with 4CzIPN emitter and better electron transport capacity. Interestingly, the 2′-TRZSFX-based device, with an EQEmax of 18.8%, possessed relatively low roll-off and higher efficiency when the operating luminance exceeded 1000 cd·m−2, which was attributed to the more balanced carrier transport under high operating voltage. These results were elucidated by the analysis of single-crystal structures and the measurements of single-carrier devices, combined with EL performance. The revealed position effect of the TRZ unit on xanthene moiety provides a more informed strategy to develop SFX-based hosts for highly efficient TADF–OLEDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fracture loss is the most common type of leakage in petroleum drilling engineering. The existing numerical simulation of the particle transport process is relatively simplified. In order to clarify the dynamic behavior characteristics of bridging particles in fractures, this paper adopts the discrete element and computational fluid dynamics coupling numerical simulation methods to establish a bidirectional coupling numerical model of bridging particles and drilling fluid to simulate the dynamic evolution process of bridging plugging particles, such as migration, bridging, and accumulation. The results show that the main factors affecting the transport pattern of plugging particles in the fracture are differential pressure, particle size, drilling fluid viscosity, drilling fluid density, fracture width, and fracture length. The drilling fluid density has a small effect on the inter-particle force in the fracture; the drilling fluid viscosity mainly affects the resistance of the particles, and the pressure difference between the inlet and outlet of the fracture mainly affects the transport speed of the particles. The particle size determines whether a plugging layer can be formed, and the best plugging effect is achieved when the particle size is 1/2 of the fracture width. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multichannel blind rendezvous problem is a fundamental problem in cognitive radio networks (CRNs). It refers to how to ensure that any two secondary users can meet on a common available channel at the same time. In this paper, an efficient channel hopping algorithm, called CISR (Coprime Integer Sets based Rendezvous), is designed for asymmetric role model (i.e. users can be divided into two types of roles, say, sender/leader and receiver/follower) in distributed CRNs. CISR can guarantee the rendezvous of the leader and follower and lowers the upper bound of both the maximum time to rendezvous and expected time to rendezvous by carefully constructing two coprime integer sets. The simulation results show that CISR has the near‐optimal performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Glomerular disease, including immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN) and Henoch-Schönlein purpura nephritis, is one of the most common kidney diseases in children. The diagnosis of these diseases depends on pathological biopsy, although this procedure is seriously limited by its invasive and high-risk nature.Objective: To investigate the potential of contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS) for evaluating the histopathological severity of IgAN and Henoch-Schönlein purpura nephritis (HSPN).Materials and Methods: We investigated a total of 13 children with IgAN and 12 children with HSPN confirmed by renal histopathology. We reevaluated the pathological lesions of the children according to the Oxford classification and the Lee grading system and then all the children underwent CEUS. Using SonoLiver software, we constructed time-intensity curves of CEUS for regions of interest in the renal cortex. We analyzed CEUS quantitative parameters for IgAN and HSPN and used Spearman correlation analysis to examine the correlation between CEUS parameters and clinicopathological indexes in the study cohort.Results: The CEUS parameters rise time (RT) and time to peak (TTP) were significantly higher in children with Lee grade IV than in those with Lee grades II or III. Spearman correlation analysis revealed a positive correlation between rise time and time to peak with Lee grade in the overall cohort of children, and a positive correlation between rise time and time to peak and severity of crescents in the Oxford classification scoring system.Conclusion: Contrast-enhanced US may be used as a noninvasive imaging technique to evaluate the severity of renal pathology and formation of crescents in children with IgAN and HSPN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To significantly abate the carbon footprint in the conventional Haber-Bosch process, a novel approach based on wet air co-electrolysis in solid oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC) was proposed and evaluated in this study for sustainable single-step production of ammonia feedstock (i.e., H 2 /N 2 mixture). An electrolyte-supported SOEC composed of LSCM-GDC cathode, SSZ electrolyte and LSCF-GDC anode was prepared and tested under various operation conditions. The current-voltage responses measured for wet air co-electrolysis were featured with three different regions which could be attributed to competitive and combinative effects of oxygen splitting reaction and water splitting reaction under wet air co-electrolysis operation. Gas chromatography (GC) analysis of the exit gas from the cathode chamber proved that high purity H 2 /N 2 mixture had been produced successfully through the novel wet air co-electrolysis process. However, the obtained H 2 :N 2 ratios were still much lower than the desired 3:1 ratio in the ammonia feedstock for the Haber-Bosch process. Further explorations will be made to increase the H 2 :N 2 ratio in the produced gas mixture. • Novel approach of wet air co-electrolysis in SOEC for single-step production of ammonia feedstock is proposed. • Water splitting reaction is easier to take place than oxygen splitting reaction in wet air co-electrolysis process. • GC analysis reveals the successful production of H 2 /N 2 gas mixture but the H 2 :N 2 ratios need further improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rupture risk stratification is critical for incidentally detected intracranial aneurysms. Here we developed and validated an institutional nomogram to solve this issue. We reviewed the imaging and clinical databases for aneurysms from January 2015 to September 2018. Aneurysms were reconstructed and morphological features were extracted by the Pyradiomics in python. Multiple logistic regression was performed to develop the nomogram. The consistency of the nomogram predicted rupture risks and PHASES scores was assessed. The performance of the nomogram was evaluated by the discrimination, calibration, and decision curve analysis (DCA). 719 aneurysms were enrolled in this study. For each aneurysm, twelve morphological and nine clinical features were obtained. After logistic regression, seven features were enrolled in the nomogram, which were SurfaceVolumeRatio, Flatness, Age, Hyperlipemia, Smoker, Multiple aneurysms, and Location of the aneurysm. The nomogram had a positive and close correlation with PHASES score in predicting aneurysm rupture risks. AUCs of the nomogram in discriminating aneurysm rupture status was 0.837 in a separate testing set. The calibration curves fitted well and DCA demonstrated positive net benefits of the nomogram in guiding clinical decisions. In conclusion, Pyradiomics derived morphological features based institutional nomogram was useful for aneurysm rupture risk stratification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Differentiable architecture search (DARTS) provides a fast solution to Neural Architecture Search (NAS) by using gradient descent over a continuous search space. Despite its high search speed, DARTS suffers from several problems such as ambiguous topology selection, operation co-adaptation, incomplete NAS pipeline, and large memory consumption. To address these problems, we first introduce topology parameters into the search space to explicitly model the network topology, which ensures the searched network architecture is well-defined. Next, we propose two sampling strategies to sample independent child networks for training and evaluation, which solve the co-adaptation problem while making the NAS pipeline complete. Finally, we use hard pruning to avoid invalid computations, which greatly reduces memory consumption. The proposed Automatic Topology Learning for Differentiable Architecture Search (ATL-DAS) algorithm performs favorably against the state-of-the-art approaches on CIFAR10 and CIFAR100 with error rates of 2.49% and 16.8%, respectively. Moreover, the architectures searched perform well across various visual tasks, including ImageNet classification, COCO object detection, and Composition-1K image matting, highlighting the potential of ATL-DAS for real-world applications. • Topology parameters enable explicit search for optimized network typologies. • Sampling strategies avoid operation co-adaptation and make the NAS pipeline complete. • Hard pruning reduces memory consumption. • Experiments on CIFAR10, CIFAR100, and various visual tasks validate the effectiveness of ATL-DAS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Owing to the combination of intriguing activity and conductivity, hybrid compositions of layered double hydroxides (LDHs) and carbon-based materials have been extensively and widely applied to evolve oxygen gas during water splitting. Here, a facile in situ nucleation strategy was used to construct ultrafine NiFe-LDH nanosheets monodispersed on a carbon black (CB) substrate. Notably, this work displayed the interfacial impact of combining CB with NiFe-LDHs on electrocatalyst activation. Interestingly, the optimized NiFe-LDHs/CB composite displays a fast activation rate and excellent water oxidation performance on a glassy-carbon electrode (an overpotential of 226 mV at 10 mA cm−2; a Tafel slope of 57 mV dec−1). This is due to the high active area, low impedance and ultra-high active metal atom utilization rate, accelerating charge transfer at the interface during the activation process. More importantly, this work highlights the interfacial charge transfer effect during the activation process and supplies clues for designing electrocatalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Progress in gene sequencing has paved the way for precise outcome prediction of the heterogeneous disease of glioblastoma. The aim was to assess the potential of utilizing the lncRNA expression profile for predicting glioblastoma patient survival. Materials and Methods. Clinical and lncRNA expression data were downloaded from the public database of the cancer genome atlas. Differentially expressed lncRNAs between glioblastoma and normal brain tissue were screened by bioinformatics analysis. The samples were randomly separated into the training and testing sets. Univariate Cox regression, least absolute shrinkage, selection operator regression, and multivariate Cox regression were performed to develop the prediction model with the training set, which was presented as a forest plot. The performance of the model was validated by discrimination and calibration analysis in both the training and testing sets. Patient survival between model-predicted low- and high-risk subgroups was compared in both the training and testing sets. Results. One thousand two hundred and fifty-five differentially expressed lncRNAs between glioblastoma and normal brain tissues were screened. After univariate Cox regression and the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression, a 12 lncRNA constituted prediction model was developed by multivariate Cox regression. Of the 12 lncRNAs, 4 lncRNAs were independent risk factors for patient survival. The areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves of the model for predicting 0.5-, 1-, 1.5-, and 2-year patient survival was 0.788, 0.824, 0.874, and 0.886, respectively in the training set and 0.723, 0.84, 0.816, and 0.773 in the testing set. The calibration curves of the prediction model fitted well. Significant survival disparity was observed between the model dichotomized low- and high-risk subgroups in both the training and testing set. Conclusions. LncRNA expression signature can predict glioblastoma patient survival, promising lncRNA-based survival prediction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To evaluate the safety and efficacy of stent-only technique with Low-profile Visualized Intraluminal Support (LVIS) for uncoilable intracranial aneurysms. Twelve uncoilable aneurysms in 12 patients were treated with the stent-only technique in our department from January 1, 2016, to December 31, 2017. The characteristics of the aneurysms and the patients were analyzed. The midterm follow-up results of these patients also were analyzed. Twelve patients (7 male and 5 female) were enrolled in the series. The 12 aneurysms included 6 vertebral–basilar artery aneurysms, 3 internal carotid artery aneurysms (2 blood blister−like aneurysms and 1 posterior communicating artery aneurysm), 1 posterior cerebral artery dissecting, 1 anterior cerebral artery dissecting of the third segment, and 1 pseudoaneurysm at the first segment of the anterior cerebral artery. Seven aneurysms were? ruptured, whereas 5 remained unruptured. A total of 24 LVIS stents were deployed. Three aneurysms were covered by 3 overlapped stents, 6 aneurysms were covered by 2 stents, and the other 3 aneurysms were covered by 1 stent. All procedures were successful without any perioperative complications. Imaging follow-up between 3 and 10 months after operation was available in all 12 patients, with complete obliteration in 10 aneurysms, improvement in 1, and parent artery occlusion in 1. LVIS stent-only technique is safe and efficacious for uncoilable aneurysms, even for ruptured ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Defects modulation generally has significant influence on the electronic structures and surface chemistry of porous carbon for the electrocatalysts. Here, nitrogen‐doped hierarchical porous carbon/N‐CNTs frameworks (Co@NC‐m) with the vital graphitization and defect engineering, which encapsulated with cobalt nanoparticles and fabricated by a simple carbonization of Co/Zn zeolitic benzimidazole framework. The as‐prepared optimal Co@NC‐0.75 shows outstanding catalytic performance for both ORR and OER, the potential gap between the ORR potential with a current density of −3 mA cm−2 and the OER potential with a current density of 10 mA cm−2 is 0.78 V, illustrating that it is one of the best MOFs‐derived bifunctional oxygen electrocatalysts reported to date. More importantly, the Co@NC‐0.75 demonstrates comparable catalytic performance and durability to those of commercial Pt/C for ORR and commercial RuO2 for OER. The superior bifunctional oxygen catalytic activity is mainly attributed to the vital balance between the degree of graphitization and defect engineering, which is proposed to enhance the electron transfer efficiency and conductivity. This work provides more opportunities for understanding and designing other porous graphitized carbon‐based electrocatalysts. Catalysis in the balance: The nitrogen‐doped carbon/N‐CNTs frameworks with vital balance between the degree of graphitization and defect engineering are fabricated by a simple Co/Zn zeolitic benzimidazole frameworks carbonization. The potential difference between ORR and OER is just 0.78 V for the optimal Co@NC‐0.75 from −3 mA cmg−2 to 10 mA cm−2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work investigates the activation and delamination of La 0.6 Sr 0.4 Co 0.2 Fe 0.8 O 3−δ (LSCF) air electrode of solid oxide electrolyzer cells sintered on yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) electrolyte. After polarization with an electrolysis current of 1 A cm −2 for 24 h at 800 °C, the LSCF electrode delaminates accompanied by an increase of ohmic and polarization resistance. Notably, polarization resistance decreases at the beginning. By scanning electron microscopy (SEM), a thin but dense layer is observed at the LSCF–YSZ interface of an as-prepared sample, which is identified as SrZrO 3 phase by X-ray diffractometry. This layer causes the initial high polarization resistance due to retarded ionic and electronic conductivity. After the test, SEM reveals that the SrZrO 3 layer delaminates from YSZ electrolyte. Moreover, energy dispersive X-ray tests confirm that Co diffuses to the SrZrO 3 layer and SrZrO 3 –YSZ interface. Later, the LSCF electrode with Co-containing SrZrO 3 layer is shown to perform better than that with pure SrZrO 3 layer. Thus, Co diffusion can be the reason for the initial decrease of polarization resistance and renders the generation of oxygen at SrZrO 3 –YSZ interface during the electrolysis. Owing to its limited porosity, the SrZrO 3 layer traps the generated oxygen. High pressure eventually builds up at the SrZrO 3 –YSZ interface driving the delamination of SrZrO 3 layer, and hence the entire LSCF electrode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, the effects of the La 0.6 Sr 0.4 Co 0.2 Fe 0.8 O 3-δ (LSCF) electrode–yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) electrolyte interface on the stability of LSCF electrodes under high-current electrolysis are studied. Six different half-cells with different configurations are tested at 800 °C for 264 h under an electrolysis current of 1 A cm −2 . A few concluding remarks can be drawn by comparing the behaviors of different cells. Firstly, it is confirmed that the formation of SrZrO 3 at the interface will lead to the delamination of air electrode. Thus, the formation of SrZrO 3 should be strictly prevented. Secondly, increasing sintering temperature can decrease the degradation rate of polarization resistance, R P , for LSCF electrodes. Thirdly, the increase of ohmic resistance, R S , comes from structural changes as the degradation rate in percentage is similar for cells with different electrolytes and electrodes. Fourthly, the LSCF electrode after the electrolysis test shows recrystallization and lattice shrink which could be the reason for the degradation of LSCF electrodes on Gd 0.1 Ce 0.9 O 2–δ (GDC) electrolytes. Lastly, comparing all the samples, the cell composed of YSZ electrolyte, dense GDC interlayer and LSCF electrode sintered at 1000 °C can be used for future study on the degradation mechanisms of the LSCF air electrode and the electrolyte. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solid Oxide Electrolyzer Cell (SOEC) can covert H 2 O and/or CO 2 into usable fuel by consuming the excess electricity of renewable resource or off-peak grid power. The SOEC is a promising device for the sustainable development of energy and hydrogen economy. In this work, the steady-state performance of SOEC is tested under different gas compositions and modelled by extreme learning machine (ELM) algorithm. According to the experimental results, the concentrations of H 2 O and CO 2 influence the performance of SOEC. For the model, the inputs are the operating voltage and volume percentage of H 2 , CO 2 , and H 2 O, while the output is the performance (current) of SOEC. The obtained model has correlation coefficients of higher than 0.999 and root mean square error less than 0.018, which means that the predicted data by the model well matches the experimental results. Then, the obtained ELM model is used to analyse the performances of SOEC under different concentrations of feedstock. Thus, this data driven ELM model is suitable for many instances of fast modelling for individual group and may be helpful to save the cost, time and effort to build a model for the purpose of performance analysis and system level design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work is mainly intended to investigate the flysch landslide reinforcement measures used in the Smokovac-Mateševo section of the North-South Expressway project in Montenegro. Bentley's Plaxis software is used for a numerical analysis of sliding surface parameters of flysch strata in the limit equilibrium state. This study analyzes the slope safety factor for rreinforcement measures such as rock bolts, retaining walls, anti-sliding piles, slope unloading and bolt anchoring and obtains an optimal combination of reinforcement application for the flysch landslide. The effects of seismic action on complex stress and the discontinuous stress boundary conditions arising from various reinforcement measures on landslide stability are also examined. The measures applied in this paper can be used as a reference for flysch landslide reinforcement or other similar slope engineering measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, Solid Oxide Electrolyzer Cell (SOEC) based on Ba 0.9 Co 0.7 Fe 0.2 Nb 0.1 O 3-δ (BCFN) air electrode and YSZ-GDC bilayer electrolyte was systematically investigated and the efficiency of high-temperature water electrolysis by such a cell was analyzed. Firstly, chemical compatibility test between BCFN and YSZ showed that BaZrO 3 formed after heat treatment at 1000 °C for 5 h, which adversely influenced the performance of BCFN dramatically. A fully dense GDC interlayer was thus developed by co-sintering GDC layer, with addition of 0.5 at.% Fe 2 O 3 , with YSZ electrolyte at only 1300 °C. The as-prepared fuel electrode-supported eletrolyzer cell consisting of Ni-YSZ fuel electrode, YSZ-GDC bilayer electrolyte and BCFN air electrode was evaluated for water electrolysis. Specifically, at 800 °C using a feedstock of 60% H 2 O-40% H 2 , the cell showed total area specific resistance of 0.195 Ω cm 2 and the cell voltage was 1.13 V with an electrolysis current of 1 A cm −2 . After short-term stability test for 120 h with 1 A cm −2 electrolysis current at 800 °C, the cell showed no microstructural changes as observed by scanning electron microscopy. At last, a high-temperature water electrolysis system based on the cell studied was proposed and the system analysis shows that the overall electricity to hydrogen efficiency can reach 73% based on lower heating value of hydrogen, with a hydrogen generation rate of 4180 L h −1 m −2 . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Ni-YSZ/YSZ/LSCF-GDC solid oxide electrolyzer cell (SOEC) is used to investigate the effects of seawater electrolysis for hydrogen production through electrolyzing steam produced from simulated seawater bath. Steam electrolysis using an SOEC with its fuel electrode contaminated by sea salt is also investigated. Steam produced from seawater is found to be free of contaminants, which are present in the seawater. Similar electrochemical performance is observed from the polarization curves and impedance spectra when using steam produced from pure water and seawater. Their short-term degradation rates are similar, which are registered at 15% 1000 h −1 for both cases. For the case of direct sea salt contamination in an SOEC's fuel electrode, both the uncontaminated and contaminated cells exhibit rather similar performance as observed from the polarization curves and impedance spectra. The difference in ASR values from the polarization curves and impedance spectra between the uncontaminated and contaminated cell are all within a 10% range. Rather similar short-term degradation rates of 15% 1000 h −1 and 16% 1000 h −1 are recorded for the uncontaminated and contaminated cells, respectively. Post-mortem analysis shows that the sea salt impregnated into the cell has been vaporized at a typical SOEC operating temperature of 800 °C over the period of operation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The microstructure of a fuel electrode has a significant influence on the whole performance of fuel-electrode supported solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) fabricated by aqueous-based tape casting. While in the aqueous-based tape casting process, the fuel electrode porosity, which plays a key role in the final fuel electrode microstructure, mainly comes from the pore former (potato starch in this case). Different contents of starch are added into fuel electrode slurries. When the starch content is 2.5%wt, the cells show the best performance. After one thermal cycle and discharging at a constant voltage of 0.7 V and temperature of 800 °C, the peak power density has reached ∼1263 mW cm −2 with humidified H 2 as the fuel and air as the oxidant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) are very attractive for their high energy conversion efficiency and pollution-free characters. A 10 cm * 10 cm fuel electrode-supported solid oxide cell with NiO/Zr 0.92 Y 0.08 O 2−δ fuel electrode, Zr 0.92 Y 0.08 O 2−δ electrolyte and La 0.6 Sr 0.4 Co 0.2 Fe 0.8 O 3+δ air electrode has been used, which is fabricated by aqueous-based tape casting in conjunction with co-sintering. In this article, a short stack test structure of large area single cell has been designed and shown, and the maximum power density is 265.8 mW cm −2 at 800 °C with humidified H 2 as the fuel and air as the oxidant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrochemical performance evolution of La 0.6 Sr 0.4 Co 0.2 Fe 0.8 O 3−δ (LSCF) air electrode polarized with anodic current is reported in this paper. The study was conducted on three-electrode half-cells with Yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) electrolyte using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy under equilibrium potential. Initially, the polarization resistance ( R P ) tested at 800 °C of the LSCF electrode sintered at 900 °C is 0.25 Ω cm 2 . During the first 20 hours of testing with anodic current density of 0.2 A cm −2 , R P increased with a linear dependence on the square root of time, suggesting Sr surface segregation. After the first phase of tests R P stabilized at 0.68 Ω cm 2 . Continued testing at increased current density to 0.5 A cm −2 showed that R P decreased from 0.68 to 0.46 Ω cm 2 , and again to 0.39 Ω cm 2 at even higher bias of 1 A cm −2 . Moreover, short-term tests for 129 h under various currents again showed that R P decreased upon higher anodic current while increased upon lower anodic current. However, no obvious degradation on R P was shown by comparing the value before and after the test. Based on above results, the authors speculate that the application of anodic current may be able to stabilize and activate the performance of LSCF electrode through suppressing and mitigating Sr surface segregation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports a comparative study on the calculation of equilibrium potential (also known as Open Circuit Voltage) of co-electrolysis of H 2 O and CO 2 in a Solid Oxide Electrolyzer Cell. We start with the thorough examination of literature and investigation of physical principles governing the development of such a potential difference. Based on that review, we compare the use of three different models. A standard model refers to the use of Nernst equation for fuel electrode's reaction H 2 O/H 2 or CO 2 /CO. An oxygen partial pressure model refers to the use of Nernst referring to oxygen partial pressure difference across the cell. A mixed potential model refers to the phenomena described by Fleming et al. as the Mixed Potential Theory (MPT), i.e. the observable potential difference is the superposition of all above potential differences. We conclude that the oxygen partial pressure model suffices for modern cells operated at temperature above 800 °C and if the concentration of CO 2 in the gas mixture is below 25%. Above this limit, MPT model is more accurate and thus recommended. The standard model exhibit large error in all cases and is not recommended. We also present the values of parameters, used in conjugation with MPT model, fitted to a cell with Ni-YSZ fuel electrode operated at 800 °C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Delamination of the air electrode is a major failure phenomenon of SOECs. • High oxygen partial pressure build-up is believed to be one of the root causes. • Formation of nanoparticles and second phases, migration of elements are also observed. • Material advancement and operation strategy optimization can alleviate delamination. • Future studies should be focused on the long-term stability of SOEC stacks. Electrochemically producing hydrogen from water via solid oxide electrolysis cells (SOECs) is regarded as one of the promising options for renewable energy storage. However, the delamination of the air electrodes was often observed during long-term tests, which significantly reduces the lifespan of SOECs and hinders the commercialization of this technology. This mini-review will involve the proposed mechanisms accounting for the delamination and possible methods to prevent or alleviate it. We expect that this mini-review will provide rational guidelines for the design of air electrode–electrolyte interface of SOECs which can effectively extend the lifespan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-temperature water electrolysis through solid oxide electrolysis cells (SOEC) will play a key role in building a hydrogen economy in the future. However, the delamination between the air electrode and the electrolyte remains a critical issue to be addressed. Previously, it was hypothesized that Co migration may improve the catalytic activity of the SrZrO 3 second phase at the LSCF-YSZ interface, eventually leading to the delamination. In this work, the LSCF-YSZ interfaces sintered at different temperatures were examined in detail. The activation behaviors of the LSCF electrodes upon application with electrolysis current were characterized under different conditions. Further, samples containing purposely added SrZrO 3 interlayer with and without cobalt were fabricated and compared. The activation process is less significant for the sample with cobalt-added SrZrO 3 interlayer than the sample with pure SrZrO 3 layer, supporting the hypothesis that Co migration may lead to the activation behavior. [Display omitted] • LSCF-YSZ interface was examined thoroughly using SEM and XRD for SrZrO 3 formation. • Electrolysis current was applied on LSCF electrode to study the activation behavior. • Higher current density or sintering temperature causes more significant activation. • Two samples were fabricated containing SrZrO 3 layers with and without cobalt. • Co-added SrZrO 3 hinders the activation, associating the activation to Co migration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of microwave ablation (MWA) for the treatment of symptomatic benign thyroid nodules in children. Methods: A retrospective study of MWA for the treatment of 34 symptomatic benign thyroid nodules in 25 children was conducted. Volume reduction ratio (VRR), technique efficacy, symptom score, cosmetic score, and thyroid function were used to evaluate the efficacy of the technique. The associated complications and side effects were recorded. Results: The participants were followed for at least 6 months (median 12 months, range 6–48 months). After MWA treatment, the volumes of the targeted nodules decreased gradually (median volume 5.86 mL before MWA and 0.34 mL at the final follow-up assessment), the VRR achieved was up to 85.03% at the final follow-up assessment, and the technical efficacy at this time was 91.2%. The subjective and objective nodule-related symptoms were also ameliorated. The circulating hormone concentrations reflecting thyroid function remained within their normal ranges in all the participants after one month of follow-up. The procedure had no major complications. Conclusions: MWA seems to be an effective and safe technique for the treatment of symptomatic benign thyroid nodules in pediatric patients. Clinical relevance statement: Microwave ablation is a safe and effective method to treat symptomatic benign thyroid nodules in pediatric patients. This treatment may be selected if the patient or parents are not suitable or refuse to undergo surgery. Key Points: • Microwave ablation is effective in reducing the volume of benign thyroid nodules and ameliorating nodule-related symptoms in pediatric patients. • Microwave ablation is a safe method in children, with low complications. • Microwave ablation does not affect the circulating thyroid hormone concentrations of children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Human blood metabolites have demonstrated close associations with chronic kidney disease (CKD) in observational studies. Nonetheless, the causal relationship between metabolites and CKD is still unclear. This study aimed to assess the associations between metabolites and CKD risk. Methods: We applied a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis to evaluate relationships between 1400 blood metabolites and eight phenotypes (outcomes) (CKD, estimated glomerular filtration rate(eGFR), urine albumin to creatinine ratio, rapid progress to CKD, rapid decline of eGFR, membranous nephropathy, immunoglobulin A nephropathy, and diabetic nephropathy). The inverse variance weighted (IVW), MR-Egger, and weighted median were used to investigate the causal relationship. Sensitivity analyses were performed with Cochran's Q, MR-Egger intercept, MR-PRESSO Global test, and leave-one-out analysis. Bonferroni correction was used to test the strength of the causal relationship. Results: Through the MR analysis of 1400 metabolites and eight clinical phenotypes, a total of 48 metabolites were found to be associated with various outcomes. Among them, N-acetylleucine (OR = 0.923, 95%CI: 0.89–0.957, PIVW = 1.450 × 10–5) has a strong causal relationship with lower risk of CKD after the Bonferroni-corrected test, whereas Glycine to alanine ratio has a strong causal relationship with higher risk of CKD (OR = 1.106, 95%CI: 1.063–1.151, PIVW = 5.850 × 10–7). No horizontal pleiotropy and heterogeneity were detected. Conclusion: Our study offers groundbreaking insights into the integration of metabolomics and genomics to reveal the pathogenesis of and therapeutic strategies for CKD. It underscores 48 metabolites as potential causal candidates, meriting further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • TFC NF membranes were fabricated by coating a loose network-like interlayer. • TA/PSS interlayer riches in –SO 3 H and –OH to form 36.3–63.9 nm PA layer. • TFC-2 presents 22.7 L m−2 h−1 bar−1 pure water flux and 97.1 % rejection Na 2 SO 4. The traditional polyamide composite nanofiltration membranes have high selectivity and low water permeance, so it is necessary to find strategies to raise the permeance. Herein, a novel polyamide nanofiltration membranes with high permeance were fabricated by coating a loose hydrophilic network-like interlayer, where tannic acid (TA) with pentapophenol arm structure binds to poly(4-styrenesulfonate) (PSS) polymer through hydrogen and ionic interactions. The effects of the network-like TA/PSS interlayer on surface morphology, surface hydrophobicity, and the interfacial polymerization mechanism were investigated. The outcomes demonstrated that the TA/PSS interlayer can offer a favorable environment for interfacial polymerization, enhance the hydrophilicity of the substrate membrane, and delay the release of piperazine (PIP). The optimized TFC-2 presents pure water flux of 22.7 ± 2.8 L m−2 h−1 bar−1, Na 2 SO 4 rejection of 97.1 ± 0.5 %, and PA layer thickness of about 38.9 ± 2.5 nm. This provides new strategies for seeking to prepare simple interlayers to obtain high-performance nanofiltration membranes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small molecular heat shock proteins (sHSPs) belong to the HSP family of molecular chaperones. Under high-temperature stress, they can prevent the aggregation of irreversible proteins and maintain the folding of denatured proteins to enhance heat resistance. In this study, the CmHSP17.9-1 and CmHSP17.9-2 genes, which were cloned from chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum×morifolium 'Jinba') by homologous cloning, had a complete open reading frame of 480 bp each, encoding 159 amino acids. The protein subcellular localization analysis showed that CmHSP17.9-1 and CmHSP17.9-2 were located in the cytoplasm and mostly aggregated in granules, especially around the nucleus. Real-time quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis showed that the relative expression level of the CmHSP17.9-1 and CmHSP17.9-2 genes was highest in the terminal buds of the chrysanthemum, followed by the leaves. CmHSP17.9-1 and CmHSP17.9-2 overex-pression vectors were constructed and used to transform the chrysanthemum; overexpression of these genes led to the chrysanthemum phenotypes being less affected by high-temperature, and the antioxidant capacity was enhanced. The results showed that chrysanthemum with overex-pression of the CmHSP17.9-1 and CmHSP17.9-2 genes had stronger tolerance than the wild type chrysanthemum after high-temperature treatment or some degree of heat exercise, and overex-pression of the CmHSP17.9-1 gene led to stronger heat resistance than that of the CmHSP17.9-2 gene, providing an important theoretical basis for the subsequent molecular breeding and pro-duction applications of chrysanthemum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lung cancer has caused the most cancer deaths in the past several years. Benign–malignant lung nodule classification is vital in lung nodule detection, which can help early diagnosis of lung cancer. Most existing works extract the features of chest CT images using the well-designed networks, which require substantial effort of experts. To automate the manual process of network design, we propose an attention-guided differentiable architecture search (A-DARTS) method, which directly searches for the optimal network on chest CT images. In addition, A-DARTS utilizes an attention mechanism to alleviate the effect of the initialization-sensitive nature of the searched network while enhancing the feature presentation ability. Extensive experiments on the Lung Image Database Consortium image collection (LIDC-IDRI) benchmark dataset show that the proposed method achieves a lung nodule classification accuracy of 92.93%, which is superior to the state-of-the-art methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This paper predicts and analyzes the depth of concrete carbonation. • This paper also predicts and analyzes the amount of steel corrosion. • The results can be used to calculate the reinforced concrete column under axial load and horizontal load. With the increasing frequency and intensity of earthquakes, the idea of seismic design continues to develop, and it must be ensured that the structure not only has sufficient strength, but also has certain ductility. However, there is currently no suitable method for effective evaluation of seismic performance. In order to find a method with high accuracy, this paper uses BP neural network algorithm and RBF neural network algorithm to analyze and control the collision response of urban bridge adjacent beam and pier beam under strong earthquake. In this paper, the prediction of concrete carbonation depth and steel corrosion is carried out. The comparison of simulation results shows that the prediction effect of RBF network is better than that of BP network. In this paper, based on the skeleton curve calculated by bending shear failure test column, bending curve, shear deformation and longitudinal reinforcement drawing deformation are considered. The results are in good agreement with the hysteresis curve and can be used to calculate the reinforced concrete column under axial load and horizontal load. As the IM index gradually increases, the damage and failure probability of the bridge structure IDA show a relatively rapid upward trend. Then, when IM approaches 3.5 g, the failure probability of the bridge reaching the corresponding side shift ratio of 1.75% is more than 95%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the the major functional component of Paeonia suffruticosa , paeonol (PAE) has shown its potential to inhibit the progression of multiple cancer types. In the current study, the mechanism driving the effect of PAE on osteosarcoma (OS) was investigated by focusing on its influence on TLR4-mediated MAPK/NF-κB pathway. Human OS cells were firstly administrated with PAE of different concentrations to assess its effect on the proliferation, apoptosis, metastasis, and TLR4/MAPK/NF-κB pathway in OS cells. Thereafter, the level of TLR4 was induced in OS cells before PAE administration to explore the role of the molecule in the anti-OS function of PAE. The results of in vitro assays were further validated with xenograft mice models. The administration of PAE of two doses both suppressed the proliferation and induced apoptosis in OS cells in a dose-dependent manner. Regarding the effect on the metastasis potential of OS cells, PAE inhibited the migration and invasion potential of the cells, but the effect did not change with concentrations. The administration of PAE also inhibited the expression of TLR4 and deactivated MAPK/NF-κB pathway. Moreover, the induced expression of TLR4 counteracted the anti-OS function of PAE. Further validation with xenograft models also showed that PAE inhibited solid tumor growth and TLR4 expression in OS mice. In conclusion, it was inferred that the anti-OS function of PAE depended on the inhibition of TLR4 and its downstream MAPK/NF-κB pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scientifically validating the value of rural heritage and exploring construction wisdom has emerged as a significant challenge in the study of rural settlements worldwide. Rural heritage shows significant differences according to the natural environment, history, culture, and socio-economic factors. However, the assessment of the authenticity and effectiveness of heritage values have yet to be quantified due to the difficulty in obtaining evidence directly from samples. By constructing a multi-dimensional model of villages for quantitative analysis, we proposed a multifaceted spatial visibility analysis method based on individual and combined defense structures to empirically study the remains of eight towers in Moluo village, western China. This study demonstrated that towers serve as regional defense structures and are essential for constructing a comprehensive and effective visual defensive system (VDS) in Moluo village, a typical military defense village. The effectiveness and coverage of the towers vary depending on their location, height, type, and other factors. They form a complementary and synergistic relationship, playing a dual mechanism of public and private, local and overall defense. In summary, this method enables the feasible quantification and analysis of the functional value of rural heritage through landscape visual analysis. It provides a new perspective for studying the authenticity of heritage functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Direct ethanol fuel cell can convert chemical energy into electric energy directly, and has the advantages of being free from Carnot cycle and being friendly to environment, so it has a broad application prospect. However, the insufficient activity and toxicity resistance of anodic catalysts limit their commercial application, mainly due to the limited adsorption sites and the toxic inactivation of catalysts resulting from the production of toxic intermediates (CO ads) during the ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR) process. In this study, the Au@PdAg porous hemispherical catalyst assembled by nanotubes was successfully prepared by soft template method and co-reduction method using dioctadecyl dimethyl ammonium chloride (DODAC) as surfactant, and its EOR performance was tested. Au@Pd 1.0 Ag 1.0 has the highest mass current density with a peak value of 4048.8 mA mg Pd − 1 , which is 7.8 times of Pd/C (JM). After 5000 s stability test, the residual current density value is still 863.4 mA mg Pd − 1 . The results showed that the introduction of the oxygenophilic metal Ag was conducive to the formation of OH ads and the oxidation of CO ads. The porous structure of the nanotube assembly facilitates electron transfer and provides more adsorption sites, which makes the catalyst show good electrocatalytic activity and anti-CO poisoning ability. [Display omitted] • Anisotropic hemispherical nanostructure was formed by BO 2 − inhomogeneous adsorption. • Porous hemispherical Au@PdAg catalyst enhancing ethanol electrooxidation was prepared. • The catalyst exhibited excellent activity and regenerative for ethanol oxidation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cold affects the growth and development of plants. MYB transcription factors and histone H3K4me3 transferase ARABIDOPSIS TRITHORAXs (ATXs) play important regulatory functions in the process of plant resistance to low-temperature stress. In this study, DgMYB expression was responsive to low temperature, and overexpression of DgMYB led to increased tolerance, whereas the dgmyb mutant resulted in decreased tolerance of Chrysanthemum morifolium (Dendranthema grandiflorum var. Jinba) to cold stresses. Interestingly, we found that only peroxidase (POD) activity differed substantially between wild type (WT), overexpression lines, and the mutant line. A DgATX H3K4me3 methylase that interacts with DgMYB was isolated by further experiments. DgATX expression was also responsive to low temperature. Overexpression of DgATX led to increased tolerance, whereas the dgatx mutant resulted in decreased tolerance of chrysanthemum to cold stresses. Moreover, the dgmyb, dgatx, and dgmyb dgatx double mutants all led to reduced H3K4me3 levels at DgPOD, thus reducing DgPOD expression. Together, our results show that DgMYB interacts with DgATX, allowing DgATX to specifically target DgPOD, altering H3K4me3 levels, increasing DgPOD expression, and thereby reducing the accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in chrysanthemum. The transcription factor DgMYB recruits the histone transferase DgATX to increase the histone level of the peroxidase DgPOD and enhance transcriptional activity, thereby improving cold resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fractured reservoirs are widely distributed and rich in hydrocarbon resources. When encountering fractured reservoirs during the drilling process, it is often accompanied by formation losses characterized by high leak-off rates, causing severe damage to the reservoir and hindering the detection of oil and gas layers, which is not conducive to the accurate and efficient development of the reservoirs. Conventional plugging materials have poor retention effects in the fractures, resulting in the low stability of the sealing layer. The treatment of malignant lost circulation in fractured formations is an urgent problem to be solved in drilling engineering. This article focuses on improving the success rate of formation plugging through the combined use of multiple plugging materials and develops a composite hydrogel that can effectively reduce leakage rates. This hydrogel is mainly composed of materials such as polyvinyl alcohol, borax, and sodium silicate. It has good temperature resistance, maintains good gel strength at 60 °C, and can maintain long-term performance stability under simulated geological water conditions with salinity of 12,500 mg/L. For immersion corrosion by water or gasoline, the amount of corrosion is small and its fundamental performance remains largely unchanged. Through indoor simulation of a leak formation scenario, the hydrogel demonstrates commendable sealing pressure-bearing capacity. In terms of delaying fluid leakage, mixing the hydrogel with cement slurry at a ratio of 1:1 can delay the leakage rate of the cement slurry by a factor of 5.29. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scale-arbitrary super-resolution (SASR) has recently gained widespread attention in the community, which aims to super-resolve an image to arbitrary desired resolutions. Existing SASR methods always use a fixed convolution neural network (CNN) as the backbone to share the same image features for different resolutions, leading to limited reconstruction performance due to the lack of distinctive feature extraction for individual resolutions. Meanwhile, these CNN-based methods always tend to overfit low-frequency components while losing high-frequency ones. This frequency gap leads to blurred structures in the reconstructed image. To address these issues, we propose a S cale A ware F requency A ttention network (SAFANet), which consists of Scale-Aware Frequency Attention (SAFA) modules and a Scale-Guided Continuous Reconstruction (SGCR) module. Additionally, frequency-domain attention learning is introduced to optimize the scale-adapted features to explicitly focus on high-frequency components, thereby overcoming the frequency restoration gap. Finally, the SGCR module combines the input scale as guidance with the optimized features to reconstruct images with arbitrary resolutions by using an implicit reconstruction function, thus adaptively achieving continuous image restoration. Our proposed SAFANet can be easily incorporated into existing CNN-based SR networks to achieve interactive SR at arbitrary scales. Extensive experiments demonstrate that SAFANet achieves superior performance, which is competitive with or even better than the state-of-the-art methods across a vast scale range (× 1 ∼ × 30) via a single model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anion exchange membrane fuel cells (AEMFCs) and water electrolysis (AEMWE) show great application potential in the field of hydrogen energy conversion technology. However, scalable anion exchange membranes (AEMs) with desirable properties are still lacking, which greatly hampers the commercialization of this technology. Herein, we propose a series of novel multiblock AEMs based on ether‐free poly(biphenyl ammonium‐b‐biphenyl phenyl)s (PBPA‐b‐BPPs) that are suitable for use in high performance AEMFC and AEMWE systems because of their well‐formed microphase separation structures. The developed AEMs achieved outstanding OH− conductivity (162.2 mS cm−1 at 80 °C) with a low swelling ratio, good alkaline stability, and excellent mechanical durability (tensile strength >31 MPa and elongation at break >147 % after treatment in 2 M NaOH at 80 °C for 3750 h). A PBPA‐b‐BPP‐based AEMFC demonstrated a remarkable peak power density of 2.41 W cm−2 and in situ durability for 330 h under 0.6 A cm−2 at 70 °C. An AEMWE device showed a promising performance (6.25 A cm−2 at 2 V, 80 °C) and outstanding in situ durability for 3250 h with a low voltage decay rate (<28 μV h−1). The newly developed PBPA‐b‐BPP AEMs thus show great application prospects for energy conversion devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anion exchange membrane fuel cells (AEMFCs) and water electrolysis (AEMWE) show great application potential in the field of hydrogen energy conversion technology. However, scalable anion exchange membranes (AEMs) with desirable properties are still lacking, which greatly hampers the commercialization of this technology. Herein, we propose a series of novel multiblock AEMs based on ether‐free poly(biphenyl ammonium‐b‐biphenyl phenyl)s (PBPA‐b‐BPPs) that are suitable for use in high performance AEMFC and AEMWE systems because of their well‐formed microphase separation structures. The developed AEMs achieved outstanding OH− conductivity (162.2 mS cm−1 at 80 °C) with a low swelling ratio, good alkaline stability, and excellent mechanical durability (tensile strength >31 MPa and elongation at break >147 % after treatment in 2 M NaOH at 80 °C for 3750 h). A PBPA‐b‐BPP‐based AEMFC demonstrated a remarkable peak power density of 2.41 W cm−2 and in situ durability for 330 h under 0.6 A cm−2 at 70 °C. An AEMWE device showed a promising performance (6.25 A cm−2 at 2 V, 80 °C) and outstanding in situ durability for 3250 h with a low voltage decay rate (<28 μV h−1). The newly developed PBPA‐b‐BPP AEMs thus show great application prospects for energy conversion devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, composite plates of 6061/TA1 were successfully manufactured using additive friction stir deposition (AFSD). The impact of preheating temperatures (room temperature, 100 °C, 200 °C) on the interfacial microstructure and interface mechanical properties at various deposition zones was studied. The results showed that as the preheating temperature increased or when the deposit zone shifted from the boundary to the center, the diffusion width of Al and Ti increased, accompanied by an increase in bonding shear strength. Moreover, in the boundary zone of the sample preheated at room temperature (P-RT), only mechanical bonding was observed, resulting in the lowest bonding shear strength. Conversely, the other samples exhibited a combination of mechanical and metallurgical bonding. Under the preheating temperature of 200 °C, interfacial intermetallic compounds were observed near the center zone, which exhibited the highest bonding shear strength. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How to transfer industrial exhaust gases of nitrogen oxides into high‐values product is significantly important and challenging. Herein, we demonstrate an innovative method for artificial synthesis of essential α‐amino acids from nitric oxide (NO) by reacting with α‐keto acids through electrocatalytic process with atomically dispersed Fe supported on N‐doped carbon matrix (AD‐Fe/NC) as the catalyst. A yield of valine with 32.1 μmol mgcat−1 is delivered at −0.6 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode, corresponding a selectivity of 11.3 %. In situ X‐ray absorption fine structure and synchrotron radiation infrared spectroscopy analyses show that NO as nitrogen source converted to hydroxylamine that promptly nucleophilic attacked on the electrophilic carbon center of α‐keto acid to form oxime and subsequent reductive hydrogenation occurred on the way to amino acid. Over 6 kinds of α‐amino acids have been successfully synthesized and gaseous nitrogen source can be also replaced by liquid nitrogen source (NO3−). Our findings not only provide a creative method for converting nitrogen oxides into high‐valued products, which is of epoch‐making significance towards artificial synthesis of amino acids, but also benefit in deploying near‐zero‐emission technologies for global environmental and economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How to transfer industrial exhaust gases of nitrogen oxides into high‐values product is significantly important and challenging. Herein, we demonstrate an innovative method for artificial synthesis of essential α‐amino acids from nitric oxide (NO) by reacting with α‐keto acids through electrocatalytic process with atomically dispersed Fe supported on N‐doped carbon matrix (AD‐Fe/NC) as the catalyst. A yield of valine with 32.1 μmol mgcat−1 is delivered at −0.6 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode, corresponding a selectivity of 11.3 %. In situ X‐ray absorption fine structure and synchrotron radiation infrared spectroscopy analyses show that NO as nitrogen source converted to hydroxylamine that promptly nucleophilic attacked on the electrophilic carbon center of α‐keto acid to form oxime and subsequent reductive hydrogenation occurred on the way to amino acid. Over 6 kinds of α‐amino acids have been successfully synthesized and gaseous nitrogen source can be also replaced by liquid nitrogen source (NO3−). Our findings not only provide a creative method for converting nitrogen oxides into high‐valued products, which is of epoch‐making significance towards artificial synthesis of amino acids, but also benefit in deploying near‐zero‐emission technologies for global environmental and economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paeonia decomposita, Paeonia rotundiloba, and Paeonia rockii are three closely related species of Sect. Moutan is distributed in the montane area of the Eastern Hengduan Mountain region. Understanding the population history of these three tree peony species could contribute to unraveling the evolutionary patterns of undergrowth species in this hotspot area. We used one nuclear DNA marker (internal transcribed spacer region, ITS) and two chloroplast DNA markers (matK, ycf1) to reconstruct the phylogeographic pattern of the populations. In total, 228 individuals from 17 populations of the three species were analyzed in this study. Three nuclear clades (Clade I – Clade III) and four maternal clades (Clade A – Clade D) were reconstructed. Molecular dating suggested that young lineages diverged during the late Pliocene and early Pleistocene, younger than the uplift of the Hengduan Mountains but older than the last glacial maximum (LGM). Significant population and phylogeographic structures were detected at both markers. Furthermore, the populations of these tree peonies were overall at equilibrium during the climatic oscillations of the Pleistocene. The simulated palaeoranges of the three species during the LGM period mostly overlapped, which could have led to cross‐breeding events. We propose an evolutionary scenario in which mountain orogenesis around the Hengduan Mountain area triggered parapatric isolation between maternal lineages of tree peonies. Subsequent climatic fluctuations drove migration and range recontact of these populations along the valleys. This detailed evolutionary history provides new insights into the phylogeographic pattern of species from mountain‐valley systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Removal of toxic Cr(VI) by microbial reduction is a promising approach to reducing its ecotoxicological impact. To develop bioremediation technologies, many studies have evaluated the application of microorganisms isolated from Cr(VI)-contaminated sites. Nonetheless, little attention has been given to microbes from the environments without a history of Cr(VI) contamination. In this study, we aimed to characterize the Cr(VI) tolerance and removal abilities of a filamentous fungus strain, SL2, isolated from indoor air. Based on phenotypic characterization and rDNA sequence analysis, SL2 was identified as Penicillium oxalicum, a species that has not been extensively studied regarding Cr(VI) tolerance and reduction abilities. SL2 showed high tolerance to Cr(VI) on solid and in liquid media, facilitating its application to Cr(VI)-contaminated environments. Growth curves of SL2 in the presence of 0, 100, 400, or 1000 mg/L Cr(VI) were well simulated by the modified Gompertz model. The relative maximal colony diameter and maximal growth rate decreased as Cr(VI) concentration increased, while the lag time increased. SL2 manifested remarkable efficacy of removing Cr(VI). Mass balance analysis indicated that SL2 removed Cr(VI) by reduction, and incorporated 0.79 mg of Cr per gram of dry biomass. In electroplating wastewater, the initial rate of Cr(VI) removal was affected by the initial contaminant concentration. In conclusion, P. oxalicum SL2 represents a promising new candidate for Cr(VI) removal. Our results significantly expand the knowledge on potential application of this microorganism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] Direct ethanol fuel cell (DEFC) has the advantages of high power density, high energy conversion efficiency and environmental friendliness, but its commercialization is restricted by factors such as insufficient activity and low anti-poisoning ability of anode catalyst for incomplete oxidation of ethanol. It is of great significance to design and prepare anode catalyst with high activity and high anti-poisoning ability that can be recycled. In this work, tubular palladium-based (Pd-based) catalysts with abundant lattice defect sites were prepared by simple and reproducible electro-displacement reactions using Cu nanowires as sacrificial template. Pd is the main catalytic element which provides adsorption sites for ethanol oxidation. Ag and Cu introduced facilitates the formation of hydroxyl groups to oxidize toxicity intermediates, and changes the d-band center position of Pd, so as to adjust the adsorption and desorption of ethanol and its intermediates on the Pd surface. At the same time, Au introduced with high potential maintains the stability of the catalyst structure. The tubular structure exposes more active sites, improves the atomic utilization rate and enhances the ability of the catalyst resisting dissolution and aggregation. The series of PdAuAgCu tubular catalysts with outer layer dendrites were prepared by electro-displacement reactions using the mixture (ethylene glycol : ultra-pure water = 3 : 1) as the reaction solvent and fivefold twinned Cu nanowires as sacrificial template. The performance evaluation of ethanol electrocatalytic oxidation showed that the Pd 17 Au 40 Ag 11 Cu 32 tubular catalysts were prepared at 120 °C and 10 mM CTAB had excellent overall performance, with a peak mass activity of 6335 mA mg Pd -1 , which was 9.6 times of Pd/C (JM). The residual current density after the stability test of 3000 s was 249 mA mg Pd -1 , which was 3.3 times of Pd/C (JM). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A total of 128 Neisseria gonorrhoeae isolates were consecutively obtained in Changsha, China, between April 2015 and June 2016. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of ceftriaxone were measured by agar dilution method for each isolate. Ceftriaxone resistance determinants involving penA , mtrR , porB and ponA were amplified by PCR, and the PCR products were sequenced. N. gonorrhoeae multi-antigen sequence typing (NG-MAST) was conducted for genotyping. The results exhibited 11% (14/128) of isolates were reduced susceptibility or resistant to ceftriaxone. One isolate with a susceptibility MIC of 0.03 mg/L harbored a penA mosaic allele. PBP2 A501V/T or P551S and the PorB1b G120K/A121D mutations were predominant in the 14 decreased susceptible or resistant isolates. Among the 128 isolates, 31 sequence types (STs) were identified, and the most prevalent STs were STnew1 (n = 40), ST5061 (n = 25) and ST9176 (n = 18). The 14 decreased susceptible or resistant isolates were resolved into 9 STs, displaying considerable diversity. The results of ceftriaxone susceptibility testing indicated that ceftriaxone can continue to be recommended as the first-line drug for gonorrhea treatment in Changsha; however, it is important to maintain promptly surveillance for antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Non-mosaic penA alleles with A501V/T, P551S, and porB1b mutations may contribute to ceftriaxone resistance or decreased susceptibility among N. gonorrhoeae in this area, and heterogenous STs in these isolates excluded the clonal expansion for a particular subtype. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural soil is gradually becoming a primary sink for metal-based nanoparticles (MNPs). The uptake and accumulation of MNPs by crops may contaminate food chain and pose unexpected risks for human health. Here, we investigated the fate and transformation of CuO nanoparticles (NPs) in the soil-rice system during the rice lifecycle. The results show that at the maturation stage, 1000 mg/kg CuO NPs significantly decreased redox potential by 202.75 mV but enhanced electrical conductivity by 497.07 mS/cm compared to controls. Moreover, the bioavailability of highest CuO NPs in the soil was reduced by 69.84% along with the plant growth but then was significantly increased by 165% after drying-wetting cycles. Meanwhile, CuO and Cu combined with humic acid were transformed to Cu2S and Cu associated with goethite by X-ray absorption near edge structure analysis. Additionally, CuO NPs had an acute negative effect on the plant growth than bulk particles, which dramatically reduced the fresh weight of grains to 6.51% of controls. Notably, CuO NPs were found to be translocated from soil to plant especially to the chaff and promoted the Cu accumulation in the aleurone layer of rice using micro X-ray fluorescence technique, but could not reach the polished rice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green ammonia synthesis is an important industrial chemical process, which is widely applied in fields such as fertilizers, petrochemicals and fuel cells. In order to improve green ammonia production and reduce energy consumption, this article focuses on a deeper understanding of the kinetic behavior of ammonia synthesis process system. To this end, a physics-informed sparse identification modeling and optimization framework for ammonia synthesis plant is proposed in this paper, which highlights in-depth exploration of reaction mechanisms, kinetic equations, and optimization methods. The proposed method can deal with the time series information generated by the complicated ammonia synthesis process system with noise. More importantly, the proposed method is found to have distinctive interpretability that from the parameters of differential equation governing the observable data can be deduced. A bald eagle search algorithm is used to solve the maximum yield problem of green ammonia, which can obtain the optimal reactor length and the maximum ammonia profit under physical limitation conditions. The simulation results illustrated that the proposed optimization method was highly competitive with other state-of-art global optimization methods. Finally, the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed method have been demonstrated on ammonia synthesis plant by achieving good and competitive model interpretation and accuracy. • Model of ammonia synthesis reactor is reconstructed by machine learning method. • The model recovery and interpretation for ammonia synthesis plant is proposed. • The maximum yield problem of green ammonia is solved by bald eagle search method. • The optimal conditions can significantly increase green ammonia production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water scarcity and water-related soil erosion are severely exacerbated by inappropriate human activities and global climate change. Hence, to find a suitable technology to mitigate drought and soil erosion, three consecutive field experiments were conducted to explore the impact of ridge-furrow cropping with biochar amendment on soil water storage, runoff, sediment yield, soil nutrient losses, alfalfa (Medicago sativa L) fodder yield, crop water productivity (WP c), and economic benefit from 2019 to 2021. This experiment was conducted in a split-plot design, taking biochar amendment patterns (no biochar amendment and biochar amendment at a rate of 3× 104 kg ha−1) as a main plot and ridge-furrow technologies (traditional planting, open-ridging, and tied-ridging) as a split-plot. The combination of biochar amendment with ridge-furrow technology, especially tied-ridging technology, increased soil water storage, and captured runoff, sediment, and related soil nutrient losses, consequently increasing alfalfa fodder yield, WP c , and income. During this study, compared to traditional planting, open-ridging depicted an increase in soil water storage by a range of 9.8–39.6 mm, an alfalfa fodder yield boost ranging from 9.8% to 38.6%, and a WP c increase ranging from 0.1 to 16.5 kg ha−1 mm−1. On the other hand, tied-ridging showed greater improvements with soil water storage increasing by 29.1–65.1 mm, alfalfa fodder yield growing by 11.6–44.4%, and WP c advancing by 0.9–17.5 kg ha−1 mm−1. The mean decrease in runoff, sediment, and nutrients (total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and organic matter) loss for open-ridging was 17.9%-37.7%, 46.4%-75.5%, and 40.4%-75.3%, respectively, while for tied-ridging, it was 22.3%-55.5%, 62.1%-87.6%, and 49.0%-87.3%, respectively. Compared to no biochar amendment, soil water storage, alfalfa fodder yield, and WP c for biochar amendment increased by 9.1%-20.4%, 5.8%-52.7%, and 4.6–7.8 kg ha−1 mm−1, respectively, while runoff, sediment, and nutrients loss for biochar amendment decreased by 32.2%-40.9%, 25.5%-55.5%, and 35.9%-53.3%, respectively. Structural equation modeling analysis indicated that the significant direct effect of biochar amendment and ridge-furrow technology on WP c was 0.20 and 0.62, respectively, whereas the significant direct effect of runoff and actual crop evapotranspiration on alfalfa fodder yield was −0.40 and 0.94, respectively. Tied-ridge cropping combined with biochar addition was a highly suggested approach for addressing soil erosion and enhancing alfalfa fodder yields in the Loess Plateau in China. This technology could mitigate soil water scarcity and soil erosion, and give farmers the confidence to invest in this technology in dryland regions. • Ridge-furrow technology with biochar amendment reduced soil erosion. • Ridge-furrow technology with biochar amendment increased crop yield. • Biochar amendment and ridge-furrow technology had a direct effect on water use efficiency. • Runoff and evapotranspiration had a direct effect on alfalfa fodder yield. • Tied-ridge cropping with biochar amendment was recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deficient, or non-linear hydrogen production is for the first time experimentally observed in large-scale planar Ni-YSZ/YSZ/LSM-YSZ steam electrolysis cells. The apparent coinciding of the concentration polarization and Faraday efficiency decrease at certain current density (−0.5Acm−2 or -0.6Acm−2 for selected steam content) indicates that steam starvation appears to affect the hydrogen production's linearity, which in essence the Ni/NiO redox process is believed to play a role in such normal SOEC operations. The SOEC survives 10h extreme polarization through electric conduction and oxygen vacancy transportation. Rational SOEC working mode is recommended accordingly. The present work is complementary for the general application of the Faraday's Law to estimate hydrogen production, and to further evaluate the SOEC's overall characteristics. [Display omitted] • Deficient hydrogen production is quantitatively observed in commercial-level SOECs. • Ni/NiO redox is deemed to be responsible for the efficiency-deteriorating during normal SOECs' operations. • The employed SOEC survives 10h extreme polarization with zero steam supply. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traffic tunnels are important engineering structures in transportation, and their stability is critical to traffic safety. In particular, when these tunnels are in an earthquake-prone area, the rupture process under seismic excitation needs to be studied in depth for safer tunnel design. In this paper, based on a construction project on the Nairobi-Malaba railway in East Africa, a laboratory shaking table test with 24 working cases of seismic excitation on a mountain tunnel is designed, and the acoustic emission (AE) technique is employed to investigate the tunnel rupture process. The results show that the high frequency components between 20 and 30 kHz of AE signals are the tunnel rupturing signals under the seismic excitation under such conditions. The tunnel vault and the arch foot are prone to rupture during the seismic excitation, and the initial rupture in the arch foot and vault of the tunnel occur under the horizontal and vertical Kobe wave seismic excitation, respectively, with a maximum acceleration of 0.4 g. After the rupture initiation, the tunnel arch foot continues to rupture in the subsequent working cases regardless of whether the excitation direction is horizontal or vertical, while the tunnel vault does not rupture continuously with the implementation of the subsequent excitations. Moreover, the Kobe seismic wave has a higher degree of damage potential to underground structures than the El seismic wave. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum morifolium), as one of the four major cut flowers in the world, occupies a large position in the world's fresh cut flower market. The RAX2 gene is an R2R3 MYB transcription factor that is associated with the development of the axillary bud. In this study, the CmRAX2 gene cloned by homologous cloning in Chrysanthemum morifolium 'Jinba' is localized in the nucleus and cytoplasm, having a complete open reading frame (ORF) of 1050 bp and encoding 350 amino acids. The transactivation assay in yeast indicates that CmRAX2 is a transcriptional activator. Quantitative Real-Time PCR (qRT-PCR) Analysis indicated that CmRAX2 was preferentially expressed in the lateral branches and roots of Chrysanthemum morifolium 'Jinba', 14.11 and 10.69 times more than in leaves. After the overexpression vector of CmRAX2 was constructed and transformed into Chrysanthemum morifolium 'Jinba', it was found that the number of lateral branches and plant height increased, and the emergence time of lateral branches and rooting time advanced after the overexpression of CmRAX2. The results showed that CmRAX2 can promote the lateral bud development of the chrysanthemum, which provides an important theoretical basis for the subsequent molecular breeding and standardized production of the chrysanthemum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]