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Many regions or countries seek to transition to a low-carbon economy, but there is ambiguity about how carbon emissions change with economic growth. This paper captures characteristics of carbon emissions in China using the Tapio Method. To detect driving factors of carbon emissions in economic growth, we adopt the Log-Mean Divisia Index decomposition method. The results of the paper are as follows: (1) Economic growth in most regions of China has outpaced the growth rate of carbon emissions, showing the characteristics of decoupling. (2) Metropolitan cities have a greater impact on the level of decoupling in neighboring provinces and municipalities. (3) The decoupling of carbon emissions from economic growth is caused by declining energy intensity in China. (4) The energy mix and industrial structure have little impact on the growth rate of carbon emissions. In addition, some policy implications are summarized according to the findings of this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the unflavored Schur indices in the N = 4 super-Yang-Mills theory for the Bn, Cn, Dn, G2 gauge groups. We explore two methods, namely the character expansion method and the Fermi gas method, to efficiently compute the q-series expansion of the Schur indices to some high orders. Using the available data and the modular properties, we are able to fix the exact formulas for the general gauge groups up to some high ranks and discover some interesting new features. We also identify some empirical modular anomaly equations, but unlike the case of An groups, they are quite complicated and not sufficiently useful to fix exact formulas for gauge groups of arbitrary rank. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In recent years, the discovery of clinical pathways (CPs) from electronic medical records (EMRs) data has received increasing attention because it can directly support clinical doctors with explicit treatment knowledge, which is one of the key challenges in the development of intelligent healthcare services. However, the existing work has focused on topic probabilistic models, which usually produce treatment patterns with similar treatment activities, and such discovered treatment patterns do not take into account the temporal process of patient treatment which does not meet the needs of practical medical applications. Methods: Based on the assumption that CPs can be derived from the data of EMRs which usually record the treatment process of patients, this paper proposes a new CPs mining method from EMRs, an extended form of the traditional topic model - the temporal topic model (TTM). The method can capture the treatment topics and the corresponding treatment timestamps for each treatment day. Results: Experimental research conducted on a real-world dataset of patients' hospitalization processes, and the achieved results demonstrate the applicability and usefulness of the proposed methodology for CPs mining. Compared to existing benchmarks, our model shows significant improvement and robustness. Conclusion: Our TTM provides a more competitive way to mine potential CPs considering the temporal features of the EMR data, providing a very prospective tool to support clinical diagnostic decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To assess the associations of corneal biomechanical properties as measured by the Corvis ST with refractive errors and ocular biometry in an unselected sample of young adults. Methods: A total of 1645 healthy university students underwent corneal biomechanical parameters measurement by the Corvis ST. The refractive status of the participants was measured using an autorefractor without cycloplegia. Ocular biometric parameters were measured using the IOL Master. Results: After adjusting for the effect of age, sex, biomechanical-corrected intraocular pressure and central corneal thickness, axial length was significantly associated with A1 velocity (A1v, β = -10.47), A2 velocity (A2v, β = 4.66), A2 deflection amplitude (A2DeflA, β = -6.02), HC deflection amplitude (HC-DeflA, β = 5.95), HC peak distance (HC-PD, β = 2.57), deformation amplitude ratio max (DA Rmax, β = -0.36), Ambrósio′s relational thickness to the horizontal profile (ARTh, β = 0.002). For axial length / corneal radius ratio, only A1v (β = -2.01), A1 deflection amplitude (A1DeflA, β = 2.30), HC-DeflA (β = 1.49), HC-PD (β = -0.21), DA Rmax (β = 0.07), stress–strain index (SSI, β = -0.29), ARTh (β < 0.001) were significant associates. A1v (β = 23.18), HC-DeflA (β = -15.36), HC-PD (β = 1.27), DA Rmax (β = -0.66), SSI (β = 3.53), ARTh (β = -0.02) were significantly associated with spherical equivalent. Conclusion: Myopic eyes were more likely to have more deformable corneas and corneas in high myopia were easier to deform and were even softer compared with those in the mild/moderate myopia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) is one of the most prevalent acquired sensorineural hearing loss etiologies and is characterized by the loss of cochlear hair cells, synapses, and nerve terminals. Currently, there are no agents available for the treatment of NIHL because drug delivery to the inner ear is greatly limited by the blood–labyrinth barrier. In this study, we used mesenchymal stem cell-derived small extracellular vesicles (MSC-sEVs) as nanoscale vehicles to deliver brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and evaluated their protective effects in a mouse model of NIHL. Following intravenous administration, BDNF-loaded sEVs (BDNF-sEVs) efficiently increased the expression of BDNF protein in the cochlea. Systemic application of sEVs and BDNF-sEVs significantly attenuated noise-induced cochlear hair cell loss and NIHL in CBA/J mice. BDNF-sEVs also alleviated noise-induced loss of inner hair cell ribbon synapses and cochlear nerve terminals. In cochlear explants, sEVs and BDNF-sEVs effectively protected hair cells against H 2 O 2 -induced cell loss. Additionally, BDNF-sEVs remarkably ameliorated H 2 O 2 -induced oxidative stress, cell apoptosis, and cochlear nerve terminal degeneration. Transcriptomic analysis revealed that many mRNAs and miRNAs were involved in the protective actions of BDNF-sEVs against oxidative stress. Collectively, our findings reveal a novel therapeutic strategy of MSC-sEVs-mediated BDNF delivery for the treatment of NIHL. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mitochondria are essential organelles for cellular metabolism and physiology in eukaryotic cells. Human mitochondria have their own genome (mtDNA), which is maternally inherited with 37 genes, encoding 13 polypeptides for oxidative phosphorylation, and 22 tRNAs and 2 rRNAs for translation. mtDNA mutations are associated with a wide spectrum of degenerative and neuromuscular diseases. However, the pathophysiology of mitochondrial diseases, especially for threshold effect and tissue specificity, is not well understood and there is no effective treatment for these disorders. Especially, the lack of appropriate cell and animal disease models has been significant obstacles for deep elucidating the pathophysiology of maternally transmitted diseases and developing the effective therapy approach. The use of human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) derived from patients to obtain terminally differentiated specific lineages such as inner ear hair cells is a revolutionary approach to deeply understand pathogenic mechanisms and develop the therapeutic interventions of mitochondrial disorders. Here, we review the recent advances in patients-derived iPSCs as ex vivo models for mitochondrial diseases. Those patients-derived iPSCs have been differentiated into specific targeting cells such as retinal ganglion cells and eventually organoid for the disease modeling. These disease models have advanced our understanding of the pathophysiology of maternally inherited diseases and stepped toward therapeutic interventions for these diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To compare the therapeutic efficacy and safety of microwave ablation (MWA) and lauromacrogol injection for ablation (LIA) for benign predominantly cystic thyroid nodules. Materials and methods: In this retrospective study, 85 patients with predominantly cystic thyroid nodules (PCTNs) who underwent microwave ablation (MWA) or lauromacrogol injection for ablation (LIA) between June 2019 and August 2022 at three hospitals were included in our research. Forty-six patients were treated with microwave ablation, and thirty-nine patients were treated with lauromacrogol injection for ablation. The baseline characteristics, nodal volume, volume reduction rate (VRR), and incidence of postoperative complications were compared between these two groups. Results: After treatment, there were significant differences in the thyroid nodule volume and the volume reduction rate (VRR) at different follow-up times between the groups (p < 0.001). There were no significant differences in the nodal volume or the volume reduction rate (VRR) between the MWA group and the LIA group at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months (p > 0.05). Of note, no serious intraoperative or postoperative complications occurred in the corresponding group. Conclusion: MWA and LIA are very effective and safe strategies for the treatment of predominantly cystic thyroid nodules. However, LIA is more advantageous in that it is less expensive and has a shorter length of hospital stay than MWA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, a novel measure for the complexity of operator growth is proposed based on Lanczos algorithm and Krylov recursion method. We study this Krylov complexity in quantum mechanical systems derived from some well-known local toric Calabi–Yau geometries, as well as some nonrelativistic models. We find that for the Calabi–Yau models, the Lanczos coefficients grow slower than linearly for small n 's, consistent with the behavior of integrable models. On the other hand, for the nonrelativistic models, the Lanczos coefficients initially grow linearly for small n 's, then reach a plateau. Although this looks like the behavior of a chaotic system, it is mostly likely due to saddle-dominated scrambling effects instead, as argued in the literature. In our cases, the slopes of linearly growing Lanczos coefficients almost saturate a bound by the temperature. During our study, we also provide an alternative general derivation of the bound for the slope. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mitochondria, organelles that harbor their own circular genomes, are critical for energy production and homeostasis maintenance in eukaryotic cells. Recent studies discovered hundreds of mitochondria-encoded noncoding RNAs (mt-ncRNAs), including novel subtypes of mitochondria-encoded circular RNAs (mecciRNAs) and mitochondria-encoded double-stranded RNAs (mt-dsRNAs). Here, we discuss the emerging field of mt-ncRNAs by reviewing their expression patterns, biogenesis, metabolism, regulatory roles, and functional mechanisms. Many mt-ncRNAs have regulatory roles in cellular physiology, and some are associated with, or even act as, causal factors in human diseases. We also highlight developments in technologies and methodologies and further insights into future perspectives and challenges in studying these noncoding RNAs, as well as their potential biomedical applications. The mitochondrial genome encodes hundreds of noncoding RNAs (mt-ncRNAs). Mt-rRNAs, mt-tRNAs, mt-lncRNAs, mitosRNAs, along with recently identified mecciRNAs and mt-dsRNAs, are major species of mt-ncRNAs. A variety of mt-ncRNAs have been shown to have critical roles in physiology and pathology, through diverse regulatory mechanisms. Mutations in mt-tRNAs are known genetic causes of several human hereditary diseases. Members of other mt-ncRNA species also participate in key regulatory events and disorders, such as metabolic diseases and cancers. Major advancements have been made in the toolbox for studying mitochondrial biology. Technologies such as those that allow mitochondrial genome editing will continue to drive further understandings of mt-ncRNAs in terms of their biogenesis, metabolism, functions, and functional mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lithium-ion batteries are known for their high efficiency for storing electrical energy, especially for hybrid vehicles. In this research, the development of mixture composites in the cathode electrode of LIBs has been discussed and designed based on ternary solid solutions. We have given a novel synthesis and method preparation of cathode electrode materials to reduce costs while increasing the efficiency and simultaneity for the future of these technologies. The major problem in the LIBs is related to LiCoO2 as a popular cathode material that, although it has a high efficiency, is expensive and very toxic. Therefore, the usage of a lower weight of cobalt compared to the LiCoO2 cathode material is economically advantageous for this research. Several samples of the (1-x-y) LiCo1/3Ti1/3Fe1/3PO4 xLi2MnPO4 and yLiFePO4 system were synthesized via sol–gel experiments. Various stoichiometric amounts of the LiNO3, Li2MnPO4, Mn (Ac)2. 4H2O, Co (Ac)2.4H2O, Ti(NO3)2.6H2O and LiFePO4 have been used for several compositions of chrome, manganese, cobalt and titanium in 28 samples of (1-x-y) LiCo1/3Ti1/3Fe1/3PO4. By using thermal characterization, five samples have been selected due to their conditions in viewpoints of capacity and cyclability as well as activation energy, which is one of the major factors. These composites exhibited fairly consistent charge/discharge curves during the electrochemical testing. From the viewpoint of the physical and chemical properties, among these samples, the Li1.501Co0.389Ti0.055Fe0.055Mn0.501PO4 structure has a high efficiency compared to other compositions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The critical need to enhance the quality of indoor air leads to the improvement of catalyst activity for the removal of formaldehyde. Sepiolite can be utilized in catalytic reactions for its unique structure, composition and high surface area. The adhesion between sepiolite fibers and the blocked microporous channel (by impurities) demands the activation of natural sepiolite through acid treatment. This treatment successfully produces acid-modified sepiolite Pt-supported samples. The impacts of different acid concentrations, Pt loading content and calcination temperature on catalytic activity for formaldehyde (HCHO) oxidation are studied. The catalytic activity of HCHO is characterized and evaluated by techniques including specific surface area, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectrum, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The results show the maximum specific area of sepiolite at the optimized 0.06 M acid concentration. Among all the prepared samples, the 0.02Pt/Sep catalyst calcined at 500 °C exhibits the highest catalytic activity for the oxidation of HCHO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phytoreclamation is the intervention of plants to improve degraded soil quality, changing soil biotic and abiotic properties. Many studies have focused on microbial composition and bioactivity, but few explored the changes in phylogenetic assemblages of soil microbiota after phytoreclamation. This study compared microbiomes of bare land to those of planted soils and investigated how the rhizosphere environment affects microbial assemblages from monocot Poa pratensis and eudicot Dianthus plumarius plantings using 16S rRNA metabarcoding. The results showed that the biotic susceptibility of soil to the rhizosphere environment was higher than that of the abiotic. A noticeable change was in some soil physicochemical properties like Na, P, Zn, Cu, C, and sand-to-silt proportion before and after phytoreclamation, but not between the rhizosphere and bulk soil of plantings. Contrastingly, microbial composition and diversity were significantly affected by both turfing and rhizosphere effects and were more susceptible to differences in turfing or not than in planting species. In the turfgrass, the microbiome differences between plants were greater in the rhizosphere than in the surrounding bulk soil, indicating the proximal influence of root exudates. We also found that the main abiotic factors that influenced microbial composition were Na, Zn, NOx, N, and S; as for the phylogenetic assemblages, were by K levels and the increase of silt. Turfgrass decomposes soil aggregates and changes the physicochemical properties, thereby evens the phylogenetic clustering of the soil microbial community. We demonstrated that the deterministic process affects the microbial assemblage and acts as a selective agent of the soil microbiota in fundamental and realized niches. Phytoreclamation may lead to abiotic soil changes that reallocate resources to microbes. This could affect the phylogeny of the microbial assemblages and increase microbial richness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The case assignment system is an essential system of case management and assignment within the procuratorate and is an important aspect of judicial fairness and efficiency. However, existing methods mostly use manual or random case assignment, which leads to unbalanced case distribution. Moreover, the relationship between prosecutors and case categories usually shows a power-law distribution in real-world data. Therefore, in this paper, we describe the case rationality assignment as a recommendation problem under the power-law distributed data. To solve the above problems, we propose an end-to-end Self-supervised Graph neural network model with Pre-training Generative learning for Recommendation (SGPGRec), the main idea of which is to capture self-supervised signals using intra-node features and inter-node correlations in the data, and generate the data representation by pre-training to improve the recommendation results. To be specific, we designed three auxiliary self-supervised tasks based on the prosecutor-case category interaction graph and the data distribution to obtain feature representations of prosecutors, case categories, and the interaction information between them. Then we constructed an end-to-end graph neural network recommendation model by the interaction information based on the data characteristics of the power-law distribution. Finally, extensive experimental consistency on a real-world dataset from three procuratorates shows that our method is effective compared to several yet competing baseline methods and further supports the development of an intelligent case assignment system with adequate performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a novel modular anomaly equation for the unflavored Schur index in the N = 4 SU(N) super-Yang-Mills theory. The vanishing conditions overdetermine the modular ambiguity ansatz from the equation, thus together they are sufficient to recursively compute the exact Schur indices for all SU(N) gauge groups. Using the representations as MacMahon's generalized sum-of-divisors functions and Jacobi forms, we then prove our proposal as well as elucidate a general formula conjectured by Pan and Peelaers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The high price of noble metal resources limits its commercial application and stimulates the potential for developing new catalysts that can replace noble metal catalysts. Tungsten-based catalysts have become the most important substitutes for noble metal catalysts because of their rich resources, friendly environment, rich valence and better adsorption enthalpy. However, some challenges still hinder the development of tungsten-based catalysts, such as limited catalytic activity, instability, difficult recovery, and so on. At present, the focus of tungsten-based catalyst research is to develop a satisfactory material with high catalytic performance, excellent stability and green environmental protection, mainly including tungsten atomic catalysts, tungsten metal nanocatalysts, tungsten-based compound nanocatalysts, and so on. In this work, we first present the research status of these tungsten-based catalysts with different sizes, existing forms, and chemical compositions, and further provide a basis for future perspectives on tungsten-based catalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Potassium-ion batteries (PIBs) are a promising alternative to lithium-ion batteries for large energy storage systems due to their abundant potassium resources and low cost. However, the electrochemical properties of cathode materials, specifically the layered transition-metal oxides, hinder the practical application and development of PIBs. To overcome this challenge, further research is needed to improve the performance of cathode materials. This work presents the preparation of a series of K 0.5 Mn 1-x Co x O 2 (x = 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5) materials by doping with Co ions. As cathode materials, P3–K 0.5 Mn 0.8 Co 0.2 O 2 shows better rate capacity and cycle performance, delivering a higher initial discharge capacity of 108.4 and 44 mAh g−1 at current rate of 20 and 200 mA g−1, respectively, compared to K 0 · 5 MnO 2. Furthermore, the as-obtained P3–K 0.5 Mn 0.8 Co 0.2 O 2 delivers a capacity of 62 mAh g−1 even at 400 mA g−1 and maintains the discharge capacity of 34.2 mAh g−1 after 200 cycles. The addition of suitable cobalt content enhances structural stability and ion transportation kinetics, ultimately improving the rate performance and cyclic stability during K+ insertion/extraction. These results could provide a new idea for the design and development of cathode materials for potassium ion batteries. • A novel K 0.5 Mn 0.8 Co 0.2 O 2 cathode material is successfully prepared. • Suitable Co content enhances structural stability and ion transportation kinetics. • It delivers a high initial discharge capacity of 108.4 mAh g−1 at 20 mA g−1. • It has a capacity retention of 55% after 200 cycles at 400 mA g−1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Novel and stringent automotive exhaust gas emissions standards are urgently needed to counter the problems posed by the worsening global climate and environment. However, the traditional cordierite‐based honeycomb ceramics substrates with ultimate pore density have seriously restricted the establishment of new emission standards. Herein, we introduce a novel robust substrate with tailored volume‐specific surface area and low heat capacity. This substrate employs the synergy of high‐strength ceramic fibers and ultrathin TiO2 nanosheets. The micro‐sized fibers provide support to ensure structural strength during the catalytic reaction, while the nanosheets play the dual role of connecting the fibers and providing a high surface area for catalyst immobilization. The new three‐dimensional (3D) microarchitecture exhibits a high volume‐specific surface area of 3.59×104 cm2/cm3, a compressive strength of 2.01 MPa, and remarkable stability after high‐speed air erosion at 800 °C. The honeycomb‐like structure exhibit low resistance to gas flow. Furthermore, after loading with Pt and Pd nanoparticles, the composite 3D microarchitecture delivered an excellent catalytic performance and prominent structural stability, with a super low light‐off temperature of 150 °C. The outstanding mechanical and thermal stability and the high surface area and light‐off temperature of the new substrate indicate its potential for use as a highly efficient catalytic carrier to meet the next‐generation auto emissions standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geographic and climatic differences between islands and continents may affect the evolution of their biota, and promote divergent selection in species distributed in both landscapes. To assess spatial‐genetic structure, we genotyped 18 expressed sequence tag‐simple sequence repeat (EST‐SSR) loci and sequenced two mtDNA markers (ND5 and COI) and one nuclear marker (EF1α) in two subspecies of the butterfly Parantica sita. Compared with nuclear markers, mtDNA had a stronger signal of population structure. Approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) suggested that a continuous‐gene‐flow model best described the data. According to this model, the two subspecies diverged approximately 23.1 kya, with 10 times more introgression from the continental (ssp. sita) to the insular subspecies (ssp. niphonica) than vice versa. Ecological niche modelling was performed to predict the paleo‐ and current potential distributions and elucidate the geohistorical process, which revealed a northeastern, insular origin. Winter precipitation and annual temperature range were the main determinants of the subspecies distributions. Maximum‐likelihood population‐effects models showed that the population differentiation of the insular and continental subspecies was primarily affected by environmental resistance and local climate. Sex‐biased migration capacity and long‐term precipitation‐driven divergence between the continental and insular lineages shaped the current genetic structure of P. sita. Evidence from the nuclear markers confirmed intersubspecific gene flow despite adaptive divergence between the subspecies. These results imply that the continental subspecies is still capable of returning to the island and introgressing with the insular subspecies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phosphor-converted white light-emitting diodes (pc-wLEDs) are drawing ever-increasing attention towards electronic applications. However, thermal quenching, the intensity decay with increasing temperature, presents a significant challenge for high power operation. We reverse the effect with a negative-thermal-quenching property based on energy transfer from one luminescent center to another center. The LaMgAl 11 O 19 : Er3+, Sm3+ (LMA: LaMgAl 11 O 19 : Er3+, Sm3+) phosphor has been designed, which shows a positive relationship between emission intensity and operating temperature up to 573 K (300 °C). As the temperature rises, energy transfer from Er3+ to Sm3+ occurs with higher efficiency because of stronger ionic vibration. As a result, the phosphor luminescence intensity at elevated temperatures is enhanced. Our design for negative-thermal quenching phosphor laid the foundation for the research of high-power pc-wLEDs or lasers at higher temperatures. It also has potential for wide-temperature-sensing-range radiometric optical thermometry applications. • A negative thermal-quenching phosphor LaMgAl 11 O 19 : Er3+, Sm3+ was achieved by energy transfer. • The emission intensity of the phosphor increased continuously with temperature from 298 K to 573K. • The phosphor was promising for high power wLED operations and high temperature radiometric optical thermometry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, the research on materials science is rapidly entering a phase of data‐driven age. Machine learning, one of the most powerful data‐driven methods, have been being applied to materials discovery and performances prediction with undoubtedly tremendous application foreground. Herein, the challenges and current progress of machine learning are summarized in materials science, the design strategies are classified and highlighted, and possible perspectives are proposed for the future development. It is hoped this review can provide important scientific guidance for innovating materials science and technology via machine learning in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, we proposed a novel entry of the pp-wave holographic dictionary, which equated the Berenstein-Maldacena-Nastase (BMN) two-point functions in free N = 4 super-Yang-Mills theory with the norm squares of the quantum unitary transition amplitudes between the corresponding tensionless strings in the infinite curvature limit, for the cases with no more than three string modes in different transverse directions. A seemingly highly non-trivial conjectural consequence, particularly in the case of three string modes, is the non-negativity of the BMN two-point functions at any higher genus for any mode numbers. In this paper, we further perform the detailed calculations of the BMN two-point functions with three string modes at genus two, and explicitly verify that they are always non-negative through mostly extensive numerical tests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, Okuyama and Sakai proposed a novel holomorphic anomaly equation for the partition function of 2d Yang-Mills theory on a torus, based on an anholomorphic deformation of the propagator in the bosonic formulation. Using the boson-fermion correspondence, we derive the formula for the deformed partition function in fermionic description and give a proof of the holomorphic anomaly equation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The Massenerhebung effect (Mass elevation effect) refers to heat‐ or wind‐driven altitudinal distribution patterns of temperature‐dependent parameters among massifs with narrower range and lower elevation around peripheral and isolated mountains compared to core and continuous ones. Although common in ecology, this effect is rarely discussed in population genetics. Here, we use genetic markers to reveal population genetic patterns and also test the mountain‐ and sky‐barrier hypotheses relevant to the Massenerhebung distribution pattern of Acer morrisonense in Taiwan's rugged topography and varied local climates. Location: The alpine and cloud forest of Taiwan. Taxon: Acer morrisonense Hayata. Methods: Two chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) fragments and 17 expressed sequence tag‐simple sequence repeat (EST‐SSR) loci, respectively, from 200 to 286 individuals were used to elucidate the phylogeographic pattern of pollen and seed dispersal of A. morrisonense. These data were combined with ecological niche modeling (ENM) to infer distribution range shifts and refugia. We also correlated the genetic‐divergence indices with spatial factors to clarify latitudinal and altitudinal effects on genetic diversity. Results: The incongruent phylogeographic patterns of genetic distributions between nuclear and cpDNA markers indicate unhindered pollen flow but spatially constrained seed dispersal. Taken together with ENM, the genetic pattern further reflects historical colonization from central‐mountain refugia to edges since the Holocene. The Massenerhebung reduces the gene flow by the surrounding mountains and also causes lower genetic diversity compared to central alpine populations. Main conclusions: This study is the first to reveal the influence of Massenerhebung effect on cpDNA genetic structure of montane trees and reflect the spatial trends of seed dispersal. This population genetic pattern can also be attributed to the demography‐related range shifts with paleoclimate fluctuations under complex mountain topography, supporting the mountain‐barrier hypothesis. The results have important implications for conserving the genetic diversity of species with a wide altitudinal distribution range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We make a proposal for calculating refined Gopakumar-Vafa numbers (GVN) on elliptically fibered Calabi-Yau 3-folds based on refined holomorphic anomaly equations. The key examples are smooth elliptic fibrations over (almost) Fano surfaces. We include a detailed review of existing mathematical methods towards defining and calculating the (unrefined) Gopakumar-Vafa invariants (GVI) and the GVNs on compact Calabi-Yau 3-folds using moduli of stable sheaves, in a language that should be accessible to physicists. In particular, we discuss the dependence of the GVNs on the complex structure moduli and on the choice of an orientation. We calculate the GVNs in many instances and compare the B-model predictions with the geometric calculations. We also derive the modular anomaly equations from the holomorphic anomaly equations by analyzing the quasi-modular properties of the propagators. We speculate about the physical relevance of the mathematical choices that can be made for the orientation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the type IIB maximally supersymmetric pp-wave background, stringy excited modes are described by BMN (Berenstein-Madalcena-Nastase) operators in the dual N = 4 super-Yang-Mills theory. In this paper, we continue the studies of higher genus free BMN correlators with more stringy modes, mostly focusing on the case of genus one and four stringy modes in different transverse directions. Surprisingly, we find that the non-negativity of torus two-point functions, which is a consequence of a previously proposed probability interpretation and has been verified in the cases with two and three stringy modes, is no longer true for the case of four or more stringy modes. Nevertheless, the factorization formula, which is also a proposed holographic dictionary relating the torus two-point function to a string diagram calculation, is still valid. We also check the correspondence of planar three-point functions with Green-Schwarz string vertex with many string modes. We discuss some issues in the case of multiple stringy modes in the same transverse direction. Our calculations provide some new perspectives on pp-wave holography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Mn-Fe oxides are in-situ prepared using K 2 FeO 4 and MnSO 4. • Mn 3 O 4 -Fe 2 O 3 -Ni performs the best catalytic ability of toluene oxidation. • Mn 3 O 4 -Fe 2 O 3 -Ni exhibits better physical–chemical properties. In this work, a series of manganese-based multi oxide (Mn 3 O 4 -Fe 2 O 3) was in-situ synthesized using K 2 FeO 4 and MnSO 4 as the precursor via one-step hydrothermal method. Catalytic evaluation shows that Mn 3 O 4 -Fe 2 O 3 -Ni performs the best activity among the prepared catalysts. T 90% and T 50% of toluene conversion on Mn 3 O 4 -Fe 2 O 3 -Ni are 257 and 223 °C, respectively, which are 59 and 28 °C lower than those of Mn 3 O 4 -Fe 2 O 3 -140. XRD analysis proves that the prepared catalysts are composed of Mn 3 O 4 and Fe 2 O 3 ; N 2 -BET indicates that Mn 3 O 4 -Fe 2 O 3 -Ni has a higher specific surface area; HRTEM analysis implies that the (1 0 3) and (1 1 2) of Mn 3 O 4 (PDF #18–0803) crystal planes are exposed on Mn 3 O 4 -Fe 2 O 3 -140 and Mn 3 O 4 -Fe 2 O 3 -Ni, respectively, implying that the introduction of Ni can result in the change of exposed plane. Raman, XPS and O 2 -TPD analysis implies that there are abundant lattice defects and abundant surface adsorbed oxygen. DFT calculations suggests that the oxygen vacancies are more likely to be formed on the (1 1 2) plane in Mn 3 O 4 -Fe 2 O 3 -Ni than that of (1 0 3) plane in Mn 3 O 4 -Fe 2 O 3 -140, which is consistent with the analysis result of Raman spectra and O 2 -TPD. At last, the possible degradation route of toluene oxidation on Mn 3 O 4 -Fe 2 O 3 -Ni is induced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider the von Neumann entropy of a thermal mixed state in quantum systems derived from mirror curves, where the kinetic terms are exponential functions of the momentum operators. Using the mathematical results on the asymptotics of the energy eigenvalues, we compute the asymptotic entropy in high temperature limit and compare with that of the conventional models. We discuss the connections with some folklores in quantum gravity, particularly on the finiteness of entropy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We continue the study of a novel relation between quantum periods and TBA(Thermodynamic Bethe Ansatz)-like difference equations, generalize previous works to a large class of Calabi-Yau geometries described by three-term quantum operators. We give two methods to derive the TBA-like equations. One method uses only elementary functions while the other method uses Faddeev's quantum dilogarithm function. The two approaches provide different realizations of TBA-like equations which are nevertheless related to the same quantum period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Climate change is expected to alter the factors that drive changes in adaptive variation. This is especially true for species with long life spans and limited dispersal capabilities. Rapid climate changes may disrupt the migration of beneficial genetic variations, making it challenging for them to keep up with changing environments. Understanding adaptive genetic variations in tree species is crucial for conservation and effective forest management. Our study used landscape genomic analyses and phenotypic traits from a thorough sampling across the entire range of Quercus longinux, an oak species native to Taiwan, to investigate the signals of adaptation within this species. Results: Using ecological data, phenotypic traits, and 1,933 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from 205 individuals, we classified three genetic groups, which were also phenotypically and ecologically divergent. Thirty-five genes related to drought and freeze resistance displayed signatures of natural selection. The adaptive variation was driven by diverse environmental pressures such as low spring precipitation, low annual temperature, and soil grid sizes. Using linear-regression-based methods, we identified isolation by environment (IBE) as the optimal model for adaptive SNPs. Redundancy analysis (RDA) further revealed a substantial joint influence of demography, geology, and environments, suggesting a covariation between environmental gradients and colonization history. Lastly, we utilized adaptive signals to estimate the genetic offset for each individual under diverse climate change scenarios. The required genetic changes and migration distance are larger in severe climates. Our prediction also reveals potential threats to edge populations in northern and southeastern Taiwan due to escalating temperatures and precipitation reallocation. Conclusions: We demonstrate the intricate influence of ecological heterogeneity on genetic and phenotypic adaptation of an oak species. The adaptation is also driven by some rarely studied environmental factors, including wind speed and soil features. Furthermore, the genetic offset analysis predicted that the edge populations of Q. longinux in lower elevations might face higher risks of local extinctions under climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polymers play a crucial role in promoting the progress of high‐performance inverted perovskite solar cells (PSCs). However, few polymers have simultaneously achieved defect passivation and device encapsulation in PSCs. Herein, a telechelic silicone polymer (poly(dimethylsiloxane‐co‐methylsiloxane acrylate) [PDMA]) is introduced, which possesses crosslinking capability to enable structure regulation through a condensation reaction. By leveraging the advantages of the polymers before and after crosslinking, a synergistic strategy of defect healing and device encapsulation for PSCs is developed via the application of the targeted polymer. PDMA as additives anchors tightly at the grain boundaries (GBs) and bridges the perovskite grains, achieving defect passivation and GBs crosslinking, increasing the efficiency of inverted PSCs from 22.32% to 24.41%. Crosslinked PDMA (CPDMA) is used as an encapsulant to encapsulate the entire device, enabling non‐destructive encapsulation at room temperature and inhibiting perovskite degradation under photothermal aging. Remarkably, the PDMA‐modified device with CPDMA encapsulation maintains 98% of its initial efficiency after 1200 h under continuous illumination at 55 ± 5 °C and retains 95% of its original efficiency after 1000 h of damp heat testing, meeting one of the IEC61215:2016 standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metal‐based nanocatalysts supported on carbon have significant prospect for industry. However, a straightforward method for efficient and stable nanocatalysts still remains extremely challenging. Inspired by the structure and comptosition of cell walls and membranes, an ion chemical bond anchoring, an in situ carbonization coreduction process, is designed to obtain composite catalysts on N‐doped 2D carbon (C‐N) loaded with various noble and non‐noble metals (for example, Pt, Ru, Rh, Pd, Ag, Ir, Au, Co, and Ni) nanocatalysts. These 2 nm particles uniformly and stably bond with the C‐N support since the agglomeration and growth are suppressed by anchoring the metal ions on the cell wall and membrane during the carbonization and reduction reactions. The Pt@C‐N exhibits excellent catalytic activity and long‐term stability for the hydrogen evolution reaction, and the relative overpotential at 100 mA cm−2 is only 77 mV, which is much lower than that of commercial Pt/C and Pt single‐atom catalysts reported recently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

N‐alkyl anilines are a series of common and versatile compounds which not only have been used as reaction solvents, acid‐accepters, and organic‐bases, but also in synthesis of dyes, pharmaceuticals, and anti‐colodal. The N‐methyl and/or N,N‐dimethyl anilines are the most representative ones among these. Due to their widespread uses, numerous works have been reported on synthetic strategies in the past decades. The studies on N−H methylations of anilines mainly focus on selection of reagents, selection of catalysts, or ligands design. Different transition‐metals, e. g., Ir, Ru, Pd, and et. al, with different ligands have been used in the methylation protocols. Methanol (CH3OH), carbon dioxide (CO2), formaldehyde (HCHO), or dimethyl carbonate ((CH3)2CO3) was used as C source, and hydrogen (H2) or silanes as H source. In this work, we would like to summarize the latest advances on the synthesis of N‐methyl (N,N‐dimethyl included) anilines and derivatives. This review provides an overview of reactants and catalyst, as well as an emphasis on the scope of substrates and proposed reaction mechanism for each work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, regenerative thermal oxidizer (RTO) has been widely used in the petroleum industry, chemical industry, etc. The massive storage required by solid waste has become a serious problem. Due to their chemical composition, bauxite tailings as raw materials for high-temperature thermal storage ceramics show enormous potential in the fields of research and application. In this study, we propose a method for preparing ferric-rich and high specific storage capacity by adding Fe2O3 powder to bauxite tailings. Based on a 7:3 mass ratio of bauxite tailings to lepidolite, Fe2O3 powder with different mass fractions (7 wt%, 15 wt%, 20 wt%, 30 wt%, and 40 wt%) was added to the ceramic material to improve the physical properties and thermal storage capacity of thermal storage ceramics. The results showed that ferric-rich thermal storage ceramics with optimal performance were obtained by holding them at a sintering temperature of 1000 °C for 2 h. When the Fe2O3 content was 15 wt%, the bulk density of the thermal storage ceramic reached 2.53 g/cm3, the compressive strength was 120.81 MPa, and the specific heat capacity was 1.06 J/(g·K). This study has practical guidance significance in the preparation of high thermal storage ceramics at low temperatures and low costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lanthanum hexaaluminate is a promising candidate to establish yttria partially stabilized zirconia as a thermal barrier coating material for super alloy due to their remarkable stability and thermophysical performance. In order to understand the relationship between the structure and properties and gain new low thermal conducting materials, the LnMgAl11O19 (LnMA, Ln: La, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd) materials were synthesized firstly and further used to produce the LnMA ceramics. With the increasing relative atomic mass of the replaced Ln3+ ions from La to Gd, the lattice parameters and grain sizes of the LnMA platelets decrease, while the mechanical properties increase, and the thermal physic properties decrease. The GdMgAl11O19 ceramics obtain the lowest thermal conductivity with the value of 1.91‐1.78 W/m K in the range from room temperature to 800°C, which could be considered as a promising candidate for application in thermal barrier coating materials. These results could further provide reference for developing novel materials lower thermal conductivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adaptive trait divergence is usually episodic rather than universal in a phylogeny. To determine whether trait divergence reaches an extreme level (i.e. deviation from neutrality), the evolutionary rate of the species and intraspecific variation must be taken into account. Accordingly, we attempt to explore the trend of trait divergence over divergence times conditioned on the genetic distance. The Brownian motion (BM) model, a commonly used random-walk process for describing the neutral evolution of traits, is used to simulate the distribution of trait divergence under neutrality. The observed trait divergences are then compared to the BM expectations to detect outliers, which are considered to be selected. We assessed the ability of this method to characterize trait divergence under selection among 14 Lithocarpus species in Taiwan. The results are consistent with the previous inference of phylogenetic constraint based on tests of the phylogenetic signal, but further signals of adaptive and conserved trait divergences are detected between some lineages derived from particular nodes (common ancestors), indicating differential investments in growth rate and chemical defense among some endemic species in Taiwan. These results show that the adaptive divergence of environmentrelated traits is transient, episodic, and punctuated. Under strong selection pressure, the trait divergence after standard deviation correction will be more significant because the trait variance within the population decreases. However, it tends to be an overestimation of conservative evolution in older common ancestors due to the larger standard deviation produced from diverse descendants. Nevertheless, this study still provides a simple approach to detect adaptive divergence in a phylogenetic framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Species delimitation may be difficult for recently divergent species, particularly those with few distinguishable morphological characteristics. Zingiber kawagoii and Z. shuanglongensis are two recently divergent species endemic to Taiwan whose extremely similar vegetative characteristics hinder their distinction during non-flowering seasons. Given their recent divergence, the speciation process and introgressions between these two gingers warrant exploration. However, such studies are hampered by the absence of appropriate molecular markers. To solve this dilemma, we developed 20 transferable expressed sequence tag-simple sequence repeat loci (EST-SSR). Seven highly differentiated loci were further identified for rapid species delimitation. A preliminary test using discriminant analysis of principal components (DAPC) validated the effective discrimination of these EST-SSR loci, while Bayesian clustering analysis (BCA) revealed obvious introgression events between species, particularly on positive-outlier loci. These results imply adaptive introgressions between these species. However, more sampling and further experiments are necessary to validate this inference and resolve questions regarding the introgression and speciation mechanisms. The development of genetic markers in this study provides appropriate experimental conditions and a basis for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The polymerization of isoprene (Ip) initiated by a ternary catalytic system consisting of liquid Nd(P204)3 (Nd), Al(i -Bu)2H (Al), and CHCl3 (Cl) in cyclohexane was examined. The effects of order of addition and amount of Ip, Al, and Cl in the catalyst on the polymerization were evaluated. The molecular weight (M n), molecular weight distribution (M w/ M n), and microstructure of the polymer were characterized using size exclusion chromatography and multiangle light scattering, FT-IR, 1H NMR and 13C NMR analysis. The results indicate that the order of addition, i.e. Nd + Ip + Al + Cl and ratios of [Ip]/[Nd] = 30, [Al]/[Nd] = 20, and [Cl]/[Nd] = 3 were essential for the optimized ternary catalyst system Nd(P204)3/Al(i -Bu)2H/CHCl3. The resulting liquid polyisoprene (LIR) has a high cis -1,4 unit content (>98 %) and a narrow molecular weight distribution (M w/ M n < 1.2). The molecular weight of the polymer was precisely controlled. Liquid polyisoprene rubber (LIR) is a green and environment friendly reactive plasticizer for rubber with broad prospects. The ternary liquid Nd(P204)3 catalytic system was used to initiate isoprene to obtain LIR with a high cis -1,4 unit content (cis -1,4 > 98 %), precisely controlled molecular weight, and narrow molecular weight distribution (M w/ M n < 1.2). This synthesis strategy for high performance LIR is simple, efficient, and easy to industrialize. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphical abstract Na 3 GdP 2 O 8 : Sm3+ and Na 3 GdP 2 O 8 : Dy3+ phosphors were successfully prepared and emitted orange-red and white light under UV/NUV excitation, respectively. The excellent thermal stability further indicated that these phosphors have great potential for applications in UV/NUV excited w-LEDs. Highlights • The novel Sm3+ and Dy3+ ions doped Na 3 GdP 2 O 8 phosphors were prepared. • Both orange-red and white lights could obtain with excellent thermal stability. • These phosphors are potential for application in UV/NUV based w-LEDs. Abstract With the rapid demand of white light emitting diodes (w-LEDs), studies on the ultraviolet/near-ultraviolet (UV/NUV) light excited phosphors are becoming more and more important. Herein the novel Na 3 GdP 2 O 8 : Re3+ (Re = Sm, Dy) phosphors were synthesized through a high-temperature solid-state reaction method. The Sm3+-doped Na 3 GdP 2 O 8 phosphors emitted orange-red light centered at 600 nm, under the NUV excitation at 403 nm. When excited at 350 nm, the Na 3 GdP 2 O 8 : Dy3+ phosphors presented a white light emission, including three peaks at 483, 578, and 670 nm, respectively. In addition, both of the Na 3 GdP 2 O 8 : Sm3+ and Na 3 GdP 2 O 8 : Dy3+ phosphors showed excellent thermal stability at different temperatures, of which the emission intensities at 150 °C could maintain about 75% and 79% of those at room temperature, respectively. These results indicate that the as-prepared phosphors can be considered as potential candidates for applications in UV/NUV excited w-LEDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Eu 3+ ion activated pyrochlore-type La 2 Zr 2 O 7 red emitting phosphor was prepared through solid-state reaction. The electronic structure of La 2 Zr 2 O 7 was investigated with density functional theory (DFT) calculation. The phase purity, crystalline structure, morphology and lattice parameters of the Eu 3+ ion doped La 2 Zr 2 O 7 through powder X-ray diffraction and Rietveld refinement were also elucidated in details. The as-prepared La 2 Zr 2 O 7 : Eu 3+ phosphors presented excellent red light emission with intense absorption bands in the near-ultraviolet and blue light regions. The optimized doping concentration of Eu 3+ ions was found to be 0.05 with an ideal CIE coordinate index of (0.62, 0.38). Finally, the excellent thermal stability of La 2 Zr 2 O 7 : Eu 3+ phosphor was also determined according to the temperature dependent emission spectra, excited at 393 nm. All these results indicated that the La 2 Zr 2 O 7 : Eu 3+ phosphors had high potential for applications in solid-state white light-emitting diodes as suitable red-emitting components for white light emitting diodes (w-LEDs), combined with near-ultraviolet or blue lighting chips. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emission color tunable single-phased phosphors La 7 O 6 (BO 3 )(PO 4 ) 2 : Ce 3+ , Tb 3+ , Eu 3+ were prepared by a solid state reaction method. The crystal structure, luminescence properties, energy transfer, and co-excitation behavior were investigated in detail. The La 7 O 6 (BO 3 )(PO 4 ) 2 : x Ce 3+ phosphors emit blue light under the excitation at 228 nm, corresponding to the broad 4f-5d transition of Ce 3+ . Concentration quenching phenomenon was observed when the Ce 3+ ion was x = 0.01. By co-doping the Eu 3+ and Tb 3+ ions into La 7 O 6 (BO 3 )(PO 4 ) 2 : Ce 3+ phosphors, the emission color can be tunable from blue to reddish, and then to white. The energy transfer from Ce 3+ to Eu 3+ and the co-excitation of Ce 3+ and Tb 3+ have been investigated and discussed. The color coordinate for the La 7 O 6 (BO 3 )(PO 4 ) 2 : 0.01Ce 3+ , 0.05Tb 3+ , 0.05Eu 3+ phosphor is calculated to be (0.3008, 0.3381). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shape-stable and high-thermal conductivity composite phase change materials (c-PCMs) composed of polyethylene glycol (PEG) and biological porous carbon (BPC) are investigated. BPC based on potatoes and white radishes are obtained by the carbonization method. The thermal conductivity of the BPC increases with the rising of the carbonization temperature due to the higher graphitization degree. Especially, BPC calcined at 1300 °C for 2 h resulted in the optimum PEG supporting matrix candidate, showing an attractive honeycomb-like microstructure. Calcination above 1300 °C results in the destruction of the shape. BPC/PEG c-PCMs are synthesized via a vacuum impregnation approach. PEG equally distributed in the matrix material with a mass fraction of 85.36% approximately and it could keep its morphological stability after heating at 80 °C for 40 h. Moreover, the highest thermal conductivity is 4.5 W/m K, which is about 10 times higher than the pristine PEG. Furthermore, no chemical interaction is found between the PEG and BPC. The melting and solidifying temperature, and enthalpy not vary upon a 200 thermal cycles test. This confirms the excellent chemical and structure stability for c-PCMs, which are within the most promising materials in the area of building heat preservation by being clean, energy-saving and recycled materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon nanofibers were prepared by using centrifugal spinning with polyacrylonitrile as precursor. The microstructure and electrochemical properties of prepared samples were investigated by using scanning electron microscopy and electrochemical workstation, respectively. The results showed that the distribution of fiber diameter showed a normal law. The carbon fibers present good cycle stability at low scan rate. Moreover, the integral area of cyclic voltammetry curve reaches the maximum when the mass ratio of PAN/PMMA is 20:3. The specific capacitance of it is 102 F/g and 84 F/g, in case of the current density at 0.1 A/g and 0.2 A/g, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

F-theory compactifications on appropriate local elliptic Calabi-Yau manifolds engineer six dimensional superconformal field theories and their mass deformations. The partition function Z of the refined topological string on these geometries captures the particle BPS spectrum of this class of theories compactified on a circle. Organizing Z in terms of contributions Z at base degree β of the elliptic fibration, we find that these, up to a multiplier system, are meromorphic Jacobi forms of weight zero with modular parameter the Kähler class of the elliptic fiber and elliptic parameters the couplings and mass parameters. The indices with regard to the multiple elliptic parameters are fixed by the refined holomorphic anomaly equations, which we show to be completely determined from knowledge of the chiral anomaly of the corresponding SCFT. We express Z as a quotient of weak Jacobi forms, with a universal denominator inspired by its pole structure as suggested by the form of Z in terms of 5d BPS numbers. The numerator is determined by modularity up to a finite number of coefficients, which we prove to be fixed uniquely by imposing vanishing conditions on 5d BPS numbers as boundary conditions. We demonstrate the feasibility of our approach with many examples, in particular solving the E-string and M-string theories including mass deformations, as well as theories constructed as chains of these. We make contact with previous work by showing that spurious singularities are cancelled when the partition function is written in the form advocated here. Finally, we use the BPS invariants of the E-string thus obtained to test a generalization of the Göttsche-Nakajima-Yoshioka K-theoretic blowup equation, as inspired by the Grassi-Hatsuda-Mariño conjecture, to generic local Calabi-Yau threefolds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The proper disposals of spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) both have a significant impact on the environment and human health. In this work, different morphologies of α-MnO 2 catalysts are synthesized using a manganese-based compound as the precursor which is high-selectively recovered from spent lithium-ion ternary batteries. Different synthesis methods including the co-precipitation method, hydrothermal method, and impregnation method are used to prepare different morphologies of α-MnO 2 catalysts and their catalytic activities of toluene oxidation are investigated. Experimental results show that MnO 2 -HM-140 with stacked nanorods synthesized using the hydrothermal method exhibits the best catalytic performance of toluene oxidation (T 90 of 226 °C under the WHSV of 60,000 mL g−1·h−1), which could be attributed to its better redox ability at low temperature and much more abundant adsorbed oxygen species at low temperature. The adsorption abilities of toluene and the replenish rate of surface lattice oxygen can be enhanced due to the increase of oxygen vacancies on the surface of MnO 2 -HM-140. Furthermore, the results of in-situ DRIFTS and TD/GC-MS imply that benzoate species are the main intermediate groups and then the reaction pathway of toluene oxidation on the surface of MnO 2 -HM-140 is proposed. • Manganese-based compound was high-selectively recovered from spent LIBs. • Different morphologies of α-MnO 2 catalysts were synthesized. • MnO 2 -HM-140 with stacked nanorods exhibits better catalytic performance. • The catalytic mechanism of toluene oxidation was explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Manganese-based compound is high-selectively recovered from spent LIBs. • α-MnO 2 catalysts are prepared using the manganese-based compound as metal precursor. • SLMB-MnO 2 -2 exhibits better catalytic performance compared to other catalysts. • The copper dopant and acid treatment play a synergistic role in the catalytic activity. Spent lithium-ion batteries and VOCs both pose a significant threat to the environment and human health. In this work, a series of high-performance α-MnO 2 catalysts with metal dopant and acid treatment are synthesized from acid leaching solution of cathode materials, which were separated from spent lithium-ion manganese battery (SLMB). Compared with pure α-MnO 2 , all SLMB-MnO 2 (α-MnO 2 prepared from SLMB) exhibit better catalytic activities of VOCs oxidation. Among them, SLMB-MnO 2 -2, with a molar ratio value of KMnO 4 to Mn2+ of 2, exhibits the best catalytic activity (T 90 = 224 °C and 297 °C for toluene and chlorobenzene oxidation, respectively). By comparison of their physicochemical properties, it can be found that SLMB-MnO 2 -2 possesses a larger specific surface and abundant mesopores, better redox ability at low temperature, much more generation of oxygen vacancies, and abundant adsorbed oxygen species. Moreover, the suitable dopant of copper and appropriate concentration of acid treatment play a synergistic role in enhancing the catalytic performance of VOCs oxidation on SLMB-MnO 2 -2. Furthermore, combined with in-situ DRIFTS and TD/GC–MS, the catalytic mechanism of toluene oxidation is explored on SLMB-MnO 2 -2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the presence of a nickel catalyst, 1,3-butadiene undergoes selective dimerization and alkylarylation with alkyl fluorides and aryl Grignard reagents to give 1,6-octadienes with alkyl and aryl groups at the 3- and 8-positions, respectively, by the consecutive formation of three carbon-carbon bonds. The formation of an anionic nickel complex plays an important role in forming C−C bonds with alkyl fluorides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the presence of a nickel catalyst, 1,3-butadiene undergoes selective dimerization and alkylarylation with alkyl fluorides and aryl Grignard reagents to give 1,6-octadienes with alkyl and aryl groups at the 3- and 8-positions, respectively, by the consecutive formation of three carbon-carbon bonds. The formation of an anionic nickel complex plays an important role in forming C−C bonds with alkyl fluorides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To analyze the sociodemographic and clinical factors related to anxiety in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). Methods: This study involved a secondary analysis of data obtained from the Diagnostic Assessment Service for People with Bipolar Disorders in China (DASP), which was initiated by the Chinese Society of Psychiatry (CSP) and conducted from September 1, 2010 to February 28, 2011. Based on the presence or absence of anxiety-related characteristics, 1,178 MDD patients were classified as suffering from anxious depression (n=915) or non-anxious depression (n=263), respectively. Results: Compared with the non-anxious group, the anxious-depression group had an older age at onset (t=--4,39, p < 0.001), were older (t=--4.69, p<0.001), reported more lifetime depressive episodes (z=-3.24, 0=0.001), were more likely to experience seasonal depressive episodes (χ²=6.896, p=0.009) and depressive episodes following stressful life events (χ²=59.350, p <0.001), and were more likely to have a family history of psychiatric disorders (χ²=6.091, p=0.014). Their positive and total scores on the Mood Disorder Questionnaire (MDQ) and the 32-item Hypomania Checklist (HCL-32) (p<0.05) were also lower. The logistic regression analysis indicated that age (odds ratio [OR]=1.03, p<0,001), a lower total MDQ score (OR=0.94, £=0.011), depressive episodes following stressful life events (OR=3.04, o<0.001), and seasonal depressive episodes (OR=1.75, p=0.039) were significantly associated with anxious depression. Conclusion: These findings indicate that older age, fewer subclinical bipolar features, an increased number of depressive episodes following stressful life events, and seasonal depressive episodes may be risk factors for anxiety-related characteristics in patients with MDD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]