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The pinning-controlled mobility of ferroelectric/ferroelastic domain walls is an important part of managing polarization switching and determining the final properties of ferroelectric and piezoelectric materials. Here, we assess the impact of temperature on dislocation-induced domain wall pinning as well as on dislocation-tuned dielectric and piezoelectric response in barium titanate single crystals. Our solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy results indicate that the entire sample exclusively permits in-plane domains, with their distribution remaining insensitive to temperature changes below the Curie temperature (TC). The domain wall pinning field monotonically decreases with increasing temperature up to TC, as evidenced by a combination of experimental observations and phase-field simulations. Our work highlights the promising potential of dislocation engineering in controlling domain wall mobility within bulk ferroelectrics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electro-mechanical interactions between topological defects and domain walls play a key role in the macroscopic response of bulk and thin-film ferroelectrics. The applications of ferroelectrics are derived from their inherent ability to nucleate new domains and to move the domain walls that separate adjacent domains. Here, we report dislocation-mediated domain nucleation in single-crystal BaTiO3, achieved by dislocations generated via high-temperature uniaxial compression on a notched sample. We also present a direct observation of domain-wall pinning of 90° ferroelastic domain walls by dislocations using in situ transmission electron microscopy. Dense and well-aligned "forest" dislocations, featuring {100}⟨100⟩ slip systems oriented in the out-of-plane [001] direction, exclusively nucleate in-plane domain variants. We reveal that the 90° domain walls are strongly pinned by imprinted dislocations due to the presence of their associated stress fields. Our findings may advance our understanding of the control of defects in ferroelectrics and propose a strategy applicable to both emerging nanoelectronic and bulk applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The understanding of the excited state dynamics of thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) materials is crucial. In this study, two donor–acceptor‐type TADF emitters with highly twisted conformation are synthesized. The emitters with subtle chemical modification of donor unit exhibit opposite aggregation luminescent behaviors: aggregation‐induced emission (AIE) and aggregation‐caused quenching (ACQ). Through the photophysical properties study, crystallographic analysis, and theory simulations, it is discovered that X‐aggregation supports AIE behavior by restricting the intramolecular motions and preserving TADF emission via an efficient reverse intersystem crossing (RISC) process, but on the other hand, H‐aggregation leads to ACQ behavior due to inhibited RISC, disabled TADF channel, and weak phosphorescence from radiative low‐lying triplet state. The findings shed light on the excited‐state dynamic behaviors of TADF emitters, which are dependent on aggregation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purely organic emitters have shown great potential but still suffer from low efficiency in near‐infrared organic light‐emitting diodes (NIR‐OLEDs) due to the intensive non‐radiative recombination. In this contribution, two pairs of thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) enantiomers (R/S‐DOBP and R/S‐HDOBP) with tetracoordinate boron geometries were designed and synthesized. The TADF emitters simultaneously showed aggregation‐induced emission, circularly polarized luminescence, high‐contrast mechanochromism, and piezochromism behaviors. More importantly, R/S‐DOBP and R/S‐HDOBP revealed high photoluminescence quantum yields and efficient reverse intersystem crossing in neat films. The nondoped solution‐processed OLEDs based on these unique emitters revealed the NIR emission (peaking at 716 nm) with a maximum external quantum efficiency of 1.9 % and high exciton utilization efficiency of 86 %, which represent one of the best solution‐processed nondoped NIR‐OLEDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purely organic emitters have shown great potential but still suffer from low efficiency in near‐infrared organic light‐emitting diodes (NIR‐OLEDs) due to the intensive non‐radiative recombination. In this contribution, two pairs of thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) enantiomers (R/S‐DOBP and R/S‐HDOBP) with tetracoordinate boron geometries were designed and synthesized. The TADF emitters simultaneously showed aggregation‐induced emission, circularly polarized luminescence, high‐contrast mechanochromism, and piezochromism behaviors. More importantly, R/S‐DOBP and R/S‐HDOBP revealed high photoluminescence quantum yields and efficient reverse intersystem crossing in neat films. The nondoped solution‐processed OLEDs based on these unique emitters revealed the NIR emission (peaking at 716 nm) with a maximum external quantum efficiency of 1.9 % and high exciton utilization efficiency of 86 %, which represent one of the best solution‐processed nondoped NIR‐OLEDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Y-OH groups was homogenously in-situ generated into the 3D YrGO beads. • Adsorption of both TC and phosphate was greatly suppressed by component effect. • Thomas model revealed the rate basis of flow-through adsorption in a diffusion rate. • YrGO-8 beads showed an excellent separation and reusability for TC and phosphate. • Y-OH showed the fastest response to phosphate but lowest response to TC uptake. Effective removal of composite pollutants containing antibiotic and phosphorus is still facing challenges for the wastewater treatment. In this study, yttrium-hydroxide component was loaded onto the surface of reduced GO nanosheets via low-temperature hydrothermal method, to synthesize the 3D YrGO architectures. The optimized YrGO-8 hydrogels showed the maximum adsorption capacity of 226.45 mg/g for tetracycline (TC), and 33.403 mg/g for phosphate, which was higher than many other reported adsorbents. The characterization results demonstrated that the rGO nanosheets were successfully crosslinked by Y(III) to form a porous 3D structure, which was beneficial to the mass transfer and active sites exposure. The adsorption behaviors of TC or phosphate was suppressed by the co-existing phosphate ions or TC, with slower adsorption rate and lower adsorption amount. Importantly, column adsorption analyzed by Thomas model illustrated the rate basis of YrGO-8beads to capture TC/phosphate in an adsorbate diffusion rate. Moreover, the 3D YrGO-8 remained stable and high reusability in multi-uptake-release rounds via pH regulation. The mechanism study suggested that the sequence of adsorption process of TC followed the order of hydrogen bond (HB) > π – π electron donor–acceptor (EDA), n − π EDA > Y(III) bridging interactions, while the uptake of phosphate formed Y-O-P inner-sphere complexes prior to HB. This study proposes a novel insight into the development of 3D architectures for effectively simultaneous treatment of composite TC and phosphate pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Targeting endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, inflammation, and metabolic dysfunctions may halt the pathogenesis of obesity and thereby reduce the prevalence of diabetes, cardiovascular disesases, and cancers. The present study was designed to elucidate the mechnaisms by which plant-derived celastrol ameliorated inflammation and lipid accumulation in obesity. The mouse model of diet-induced obesity was induced by feeding high-fat diet for 3 months and subsequently intervented with celastrol for 21 days. Hepatic and adipose tissues were analyzed for lipid accumulation, macrophage activation, and biomarker expression. As result, celastrol effectively reduced body weight, suppressed ER stress, inflammation, and lipogenesis while promoted hepatic lipolysis. RNA-sequencing revealed that celastrol-loaded nanomicelles restored the expression of 49 genes that regulate ER stress, inflammation, and lipid metabolism. On the other hand, celastrol-PEG4- alkyne was synthesized for identifying celastrol-bound proteins in RAW264.7 macrophages. ER chaperone GRP78 (78 kDa glucose-regulated protein) was identified by proteomics approach for celastrol binding to the residue Cys41. Upon binding and conjugation, celastrol diminished the chaperone activity of GRP78 by 130-fold and reduced ER stress in palmitate-challenged cells, while celastrol analog lacking quinone methide failed to exhibit antiobesity effects. Thus, covalent GRP78 inhibition may induce the reprograming of ER signaling, inflammation, and metabolism against diet-induced obesity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organic light‐emitting diodes (OLEDs) represent one of the most promising technologies for future displays and lighting sources, which have received extensive research attention. Purely organic thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) emitters offer obvious advantages, including high efficiencies and low costs, and they are typically doped in host materials to achieve optimal device efficiencies. TADF emitters typically feature intramolecular charge transfer characteristics, and their excited states properties are sensitive to local environment, giving the implication that host materials can finely tune their emission properties. In recent years, the development of TADF emitters has been vigorous with abundant and fast‐growing reports on new design concepts and molecular structures. Comparatively, research on the host materials for TADF OLEDs has lagged, and reports on host materials, especially those providing insights into host‐dopant interactions are limited. This subject is at the interface of synthetic chemistry, physical chemistry, solid‐state physics, and computational modeling, etc. In this review article, current basic understanding of TADF and the reports on the impact of host materials on the photophysical properties/device performance of TADF emitters are reviewed to provide insights into the host‐dopant interactions, aiming to draw the attention of the research community from optoelectronics toward developing highly efficient TADF OLEDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deep-learning-based automatic modulation recognition techniques have been extensively explored for wireless communication systems, because of their strong feature extraction and classification abilities of deep neural networks. Although the high recognition accuracy and low alarms, they also raise concerns about complexity and interpretability, which can affect the practical deployments. In this paper, we propose a randomly perturbation convolutional kernel activation mapping (RPCKAM) strategy to explain modulation recognition networks, and the RPCKAM-based filter pruning method to compress modulation recognition networks, combining the reasoning and interpretation of decisions made by modulation recognition networks with the compression of network models. The RPCKAM is used to evaluate the importance of convolutional kernels, and then the importance ranking is used to provide a basis for network pruning. Moreover, the effect of pruning is verified with VGG16 and ResNet34 as the baseline networks. The experimental results reflect that the RPCKAM-based convolutional kernel pruning can compress the model on a large scale while maintaining high accuracy, and can even improve the modulation recognition accuracy within a certain compression range. Specifically, the accuracy improvement is close to 1% at most in the VGG16, and it is also close to 0.5% at most in the ResNet34. Furthermore, by analyzing the performance changes before and after model compression, it is found that the compression effect of ResNet34 is better than that of VGG16, and the performance of the RPCKAM-based pruning method outperforms that of the Grad-CAM-based pruning method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is one of the most aggressive cancers and is highly resistant to current treatments. ESCC harbors a subpopulation of cells exhibiting cancer stem-like cell (CSC) properties that contribute to therapeutic resistance including radioresistance, but the molecular mechanisms in ESCC CSCs are currently unknown. Here, we report that ribosomal S6 protein kinase 4 (RSK4) plays a pivotal role in promoting CSC properties and radioresistance in ESCC. RSK4 was highly expressed in ESCC CSCs and associated with radioresistance and poor survival in patients with ESCC. RSK4 was found to be a direct downstream transcriptional target of ΔNp63α, the main p63 isoform, which is frequently amplified in ESCC. RSK4 activated the β-catenin signaling pathway through direct phosphorylation of GSK-3β at Ser9. Pharmacologic inhibition of RSK4 effectively reduced CSC properties and improved radiosensitivity in both nude mouse and patient-derived xenograft models. Collectively, our results strongly suggest that the ΔNp63α/RSK4/GSK-3β axis plays a key role in driving CSC properties and radioresistance in ESCC, indicating that RSK4 is a promising therapeutic target for ESCC treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As one of the most attractive purely organic luminescent materials, thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) luminophores have drawn wide attention in the last decade. The long‐lived delayed fluorescence resulting from the reverse intersystem crossing from excited triplet state (T1) to excited singlet state (S1) in the TADF luminophores gives rise to long lifetimes ranging from nanoseconds to milliseconds, which offers a new strategy for time‐resolved luminescence imaging (TRLI) and sensing. However, the sensitivity of the T1 state in TADF luminophores to triplet oxygen remains a significant challenge for their application. This progress report summarizes the recent developments of efficient purely organic TADF luminophores and novel aggregation‐induced delayed fluorescence (AIDF) luminophores for TRLI and sensing in vitro and in vivo. The molecular design strategies, photophysical properties of the luminophores, and their application in specific imaging and sensing within the time domain are presented. Newly emerged organic materials with AIDF behavior open a new door for developing long‐lived emitters for high signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR) imaging and sensing in the oxygenic atmosphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current research on thermally activated fluorescence (TADF) emitters is mainly based on the molecular levels, while the aggregation states of TADF emitters are to be explored deeply. Now two multifunctional emitters are reported with simultaneous TADF, aggregation induced emission (AIE), and multicolor mechanochromic luminescence (MCL) features. Both emitters also show polymorph‐dependent TADF emission. Crystal structure analysis reveals that the polymorphism is ascribed to the mutable conformations in different aggregation states. This work brings new insight to TADF emitters from a perspective of aggregation states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current research on thermally activated fluorescence (TADF) emitters is mainly based on the molecular levels, while the aggregation states of TADF emitters are to be explored deeply. Now two multifunctional emitters are reported with simultaneous TADF, aggregation induced emission (AIE), and multicolor mechanochromic luminescence (MCL) features. Both emitters also show polymorph‐dependent TADF emission. Crystal structure analysis reveals that the polymorphism is ascribed to the mutable conformations in different aggregation states. This work brings new insight to TADF emitters from a perspective of aggregation states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Designing thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) emitters with excellent photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY), preferential horizontal emitting dipole orientation (훩//), and fascinating ability to rapidly utilize both singlet and triplet excitons for radiation is crucial for high‐performance organic light‐emitting diodes (OLEDs) with both high efficiency and relieved efficiency roll‐off. Integrating these advantages into a single TADF emitter is a formidable challenge. In this work, a spiro[acridine‐indoloacridine]‐based rigid donor, named AIA, is designed to establish a cooperatively long‐axis extended and conjugation expanded donor–acceptor type TADF emitter (AIA‐TRZ). The proof‐of‐the‐concept emitter simultaneously achieves an excellent PLQY of 99%, a near‐unity 훩// of 99%, and balanced excited state dynamic parameters. OLEDs based on AIA‐TRZ realize remarkable performance with an emission peak at around 480 nm, including doping concentration insensitivity, a maximum external quantum efficiency (EQEmax) of 37.3%, extremely low efficiency roll‐off, and over 20% EQE even at 14000 cd m−2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hemophilia is the most well-known hereditary bleeding disorder, with an incidence of one in every 5000 to 30,000 males worldwide. The disease is treated by infusion of protein products on demand and as prophylaxis. Although these therapies have been very successful, some challenging and unresolved tasks remain, such as reducing bleeding rates, presence of target joints and/or established joint damage, eliminating the development of inhibitors, and increasing the success rate of immune-tolerance induction (ITI). Many preclinical trials are carried out on animal models for hemophilia generated by the hemophilia research community, which in turn enable prospective clinical trials aiming to tackle these challenges. Suitable animal models are needed for greater advances in treating hemophilia, such as the development of better models for evaluation of the efficacy and safety of long-acting products, more powerful gene therapy vectors than are currently available, and successful ITI strategies. Mice, dogs, and pigs are the most commonly used animal models for hemophilia. With the advent of the nuclease method for genome editing, namely the CRISPR/Cas9 system, it is now possible to create animal models for hemophilia other than mice in a short period of time. This review presents currently available animal models for hemophilia, and discusses the importance of animal models for the development of better treatment options for hemophilia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An aggregation-induced delayed fluorescence emitter is demonstrated for time-resolved luminescence turn-on sensing of carboxylesterase in living cells. [Display omitted] • The strategy of AIDF-based TRLS was first proposed and realized. • A multiply twisted luminophore revealed typical AIDF behavior. • The turn-on TRLS of carboxylesterase was achieved in buffer and HeLa cells. Thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) materials with long-lived fluorescent emission, have been considered to be promising candidates for time-resolved luminescence imaging (TRLI) and sensing (TRLS). Though the development of the TADF luminophores for TRLI has received considerable attention, the oxygen-caused delayed fluorescence quenching has greatly stagnated the progress of TADF-based TRLS. In this work, we firstly proposed the strategy of in situ generated aggregation-induced delayed fluorescence (AIDF) for TRLS. A new luminophore FAc-Py with multiply twisted geometry and AIDF behavior was designed to offer the long-lived emission for meeting the time-resolved requirement. The carboxylester-capped FAc-Py , namely FAc-Py-Ester , which is non-emissive but shows good liposolubility, was then rationally synthesized for the delayed fluorescence turn-on sensing of carboxylesterase. Carboxylesterase easily promoted the in situ release of hydrophobic FAc-Py from FAc-Py-Ester , accompanying with the activation of air-insensitive AIDF emission and finally paving a way for the functional TRLS of carboxylesterase in living cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although 2-imino-1 H-imidazol-5(2 H)-ones have important biological activities in metabolism, their synthesis has rarely been investigated. Quinoxalines as 'privileged scaffolds' in medicinal chemistry have been extensively investigated, but the development of novel and efficient synthetic methods remains very attractive. Herein, we have developed two copper-catalyzed domino reactions for the synthesis of 2-imino-1 H-imidazol-5(2 H)-ones and quinoxalines involving CC bond-cleavage with a 1,3-dicarbonyl unit as a leaving group. The domino sequence for the synthesis of 2-imino-1 H-imidazol-5(2 H)-ones includes aza-Michael addition, intramolecular cyclization, CC bond-cleavage, 1,2-rearrangement, and aerobic dehydrogenation reaction, whereas the domino sequence for the synthesis of quinoxalines includes aza-Michael addition, intramolecular cyclization, elimination reaction, and CC bond-cleavage reaction. The two domino reactions have significant advantages including high efficiency, mild reaction conditions, and high tolerance of various functional groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The glycan epitopes of natural and synthetic glycoconjugates exist as covalent attachments of well-defined inner structures or scaffolds. Macromolecules such as proteins, peptides, lipids, and saccharides and synthetic structures serve as scaffolds of glycoconjugates. It is generally perceived that the biological activities of glycoconjugates are determined mainly by the attached glycans, while the seemingly inert inner scaffolds play a passive role by providing physical support to the attached glycan epitopes. However, our data show that scaffolds actively influence lectin recognition and can potentially modulate lectin-mediated signaling properties of glycoconjugates. Through in vitro experiments, we found that the scaffolds significantly altered the thermodynamic binding properties of the covalently attached glycan epitopes. When a free glycan was attached to a scaffold, its lectin binding entropy became more positive. The level of positive entropic gain was dependent on the types of scaffolds tested. For example, protein scaffolds of glycoproteins were found to generate more positive entropy of binding than synthetic scaffolds. Certain scaffolds were found to have limiting effects on glycoconjugate affinity. We also found that scaffold-bearing glycans with a similar affinity or an identical valence demonstrated different kinetics of lattice formation with lectins, when the scaffold structures were different. Our data support the view that scaffolds of glycoconjugates (i) help the covalently attached glycans become more spontaneous in lectin binding and (ii) help diversify the lattice forming or cross-linking properties of glycoconjugates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Caches play an important role in embedded systems to bridge the performance gap between fast processor and slow memory. And prefetching mechanisms are proposed to further improve the cache performance. While in real-time systems, the application of caches complicates the Worst-Case Execution Time (WCET) analysis due to its unpredictable behavior. Modern embedded processors often equip locking mechanism to improve timing predictability of the instruction cache. However, locking the whole cache may degrade the cache performance and increase the WCET of the real-time application. In this paper, we proposed an instruction-prefetching combined partial cache locking mechanism, which combines an instruction prefetching mechanism (termed as BBIP) with partial cache locking to improve the WCET estimates of real-time applications. BBIP is an instruction prefetching mechanism we have already proposed to improve the worst-case cache performance and in turn the worst-case execution time. The estimations on typical real-time applications show that the partial cache locking mechanism shows remarkable WCET improvement over static analysis and full cache locking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purely organic emitters have shown great potential but still suffer from low efficiency in near‐infrared organic light‐emitting diodes (NIR‐OLEDs) due to the intensive non‐radiative recombination. In this contribution, two pairs of thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) enantiomers (R/S‐DOBP and R/S‐HDOBP) with tetracoordinate boron geometries were designed and synthesized. The TADF emitters simultaneously showed aggregation‐induced emission, circularly polarized luminescence, high‐contrast mechanochromism, and piezochromism behaviors. More importantly, R/S‐DOBP and R/S‐HDOBP revealed high photoluminescence quantum yields and efficient reverse intersystem crossing in neat films. The nondoped solution‐processed OLEDs based on these unique emitters revealed the NIR emission (peaking at 716 nm) with a maximum external quantum efficiency of 1.9 % and high exciton utilization efficiency of 86 %, which represent one of the best solution‐processed nondoped NIR‐OLEDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this study, the preparation of composite bioflocculants from compound bioflocculant (CBF) and polyaluminum chloride (PACl) was investigated under different PACl/CBF ratios (v/v), basicities ([OH]/[Al] ratios) and polymerization approaches: the composite polymerization (PAClCBF) and the co-polymerization (PCBFACl). Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), Al-ferron spectrophotometry, scanning electron microscope (SEM) and zeta potentials studies were performed as well to characterize the composite bioflocculants. Finally, coagulation performance and floc properties of the composite bioflocculant in comparison with dual-coagulants were studied for treatment of kaolin suspension with different concentrations. From the results, interactions took place between Al species and CBF molecules, which lead to the formation of composite species. Significant improvement of coagulation efficiency was achieved by composite bioflocculants at PACl/CBF ratio ranging from 0.05 to 0.25 and basicity ranging from 1.1 to 1.7. PAClCBF appeared to be more efficient than PCBFACl owing to their higher Alb content. Furthermore, composite bioflocculants was more preferred than dual-coagulants for treatment of kaolin suspension with lower concentrations (<50mg/L). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Chronic compression (CCD) of the dorsal root ganglion (DRG) is a model of human radicular pain produced by intraforaminal stenosis and other disorders affecting the DRG, spinal nerve, or root. Previously, we examined electrophysiological changes in small-diameter lumbar level 3 (L3) and L4 DRG neurons treated with CCD; the present study extends these observations to medium-sized DRG neurons, which mediate additional sensory modalities, both nociceptive and non-nociceptive. Whole-cell patch-clamp recordings were obtained from medium-sized somata in the intact DRG in vitro. Compared with neurons from unoperated control animals, CCD neurons exhibited a decrease in the current threshold for action potential generation. In the CCD group, current densities of TTX-resistant and TTX-sensitive Na+current were increased, whereas the density of delayed rectifier voltage-dependent K+current was decreased. No change was observed in the transient or "A" current after CCD. We conclude that CCD in the mouse produces hyperexcitability in medium-sized DRG neurons, and the hyperexcitability is associated with an increased density of Na+current and a decreased density of delayed rectifier voltage-dependent K+current. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated the effects of chronic compression (CCD) of the L3 and L4 dorsal root ganglion (DRG) on pain behavior in the mouse and on the electrophysiological properties of the small-diameter neuronal cell bodies in the intact ganglion. CCD is a model of human radicular pain produced by intraforaminal stenosis and other disorders affecting the DRG, spinal nerve, or root. On days 1, 3, 5, and 7 after the onset of compression, there was a significant decrease from preoperative values in the threshold mechanical force required to elicit a withdrawal of the foot ipsilateral to the CCD (tactile allodynia). Whole cell patch-clamp recordings were obtained, in vitro, from small-sized somata and, for the first time, in the intact DRG. Under current clamp, CCD neurons exhibited a significantly lower rheobase compared with controls. A few CCD but no control neurons exhibited spontaneous action potentials. CCD neurons showed an increase in the density of TTX-resistant and TTX-sensitive Na+ current. CCD neurons also exhibited an enhanced density of voltage-dependent K+ current, due to an increase in delayed rectifier K+ current, without a change in the transient or "A" current. We conclude that CCD in the mouse produces a model of radicular pain, as we have previously demonstrated in the rat. While the role of enhanced K+ current remains to be elucidated, we speculate that it represents a compensatory neuronal response to reduce ectopic or aberrant levels of neuronal activity produced by the injury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

J. Neurochem. (2010) 112, 691–702. Chronic use of marijuana impairs synaptic plasticity and cognitive function. However, the molecular mechanisms by which marijuana alters long-term synaptic plasticity are largely unknown. Here, we show that repeated in vivo exposures to Δ9-THC for 7 consecutive days significantly impaired hippocampal long-term potentiation (LTP) of excitatory glutamatergic synaptic transmission. The Δ9-THC exposure-induced decrease in LTP was prevented by pharmacological inhibition or deletion of the cannabinoid 1 receptor (CB1R). To determine the molecular mechanisms underlying Δ9-THC-altered LTP, we targeted expression and function of the glutamate receptors (GluR) and phosphorylation status of cAMP-response element-binding protein (CREB). Chronic in vivo exposure to Δ9-THC produced CB1R-dependent decreases in expression of hippocampal GluR1, NR2A, and NR2B, the ratio of α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methylisoxazole-4-propionate (AMPA)/NMDA receptor-gated currents, and phosphorylation of CREB. Our results suggest that reduced expression and function of the GluR subunits and phosphorylation of CREB may underlie the impaired long-term synaptic plasticity induced by repeated in vivo exposure to Δ9-THC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the development and validation of the high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)/mass spectrometry to monitor stevioside in soju, a distilled spirits alcoholic beverage. The researchers validated the method in different parameters including range, precision and accuracy. They concluded that the method gave efficient analysis for stevioside and its related compounds.

[Display omitted] • Hmcs-PAC displayed a higher co-removal of PET and TC than PAC and Hmcs. • The highest removal can reach 99.9 % for PET and 91.5 % for TC by Hmcs-PAC. • The formation of Hmcs-PAC-PET-TC greatly enhanced the removal of TC. • The competition of TC for active sites of Hmcs-PAC slightly reduced PET removal. • Hmcs-PAC showed a potential removal of composite pollution from urban sewage. Composite pollution of emerging pollutants such as microplastics (MPs) with small size and antibiotics has brought a great challenge in the fields of water and wastewater treatment. Up to now, the simultaneous removal of MPs and antibiotics by traditional coagulation is still not satisfied. Herein, a novel composite flocculant named hydrophobic chitosan-polyaluminum chloride (Hmcs-PAC) was designed and prepared for efficiently simultaneous removal of polyethylene terephthalate (PET, 10 μ m) and tetracycline (TC) from water. Under the optimal preparation conditions (i.e. Basicity = 1 and the weight ratio of Hmcs:Al = 0.5), the Hmcs-PAC exhibited better removal of both PET and TC than PAC and Hmcs under the same dosage, with the maximum removal efficiency of 99.9 % for PET, and 91.5 % for TC, respectively. The PAC was successfully grafted on the Hmcs via Al-N bond, confirmed by FTIR and 27Al NMR. More importantly, the removal of TC in composite PET + TC system was significantly enhanced by above 10 % compared with that in single TC system, which was mainly attributed to the complexes formation of Hmcs-PAC-PET-TC via the PET bridging effect based on 2D Fourier transform infrared correlation spectroscopy (2D-FTIR-COS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis. In contrast, the removal of PET in composite system was slightly lower than that in PET single system, possibly due to the competition of TC for the active sites of hydrolysates of Hmcs-PAC. Furthermore, the presence of co-existing ions except CO 3 2− had adverse effect on the coagulation removal, especially for TC. While the increase in temperature, humic acid and anionic surfactant content showed a promotion effect on the removal of PET and TC. Finally, the prepared Hmcs-PAC exhibited a potential removal of composite pollutants from urban sewage. This study can provide a promising flocculant for the effective co-removal of MPs and antibiotics from water and wastewater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heavy metals (e.g., arsenic (As)) and tetracycline (TC) usually coexist in wastewater from livestock farm, whereas the co-adsorption behaviours and mechanisms of As(V) and TC were not well-known. This study investigated the adsorption and co-adsorption of As(V) and TC by a novel yttrium-immobilized-graphene oxide-alginate hydrogel (Y-GO-SA) to explore the adsorption behaviours and mechanisms. The adsorption of As(V) and TC was pH-dependent. The maximum adsorption capacities under the studied concentrations were 273.39 mg/g for As(V), and 477.9 mg/g for TC, respectively, which are much higher than many other reported adsorbents. Furthermore, As(V) adsorption was due to ion exchange between hydroxyl groups and H 2 AsO 4 2− groups and H-bonds formed with O-containing groups on Y-GO-SA, and the adsorption of TC by Y-GO-SA was mainly ascribed to electrostatic interaction, H-bonds, π − π EDA interaction, n-π EDA interaction, and cation-bonding bridge effects. The co-adsorption of As(V) and TC in binary system indicated that the presence of TC obviously suppressed the adsorption of As(V) due to the competition for active sites, whereas the effect of presence of As(V) on adsorption of TC can be negligible due to the balance contributions from its contrary effects, i.e. enhancement (anion-π interaction) and reduction (competition for Y ions) in TC adsorption. Finally, the hydrogels performed well in the treatment of livestock farm waste water. It can be anticipated that the prepared 3D hydrogel can be used as a powerful adsorbent in the practical application of waste water treatment, owing to its easy separation, high adsorption and good reusability. Unlabelled Image • Adsorption and co-adsorption of As(V) and TC on Y-GO-SA gel was investigated. • The 3D hydrogels were easily and quickly separated from water. • The 3D hydrogels can be potentially used in the practical treatment of waste water. • TC was adsorbed via H-bonds, π − π and n-π EDA, and cation-bonding interactions. • The uptake of As(V) was attributed to ion-exchange and H-bond interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) materials have provided new strategies for time‐resolved luminescence imaging (TRLI); however, the development of hydrophilic TADF luminophores for specific imaging in cells remains a substantial challenge. In this study, a mitochondria‐induced aggregation strategy for TRLI is proposed with the design and utilization of the hydrophilic TADF luminophore ((10‐(1,3‐dioxo‐2‐phenyl‐2,3‐dihydro‐1H‐benzo[de]isoquinolin‐6‐yl)‐9,9‐dimethyl‐9,10‐dihydroacridin‐2‐yl)methyl)triphenylphosphonium bromide (NID‐TPP). Using a nonconjugated linker to introduce a triphenylphosphonium (TPP+) group into the 6‐(9,9‐dimethylacridin‐10(9H)‐yl)‐2‐phenyl‐1H‐benzo[de]isoquinoline‐1,3(2H)‐dione (NID) TADF luminophore preserves the TADF emission of NID‐TPP. NID‐TPP shows clear aggregation‐induced delayed fluorescence enhancement behavior, which provides a practical strategy for long‐lived delayed fluorescence emission in an oxygen‐containing environment. Finally, the designed mitochondrion‐targeting TPP+ group in NID‐TPP induces the adequate accumulation of NID‐TPP and results in the first reported TADF‐based time‐resolved luminescence imaging and two‐photon imaging of mitochondria in living cells. A hydrophilic, red‐emitting emitter NID‐TPP is constructed by using a nonconjugated linker to introduce a triphenylphosphonium group into the hydrophobic thermally activated delayed fluorescence emitter 6‐(9,9‐dimethylacridin‐10(9H)‐yl)‐2‐phenyl‐1H‐benzo[de]isoquinoline‐1,3(2H)‐dione (NID). ((10‐(1,3‐dioxo‐2‐phenyl‐2,3‐dihydro‐1H‐benzo[de]isoquinolin‐6‐yl)‐9,9‐dimethyl‐9,10‐dihydroacridin‐2‐yl)methyl)triphenylphosphonium bromide (NID‐TPP) demonstrates obvious aggregation‐induced delayed fluorescence enhancement behavior, and its application for specific time‐resolved luminescence imaging by mitochondria‐induced aggregation in living cells is conducted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thermally activated delayed fluorescent (TADF) materials are capable of converting non-radiative triplets into radiative singlets in the presence of a tiny singlet-triplet splitting. Circularly polarized luminescent (CPL) materials with TADF properties have shown great potential in unity exciton utilization as well as high circularly polarized dissymmetry factors |gPL|. When employed in organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs), circularly polarized electroluminescence (CPEL) with high dissymmetry factors |gEL| is essential for reducing the optical loss and improving the quality of 3D, augment-reality, and virtual reality displays. This Perspective summarizes the recent advances in the cutting-edge research of CP-TADF-OLEDs and addresses the challenges in molecular and device engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphical abstract Abstract In this study, a series of in situ-generated yttrium-based nanoparticle (NP)/polyethersulfone (PES) composite adsorptive membranes were prepared by the phase inversion method for the first time. The Y(NO 3) 3 ·6H 2 O as precursor, uniformly dispersed at the molecular level in casting solution, reacted with OH− in a coagulation bath and ambient CO 2 during the phase inversion process. The Y(CO 3) 0.5 (OH) 2 NPs were formed in situ and distributed homogeneously in a PES matrix, which was confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDS) results. The compatibility of the nanocomposite membranes was improved by an in situ preparation method. With the increase in content of Y-based NPs in composite membranes, the surface hydrophilicity and water permeability first increased from M1 to M2, and then slightly decreased from M3 to M5, which was mainly related to membrane structure. From M1 to M5, the demixing way changed from instantaneous demixing to delayed demixing process as a result of thermodynamic enhancement and viscosity hindrance in the phase inversion process. A higher demixing rate led to a structure with large finger-like macro-voids, i.e., M1, whereas a lower demixing rate caused the suppression of finger-like macro-voids, i.e., M5. More importantly, the adsorption study indicated that the nanocomposite adsorptive membranes were stable in the treatment of fluoride-containing water, with no leakage of Y-based NPs from membrane matrix to solution. It is expected that the in situ preparation technique could be used to produce next-generation nanocomposite adsorptive membranes with improved comprehensive properties for application in water treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

3D macrostructure adsorbents have attracted great attention in water treatment recently. A series of novel 3D yttrium-based graphene oxide-sodium alginate hydrogels were prepared by sol-gel process for removal of fluoride. The hydrogels displayed a 3D network porous and amorphous structure composed of 2D sheets, with the uniform dispersion of Y(III) onto the gels. The hydrogel Y-GO-SA1.0 was selected as the optimized adsorbent for the fluoride removal due to its best adsorption performance. The adsorption experiments revealed that the maximum adsorption of fluoride occurred at pH 4. The adsorption equilibrium could be achieved within 24 h at both pH 6.5 and optimal pH 4. Based on Langmuir isotherm model, the maximum adsorption capacity of fluoride was 288.96 mg/g at pH 4.0, much higher than many other reported adsorbents. The adsorption was retarded obviously by the presence of phosphate anions. The regenerated hydrogels maintained high adsorption level for fluoride, which could be easily recycled in operation. Furthermore, the column study exhibited that the hydrogel could be used as column packing for effective removal of fluoride via continuous filtration. The column adsorption data was well described by the Thomas model, with the value of q 0 much lower than that for batch adsorption experiment under the same initial F − concentration. Finally, the uptake of F − was associated with the release of –OH groups bonded to Y(III) on the gels. These results imply that the present 3D hydrogels can be potentially applied for the treatment of fluoride-containing water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • A novel LNF membrane was fabricated by polyphenol-based EGCG via IP process. • The PE layer possessed a loose, smooth, hydrophilic, and negative-charged surface. • The structure of the PE layer can be tailored by adjusting the EGCG diffusion rate. • The LNF-4 showed a water flux of 41.7 LMH·bar−1, and rejection of CR with 98.5 % and NaCl with 7.4 %. • The LNF-4 had long-term stability, superior antifouling and antibacterial properties. Loose nanofiltration (LNF) membrane prepared by hydroxyl-based materials with excellent separation and antifouling properties has attracted great attention for treating textile wastewater. However, the construction and formation mechanism of the selective layer by using large polyphenol-based monomers was not well studied. Herein, a novel LNF membrane was fabricated by interfacial polymerization, in which a polyphenol named epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) was employed as aqueous monomer to design the selective layer. The results illustrated that the formed polyester (PE) selective layer possessed a loose structure with smooth and hydrophilic surface. Notably, the EGCG with large molecular volume and polyphenol groups contributed to the larger molecular weight cut-off (MWCO) and hydrophilic PE layer with high permeability, whereas the small molecular trimesoyl chloride (TMC) accounted for the pore size reduction with low permeance. More importantly, the optimized EGCG-based LNF-4 membrane displayed a high water permeability of 41.7 LMH·bar−1, high rejection of dyes (98.5 % for Congo Red (CR), 93.4 % for Methyl Blue (MB), and 94.8 % for Evans Blue (EB), respectively) and low rejection of salt (7.4 % for NaCl). Besides, under 60 g/L salt content, a high retention of CR (93.0 %) and high permeation of NaCl (95.1 %) could be still maintained. Furthermore, the LNF-4 membrane had a superior fouling resistance towards CR and EB with flux recovery rate above 96.4 %. The excellent antibacterial property also made LNF-4 more competitive in practical applications. This work can provide a new strategy for fabrication of outstanding multifunctional LNF membranes by large molecular polyphenol monomers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: A barrier to widespread adoption of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy is toxicity. To address this, we recently developed a novel antibody-T-cell receptor (AbTCR) platform (trademarked as ARTEMIS®) which was designed to leverage natural immune receptor signaling and regulation. The AbTCR platform includes a gamma/delta (γδ) TCR-based AbTCR construct and a separate co-stimulatory molecule, both engineered to be tumor-specific. Here, we aim to assess the safety and preliminary efficacy of a CD19-directed AbTCR T-cell therapy. Methods: We generated ET019003 T cells, which are autologous CD19-directed AbTCR T cells. We then conducted an early phase I study to evaluate the safety and preliminary efficacy of ET019003 T cells for the treatment of CD19-positive relapsed/refractory (r/r) B-cell lymphoma. Results: Sixteen patients enrolled in this study and 12 patients were treated. Of the 12 patients treated, 6 patients (50%) achieved a complete response (CR), and 4 (33%) achieved a partial response (PR) (best objective response rate [ORR] of 83%). CRs were durable, including 2 patients with ongoing CRs for 22.7 months and 23.2 months. ET019003 was well-tolerated with an attractive safety profile. No patients experienced severe (grade ≥ 3) cytokine release syndrome (CRS) and only 1 patient experienced immune effector cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome (ICANS) of any grade. Significant elevations of cytokine levels were not seen, even in patients with marked expansion of ET019003 T cells. Conclusion: This study provides initial clinical validation of the AbTCR platform as a novel cancer treatment with the potential to provide durable clinical benefit with low toxicity. Trial registration: NCT03642496; Date of registration: August 22, 2018. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Serving as important dynamic cytoplasmic organelles in cells, lipid droplets (LDs) play indispensable roles in membrane formation, intracellular signaling and energy supply for cellular functions. Hence, clear and selective probing and tracking of LDs to study their biological functions are of great interests in recent years. In this work, we synthesized and developed NIM-3A , a novel and highly selective fluorescent bioprobe for super-resolution imaging of LDs in living cells, which further allows us to quantitatively measure the number and diameter of LDs in a single living cell. Moreover, NIM-3A can also provide a reliable platform to monitor the dynamic movement of LDs, which further expands its potential applications in the cell biology of lipid droplets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An abstract of the article "Broensted Acid Promoted Addition-Cyclization and C-C Bond Cleavage: A Convenient Synthesis of 2-Amino-5-aroylmethylthiazoles Derivatives" by Fan Ni and colleagues is presented.

The reaction of 1,4-enediones (I) with 1,3-diphenylguanidine (II) is accompanied by a 1,2-rearrangement leading to 2-imino-1H-imidazolones (III). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reaction proceeds with high efficiency under mild conditions using easily available substrates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Y-Fe based nanoparticles were homogenously in-situ generated on GO matrix. • YMGO-2 exhibited higher adsorption of TC and As(V) than many other adsorbents. • Adsorption of both TC and As(V) was greatly reduced in combined TC/As(V) system. • Fe/Y played key roles in competitive uptake of TC and As(V) by 2D-FTIR-COS and XPS. • YMGO-2 showed excellent separation ability and reusability for TC and As(V) removal. Composite pollution containing antibiotics and heavy metals is still a challenge for the field of wastewater treatment. In this study, a novel magnetic Y-Fe modified GO adsorbent (YMGO) was designed and prepared for the simultaneous and effective removal of tetracycline (TC) and arsenic with superior separation ability. The adsorbents were optimized by varying the ratios of Y(III):Fe(III):Fe(II), of which the adsorption of both TC and As(V) by YMGO-2 was higher than many other reported adsorbents. The scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) results verified that the Y-Fe based particles were successfully and homogenously in-situ generated on GO matrix. More importantly, the presence of TC or As(V) showed significantly adverse effect on the adsorption of As(V) or TC in the composite system, compared with the adsorption in single TC/As(V) system. 2D Fourier transform infrared correlation spectroscopy (2D-FTIR-COS) and XPS analyses indicated that the hydrogen bond (HB), π-π electron-donor–acceptor (EDA), n-π, and cation bonding bridge interactions were involved in the adsorption of TC, while ion-exchange between As(V) and Y/Fe-OH groups played important roles in the uptake of As(V). Notably, in combined system, the interaction of As(V) with Y/Fe cations outperformed the anion-π interaction formed between As(V) and TC, leading to a significant suppression of TC adsorption. Whereas the competition for Y/Fe cations by TC caused a reduction in As(V) adsorption. Furthermore, the YMGO-2 exhibited excellent magnetic separation performance and reusability for both TC and As(V). This study can provide a powerful material for the simultaneous treatment of TC and As(V) containing wastewater and a mechanistic insight into the co-removal of combined pollutants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the chemical steps involved in the synthesis of tetrasubstituted unsymmetrical 1,4-enediones.

Moving one subunit of the central core to the other side in a small‐molecule acceptor (SMA) is an effective approach to achieve the goal of isomerization, which has proven viable to enhance photovoltaic performance. Herein, two isomeric SMAs of ThPy5 and ThPy6 are developed by changing the position of the thiophene unit of the dithieno[3,2‐b:2′,3′‐d]pyrrol in IDTP‐4F. The effect of altering the thiophene position on morphological characteristics, macroscopic factors, and device performance is thoroughly investigated among these three isomeric SMAs. Compared to ThPy5, IDTP‐4F and ThPy6 show planar molecular structures and better molecular orientation. Moreover, tighter π–π stacking as well as enhanced electron mobility is observed in ThPy6 relative to IDTP‐4F. PM6:ThPy6‐based organic solar cells (OSCs) achieve the maximum efficiency of 16.11%, along with an excellent fill factor (FF) of 0.789, which are among the best results for A‐D‐A‐type SMA‐based OSCs. The high FF ascribes to the improved molecular packing and charge collection/extraction efficacy and the reduced charge recombination. The structure–morphology–performance relationship drawn from this work can offer better guidance for designing the molecular structure, especially the central cores of SMAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Aging process made the surface of PS more hydrophilic and rough. • Aged PS adsorbed more HOCs than virgin PS due to its more O-containing groups. • EA, HB and π-π were involved in adsorption. • Differernt mechanisms control adsorption at different pH regions. • Maximum uptake for CIP and OFL occurred at pH 5. The interaction between microplastics (MPs) and hydrophilic organic contaminants (HOCs) in natural water environment has recently raised great public attentions due to the potential toxicity to humans. However, the quantitative assessment is less studied. In this study, the interaction between ciprofloxacin (CIP) and ofloxacin (OFL) (two important HOCs) and virgin and aged polystyrene (PS) was investigated. The aged PS showed higher adsorption rate and capacity than the virgin PS, due to its larger surface area and more O-containing groups. The pH-dependent adsorption of CIP was higher than OFL on both virgin and aged PS; the maximum adsorption for both HOCs occurred at pH 5. The sequential orders of functional groups for the adsorption were discovered according to the study by the 2D correlation Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Several mechanisms existed for the interaction: (1) at 3.0 < pH < 5.0, the electrostatic attraction (EA) was inhibited while H-bond (HB) was dominant, accounting for > 60% of the total uptake; (2) at 5.0 < pH < 8.0, the contribution of EA increased to around 50-60% while HB decreased to 30-40%; (3) at 8.0 < pH < 10.0, EA, HB and π-π conjugation caused 30-40%, 25-40% and 20-45% of the total uptake, respectively; (4) at 10.0 < pH < 12.0, π-π conjugation accounted for 90-100%. Notably, higher adsorption of CIP was mainly attributed to the presence of secondary amino groups and its higher pK a value, correspondingly leading to the additional ordinary HB and negative charge-assisted HB, and EA interactions with PS. This study further provides clear evidences on the risk of MPs and HOCs on humans and aqueous living organisms. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highly efficient circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) emitters with narrowband emission remain a formidable challenge for circularly polarized OLEDs (CP‐OLEDs). Here, a promising strategy for developing chiral emitters concurrently featuring multi‐resonance thermally activated delayed fluorescence (MR‐TADF) and circularly polarized electroluminescence (CPEL) is demonstrated by the integration of molecular rigidity, central chirality and MR effect. A pair of chiral green emitters denoted as (R)‐BN‐MeIAc and (S)‐BN‐MeIAc is designed. Benefited by the rigid and quasi‐planar MR‐framework, the enantiomers not only display mirror‐image CPL spectra, but also exhibit TADF properties with a high photoluminescence quantum yield of 96 %, a narrow FWHM of 30 nm, and a high horizontal dipole orientation of 90 % in the doped film. Consequently, the enantiomer‐based CP‐OLEDs achieved excellent external quantum efficiencies of 37.2 % with very low efficiency roll‐off, representing the highest device efficiency of all the reported CP‐OLEDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highly efficient circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) emitters with narrowband emission remain a formidable challenge for circularly polarized OLEDs (CP‐OLEDs). Here, a promising strategy for developing chiral emitters concurrently featuring multi‐resonance thermally activated delayed fluorescence (MR‐TADF) and circularly polarized electroluminescence (CPEL) is demonstrated by the integration of molecular rigidity, central chirality and MR effect. A pair of chiral green emitters denoted as (R)‐BN‐MeIAc and (S)‐BN‐MeIAc is designed. Benefited by the rigid and quasi‐planar MR‐framework, the enantiomers not only display mirror‐image CPL spectra, but also exhibit TADF properties with a high photoluminescence quantum yield of 96 %, a narrow FWHM of 30 nm, and a high horizontal dipole orientation of 90 % in the doped film. Consequently, the enantiomer‐based CP‐OLEDs achieved excellent external quantum efficiencies of 37.2 % with very low efficiency roll‐off, representing the highest device efficiency of all the reported CP‐OLEDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rationally utilizing and developing synthetic units is of particular significance for the design of high-performance non-fullerene small-molecule acceptors (SMAs). Here, a thieno[3 , 2- b ]pyrrole synthetic unit was employed to develop a set of SMAs (ThPy1, ThPy2, ThPy3 and ThPy4) by changing the number or the position of the pyrrole ring in the central core based on a standard SMA of IT-4Cl, compared to which the four thieno[3 , 2- b ]pyrrole-based acceptors exhibit bathochromic absorption and upshifted frontier orbital energy level due to the strong electron-donating ability of pyrrole. As a result, the polymer solar cells (PSCs) of the four thieno[3 , 2- b ]pyrrole-based acceptors yield higher open-circuit voltage and lower energy loss relative to those of the IT-4Cl-based device. What is more, the ThPy3-based device achieves a power conversion efficiency (PCE) (15.3%) and an outstanding fill factor (FF) (0.771) that are superior to the IT-4Cl-based device (PCE = 12.6%, FF = 0.758). The ThPy4-based device realizes the lowest energy loss and the smallest optical band gap, and the ternary PSC device based on PM6:BTP-eC9:ThPy4 exhibits a PCE of 18.43% and a FF of 0.802. Overall, this work sheds light on the great potential of thieno[3,2- b ]pyrrole-based SMAs in realizing low energy loss and high PCE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cold sintering is an attractive method to densify ceramics, providing the opportunity to produce ferroelectrics efficiently. This is particularly important for cases where ceramics like perovskites are prone to high A-site element volatilization at high temperatures. The resulting uncontrolled creation of defects is often detrimental to the ferroelectric properties. In this work, cold-sintering assisted production of KNN ceramics with water (no corrosive transient liquid) leads to a homogenous, high-density pure KNN with high dielectric permittivity and lower dielectric losses as compared to high-temperature sintering techniques. Our work could, therefore, open a new venue for further modification of defect chemistry in lead-free piezoelectrics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • A novel LNM with high performance was formed by PG/PEI/Fe3+ ternary coating. • The LNM-5 exhibited an ultrahigh water permeability of 141.5 LHM·bar−1. • High rejection of dye and high transmission of salts could be achieved by LNM-5. • The LNM-5 had a superior antifouling ability and long-term separation stability. • Excellent separation of dye/salts can be achieved for a high salinity wastewater. Loose nanofiltration membrane (LNM) with high separation toward dye/salt and high permeability is a promising candidate for resource recovery of textile wastewater. In this study, to prepare a high permeable LNM, a ternary coating system containing a small polyphenol molecule named pyrogallol (PG), polyethylenimine (PEI) and Fe3+ ion was co-deposited on the hydrolyzed polyacrylonitrile substrate via regulating the competition reactions between coordination bond (COB) and covalent bond (CB). The membrane formation mechanism, morphology, surface properties, and separation performance of dye/salts were investigated by characterizations and filtration experiments. The characterization results indicated that the addition of Fe3+ limited the CB formation between PG and PEI via Michael addition and Schiff base reaction, due to its strong coordination ability toward PG and PEI via COB with –OH and –NH- groups, further reducing the selective layer thickness and improving the membrane permeance as a result. The content of PEI and Fe3+ in ternary coating solution obviously affected membrane morphology and hydrophilicity, thus influencing the permeance. More importantly, The LNM-5 exhibited an ultrahigh water permeability of 141.5 LHM·bar−1, high rejection of Congo Red (CR, 99.5%) and Alcian blue 8GX (ALBL, 99.7%) as well as high transmission of salts (98.8% for NaCl, 97.3% for Na 2 SO 4 , respectively.), which performed much better than many reported state-of-the-art LNMs prepared by different methods. Even under 60 g/L salt content, high rejection of CR (99.1%) and high pass of salts (98.8% for Na 2 SO 4) could be still maintained. Furthermore, the LNM-5 had a superior antifouling performance and long-term stability during filtration (22 h) of dye/salt mixture. This work indicated that small polyphenol/PEI/Fe3+ trinity coating could be used as a promising alternative in practical applications, realizing excellent molecular separation towards sustainable textile wastewater remediation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multi- elemental and -dimensional data are more and more important during the development of data-driven research, as is the case in modern palaeontology, in which visual examination, by experts or someday the artificial intelligence, to every fossil specimen acts a crucial and fundamental role. We here release an integrated image dataset of 113 Ordovician to Silurian graptolite species or subspecies that are significant in global stratigraphy and shale gas exploration. The dataset contains 1550 high-resolution graptolite specimen images and scientific information related to the specimen, e.g., every specimen's taxonomic, geologic, geographic, and related references. We develop a tool, FSIDvis (Fossil Specimen Image Dataset Visualiser), to facilitate the human-interactive exploration of the rich-attribution image dataset. A nonlinear dimension reduction technique, t-SNE (t-Distributed Stochastic Neighbor Embedding), is employed to project the images into the two-dimensional space to visualise and explore the similarities. Our dataset potentially contributes to the analysis of the global biostratigraphic correlations and improves the shale gas exploration efficiency by developing an image-based automated classification model. All images are available from https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5205216 (Xu, 2021). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multi‐resonance thermally activated delayed fluorescence (MR‐TADF) offers an exceptional solution for narrowband organic light‐emitting diode devices in terms of color purity and luminescence efficiency, while the development of new MR skeleton remains an exigent task. It is hereby demonstrated that a simple modification of the B (boron)−N (nitrogen) framework by sp3‐carbon insertion will significantly bathochromic shift the short‐range charge‐transfer emission, boost the reverse intersystem crossing process, and improve the device performances. The bis(acridan)phenylene‐based skeleton developed in this contribution presents a non‐planar conformation with functional sites to facilely introduce isolating units, deriving two luminophores with quantum yields approaching 90% in film state and narrowband emission. Corresponding green‐emissive devices realize superior performances compared to the planar carbazolyl‐based MR‐TADF analogs, featuring a maximum external quantum efficiency (EQEmax) up to 28.2% and small efficiency roll‐off without the involvement of any sensitizing host. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A novel Fe–Ti binary oxide magnetic nanoparticles which combined the photocatalytic oxidation property of TiO2 and the high adsorption capacity and magnetic property of γ-Fe2O3 have been synthesized using a coprecipitation and simultaneous oxidation method. The as-prepared samples were characterized by powder XRD, TEM, TG-DTA, VSM and BET methods. Photocatalytic oxidation of arsenite, the effect of solution pH values and initial As(III) concentration on arsenite removal were investigated in laboratory experiments. Batch experimental results showed that under UV light, As(III) can be efficiently oxidized to As(V) by dissolved O2 in γ-Fe2O3–TiO2 nanoparticle suspensions at various pH values. At the same time, As(V) was effectively removed by adsorption onto the surface of nanoparticles. The maximum removal capability of the nano-material for arsenite was 33.03mg/g at pH 7.0. Among all the common coexisting ions investigated, phosphate was the greatest competitor with arsenic for adsorptive sites on the nano-material. Regeneration studies verified that the γ-Fe2O3–TiO2 nanoparticles, which underwent five successive adsorption–desorption processes, still retained comparable catalysis and adsorption performance, indicating the excellent stability of the nanoparticles. The excellent photocatalytic oxidation performance and high uptake capability of the magnetic nano-material make it potentially attractive material for the removal of As(III) from water. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]