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This study investigated the mesophilic and thermophilic anaerobic fermentation of rape straw with biochar addition. The effects of biochar on the biogas yield, degradation of lignocellulose, bacterial community, and crystallinity were explored. The results showed that the biogas yield and methane content increased as the biochar concentration was increased. The biochar concentration of 5.0% resulted in a high biogas yield in mesophilic and thermophilic anaerobic digestion at 142.2 mL/g and 193.5 mL/g, respectively, which were 40.5% and 21.0% improvements compared with the control. The corresponding methane contents were 59.4% and 57.0%, respectively. For the lignocellulose degradation, the cellulose content in the mesophilic AD decreased from 54.0% in the pretreated rape straw to between 18.7% and 25.0%. The microbial community results showed that as the biochar concentration was increased, the relative abundance of Firmicutes initially increased before it decreased. Among the microbial community results, the relative abundances of Firmicutes and Bacteroides in the biogas residue of the mesophilic anaerobic digestion were the highest in the biogas residue with the 5.0% biochar concentration sample in the mesophilic AD, at 27.06% and 39.20%, respectively. This result revealed the mechanism of biochar to improve the biogas production of rape straw in anaerobic fermentation. This study investigated the mesophilic and thermophilic anaerobic fermentation of rape straw with biochar addition. The effects of biochar on the biogas yield, degradation of lignocellulose, bacterial community, and crystallinity were explored. The results showed that the biogas yield and methane content increased as the biochar concentration was increased. The biochar concentration of 5.0% resulted in a high biogas yield in mesophilic and thermophilic anaerobic digestion at 142.2 mL/g and 193.5 mL/g, respectively, which were 40.5% and 21.0% improvements compared with the control. The corresponding methane contents were 59.4% and 57.0%, respectively. For the lignocellulose degradation, the cellulose content in the mesophilic AD decreased from 54.0% in the pretreated rape straw to between 18.7% and 25.0%. The microbial community results showed that as the biochar concentration was increased, the relative abundance of Firmicutes initially increased before it decreased. Among the microbial community results, the relative abundances of Firmicutes and Bacteroides in the biogas residue of the mesophilic anaerobic digestion were the highest in the biogas residue with the 5.0% biochar concentration sample in the mesophilic AD, at 27.06% and 39.20%, respectively. This result revealed the mechanism of biochar to improve the biogas production of rape straw in anaerobic fermentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A composite micro-textured surface structure is proposed and demonstrated to enhance the surface flashover strength of polymer insulators used in vacuum. The structure is fabricated in two stages, with periodic triangular grooves of approximately 210 μm in width formed in the first stage and micro-holes of approximately 2 μm coated on the inner surface of grooves in the second. The aim is to exploit the synergistic effects between the grooves and micro-holes to suppress the secondary electron yield to obtain a better flashover performance. To acquire insulators with the composite micro-textured surface, the CO2 laser processing technique is applied to treat the surface of the PMMA insulators. The test results show that the flashover voltages of the insulators with the two-stage fabricated structure increase by 150% compared with the untreated samples in the best state. Compared with the traditional macro-groove structures on insulators, the proposed composite micro-textured insulators exhibit a better surface flashover performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the mesophilic and thermophilic anaerobic fermentation of wheat straw with nanomagnetite (Fe3O4) and ethanol addition. The effects of ethanol addition on the biogas yield, the degradation of lignocellulose, and the bacterial community were explored. The results showed that the biogas yield and methane content increased as the ethanol concentration increased. The ethanol concentration of 4 g/L resulted in highest biogas yield in mesophilic anaerobic fermentation at 421.5 mL/g, which was a 60.8% improvement compared to the control. The corresponding methane content was 66.2%. For the lignocellulose degradation, the cellulose and hemicellulose contents in mesophilic anaerobic fermentation were reduced from 55.42% and 17.19% of the pretreated wheat straw to between 22.88% and 25.98% and 11.60% and 13.05%, respectively. The microbial community results showed that as the ethanol content increased, the relative abundance of Firmicutes initially increased before it decreased. Among the microbial community results, the relative abundances of Firmicutes and Bacteroides in the biogas residue of the mesophilic anaerobic fermentation with the addition of 3 g/L of ethanol were the highest, at 31.26% and 30.94%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Benefiting from modeling human behavior and the multipath propagation of wireless signals in the environment, passive behavior-sensing systems can effectively identify individual behaviors by model-based or pattern-based methods. The existing methods use an individual sample to model or profile behavior feature, which leads to their failure in multiperson scenarios due to time-varying environments. In this paper, an online method on modeling the position-behavior feature of multiperson scene is presented. First, a position-based model of individual behavioral feature transformation is proposed. The behavior features in other positions are generated by the behavior of the individual in a particular position. Second, a multiperson behavior feature generation method based on noise reduction is proposed to generate the same behavior feature in an online pattern. Finally, taking advantage of the models, a multiperson fitness coaching system is designed and implemented, named multiuser fitness coach. The system can identify the irregular behavior of individuals in the multiperson environment. The performance of the system is evaluated in different scenarios, and the results show that the precision of feature generation can be effectively applied to the decision of irregular behavior in multiperson scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • The mineralogy and elemental geochemistry of epidotes of different genetic types were explored. • Epidote shows different geochemical features in propylitic and potassic alteration zones. • Geochemistry of epidote may be useful for exploration vectoring for South Dulan and Vlaska exploration greenfield. The Bor metallogenic belt in Serbia is a promising region for copper-gold (Cu-Au) resources, hosting numerous porphyry copper deposits, epithermal gold deposits and metallogenic prospects, such as the South Dulan and Vlaska exploration greenfield. Epidote alteration is integral to the propylitic and sodic-calcic alteration assemblages within this region. It is distinguished by the extensive occurrence of two primary epidote types: disseminated (Ep1) and veined (Ep2) epidote. In this study, comprehensive petrographic analysis reveals that in the propylitic zone, epidote mainly replaced hornblende (Ep1a) and plagioclase phenocrysts (Ep1b), coexisting with chlorite, apatite and titanite. In proximity to the potassic zone, epidote (E1c) coexists with biotite, while epidote (Ep2), chlorite, pyrite and chalcopyrite veinlets are observed near the ore body. Notably, Ep1 exhibits lower Fe and higher Mn contents in comparison to Ep2. Additionally, elements such as Ca, Al and Fe in Ep1a, and Ca, Fe, Mg, Mn and Ti in Ep1b, as well as Ca, Al, Fe and Mn in Ep1c, are introduced into the epidote through hydrothermal fluid interactions. Variations in trace element characteristics are evident among different epidotes. Specifically, Ep1a exhibits elevated Mg content (324–6050 ppm), Ep1b is notable for its high Na (22–942 ppm) and Sr (523–3075 ppm) contents, while Ep1c contains elevated K (24–445 ppm) and Na (41–103 ppm). Which suggest that disseminated epidote (Ep1) inherits the geochemical features from its precursor minerals. In comparison to disseminated epidote, epidote in veinlet exhibits higher Fe3+, Cu, Sn and REEs, along with lower contents of Pb, Sb and Sc, suggesting that these elements have been integrated into epidote through isomorphism substitution and influenced by fluids compositions, physical factors (temperature, pressure, etc.) and chemical parameters (speciation, pH, f O2 , etc.), as well as mineral assemblages. Therefore, the trace element contents of Pb, Sb, Sc, Cu, Sn and REEs in epidote could serve as more appropriate indicators for mineral geochemistry in porphyry deposit hydrothermal centers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Creating efficient catalysts for simultaneous H2O2 generation and pollutant degradation is vital. Piezocatalytic H2O2 synthesis offers a promising alternative to traditional methods but faces challenges like sacrificial reagents, harsh conditions, and low activity. In this study, we introduce a cobalt-loaded ZnO (CZO) piezocatalyst that efficiently generates H2O2 from H2O and O2 under ultrasonic (US) treatment in ambient aqueous conditions. The catalyst demonstrates exceptional performance with ~50.9% TOC removal of phenol and in situ generation of 1.3 mM H2O2, significantly outperforming pure ZnO. Notably, the CZO piezocatalyst maintains its H2O2 generation capability even after multiple cycles, showing continuous improvement (from 1.3 mM to 1.8 mM). This is attributed to the piezoelectric electrons promoting the generation of dynamic defects under US conditions, which in turn promotes the adsorption and activation of oxygen, thereby facilitating efficient H2O2 production, as confirmed by EPR spectrometry, XPS analysis, and DFT calculations. Moreover, the CZO piezocatalysts maintain outstanding performance in pollutant degradation and H2O2 production even after long periods of inactivity, and the deactivated catalyst due to metal ion dissolution could be rejuvenated by pH adjustment, offering a sustainable solution for wastewater purification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new Wiener-type dynamic neural network (DNN) approach for nonlinear device modeling is proposed in this paper. The proposed analytical formulation of Wiener-type DNN structure consists of a cascade of a simplified linear dynamic part and a nonlinear static part. The simplified linear dynamic equations are obtained by vector fitting enhancing the efficiency of the model. A new formulation and new sensitivity analysis technique is derived to train the proposed Wiener-type DNN with dc, small- and large-signal data. A new gradient-based training algorithm is also formulated to speed up the training of proposed Wiener-type DNN model. The proposed Wiener-type DNN model can be trained to be accurate relative to device data. Furthermore, the proposed Wiener-type DNN provides enhanced convergence properties over existing neural network approaches such as time delay neural network (TDNN) and TDNN with extrapolation. Application examples on modeling GaAs metalsemiconductor-field-effect transistor, GaAs high-electron mobility transistor (HEMT), and a real 2×50 gatewidth GaAs pseudomorphic HEMT are presented. The use of Wiener-type DNN model in harmonic balance simulations demonstrates that the Wienertype DNN is a robust method for developing models for different types of microwave devices. These models could be implemented into circuit simulators conveniently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Zijinshan orefield is a Cu–Au–Mo–Ag porphyry–epithermal mineralization system of Cretaceous age in southeastern China, comprising the Zijinshan high-sulfidation (HS) Au–Cu deposit, Luoboling porphyry Cu–Mo deposits, Yueyang low-sulfidation Au–Ag–Cu deposit, and Wuziqilong and Longjiangting intermediate-sulfidation (IS) Cu deposit. A number of Sn-(W)-sulfides occur in the Zijinshan orefield, including kiddcreekite, hemusite, colusite, vinciennite, stannoidite, mawsonite and kësterite. The occurrence represents the first report of hemusite, colusite and vinciennite in China. The relative abundance and diversity of Sn-(W)-sulfide-bearing assemblages make the Zijinshan orefield possibly unique in the world, and carries implications for the evolution of the mineralizing environment. Detailed electron probe studies of the Sn-minerals reveal that kiddcreekite, hemusite, mawsonite, stannoidite and kësterite have compositions close to ideal formulae. In contrast, colusite displays grain-scale zoning expressed by W, Sn and As. Vinciennite displays compositional variation depending on mineralization style: an average composition of Cu 10.74 Fe 3.88 Sn(As 0.85 ,Sb 0.08 )S 15.4 in the Zijinshan HS deposit, Cu 10.71 Fe 3.9 SnAs 0.85 S 15.34 in the Wuziqilong Cu deposit and Cu 10.76 Fe 3.7 Sn 1.02 (As 0.5 ,Sb 0.45 )S 15.54 with higher Sb contents (3.32%) in the adjacent Longjiangting Cu deposit. In the Zijinshan HS Au–Cu deposit, the main Cu-mineral assemblage varies from bornite-rich to digenite- to covellite-rich with increasing depth. Correspondingly, tin mineralogy varies from kësterite at upper levels to stannoidite-dominant at mid-to-upper levels of the copper orebody, to vinciennite- and mawsonite-dominant at depth, implying an increase in sulfidation and oxidation state downwards. Moreover, kiddcreekite is always partially replaced by wolframite and (hypogene) covellite at depth, also indicating overprinting by high- f O 2 and - f S 2 fluids in the covellite stage of mineralization. Kiddcreekite, along with a primary chalcopyrite–pyrite mineral association, occurs widely in the Zijinshan orefield (Zijinshan, Yueyang, Luoboling, Wuziqilong, Longjiangting and Dayanli), and is likely indicative of the early IS stage of epithermal system. Analogous with published data, kiddcreekite most commonly occurs in porphyry-style mineralization, implying the presence of the mineral has potential as an indicator of porphyry systems. Vinciennite-bearing Cu–Sn–As mineral associations occur in a specific position in the Zijinshan HS Au–Cu, Wuziqilong and Longjiangting Cu deposits, indicative of a transitional zone between porphyry and HS epithermal-style mineralization. The occurrence of the identified Sn-(W)-sulfide-bearing assemblages has considerable potential implications for understanding the architecture of a complex porphyry–epithermal environment and for exploration for underlying porphyry copper deposits. There is potential for discovery of a subjacent porphyry Cu deposit within the Zijinshan orefield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We demonstrate experimentally quantum frequency up-conversion of a continuous variable entangled optical field via sum-frequency-generation process. The two-color entangled state initially entangled at 806 and 1518 nm with an amplitude quadrature difference squeezing of 3.2 dB and phase quadrature sum squeezing of 3.1 dB is converted to a new entangled state at 530 and 1518 nm with the amplitude quadrature difference squeezing of 1.7 dB and phase quadrature sum squeezing of 1.8 dB. Our implementation enables the observation of entanglement between two light fields spanning approximately 1.5 octaves in optical frequency. The presented scheme is robust to the excess amplitude and phase noises of the pump field, making it a practical building block for quantum information processing and communication networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aimed to investigate the role and mode of action of urotensin II (U II) in the occurrence and progression of cardiac fibrosis in a pressure-overload rat model. Coarctation of the abdominal aorta was used to establish an animal model, and postoperative echocardiography, hemodynamic detection, hematoxylin and eosin staining, Masson staining and immunohistochemistry were performed to assess the changes in cardiac function and pathology. The expression levels of U II, G-protein-coupled receptor 14 and collagen (Col) I and Col III in the myocardial tissues were also analyzed. Neonatal rat fibroblasts were isolated, cultured and subsequently, generations 3-5 were randomly divided into different groups for the detection of Col I and Col III levels by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and western blotting. The protein expression levels were markedly increased in the model group, and this increase correlated with an increase in myocardial fibrosis. In cultured neonatal rat fibroblast cells, 10-8 mol/l U II significantly stimulated the synthesis of Col I and Col III (P<0.01) compared with the control group. Compared with the U II group, the administration of KT5720 (1 mol/l) or SB-611812 (1 mol/l) significantly reduced the synthesis and expression levels of Col I and Col III (P<0.05). U II may exert an important role in the process of myocardial fibrosis in chronic pressure-overload rats, and the cyclic adenosine monophosphate-protein kinase A signaling pathway may be partly involved in this process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abundant kiddcreekite grains were identified in the Zijinshan Cu-Au epithermal deposit in Fujian Province, China. The mineral occurs as polycrystalline grains, 5–300 μm in size, associated with colusite, enargite, stannoidite, mawsonite, vinciennite, hemusite, tennantite and wolframite in a predominantly covellite ore. Based on electron microprobe analysis, the empirical formula of the kiddcreekite is Cu6.2Sn0.97W0.95S7.83, without significant Se or Te contents. The crystal structure of kiddcreekite was solved using the direct-space method (EPCryst) from laboratory micro X-ray diffraction (μXRD) data and refined by the Rietveld method. The Rvalues of the final Rietveld refinement were Rp= 9.06%, Rwp= 8.31%, RB= 3.16 and RF= 2.17%. Kiddcreekite has a cubic structure, space group F43mand lattice parameter a= 10.8178(3) Å (Z= 4, V= 1265.95(6) Å3). In the unit cell, W, Sn and Cu atoms occupy the 4a, 4cand 24fWyckoff positions, respectively, and S atoms occupy two sets of 16eWyckoff positions. The structure of kiddcreekite consists of stacked double MeS4layers (giving a W–Sn–Cu tier and a Cu–vacancy tier) as in the sphalerite substructure. This study also demonstrates the possibility of using laboratory μXRD data coupled with the direct-space method to solve inorganic structures in cases where samples are too small for conventional powder and single-crystal diffraction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seeking an insulator supporting high voltage and short pulsed-power electric field in vacuum is an important topic especially for some sophisticated equipments. The voltage breakdown along the surface of insulator in vacuum (i.e. surface flashover) is one of the most serious problems for insulators, and it greatly limits the overall performance of a vacuum-dielectric system. The improvement of surface flashover characteristics of insulators in vacuum become a significant challenge for the development of high voltage pulsed-power devices. Herein, we report a simple and convenient avenue to achieve the high surface flashover performance of high density polyethylene (HDPE) in vacuum based on direct fluorination technique. The physicochemical properties of the fluorinated HDPE (i.e., surface morphology, the chemical component, structure and dielectric capability) were comparatively investigated with the untreated HDPE. The surface flashover characteristics of HDPE in vacuum were mainly discussed. The performance of HDPE at different fluorination temperature was also investigated. The results demonstrated that the direct fluorination strategy developed in this work is an effective means to improve the surface dielectric capability of insulators in vacuum. It is believed to provide a novel possibility for the common insulators applied in high electric field vacuum environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By using a state-of-the-art tensor network state method, we study the ground-state phase diagram of an extended Bose-Hubbard model on the square lattice with frustrated next-nearest-neighbor tunneling. In the hard-core limit, tunneling frustration stabilizes a peculiar half-supersolid phase with one sublattice being superfluid and the other sublattice being Mott insulator away from half filling. In the soft-core case, the model shows very rich phase diagrams above half filling, including three different types of supersolid phases depending on the interaction parameters. The considered model provides a promising route to experimentally search for a novel stable supersolid state induced by frustrated tunneling in the region below half filling with dipolar atoms or molecules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Single-atom catalysts (SACs) are a promising area in environmental catalysis. We report on a bimetallic Co–Mo SAC that shows excellent performance in activating peroxymonosulfate (PMS) for sustainable degradation of organic pollutants with high ionization potential (IP > 8.5 eV). Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations and experimental tests demonstrate that the Mo sites in Mo–Co SACs play a critical role in conducting electrons from organic pollutants to Co sites, leading to a 19.4-fold increase in the degradation rate of phenol compared to the CoCl2–PMS group. The bimetallic SACs exhibit excellent catalytic performance even under extreme conditions and show long-term activation in 10-d experiments, efficiently degrading 600 mg/L of phenol. Moreover, the catalyst has negligible toxicity toward MDA-MB-231, Hela, and MCF-7 cells, making it an environmentally friendly option for sustainable water treatment. Our findings have important implications for the design of efficient SACs for environmental remediation and other applications in biology and medicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The title compound, C40H48O8, is a derivative of gambogic acid, which is an effective telomerase inhibitor and displays potent anticancer activity both in vitro and in vivo. The three fused rings, A, B and C. are almost coplanar, with a mean deviation of 0.0670 (3) Å from their least-squares plane. The bridged structural unit including rings D, E and G forms a conformation like that of triethylenediamine. The structure is assembled via C—H...O hydrogen bonds. One methyl group is disordered over two positions; the site occupancy factors are ca 0.7 and 0.3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The antitumor immune response induced by chemotherapy has attracted considerable attention. However, the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment hinders the immune activation effect of cancer chemotherapy. TGF-b plays a key role in driving tumor immunosuppression and can prevent effective antitumor immune response through multiple roles. In this study, a dual-responsive prodrug micelle (PAOL) is designed to co-deliver LY2109761 (a TGF-b receptor I/II inhibitor) and oxaliplatin (OXA, a conventional chemotherapy) to remodel tumor microenvironment and trigger immunogenic cell death (ICD) to induce antitumor immunity response. Under hypoxia tumor environment, the polyethylene glycol shell of the micelle cleavages, along with the release of LY2109761 and OXA prodrug. Cytotoxic effect of OXA is then activated by glutathione-mediated reduction in tumor cells and the activated OXA significantly enhances tumor immunogenicity and promotes intratumoral accumulation of cytotoxic T lymphocytes. Meanwhile, TGF-b blockade through LY2109761 reprograms tumor microenvironment by correcting the immunosuppressive state and regulating tumor extracellular matrix, which further maintaining OXA induced immune response. Therefore, due to the capability of boosting tumor-specific antitumor immunity, the bifunctional micelle presents markedly synergistic antitumor efficacies and provides a potent therapeutic strategy for chemoimmunotherapy of solid tumors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neighbor discovery for moving individual is considered an important technology submitting to location-based service (LBS), which includes such things as recruitment flow of information, logical localization, and health monitoring. Based on the tradeoff between universality and accuracy of neighbor discovery, we propose the environmental characteristics participatory extraction method benefiting to mobile individual discovery. First, we fuse lightweight accelerometer, light sensors, and microphone collaboratively. Furthermore, support vector machine (SVM), Tanimoto coefficient, and Manhattan distance are used to calculate three kinds of fingerprint similarity, respectively, and then the principal component analysis based method reduces data dimension in order to obtain neighbor similarity rank. Finally, the experiment data are collected by 25 volunteers, and trace-driven simulations show that Euclidean distance error is below 4.69 and the convergence time is within 0.75 s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The application of paclitaxel (PTX) in clinic has been restricted due to its poor solubility. Several traditional nano-medicines have been developed to improve this defect, while they are still lack of tumor targeting ability and rapid drug release. In this work, an amphiphilic polymeric micelle of hyaluronic acid (HA) - all-trans-retinoid acid (ATRA) with a disulfide bond, was developed successfully for the co-delivery of PTX and ATRA. The combination chemotherapy of PTX and ATRA can strengthen the anti-tumor activity. Along with selfassembling to micelles in water, the delivery system displayed satisfying drug loading capacities for both PTX (32.62% ± 1.39%) and ATRA, due to directly using ATRA as the hydrophobic group. Rapid drug release properties of the PTX-loaded redox-sensitive micelles (HA-SS-ATRA) in vitro were confirmed under reducing condition containing GSH. Besides, HA-CD44 mediated endocytosis promoted the uptake of HA-SS-ATRA micelles by B16F10 cells. Due to these properties, cytotoxicity assay verified that PTX-loaded HA-SS-ATRA micelles showed concentration-dependent cytotoxicity and displayed obvious combination therapy of PTX and ATRA. Importantly, HA-SS-ATRA micelles could remarkably prolong plasma circulation time after intravenously administration. Therefore, redox-sensitive HASS-ATRA micelles could be utilized and explored as a promising drug delivery system for cancer combination chemotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy is a powerful Z-contrast technique able to depict the structural motifs in Pb-(Bi-Sb)-sulfosalts. Using two homologs from the kobellite homologous series, a group of "chessboard derivative structures," represented by Bi-, and Sb-rich pairs of natural phases (the kobellite-tintinaite isotypic series and giessenite-izoklakeite homeotypic series), we visualize the slabs underpinning crystal structural modularity for the N = 2 homolog kobellite and the N = 4 homolog, in this case a Bi-rich izoklakeite [Sb/(Sb+Bi) = 0.35]. The homolog number, N, can be readily calculated as N = n1/6 - 1 and N = n2/4, where n1 and n2 are the numbers of atoms in the PbS- and SnS-motifs, respectively. Atom-scale imaging of thinned foils extracted in situ from samples for which compositional data are available also reveals syntactic unit-cell scale intergrowths on [001] zone axis with akobeiiite || b izoidakefa. These are as small as half-unit cells of b izokiakeite and one-unit cell a kobellite. Replacement relationships are also observed as irregular slabs of kobellite "intruding" into izoklakeite. Both banded and irregular intergrowths account for the compositional fields measured at the micrometer scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The lifetime of explosive emission cathodes is important for high power microwave generators operating in the repetitive regime. For normal metallic cathodes, micropoints on the cathode surface with large field enhancement factors may be gradually consumed in explosive electron emission, which will lead to a limited lifetime. In this paper, a metal-ferroelectric cathode made of stainless steel and BaTiO3 is manufactured. Under voltage close to 1 MV and current near 10 kA, this cathode presents a much longer lifetime than the normal stainless steel cathode, demonstrating the lifetime advantage of the metal-ferroelectric cathode. Nevertheless, in the lifetime experiment of 1.28 x 105 pulses, this metal-ferroelectric cathode also presents obvious lifetime phenomena, one of which is the microwave duration generated by a relativistic backward wave oscillator decreasing from 27 ns to 19 ns. Observation of the cathode surface morphology shows that the emission property deterioration of the metal-ferroelectric cathode may originate from severe ablation of the ferroelectric ceramic layer, which leads to shortening of the ceramic layer relative to the metallic layer. Therefore, choosing the metallic material properly and decreasing the blade thickness of the metallic layer moderately may suppress the relative shortening of the ceramic layer and thus can further lengthen the lifetime of the metal-ferroelectric cathode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Explosive emission cathodes are widely used in high power microwave generation. Conventional metallic cathodes have the disadvantages of bad emission uniformity and short lifetime. In order to improve the emission property of metallic cathodes, a new metal-dielectric cathode is fabricated with the plasma spraying technology. Unlike previous metal-dielectric cathodes, our metaldielectric cathode adopts a ferroelectric ceramic which possesses a large permittivity. The results of lifetime experiments show the metal-dielectric cathode presents just slight performance deterioration within 2.5-105 pulses and thus has a much longer lifetime than the normal copper cathode. The morphology observation demonstrates that the good emission property of the metal-dielectric cathode may benefit from the appearance of irregularities on the dielectric surface, which will have large microscopic field enhancement factors with the help of large permittivity of the ferroelectric material. Published by AIP Publishing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Na-doped Ni-rich LiNi0.5Co0.2Mn0.3O2 cathode material, Li0.97Na0.03Ni0.5Co0.2Mn0.3O2, is synthesized by a hydroxide co-precipitation route. The structural characterization reveals that the substitution of Na for Li results in a more ordered α-NaFeO2 structure, enlarges Li layer spacing, and reduces the degree of cation mixing. The Li0.97Na0.03Ni0.5Co0.2Mn0.3O2 material has a high tap density of 2.17 g cm-3 that meets the commercial requirement in lithium ion batteries (LIBs). The galvanostatic charge/discharge results show that the electrochemical performance of the Li0.97Na0.03Ni0.5Co0.2Mn0.3O2 is significantly improved. At 0.2, 1, 10, 30 and 50 C, the specific capacities of the Li0.97Na0.03Ni0.5Co0.2Mn0.3O2 are 228.43, 163.12, 121.43, 95.56 and 60.09 mA h g-1, respectively, which are superior to those of the undoped LiNi0.5Co0.2Mn0.3O2 due to the enlargement of Li layer spacing, the decreased degree of cation mixing, and the rapid diffusion of Li-ion in the bulk lattice after the substitution of Na for Li. Therefore, the Na-doped Ni-rich LiNi0.5Co0.2Mn0.3O2 material is a promising cathode candidate for the next generation of LIBs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The chemical stability of cabozantinib (CBZ) was investigated using a novel stability-indicating LC method. Forced degradation of CBZ was carried out under acidic, basic, thermal, oxidative and photolytic stress conditions. Hydrolysis and oxidation were the primary pathways for this compound and three major unknown degradation products were characterized by LC/TOF-MS and LC-MS/MS. The major oxidative degradation product was isolated by preparative LC and identified by UV, HRMS and NMR techniques to be N-{4-[(N-oxide-6,7-dimethoxyquinolin-4-yl)oxy]phenyl}-N'-(4-fluorophenyl)-cyclopropane-1,1-dicarboxamide. The developed method was validated as per ICH guidelines and then successfully applied to investigate the degradation kinetics of CBZ. Degradation of CBZ followed first-order kinetics under all experimental conditions. A V-shaped pH-rate profile over the pH range 2-10 was observed with maximum stability at pH 6. The effect of temperature on the rate of CBZ degradation was characterized using the Arrhenius equation. The activation energy for hydrolysis was 57.31 kJ mol-1 in alkaline solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two ionization techniques for liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) determination of sulfonate ester potentially genotoxic impurities (PGIs) were evaluated. Twelve PGIs including methyl, ethyl, propyl and isopropyl esters of methanesulfonate, benzenesulfonate and p-toluenesulfonate were studied in this research. Electrospray ionization (ESI) and atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) sources were compared in terms of performance and quality parameters for detection of the twelve PGIs. Their mass spectra obtained by APCI and ESI were very different in both fragment ions and relative abundances. In APCI negative ion mode the twelve sulfonate esters showed their stable precursor ions of [M-alkyl]-, which readily yielded product ions of [M-alkyl-CH3]- (for aliphatic sulfonate esters) or [M-alkyl-SO2]- (for aromatic sulfonate esters) with collision-induced dissociation (CID) applied; and working in selected reaction monitoring (SRM) mode has allowed limits of detection to be decreased. In the case of ESI ionization, these compounds showed their precursor ions [M+H]+, but their abundance was easily competed by formation of ions [M+NH4]+ and/or [M+Na]+, which led to poor analytical sensitivity and reproducibility. Although mobile phase additives could enhance the responses of adduct ions like [M+NH4]+ and [M+Na]+, no improvement was obtained when using SRM mode. Twelve sulfonate esters were systematically compared and APCI was shown to be a better ionization technique for rapid and sensitive determination of these PGIs. Performance of the developed approach for rapid determination of 12 PGIs was also evaluated. Quality parameters were established and good precision (relative standard deviations <8%) and very low limits (2-4ng/mL) of detection were obtained, mainly when using APCI in SRM mode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]