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The formation of a hexagonal diamond represents one of the most intriguing questions in materials science. Under shock conditions, the graphite basal plane tends to slide and pucker to form diamond. However, how the shock strength determines the phase selectivity remains unclear. In this work, using a DFT-trained carbon global neural network model, we studied the shock-induced graphite transition. The poor sliding caused by scarce sliding time under high-strength shock leads to metastable hexagonal diamond with an orientation relationship of (001)G//(100)HD+[010]G//[010]HD, while under low-strength shock due to long sliding distance cubic diamond forms with the orientation (001)G//(111)CD+[100]G//[110]CD, unveiling the strength-dependent graphite transition mechanism. We for the first time provide computational evidence of the strength-dependent graphite transition from first-principles, clarifying the long-term unresolved shock-induced hexagonal diamond formation mechanism and the structural source of the strength-dependent trend, which facilitates the hexagonal diamond synthesis via controlled experiment.

High-entropy intermetallic (HEI) nanocrystals, composed of multiple elements with an ordered structure, are of immense interest in heterogeneous catalysis due to their unique geometric and electronic structures and the cocktail effect. Despite tremendous efforts dedicated to regulating the metal composition and structures with advanced synthetic methodologies to improve the performance, the surface structure, and local chemical order of HEI and their correlation with activity at the atomic level remain obscure yet challenging. Herein, by determining the three-dimensional (3D) atomic structure of quinary PdFeCoNiCu (PdM) HEI using atomic-resolution electron tomography, we reveal that the local chemical order of HEI regulates the surface electronic structures, which further mediates the alkyl-substitution-dependent alkyne semihydrogenation. The 3D structures of HEI PdM nanocrystals feature an ordered (intermetallic) core enclosed by a disordered (solid-solution) shell rather than an ordered surface. The lattice mismatch between the core and shell results in apparent near-surface distortion. The chemical order of the intermetallic core increases with annealing temperature, driving the electron redistribution between Pd and M at the surface, but the surface geometrical (chemically disordered) configurations and compositions are essentially unchanged. We investigate the catalytic performance of HEI PdM with different local chemical orders toward semihydrogenation across a broad range of alkynes, finding that the electron density of surface Pd and the hindrance effect of alkyl substitutions on alkynes are two key factors regulating selective semihydrogenation. We anticipate that these findings on surface atomic structure will clarify the controversy regarding the geometric and/or electronic effects of HEI catalysts and inspire future studies on tuning local chemical order and surface engineering toward enhanced catalysts.

The synthesis of diamonds, in particular that of ultrahard nanotwin diamonds, has been a long-standing goal. The high pressure triggers the sp2carbon, such as graphite, to transit to the ultrahard sp3diamond under high-temperature conditions. Due to the high-energy barrier for phase transition, controlling particle size is highly challenging. In this work, we employed large-scale MD simulations to study the microstructure evolution of onion carbon under HTHP conditions. We found that the three-dimensional (3D) twin developed at the apexes of onion carbon particles and propagated along the cross-layer direction. Interestingly, the grains are effectively controlled in nanosize by the high density of the 3D twin structure. Verifying the influence of curvature in 3D twin formation, hollow onion carbon systems were also investigated in HTHP, which exhibits fewer 3D twin structures due to their lower curvature. 3D twin structures extensively promoted the hardness in shear deformation simulations, thus offering valuable insights into the synthesis of ultrahard material.

Gravitational wave (GW) detection is an important topic in fundamental scientific research. Studying high-precision capacitive displacement sensor (CDS) is crucial for capturing weak GW signals. However, existing research primarily focuses on noise analysis and optimization of the front-end and back-end circuits of CDS, with limited articles specifically studying the sensitive probe (SP). Therefore, this article focuses on the modeling, analysis, and optimization of the SP in CDS. We establish a general model of the SP in COMSOL and extract the capacitance matrix to derive the displacement–capacitance curve between the displacement of each degree of freedom and the differential capacitance. By analyzing the capacitance matrix, we propose an equivalent circuit for the SP and verify its accuracy. Additionally, we optimize the structure of the SP and innovatively explore the impact of different electrode sizes on injection efficiency and induction efficiency. Overall, the works in this article provide new perspectives for the design of high-precision CDS and serve as a theoretical basis and reference for practical engineering design in GW detection.

Objective: The latest perspective suggests that elevated levels of inflammation and cytokines are implicated in atonic postpartum hemorrhage. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) has been widely used to induce inflammation in animal models. Therefore, this study aimed to induce uterine inflammation using LPS to investigate whether local inflammation triggers dysfunction and atrophy in the myometrium, as well as the potential underlying molecular mechanisms involved. Methods: In vivo, an animal model was established by intraperitoneal injection of 300 μg/ kg LPS in rats on gestational day 21. Hematoxylin-eosin (H&E) staining and Masson staining were employed to determine morphological changes in the rat uterine smooth muscle. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to detect inflammatory cytokines. Immunohistochemistry, tissue fluorescence, and Western blotting were conducted to assess the expression levels of the uterine contraction-related proteins Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) and the nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-κB) signaling pathway. In vitro, human uterine smooth muscle cells (HUtSMCs) were exposed to 2 μg/mL LPS to further elucidate the involvement of the TLR4/NF-κB signaling pathway in LPS-mediated inflammation. Results: In this study, LPS induced uterine myometrial dysfunction in rats, leading to a disorganized arrangement, a significant increase in collagen fiber deposition, and widespread infiltration of inflammatory cells. In both in vivoanimal models and in vitro HUtSMCs, LPS elevated IL-6, IL-1β, and TNF-α levels while concurrently suppressing the expression of connexin 43 (Cx43) and oxytocin receptor (OXTR). Mechanistically, the LPS-treated group exhibited TLR4 activation, and the phosphorylation levels of p65 and IκBα were notably increased. Conclusion: LPS triggered the TLR4/NF-κB signaling pathway, inducing an inflammatory response in the myometrium and leading to uterine myometrial dysfunction and uterine atony.

Early control of elevated blood pressure is the most promising treatment for acute intracerebral haemorrhage. We aimed to establish whether implementing a goal-directed care bundle incorporating protocols for early intensive blood pressure lowering and management algorithms for hyperglycaemia, pyrexia, and abnormal anticoagulation, implemented in a hospital setting, could improve outcomes for patients with acute spontaneous intracerebral haemorrhage.

Carbon-supported Pd-based clusters are one of the most promising anodic catalysts for ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR) due to their encouraging activity and practical applications. However, unclear growth mechanism of Pd-based clusters on the carbon-based materials has hindered their extensive applications. Herein, we first introduce multi-void spherical PdBi cluster/carbon cloth (PdBi/CC) composites by an electrodeposition routine. The growth mechanism of PdBi clusters on the CC supports has been systemically investigated by evaluating the selected samples and tuning their compositions, which involve the big difference in standard redox potential between Pd2+/Pd and Bi3+/Bi and easy adsorption of Bi3+on the surface of Pd-rich seeds. Benefitting from the ensembles of many nanocrystal subunits, multi-void spherical PdBi clusters can present collective properties and novel functionalities. In addition, the outstanding characteristics of CC supports enable PdBi clusters with stable nanostructures. Thanks to the unique structure, Pd20Bi/CC catalysts manifest higher EOR activity and better stability compared to Pd/CC. Systematic characterizations and a series of CO poisoning tests further confirm that the dramatically enhanced EOR activity and stability can be attributed to the incorporation of Bi species and the strong coupling of the structure between PdBi clusters and CC supports.

Cloud computing provides people with fast services, web service companies that need computing resources often submit some of their incoming jobs to the cloud and the rest to their in-house subsystem to seek services. This forms a hybrid service system with cloud service and an in-house server. Taking into account customers' strategic behavior, this article studies the optimal decision making problems in the hybrid service system. A queue-length-based admission control mechanism is adopted in this article to regulate whether the cloud server is open to customers. When the cloud server cannot be accessed immediately, some customers send their jobs to the in-house subsystem, while others (called opportunists) try to send their jobs to the cloud server again. We derive the conditional equilibrium joining probability of entering the in-house subsystem when the cloud is not open. Based on the cooperative and noncooperative game-theoretic analyses, we determine the cooperatively optimal retrial rate and the noncooperatively optimal retrial rate for a given queue-length information. Numerical experiments show that the two optimal retrial rates are equivalent. Finally, it is found that the existence of the opportunists significantly harms social interests, regardless of whether these opportunists are cooperative or noncooperative.

Objective: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is the most common metabolic disorder during pregnancy. LncRNA HLA complex group 27 (HCG27) plays a crucial role in various metabolic diseases. However, the relationship between lncRNA HCG27 and GDM is not clear. This study aimed to verify a competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) interaction regulation axis of miR-378a-3p/mitogen-activated protein kinase 1 (MAPK1) regulated by HCG27 in GDM. Methods: LncRNA HCG27 and miR-378a-3p were detected by RT-qPCR. The expression of MAPK1 in umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) was detected by RT-qPCR and that in the placenta by Western blotting. To explore the relationship among lncRNA HCG27, miR-378a-3p, MAPK1 and the glucose uptake ability of HUVECs, vector HCG27, si-HCG27, miR-378a-3p mimic and inhibitor were transfected to achieve overexpression and inhibition of HCG27 or miR-378a-3p. The interaction between miR-378a-3p and lncRNA HCG27 or MAPK1 was confirmed by the dual-luciferase reporter assay. Besides, glucose consumption by HUVECs was detected by the glucose assay kit. Results: HCG27 expression was significantly decreased in both the placenta and primary umbilical vein endothelial cells, while the expression of miR-378a-3p was significantly increased in GDM tissues, and the expression of MAPK1 was decreased in GDM tissues. This ceRNA interaction regulation axis was proved to affect the glucose uptake function of HUVECs. The transfection of si-HCG27 could significantly reduce the expression of the MAPK1 protein. If the MAPK1 overexpression plasmid was transfected simultaneously with si-HCG27 transfection, the reduced glucose uptake in HUVECs resulting from the decrease in lncRNA HCG27 was reversed. MiR-378a-3p mimic can significantly reduce the mRNA expression of MAPK1 in HUVECs, whereas miR-378a-3p inhibitor can significantly increase the mRNA expression of MAPK1. The inhibition of miR-378a-3p could restore the decreased glucose uptake of HUVECs treated with si-HCG27. Besides, overexpression of lncRNA HCG27 could restore the glucose uptake ability of the palmitic acid-induced insulin resistance model of HUVECs to normal. Conclusion: LncRNA HCG27 promotes glucose uptake of HUVECs by miR-378a-3p/MAPK1 pathway, which may provide potential therapeutic targets for GDM. Besides, the fetal umbilical cord blood and umbilical vein endothelial cells collected from pregnant women with GDM after delivery could be used to detect the presence of adverse molecular markers of metabolic memory, so as to provide guidance for predicting the risk of cardiovascular diseases and health screening of offspring.

Alternative polyadenylation(APA) contributes to transcriptome complexity and gene expression regulation and has been implicated in various cellular processes and diseases. Single-cell RNA sequencing(scRNA-seq) has enabled the profiling of APA at the single-cell level; however, the spatial information of cells is not preserved in scRNA-seq. Alternatively, spatial transcriptomics(ST) technologies provide opportunities to decipher the spatial context of the transcriptomic landscape. Pioneering studies have revealed potential spatially variable genes and/or splice isoforms; however, the pattern of APA usage in spatial contexts remains unappreciated. In this study, we developed a toolkit called stAPAminer for mining spatial patternsof APA from spatially barcoded ST data. APA sites were identified and quantified from the ST data. In particular, an imputationmodel based on the k-nearest neighbors algorithm was designed to recover APA signals, and then APA genes with spatial patterns of APA usage variation were identified. By analyzing well-established ST data of the mouse olfactory bulb (MOB), we presented a detailed view of spatial APA usage across morphological layers of the MOB. We compiled a comprehensive list of genes with spatial APA dynamics and obtained several major spatial expression patterns that represent spatial APA dynamics in different morphological layers. By extending this analysis to two additional replicates of the MOB ST data, we observed that the spatial APA patterns of several genes were reproducible among replicates. stAPAminer employs the power of ST to explore the transcriptional atlas of spatial APA patterns with spatial resolution. This toolkit is available at https://github.com/BMILAB/stAPAminerand https://ngdc.cncb.ac.cn/biocode/tools/BT007320.

AbstractThe filling characteristic of rockfill is a non-ignorable engineering problem for high dams, and a reasonable control of compaction quality is the key to promoting the development of high dams. In this article, numerical and field tests were implemented to study the main problems affecting the compaction characteristics of large-size coarse-grained soil, namely determinations of the reasonable H0/dmax(the ratio of the compaction layer thickness to the maximum particle size) and the main influencing factors of minimum porosity. The macroscopic manifestations of the compaction characteristics were analyzed from the perspectives of energy, force chain, and particle breakage. The interaction between particles was explained by the ‘filling effect’ of fine particles, the ‘wedging effect’, and the ‘wall effect’ of coarse particles. It was found that the minimum porosity was not an inherent characteristic of rockfill, since the porosity and the corresponding degree of breakage were influenced by the compaction conditions. The value of H0/dmaxmeeting engineering practice was proposed, which can create favorable compaction conditions for obtaining the minimum porosity. Meantime, some suggestions were provided for obtaining the minimum porosity of large-size coarse-grained soil. The research results have an application reference value for the filling design and evaluation of high dams.

Designing high-efficiency and newly developed Pd-based bifunctional catalytic materials still faces tremendous challenges for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and formic acid oxidation reaction (FAO). Metallene materials with unique structural features are considered strong candidates for enhancing the catalytic performance. In this work, we synthesized copper-doped two-dimensional curved porous Pd metallene nanomaterials viaa simplistic one-pot solvothermal method. The updated catalysts served as sturdy bifunctional electrocatalysts for cathodal ORR and anodic FAO. In particular, the developed PdCu metallene exhibits excellent half-wave potential (0.943 V vs RHE) and mass activity (MA) (1.227 A mgPt–1) in alkaline solutions, which are 1.09 and 6.26 times higher than those of commercial Pt/C, respectively, indicating that the nanomaterials have abundant active sites, displaying surpassing catalytic performance for oxygen reduction. Furthermore, in an acidic formic acid electrolyte, PdCu metallene exhibits prominent MA with a value of 0.905 A mgPd–1, which is 2.76 times that of commercial Pd/C. The remarkable bifunctional catalytic performance of metallene materials can be attributed to the special structure and electronic effects. This work shows that metallene materials with curved and porous properties provide a scientific idea for the development and design of efficient and steady electrocatalysts.

This paper presents a parameter-space-based multi-objective, robust CACC platooning controller for a heterogeneous vehicular platoon with stochastic packet dropout during inter-vehicular communication. The parameter space approach is adopted to optimise the gains of the robust controller, to handle the multiplicative uncertainty and to project the robust performance requirements. The feasible region where internal stability and preceding vehicle following accuracy are satisfied is then visualised in the parameter space. Subsequently, the robust controller, which combines the feedforward loop and feedback loop, is developed by selecting the gain from the feasible solution area. The simulation results of a six-vehicle heterogeneous platoon are presented and evaluated to verify the efficiency of this control algorithm. The results show that string stability and comfort are well guaranteed by this robust controller, even for the heterogeneous platoon with stochastic packet dropout and the following error is limited to an acceptable range.

Current synthetic methods for the functionalization of pyridinium salts usually rely on transition metals, oxidants and/or photocatalysts. To date, no direct photolysis method exists under photocatalyst-, transition metal- and oxidant-free conditions. We herein demonstrate the first direct photolysis of N-methoxypyridinium salts for the selective assembly of various pyridines by using a series of common feedstocks, including amine-boranes, unactivated alkanes, phosphine oxides, amides, silanes and aldehydes.

Rechargeable zinc–air batteries (ZABs) require bifunctional electrocatalysts presenting high activity in oxygen reduction/evolution reactions (ORR/OER), but the single-site metal–N–C catalysts suffer from their low OER activity. Herein, we designed a series of single-site Fe–N–C catalysts, which present high surface area and good conductivity by incorporating into mesoporous carbon supported on carbon nanotubes, to study the doping effect of N and P on the bifunctional activity. The additional P-doping dramatically increased the content of active pyridine-N and introduced P–N/C/O sites, which not only act as extra active sites but also regulate the electron density of Fe centers to optimize the absorption of oxygenated intermediates, thereby ultimately improving the bifunctional activity of Fe–N–C sites. The optimized catalyst displayed a half-wave potential of 0.882 V for ORR and a low overpotential of 365 mV at 10 mA cm–2for OER, which significantly outperforms the counterpart without P, as well as noble-metal-based catalysts. The ZABs with air cathodes containing the N,P-co-doped catalysts exhibited a high peak power density of 201 mW cm–2and a long cycling stability beyond 600 h. Doping has shown to be an effective way to optimize the performance of single-site catalysts in bifunctional oxygen electrocatalysis, which can be extended to other catalyst systems.

Transcriptional phenotypic drug discovery has achieved great success, and various compound perturbation-based data resources, such as connectivity map (CMap) and library of integrated network-based cellular signatures (LINCS), have been presented. Computational strategies fully mining these resources for phenotypic drug discovery have been proposed. Among them, the fundamental issue is to define the proper similarity between transcriptional profiles. Traditionally, such similarity has been defined in an unsupervised way. However, due to the high dimensionality and the existence of high noise in high-throughput data, similarity defined in the traditional way lacks robustness and has limited performance. To this end, we present DrSim, which is a learning-based framework that automatically infers similarity rather than defining it. We evaluated DrSim on publicly available in vitroand in vivodatasets in drug annotationand repositioning. The results indicated that DrSim outperforms the existing methods. In conclusion, by learning transcriptional similarity, DrSim facilitates the broad utility of high-throughput transcriptional perturbation data for phenotypic drug discovery. The source code and manual of DrSim are available at https://github.com/bm2-lab/DrSim/.

Transcriptional phenotypic drug discovery has achieved great success, and various compound perturbation-based data resources, such as connectivity map (CMap) and library of integrated network-based cellular signatures (LINCS), have been presented. Computational strategies fully mining these resources for phenotypic drug discovery have been proposed. Among them, the fundamental issue is to define the proper similarity between transcriptional profiles. Traditionally, such similarity has been defined in an unsupervised way. However, due to the high dimensionality and the existence of high noise in high-throughput data, similarity defined in the traditional way lacks robustness and has limited performance. To this end, we present DrSim, which is a learning-based framework that automatically infers similarity rather than defining it. We evaluated DrSim on publicly available in vitroand in vivodatasets in drug annotationand repositioning. The results indicated that DrSim outperforms the existing methods. In conclusion, by learning transcriptional similarity, DrSim facilitates the broad utility of high-throughput transcriptional perturbation data for phenotypic drug discovery. The source code and manual of DrSim are available at https://github.com/bm2-lab/DrSim/.

AbstractThe new damage phenomenon of the Zipingpu concrete-faced rock-fill dam (CFRD) in the 5.12 Wenchuan earthquake has introduced new topics to the study of seismic failure mechanisms and numerical simulation methods of high CFRDs. With respect to the large-scale contact separation between the face slabs and the cushion layer after the earthquake, the conventional method of directly assigning constant values ​​to the normal stiffness of the interface element can only qualitatively reflect the separated or closed state of the interface. In this article, a parabolic model for the normal stiffness of the interface is proposed, and an iterative algorithm for its optimal value is established based on the contact states. Combined with a generalised plasticity constitutive model, the 3 D finite element (FE) coupling analysis of the Zipingpu Dam is performed. The results show good agreements between the numerical calculations and field measurement conclusions. In addition, the opening and closing processes of the interface during the earthquake reproduce the dynamic face-slabs separation situation. It is indicated that the proposed constitutive model and the iterative algorithm can basically realise the quantitative estimation for the range and depth of the separation, providing a reliable method for the seismic analysis of high CFRDs.

The rich structural polymorphism of TiO2provides an opportunity to construct a heterophase junction, which reportedly improves the photocatalyst performance. In the past, using the partial phase transition to fabricate brookite/rutile biphase materials has attracted much attention. Although many of the experiments have studied the phase transition of brookite to rutile, to date, the atomistic mechanisms and its atomic heterophase junction structure remain unclear. In this paper, the stochastic surface walking method and neural network method (SSW-NN) are utilized to map out the local potential energy surface (PES) of brookite and resolve the lowest energy barrier transition path. We show that brookite first transforms into the TiO2-II structure, and then the TiO2-II transforms into rutile with the overall orientation relation (100)B//(100)II, [010]B//[010]II, and (001)II//(101)R, [100]II//[010]R. Anatase is a byproduct rather than an intermediate phase during the brookite-to-rutile phase transition. The well-matched interfaces between brookite and TiO2-II, TiO2-II, and rutile possess spatially separated CBM and VBM, while the disordered junction between brookite and rutile shows frustrated electron/hole transport. The proposed mechanisms not only clarify the role of anatase in the brookite-to-rutile transition but also help to understand the nature of higher photocatalyst performance of the biphase.

Organic cocrystal exhibits excellent photothermal conversion (PTC), but how the intermolecular interactions of cocrystals regulate the PTC is obscure. Here, two isomeric donor molecules (phenanthrene and anthracene) and two electron-withdrawing molecules (7,7,8,8,8-tetracyanodimethylquinone and 2,3,5,6-tetrafluoro-7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinone dimethane) are self-assembled into the four cocrystals (PTQ, PFQ, ATQ, and AFQ). By changing the molecular configuration of the donor and the electron-withdrawing ability of the acceptor, the intrinsic influencing factors of the intermolecular interaction on the PTC were explored. Under near-infrared laser (808 nm) irradiation, the PTC efficiencies of PTQ, PFQ, AFQ, and ATQ are 35.85, 44.74, 57.00, and 60.53%, respectively. Based on the single-crystal X-ray diffraction, ultrafast time-resolved transient absorption, and excited-state theoretical calculations, we found that the π–π stacking in ATQ and AFQ is conducive to promoting the near-infrared light-harvesting ability and the p−π interaction of cocrystals can regulate the nonradiative rotation of −C(C≡N)2groups, resulting in a tunable near-infrared PTC via the isomeric cocrystals. Accordingly, the evaporation rate of the porous polyurethane-AFQ foam can reach 1.33 kg·m–2·h–1in the simulated solar-driven water evaporation system. This work provides a strategy to boost the PTC by the intermolecular interactions of cocrystal materials.

SinojackiaHu represents the first woody genus described by Chinese botanists, with all species classified as endangered ornamental plants endemic to China. Their characteristic spindle-shaped fruits confer high ornamental value to the plants, making them favored in gardens and parks. Nevertheless, the fruits likely pose a germination obstacle, contributing to the endangered status of this lineage. Here we report the chromosome-scale genome of S. xylocarpa, and explore the mechanisms underlying its endangered status, as well as its population dynamics throughout evolution. Population genomic analysis has indicated that S. xylocarpaexperienced a bottleneck effect following the recent glacial period, leading to a continuous population reduction. Examination of the pericarp composition across six stages of fruit development revealed a consistent increase in the accumulation of lignin and fiber content, responsible for the sturdiness of mature fruits’ pericarps. At molecular level, enhanced gene expression in the biosynthesis of lignin, cellulose and hemicellulose was detected in pericarps. Therefore, we conclude that the highly lignified and fibrotic pericarps of S. xylocarpa, which inhibit its seed germination, should be its threatening mechanism, thus proposing corresponding strategies for improved conservation and restoration. This study serves as a seminal contribution to conservation biology, offering valuable insights for the study of other endangered ornamental plants.

Vanadium-based materials are considered as the promising cathode materials for aqueous zinc ion batteries (AZIBs) due to their variable valence states and structures. However, this cathode suffers from poor cyclic stability originated from the structure collapse because of the dissolution and the corrosion caused by electrolyte. Here, the cathode material of NH4V4O10has been prepared by using (NH4)3VO4as precursor and HI as reductant under hydrothermal conditions. In Zn//NH4V4O10device with 2.0 mol L−1ZnSO4electrolyte, it is found that the cathode has specific capacity of 365.3 mAh g−1but poor cyclic stability. However, by using the electrolyte of 2.0 mol L−1ZnSO4 + sLiClO4(saturated), the specific capacity of NH4V4O10becomes slightly larger (372.8 mAh g−1), and the capacity retention of Zn//NH4V4O10is about 100 % after 5000 repeated charge/discharge cycles at a current density of 3.0 A g−1. The characterizations and electrochemical tests demonstrate that ZnSO4 + sLiClO4electrolyte may reduce the water activity and regulate the solvent-sheath structure of Zn2+, which reduces water molecules embedded in the cathode material, so inhibiting the dissolution of NH4V4O10. The results reveal that the mixture electrolyte of ZnSO4 + sLiClO4presents an effective strategy to realize vanadium-based cathodes with long cycle life in AZIBs.

Carbon-based aqueous zinc ion capacitors (CZICs) have emerged as promising candidate in the energy storage field owing to their long cycle life, low environmental hazard and cost. However, they are restricted by inferior energy density. Thus, it is vital to construct carbon cathodes with rich active sites to enhance the absorption capacity for zinc ions. Here, the porous carbon with rich pyridinic nitrogen (NPC) has been fabricated from coal tar pitch viaa deep eutectic salt-assisted pyrolysis strategy. The optimal NPC displays a large specific surface area (1765 m2 g−1), high nitrogen content (4.4 at.%) and rich in pyridinic nitrogen (52 %). Furthermore, the micropores and mesopores of NPC are mainly centered at pore size of 0.93 nm and 2.34 nm, respectively. Due to above structural features, the optimal NPC cathode affords a high specific capacitance (423.4 F g−1at 0.2 A g−1) and robust rate capability (222.8 F g−1at 40.0 A g−1). Impressively, the CZIC assembled by NPC achieves superior energy density of 150.6 Wh kg−1and power density of 32,000 W kg−1. Furthermore, the quasi-solid-state CZIC based on NPC offers excellent flexibility and high capacitance (292.1 F g−1), superb energy density (103.8 Wh kg−1) and outstanding cyclic stability (84.4 % retention after 8000 cycles). This strategy supplies a facile method to prepare porous carbon with rich pyridinic‑nitrogen for boosting Zn-ion storage capability.

Identifying ordering in non-crystalline solids has been a focus of natural science since the publication of Zachariasen’s random network theory in 1932, but it still remains as a great challenge of the century. Literature shows that the hierarchical structures, from the short-range order of first-shell polyhedra to the long-range order of translational periodicity, may survive after amorphization. Here, in a piece of AlPO4, or berlinite, we combine X-ray diffraction and stochastic free-energy surface simulations to study its phase transition and structural ordering under pressure. From reversible single crystals to amorphous transitions, we now present an unambiguous view of the topological ordering in the amorphous phase, consisting of a swarm of Carpenter low-symmetry phases with the same topological linkage, trapped in a metastable intermediate stage. We propose that the remaining topological ordering is the origin of the switchable “memory glass” effect. Such topological ordering may hide in many amorphous materials through disordered short atomic displacements.

ABSTRACTIt has been reported that the expression of tumor suppressor gene N-myc downstream-regulated gene 2 (NDRG2) was significantly reduced in human solid tumors, including esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). This study aimed to explore whether the difference of NDRG2 expression exists in different stages of ESCC and provides a basis for the early diagnosis and prognosis of ESCC. Immunohistochemical staining was used to investigate the expression level of NDRG2 in samples from 91 patients with mild-to-moderate dysplasia, early ESCC, and advanced ESCC. The relationship between the expression of NDRG2 and clinicopathological characteristics of the patients was analyzed. The results showed that positive expression rates of NDRG2 in tissues adjacent to early ESCC (76.7%), or from mild-to-moderate dysplasia (74.1%), and early ESCC (83.3%) were significantly higher than in tissue from advanced ESCC (55.9%). The positive expression rate in advanced ESCC was significantly lower than in the other three tissue types (p < 0.05). There was a significant difference (p < 0.05) and correlation (Cramer’s V = 0.351, p = 0.019, <0.05) between the expression of NDRG2 and the clinical stage in the 64 patients with ESCC. In conclusion, this study found that the expression of NDRG2 gradually decreased with the progression of esophageal lesions into advanced ESCC. This difference in positive expression rate was more obvious in male patients and patients under 60 years of age. Therefore, the detection of NDRG2 plays an important role in differentiating early ESCC from advanced ESCC.