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The incorporation of nanopores into graphene nanostructures has been demonstrated as an efficient tool in tuning their bandgaps and electronic structures. However, precisely embedding the uniform nanopores into graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) at the atomic level remains underdeveloped especially for in-solution synthesis due to the lack of efficient synthetic strategies. Herein we report the first case of solution-synthesized porous GNR (pGNR) with a fully conjugated backbone via the efficient Scholl reaction of tailor-made polyphenylene precursor (P1) bearing pre-installed hexagonal nanopores. The resultant pGNR features periodic subnanometer pores with a uniform diameter of 0.6 nm and an adjacent-pores-distance of 1.7 nm. To solidify our design strategy, two porous model compounds (1a, 1b) containing the same pore size as the shortcuts of pGNR, are successfully synthesized. The chemical structure and photophysical properties of pGNR are investigated by various spectroscopic analyses. Notably, the embedded periodic nanopores largely reduce the π-conjugation degree and alleviate the inter-ribbon π-π interactions, compared to the nonporous GNRs with similar widths, affording pGNR with a notably enlarged bandgap and enhanced liquid-phase processability.

A facile, ultralow-cost, and up-scalable printable manufacturing process of flexible, multifunctional sensors that respond to more than one external stimulus could have a pivotal role in low-cost wearables and portable systems for Industry 4.0. Herein, using a low capex, in-house spray coating system, the fabrication of a low-cost photodetector that is tuneable by mechanical strain exploiting the piezo-phototronic nature of defect-free 2D In2Se3 nanosheets is reported. Moreover, force sensors that respond to different levels of applied force are spray-coated by using In2Se3 nanosheets. Regarding the photodetector, a nonmonotonic and asymmetric effect of strain on photocurrent response is shown exhibiting a local maximum at the 23°–32° compressive angle range and a slight hysteresis. Forward compressive bending leads to a photocurrent enhancement by 27% at 32° and reverse by 31% at 23°, while tensile strain leads to a current suppression by 8–10% at 23°–32° angle. The resulting force sensor repeatably demonstrates discrete piezoelectric voltages in the millivolt scale upon different mass loads, opening the path for force and tactile sensing applications. Applying industrially compatible materials for the underlying flexible substrate and electrodes, combined with spray coating, removes manufacturing complexities that engage costly and energy intensive fabrication.

An overview of the fundamental mechanisms and major challenges of electrical double layer capacitors, pseudocapacitors, Li-ion capacitors and microscale electrochemical capacitors as well as an outlook on their future opportunities are provided.

Two-dimensional van der Waals heterostructures (2D vdWHs) have recently gained widespread attention because of their abundant and exotic properties, which open up many new possibilities for next-generation nanoelectronics. However, practical applications remain challenging due to the lack of high-throughput techniques for fabricating high-quality vdWHs. Here, we demonstrate a general electrochemical strategy to prepare solution-processable high-quality vdWHs, in which electrostatic forces drive the stacking of electrochemically exfoliated individual assemblies with intact structures and clean interfaces into vdWHs with strong interlayer interactions. Thanks to the excellent combination of strong light absorption, interfacial charge transfer, and decent charge transport properties in individual layers, thin-film photodetectors based on graphene/In2Se3 vdWHs exhibit great promise for near-infrared (NIR) photodetection, owing to a high responsivity (267 mA W−1), fast rise (72 ms) and decay (426 ms) times under NIR illumination. This approach enables various hybrid systems, including graphene/In2Se3, graphene/MoS2 and graphene/MoSe2 vdWHs, providing a broad avenue for exploring emerging electronic, photonic, and exotic quantum phenomena.

The long range electronic modulations recently discovered in the geometrically frustrated kagome lattice have opened new avenues to explore the effect of correlations in materials with topological electron flat bands. The observation of the lattice response to the emergent new phases of matter, a soft phonon mode, has remained elusive and the microscopic origin of charge density waves (CDWs) is still unknown. Here, we show, for the first time, a complete melting of the ScV$_ 6$Sn$_ 6$ (166) kagome lattice. The low energy phonon with propagation vector $\frac{1}{3} \frac{1}{3} \frac{1}{2}$ collapses at 98 K, without the emergence of long-range charge order, which sets in with a propagation vector $\frac{1}{3} \frac{1}{3} \frac{1}{3}$. The CDW is driven (but locks at a different vector) by the softening of an overdamped phonon flat plane at k$_z$=$\pi$. We observe broad phonon anomalies in momentum space, pointing to (1) the existence of approximately flat phonon bands which gain some dispersion due to electron renormalization, and (2) the effects of the momentum dependent electron-phonon interaction in the CDW formation. Ab initio and analytical calculations corroborate the experimental findings to indicate that the weak leading order phonon instability is located at the wave vector $\frac{1}{3} \frac{1}{3} \frac{1}{2}$ of a rather flat collapsed mode. We analytically compute the phonon frequency renormalization from high temperatures to the soft mode, and relate it to a peak in the orbital-resolved susceptibility, obtaining an excellent match with both ab initio and experimental results, and explaining the origin of the approximately flat phonon dispersion. Our data report the first example of the collapse of a softening of a flat phonon plane and promote the 166 compounds of the kagome family as primary candidates to explore correlated flat phonon-topological flat electron physics., Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures

I-mode is a natural ELMy-free regime with H-mode like improved energy confnement and L-mode like particle confnement, making it an attractive scenario for future tokamak based fusion reactors. A kind of low frequency oscillation was widely found and appeared to be unique in I-mode, with the frequency between stationary zonal flow and geodesic-acoustic mode (GAM) zonal flow. In EAST, 90 percent I-mode shots have such mode, called edge temperature ring oscillation (ETRO). The mode probably plays an important role during I-mode development and sustainment, while investigations are needed to clarify the differences between ETRO and the similar mode named as low frequency edge oscillation (LFEO) in AUG and C-Mod, especially whether it is still GAM. In the paper, the ETRO characteristics in EAST were investigated in detail and most do not agree with GAM, including that 1) during L-I transition with edge Te and Ti both increasing, ETRO has a smaller frequency than GAM; 2) ETRO has distinct harmonics in various diagnostics; 3) The magnetic component of ETRO is dominated by m = 1 structure; 4) ETRO is accompanied by turbulence transition between electron-scale and ion-scale; 5) As I-mode approaching to H-mode, ETRO frequency would decrease rapidly with Te increasing. These features imply that ETRO is probably caused by the stationary zonal flow with fnite frequency. Moreover, other damping mechanisms need to be involved besides collision in the Imode edge region. It was found that modest fueling could decrease the ETRO intensity with the I-mode confnement sustaining, suggesting that supersonic molecular beam injection (SMBI) could be used as an effective tool to control ETRO., Comment: 23 pages, 16 figures

To enhance monitoring and understanding of coastal sea levels, as well as provide information for adapting to sea level rise, the University of Hawaii Sea Level Center is installing new tide gauges throughout the Hawaiian Islands. All of the tide gauge stations are designed according to quality-control standards developed by the UNESCO-IOC Global Sea Level Observing System (GLOSS), along with two additional geodetic leveling steps. Firstly, to facilitate long-term monitoring of sea levels relative to the coastline, the vertical datum of each station is held constant with respect to the regional land elevation. New for this Hawaii tide gauge network, all of the water level measurements are referenced to an island-specific vertical datum, which is based on each station elevation with respect to a constant tidal datum. On the island of Oahu, for example, elevations of five new tide gauges are referenced to the tide gauge in Honolulu Harbor. We determined station elevations by surveying with respect to an existing benchmark network in Hawaii that is on a common datum (NAD PA11 ellipsoidal height). Measuring water levels with respect to island-specific datums will support adaptation planning to address sea level rise by determining how sea levels vary by location. We also recorded ellipsoidal height differences from the gravitational model for Hawaii (GEOID12B) to transfer sea levels into a physically consistent framework. Here, the methodology for implementing the Hawaii tide gauge network will be presented, along with discussion about applicability to other regions where long-term monitoring of sea levels is important., The 28th IUGG General Assembly (IUGG2023) (Berlin 2023)

The Super $τ$-Charm facility (STCF) is an electron-positron collider proposed by the Chinese particle physics community. It is designed to operate in a center-of-mass energy range from 2 to 7 GeV with a peak luminosity of $0.5\times 10^{35}{\rm cm}^{-2}{\rm s}^{-1}$ or higher. The STCF will produce a data sample about a factor of 100 larger than that by the present $τ$-Charm factory -- the BEPCII, providing a unique platform for exploring the asymmetry of matter-antimatter (charge-parity violation), in-depth studies of the internal structure of hadrons and the nature of non-perturbative strong interactions, as well as searching for exotic hadrons and physics beyond the Standard Model. The STCF project in China is under development with an extensive R\&D program. This document presents the physics opportunities at the STCF, describes conceptual designs of the STCF detector system, and discusses future plans for detector R\&D and physics case studies.

Supplemental material, sj-docx-1-jdr-10.1177_00220345231164104 for FoxO1/NLRP3 Inflammasome Promotes Age-Related Alveolar Bone Resorption by Z. Wang, F. Zhou, X. Feng, H. Li, C. Duan, Y. Wu and Y. Xiong in Journal of Dental Research

Entanglement is an important quantum resource to achieve high sensitive quantum metrology. However, the rapid decoherence of quantum entangled states, due to the unavoidable environment noise, result in practically the unwanted sharp drop of the measurement sensitivity. To overcome such a difficulty, here we propose a spin-oscillator hybrid quantum interferometer to achieve the desirable precise estimation of the parameter encoded in the vibrations of the oscillator. Differing from the conventional two-mode quantum interferometers input by the two-mode NOON state or entangled coherent states (ECS), whose achievable sensitivities are strongly limited by the decoherence of the entangled vibrational states, we demonstrate that the present interferometer, input by a spin-dependent two-mode entangled state, possesses a manifest advantage, i.e., the measurement sensitivity of the estimated parameter is not influenced by the decoherence from the spin-oscillator entanglement. This is because that, by applying a spin-oscillator disentangled operation, the information of the estimated parameter encoded originally in the vibrational degrees can be effectively transferred into the spin degree and then can be sensitively estimated by the precise spin-state population measurements. As consequence, the proposed hybrid quantum interferometer possesses a manifest robustness against the particle losses of the vibrational modes. Interestingly, the achieved phase measurement sensitivity can still surpass the SQL obviously, even if relatively large number of particle loss occurs in one of the two modes. The potential application of the proposed spin-oscillator hybrid quantum interferometer is also discussed.

We present the first catalog of very-high energy and ultra-high energy $\gamma$-ray sources detected by the Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO), using 508 days of data collected by the Water Cherenkov Detector Array (WCDA) from March 2021 to September 2022 and 933 days of data recorded by the Kilometer Squared Array (KM2A) from January 2020 to September 2022. This catalog represents the most sensitive $E > 1$ TeV gamma-ray survey of the sky covering declination from $-$20$^{\circ}$ to 80$^{\circ}$. In total, the catalog contains 90 sources with extended size smaller than $2^\circ$ and with significance of detection at $> 5\sigma$. For each source, we provide its position, extension and spectral characteristics. Furthermore, based on our source association criteria, 32 new TeV sources are proposed in this study. Additionally, 43 sources are detected with ultra-high energy ($E > 100$ TeV) emission at $> 4\sigma$ significance level., Comment: 35 pages, 10 figures, 3 tables

To obtain high-quality two-dimensional (2D) materials from the bulky crystals, delamination under an externally controlled stimulus is crucial. Electrochemical exfoliation of layered materials requires simple instrumentation yet offers high-quality exfoliated 2D materials with high yields and features straightforward upscalability; therefore, it represents a key technology for advancing fundamental studies and industrial applications. Moreover, the solution processability of functionalized 2D materials enables the fabrication of (opto)electronic and energy devices via different printing technologies such as inkjet printing and 3D printing. This paper presents the electrochemical exfoliation protocol for the synthesis of black phosphorus (BP), one of the most promising emerging 2D materials, from its bulk crystals in a step-by-step manner, namely, cathodic electrochemical exfoliation of BP in the presence of N(C4H9)4∙HSO4 in propylene carbonate, dispersion preparation by sonication and subsequent centrifugation for the separation of flakes, and morphological characterization by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM).

In the paper, we propose power weighted quantile regression(PWQR), which can reduce the effect of heterogeneous of the conditional densities of the response effectively and improve efficiency of quantile regression). In addition to PWQR, this article also proves that all the weighting of those that the actual value is less than the estimated value of PWQR and the proportion of all the weighting is very close to the corresponding quantile. At last, this article establishes the relationship between Geomagentic Indices and GIC. According to the problems of power system security operation, we make GIC risk value table. This table can have stronger practical operation ability, can provide power system security operation with important inferences.

A momentum resolved resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (qRIXS) experimental station with continuously rotatable spectrometers and parallel detection is designed to operate at different beamlines at synchrotron and free electron laser (FEL) facilities. This endstation, currently located at the Advanced Light Source (ALS), has five emission ports on the experimental chamber for mounting the high-throughput modular soft X-ray spectrometers (MXS) [24]. Coupled to the rotation from the supporting hexapod, the scattered X-rays from 27.5° (forward scattering) to 152.5° (backward scattering) relative to the incident photon beam can be recorded, enabling the momentum-resolved RIXS spectroscopy. The components of this endstation are described in details, and the preliminary RIXS measurements on highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) reveal the low energy vibronic excitations from the strong electron-phonon coupling at C K edge around σ* band. The grating upgrade option to enhance the performance at low photon energies is presented and the potential of this spectroscopy is discussed in summary.

Redox variations across the Permian-Triassic boundary (PTB) have long been debated, especially during the proliferation of PTB microbialites. Here, we report redox fluctuations across the PTB to evaluate links between the two based on pyrite framboid analysis from basin to platform settings in South China. During the end-Permian extinction, abundant framboids indicate a widespread anoxia that was likely a direct cause of extinction. In the earliest Triassic (Hindeodus parvus conodont zone), pyrite framboids were absent in ramp to basin and shallow, nonmicrobialite platform sections. In contrast, the coeval microbialites yield abundant framboids indicative of dysoxia. The fact that framboids were only confined to PTB microbialites and absent in other habitats indicates that microbe bloom may have stimulated dysoxic watermass and triggered the framboid growth within microbe aggregates. Thus, microbialites were not built in reducing settings, but instead, microbial proliferation caused local, dysoxia within shallow oxygenated platforms after the extinction.

Objective: Liraglutide (LIRA), a Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist, showed potential vascular protective effects with the mechanism remained incompletely understood. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate whether LIRA exerts its effect on vascular endothelial function in rats with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) via caveolin-1/ endothelial oxide synthase (eNOS) expression. Methods: T2DM rats were used as study subjects and randomly divided into four groups: 1) Veh group, 2) Veh+LIRA group, 3) T2DM group, and 4) T2DM+LIRA group. All rats received either saline or LIRA 0.2 mg/kg (by i.p. injection) per day for 4 weeks. After the model was successfully established, vascular endothelial function was determined the effect of vasodilator to mesenteric artery rings. Immunofluorescence and western blot were performed to understand the molecular mechanism. Cultured HUVECs with small interfering RNA (siRNA) under high glucose (HG), NO concentration, and western blot were performed to understand the molecular mechanism between LIRA and vascular endothelial function. Results: Based on our results, the LIRA reduced hyperglycemia and ameliorated vascular endothelial dysfunction in type 2 diabetic mice. LIRA activated eNOS phosphorylation, suppressing oxidative stress and enhancing endothelium-dependent vasorelaxation of mesenteric arteries. Besides, from its anti-oxidative capacity, LIRA activated eNOS to dilate the mesenteric arteries via the downregulation of Cav-1. Conclusion: LIRA ameliorates vascular endothelial dysfunction in rats with type 2 diabetes mellitus via anti-oxidative and activated eNOS by downregulated Cav-1.

The European physical journal / C 82(10), 869 (2022). doi:10.1140/epjc/s10052-022-10536-1, We review lattice results related to pion, kaon, D-meson, B-meson, and nucleon physics with the aim of making them easily accessible to the nuclear and particle physics communities. More specifically, we report on the determination of the light-quark masses, the form factor $f_+(0)$ arising in the semileptonic $K \rightarrow \pi $ transition at zero momentum transfer, as well as the decay constant ratio $f_K/f_\pi $ and its consequences for the CKM matrix elements $V_{us}$ and $V_{ud}$. Furthermore, we describe the results obtained on the lattice for some of the low-energy constants of $SU(2)_L\times SU(2)_R$ and $SU(3)_L\times SU(3)_R$ Chiral Perturbation Theory. We review the determination of the $B_K$ parameter of neutral kaon mixing as well as the additional four B parameters that arise in theories of physics beyond the Standard Model. For the heavy-quark sector, we provide results for $m_c$ and $m_b$ as well as those for the decay constants, form factors, and mixing parameters of charmed and bottom mesons and baryons. These are the heavy-quark quantities most relevant for the determination of CKM matrix elements and the global CKM unitarity-triangle fit. We review the status of lattice determinations of the strong coupling constant $\alpha _s$. We consider nucleon matrix elements, and review the determinations of the axial, scalar and tensor bilinears, both isovector and flavor diagonal. Finally, in this review we have added a new section reviewing determinations of scale-setting quantities., Published by Springer, Heidelberg

The Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO) has three sub-arrays, KM2A, WCDA and WFCTA. The flux variations of cosmic ray air showers were studied by analyzing the KM2A data during the thunderstorm on 10 June 2021. The number of shower events that meet the trigger conditions increases significantly in atmospheric electric fields, with maximum fractional increase of 20%. The variations of trigger rates (increases or decreases) are found to be strongly dependent on the primary zenith angle. The flux of secondary particles increases significantly, following a similar trend with that of the shower events. To better understand the observed behavior, Monte Carlo simulations are performed with CORSIKA and G4KM2A (a code based on GEANT4). We find that the experimental data (in saturated negative fields) are in good agreement with simulations, assuming the presence of a uniform upward electric field of 700 V/cm with a thickness of 1500 m in the atmosphere above the observation level. Due to the acceleration/deceleration and deflection by the atmospheric electric field, the number of secondary particles with energy above the detector threshold is modified, resulting in the changes in shower detection rate., Comment: 18 pages, 11 figures

Although the sun is really far away from us, some solar activities could still influence the performance and reliability of space-borne and ground-based technological systems on Earth. Those time-varying conditions in space caused by the sun are also called space weather, as the atmospheric conditions that can affect weather on the ground. It is known that aviation activities can be affected during space weather events, but the exact effects of space weather on aviation are still unclear. Especially how the flight delays, the top topic concerned by most people, will be affected by space weather has never been thoroughly researched. By analyzing huge amount of flight data (~5X106 records), for the first time, we demonstrate that space weather events could have systematically modulating effects on flight delays. The average arrival delay time and 30-minute delay rate during space weather events are significantly increased by 81.34% and 21.45% respectively compared to those during quiet periods. The evident negative correlation between the yearly flight regularity rate and the yearly mean total sunspot number during 22 years also confirms such delay effects. Further studies indicate that the interference in communication and navigation caused by geomagnetic field fluctuations and ionospheric disturbances associated with the space weather events will increase the flight delay time and delay rate. These results expand the traditional field of space weather research and could also provide us with brand new views for improving the flight delay predications., Comment: submitted to science advances

Understanding and potentially predicting or even controlling urban labour markets represents a great challenge for workers and policy makers alike. Cities are effective engines of economic growth and prosperity and incubate complex dynamics within their labour market, and the labour markets they support demonstrate considerable diversity. This presents a challenge to policy makers who would like to optimise labour markets to benefit workers, promote economic growth and manage the impact of technological change. While much previous work has studied the economic characteristics of cities as a function of size and examined the exposure of urban economies to automation, this has often been from a static perspective. In this work we examine the structure of city job networks to uncover the diffusive properties. More specifically, we identify the occupations which are most important in promoting the diffusion of beneficial or deleterious properties. We find that these properties vary considerably with city size., Comment: 27pages, 5 figures

Appropriate biomarkers may help distinguish the biological behavior of different types of lymphoma and their response to traditional chemotherapy. Extranodal natural killer/T-cell lymphoma (ENKTL) and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma(DLBCL) belong to different subtypes of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, the biological behavior and prognosis of them are very different, programmed cell death receptor 1 (PD-1) and its ligand (PD-L1) have been investigated in these two types of diseases. However, few studies addressed the difference of PD-1/PD-L1 levels between ENKTL and DLBCL, in order to find out the difference and related clinical application value, the clinical data and tumor tissue paraffin sections of 24 newly diagnosed ENKTL patients and 42 newly diagnosed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) were collected. PD-1/PD-L1 levels in tumor tissues were detected by immunohistochemical staining. The relationship between the PD-1/PD-L1 levels and clinical data of patients with ENKTL patients was analyzed. Both patient groups showed PD-1 level in tumor tissue of ENKTL patients was significantly lower than that of DLBCL patients (P

Though Pb(II) adsorption onto HA has been extensively studied, its kinetic and thermodynamic features are not fully understood. This work investigated the kinetic processes and isotherms of Pb(II) adsorption onto a humic acid (HA) derived from leonardite in an aqueous solution. The basic properties of the HA were determined by standard methods, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic (FTIR) technique. Adsorption kinetic experiments were conducted at 120 mg Pb/L at 288, 298, 308, and 318 K. The adsorption data were best fitted into the pseudo-second-order model, suggesting the chemisorption nature of Pb(II) adsorption. Batch adsorption experiments were conducted at 0–200 mg Pb/L, and the data fit the Freundlich and Temkin models well. Pb(II) adsorption onto HA initially increased, then decreased, with rising temperature. Thermodynamic parameters showed that Pb(II) adsorption was exothermic and spontaneous. Though Cu(II), Zn(II), or Cd(II) could compete with Pb(II) for adsorption, the low cost and high adsorption capacity of leonardite-derived HA determined that it was an excellent adsorbent to remove Pb(II) from an aqueous solution. The optimized experimental conditions derived from the central composite design (CCD) were 20 mg HA, pH 5.0, 4-h react time, and 80 mg Pb/L.

Background: Cyclophosphamide (CTX) is an alkylating agent used in the treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) for its potent immunosuppression effect. Many aspects of the use of CTX in SLE have been previously studied. However, its relation to mortality in SLE had rarely been mentioned. Thus we investigate the effect of cyclophosphamide on organ involvements and the overall and cause-specific mortality of SLE patients.Methods: Information about CTX prescription were taken from medical records in the Jiangsu Lupus database that was set up to collect data from SLE patients since their first admission during 1999-2009 in Jiangsu province, China. Follow- up studies were carried out in 2010 and 2015 to check the survival status of the patients. Cox regression models were used to estimate hazard ratio (HR) and 95% CI. Kaplan-Meier model was used to assess the effect of CTX on mortality between organ involvements and non-involvements.Results: There were 221 deaths observed out of 2446 SLE patients. CTX users showed a lower mortality of SLE (8.4%) with adjusted HR (95% CI) of 0.74 (0.56-0.97), as compared to non-users. A decreased in overall mortality of SLE in low daily dosage of CTX, with adjusted HR (95% CI) of 0.54 (0.36-0.81) and a significant dose-response pattern (P = 0.004) between overall mortality of SLE and long-term use of CTX with adjusted HR (95% CI) 0.53 (0.35-0.80) were observed. In cause-specific mortality analyses, protective effective of CTX was found to be insignificant. However, CTX could eliminate the differences in mortality between organ involvement and non-involvement, including renal, neuropsychiatric, cardiopulmonary, gastrointestinal and hematological involvements.Conclusion: Low daily dosage and long-term use of CTX lowers the risk of overall mortality of SLE. CTX might improve the survival of patients with renal, neuropsychiatric, cardiopulmonary, gastrointestinal and hematological involvements.

Background: Jujube is one of the characteristic fruit tree species in China. ‘Linhuang No. 1’, a cracking-resistant cultivar, and ‘Muzao’, a cracking-susceptible cultivar, were selected as materials by previous study. Whole-genome re-sequencing and transcriptome of ‘Linhuang No. 1’ and ‘Muzao’ allow the screening out of differently expressed genes with different gene structures between them. It could be helpful in explaining divergence/similarity of cracking resistance between the two cultivars. Results: There are 664,129 mutation sites between ‘Linhuang No. 1’ and ‘Muzao’ by re-sequencing. To determine the genetic relationship of ‘Linhuang 1’, ‘Muzao’ and reference genome ‘Dongzao’, the characteristic mutation sites were analyzed by principal component analysis. The genetic relationship between ‘Linhuang No. 1’ and ‘Muzao’ was closer than that with ‘Dongzao’. A total of 431 differentially expressed genes was screened by transcriptomics, and 19 differentially expressed genes were screened by combining the transcriptomics with re-sequencing analysis. LOC107427052 (encoding nitrite reductase) was determined by KEGG enrichment analysis for further study. Conclusions: The large base insertion was not in the domain region of the LOC107427052 gene CDS region. As verified by the finding that the base insertion did not affect protein translation. Our study has laid a foundation for the analysis of genetic information and the comparative nitrite metabolism of ‘Linhuang No. 1’ and ‘Muzao’.

The van der Waals (vdW) chromium trihalides (CrX3) exhibit field-tunable, two-dimensional magnetic orders that vary with the halogen species and the number of layers. Their magnetic ground states with proximity in energies are sensitive to the degree of ligand-metal (p-d) hybridization and relevant modulations in the Cr d-orbital interactions. We use soft X-ray absorption (XAS) and resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS) spectroscopy at Cr L-edge along with the atomic multiplet simulations to determine the key energy scales such as the crystal field 10 Dq and interorbital Coulomb interactions under different ligand metal charge transfer (LMCT) in CrX3 (X= Cl, Br, and I). Through this systematic study, we show that our approach compared to the literature has yielded a set of more reliably determined parameters for establishing a base Hamiltonian for CrX3.

The abundant occurrence of calcium carbonate minerals in marine sediments and their high fluorine content suggests that fluorine is a good candidate for reconstructing paleoceanographic parameters. However, the potential of fluorine as a paleoproxy had hardly been explored, and fundamental insights into the behaviour of fluorine in biogenic carbonates and marine sediments is required. A first-principles modelling approach is used here to analyse the incorporation mechanisms of fluorine into crystalline calcium carbonates. We compute F incorporation into the CaCO$_{3}$ lattice via a number of mechanisms, but concentrate on comparison of the energetics of the two easiest substitution mechanisms: replacing one oxygen atom within the carbonate group to form a (CO$_{2}$F)$^{-}$ group as against a substitution involving replacement of the CO$_{3}$ group by two fluorine ions to form a CaF$_2$ defect. These incorporation mechanisms are fundamentally different from that of iodine into calcium carbonates, where a carbon atom is replaced. Our simulations suggest that the substitution of CO$_{3}^{2-}$ by F$_{2}^{2-}$ is the most favoured and that fluorine is preferentially incorporated into the three naturally-occurring polymorphs of calcium carbonate in the order vaterite $\gtrapprox$ aragonite $\gg$ calcite. These results explain the previously-reported preponderance of fluorine in aragonite corals, and lend support to the use of F/Ca as a proxy for ocean $\textit{p}$CO$_2$.

Actinidia arguta (Sieb. et Zucc.) Planch. ex Miq. is abundant of vitamin C and bioactive compounds with high antioxidant activities. In this study, eight wild A. arguta accessions from different areas in Northeast China were collected. Some bioactive compounds were examined on the different tissues of different germplasms including four kinds of leaves, petioles and fruits. The method of UPLC-MS was used to detect the flavonoid compounds. The results showed that some bioactive compounds including vitamin C, soluble sugar, free amino acid, total phenolics and flavonoids content showed significant differences between six tissues of A. arguta accessions and showed significant variability with maturity. In eight accessions, the highest vitamin C content was found in young apical leaves of ‘CBS-6’ (7.47 mg/g fresh weight), and the highest soluble sugar content was in fruits of ‘CJ-1’ (196.52 mg/g fresh weight) and the highest total phenolic content and total flavonoids content were in young apical leaves of ‘CBS-11’ (3.48 mg/g fresh weight) and of ‘CBS-3’ (2.00 mg/g fresh weight), respectively. Ten flavonoid compounds including kaempferol, isorhamnetin and quercetin were detected in leaves, petioles and fruits. The total content of flavonoids were highest in young apical leaves (10219.84 µg·g-1) and the lowest in fruits (78.75 µg·g-1). Based on the comparison of the contents of several bioactive compounds, the two accessions ‘CJ-1’ and ‘CBS-8’ had relatively outstanding performance, and in the comprehensive evaluation of the antioxidant activity among different tissues, the young leaves had the strongest antioxidant activity. These results highlighted the antioxidant potentialities of A. arguta leaves as a major source of phenolics and vitamin C as well as flavonoids. It provided a theoretical basis for the utilization of leaves of A. arguta.

Sugarcane Bacilliform Virus(SCBV) is considered an economically the most damaging pathogen for sugarcane production worldwide. Three ORFs are characterized in a single molecule of circular, ds-DNA genome of the SCBV, encoding for hypothetical protein (ORF1), DNA binding protein (ORF2) and Polyprotein (ORF3). The study was aimed to predict and comprehensively evaluate sugarcane miRNAs for the silencing of SCBV genome usingin-silicoalgorithms. Computational methods were used for prediction of candidate miRNAs from sugarcane (S. officinarumL.) to silence the expression of SCBV genes through translational inhibition by mRNA cleavage. Mature sugarcane miRNAs were retrieved and were assessed to hybridization with the SCBV genome. A total of fourteen potential candidate miRNAs from sugarcane were computed by all the algorithms used for the silencing of SCBV. A consensus of three algorithms predicts hybridization sites of sof-miR159e at common locus 5534. The miRNA-mRNA interaction was estimated by computing free-energy of miRNA-mRNA duplex using RNAcofold algorithm. Regulatory network of predicted candidate miRNAs of sugarcane with SCBV ORFs, generated using Circos, identify novel targets. Consequently, detecting and discarding inefficient amiRNAs prior to cloning would help suppressed mutants faster. The efficacy of predicted candidate miRNAs was evaluated to test the survival rate of thein vitroamiRNA-mediated effective badnaviral silencing and resistance in sugarcane cultivars.

Wuhan was locked down from January 23rd to April 8th, 2020 to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Both the public and private transportations in Wuhan and its neighboring cities in Hubei Province were suspended or restricted, and the manufacturing industry was partially shut down. This study collected and investigated the ground monitoring data to prove that the lockdowns of the cities had significant influences on the air quality in Wuhan. The combined Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF) and Community Multiscale Air Quality Modeling System model (CMAQ) was used to evaluate the emission reduction from transportation and industry sectors and associated air quality impact. The results show that the emission from the transportation and industry sector reduced after the lockdown, while the emission from the industry sector reduced further after February 9th. The reduction rate of pollutant concentration was 9.7%, 9.0%, 2.2%,18.4% and 13.4% from transportation, and was 48.5%, 50.0%, 63.8%, 65.6% and 40.8% from industry for PM2.5, PM10, SO2, NO2 and CO, respectively, compared to the ‘business as usual’ case during January and February in Wuhan. The industry shut down contributed significantly more to the pollutant reduction than the restricted transportation.

PurposeCoronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic is now a global health concern. However, there is no detailed analysis of the factors related to patients’ improvement.Patients and methodsWe compared the clinical characteristics, laboratory findings, CT images, and treatment of COVID-19 patients from two different cities in China. One hundred and sixty-nine patients were recruited from January 27 to March 17, 2020 at five hospitals in Hubei and Guangxi. They were divided into four groups according to age and into two groups according to presence of comorbidities. Multivariate statistical analyses were performed for the prognosis of the disease.ResultsFifty-two patients (30.8%) had comorbidities, and the percentage of critical COVID-19was higher in the comorbidities group (11.6%vs.0.9%, pConclusionsAge, comorbidities, lymphocyte count, and SpO2 may predict the risk of severity of COVID-19. Early isolation, early diagnosis, and early initiation of management can slow down the progression and spread of COVID-19.Key PointsAge and comorbidities can predict the risk of severity of COVID-19, Lymphocyte count and SpO2 may predict the risk of severity of COVID-19. Early isolation, Early diagnosis can slow down the progression of COVID-19

The solvation shell structures of Ca2+ in aqueous and organic solutions probed by calcium L-edge soft X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and DFT/MD simulations show the coordination number of Ca2+ to be negatively correlated with the electrolyte concentration and the steric hindrance of the solvent molecule. In this work, the calcium L-edge soft XAS demonstrates its sensitivity to the surrounding chemical environment. Additionally, the total electron yield (TEY) mode is surface sensitive because the electron penetration depth is limited to a few nanometers. Thus this study shows its implications for future battery studies, especially for probing the electrolyte/electrode interface for electrochemical reactions under in situ/operando conditions.

In order to evaluate the inhibitory effects of drug on the growth of babesia parasite, relative quantification real-time PCR method was developed in this study. The 18S rRNA gene was used as target gene for the 2−ΔΔCt method analysis. Meanwhile, Chicken RNA was added into the parasitized blood for total RNA extraction. The β-actin gene of chicken was selected as internal control gene for the 2−ΔΔCt method analysis. Parasitized blood 100 μL, 50 μL, 25μL, 12.5 μL, 6.25 μL was prepared for B. gibsoni relative quantification. Regression analysis results revealed that significant linear relationships between the relative quantification value and parasitemia. The 18S rRNA gene expression was significantly decreased after the treatment of Diminazene aceturate and Artesunate in vitro drug sensitivity test. It suggested that this relative quantification real-time PCR method can be used in evaluating the effects of inhibitory of drug.

Conventional electrolytes made by mixing simple Mg2+ salts and aprotic solvents, analogous to those in Li-ion batteries, are incompatible with Mg anodes because Mg metal readily reacts with such electrolytes, producing a passivation layer that blocks Mg2+ transport. Here, we report that, through tuning a conventional electrolyte - Mg(TFSI)2 (TFSI- is N(SO2CF3)2-) - with an Mg(BH4)2 cosalt, highly reversible Mg plating/stripping with a high Coulombic efficiency is achieved by neutralizing the first solvation shell of Mg cationic clusters between Mg2+ and TFSI- and enhanced reductive stability of free TFSI-. A critical adsorption step between Mg0 atoms and active Mg cation clusters involving BH4- anions is identified to be the key enabler for reversible Mg plating/stripping through analysis of the distribution of relaxation times (DRT) from operando electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), operando electrochemical X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and density functional theory (DFT) calculations.

Realization of memristors capable of storing and processing data on flexible substrates is a key enabling technology towards “system-on-plastics”. Recent advancements in printing techniques show enormous potential to overcome the major challenges of the current manufacturing processes requiring high-temperature and planar topography, which may radically change the system integration approach on flexible substrates. However, fully-printed memristors are yet to be successfully demonstrated due to the lack of a robust printable switching medium and a reliable printing process. Here, we realize an aerosol-jet-printed Ag/MoS2/Ag memristor in a cross-bar structure by developing a scalable and low temperature printing technique utilizing functional molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) ink platform. The fully printed devices exhibit an ultra-low switching voltage (0.18 V), a high switching ratio (107), a wide tuneable resistance states (10-1010 Ω) for multi-bit data storage, as well as a low standby power consumption of 1 fW and a switching energy of 4.5 fJ per transition set. Moreover, the MoS2 memristor exhibits both volatile and non-volatile resistive switching behaviours by controlling the current compliance levels, which efficiently mimic the short-term and long-term plasticity of biological synapses, demonstrating its potential to enable energy-efficient artificial neuromorphic computing.

© 2019 Elsevier Ltd In this work, a novel flocculation process by using nano-Fe3O4 coated with polyethyleneimine (Fe3O4@PEI) as magnetic seeds was developed to harvest the microalgae cultivated in urban sewage. Experiment results indicated that the harvest efficiency of Chlorella pyrenoidosa (0.5 g/L) was 98.92 ± 0.41% under the optimal conditions of Fe3O4@PEI dose of 20 mL/L, flocculation time of 20 min, and stirring speed of 800 rpm (3 min), while that of Scenedesmus obliquus (0.4 g/L) was 98.45 ± 0.35% under a Fe3O4@PEI dose of 16 mL/L, flocculation time of 15 min, and stirring speed of 730 rpm (3 min). Moreover, the process did not reduce the lipid content of microalgae and quality of biodiesel. After microalgae harvest, Fe3O4@PEI could be recovered by ultrasonication, re-wrapped with polyethyleneimine and reused to reduce operational cost.

Structure searches of beryllium chalcogenides (BeS, BeSe, and BeTe) at high pressures using a swarm intelligence algorithm, in conjunction with density functional theory, reveal modulated polymorphs, unusual for such simple binary compounds. Apart from the well-known cubic (space group F-43m, zinc-blende structure) to hexagonal closed packed (space group P63/mmc, nickel-arsenide structure) structural transition, a further transition at higher pressure to an orthorhombic structure is predicted for BeS and BeSe. The orthorhombic phase is space group Cmca in BeS and Pnma before finally adopting Cmca in BeSe, each accompanied by the onset of modulation of the atomic arrangement. The amplitude of displacements associated with the modulation increases with increasing pressure and molecular dynamics simulations show the modulated structure to become stable at least to 300 GPa and 2000 K. This unusual structural modulation is not seen, however, in BeTe, which instead transforms to a C2/m phase. Links are drawn between the modulated phases of BeS and BeSe and the high-pressure modulated phases of their parent chalcogens. Our results provide key insights into understanding the modulation in binary compounds at high pressure.

A novel analysis method is presented for form-finding of tensegrity structures subjected to boundary constraints. Dummy members are introduced to free the fixed nodes as to transform the tensegrity structure with boundary constraints into free-standing self-stressed system without supports. The geometrical topology, the dimension of the structure and the element prototype are the only information that is required in the proposed form-finding process. Parallel computation of singular value decomposition of the force density matrix and the equilibrium matrix are performed iteratively to seek the feasible sets of nodal coordinates and force densities. A rigorous definition is given for the required rank deficiencies of the force density and equilibrium matrices that lead to a stable non-degenrate d-dimensional self-stresssed tensegrity structure. Several illustrative examples are presented to demonstrate the efficiency and robustness in searching self-equilibrium configurations of tensegrity structures subjected to boundary constraints.

If Marxists are right, why did Mao’s China witness a prevalence of precarious labour? If mainstream modernization theorists are right, why has post-Mao China seen a growth of precarious workers? In the light of these paradoxes, this thesis asks: what are the mechanisms that generate labour precariousness in post-1949 China? Drawing upon insights from Marxism, mainstream economics, Polanyianism, and the theory of primitive socialist accumulation, this thesis develops a theoretical framework to study the origins of labour precariousness in post-1949 China. Briefly, exploitation and exclusion are two major mechanisms that generate labour precariousness. Both the state and the market can exercise these mechanisms. Both mechanisms operate in spheres of production and social reproduction. By applying this framework to the analyses of data mainly collected from archives and fieldwork, this thesis has the following findings. Under the exclusion-centred precarization regime in Mao’ era, to reconcile the contradiction between primitive accumulation and political legitimacy, the state built up a system of social exclusion. One’s location in this system determined one’s conditions of precariousness. The rigidity of this system was primarily mediated by the alternation between centralization and decentralization of industrialization, as well as by employment policies and labour movements. Under the exploitation-centred precarization regime in reform China, the previous social exclusion system has been curtailed and the extent of exploitation, in spheres of both production and social reproduction, defines one’s conditions of precariousness. The magnitude of exploitation has been modulated primarily by labour regulation, and by labour movements as well. On top of these findings, this thesis also extends the extant literature by unveiling the continuities and discontinuities of labour precariousness practices and mechanisms in post-1949 China, and by contributing to two debates in this field. It shows that in the Chinese experience precarization is a process of proletarian unification and formalization is a limited remedy for labour precariousness.