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With the expansion of green finance and the digital economy, the discussion on the evolution of green credit business and the digitalization of commercial banks have grown in prominence. However, limited research has been done on how different degrees of digital transformation in commercial banks—the main issuers—affect the way of green credit efficiency. To fill this gap, based on data from 114 Chinese commercial banks between 2010 and 2021, this paper explores the impact of digitalization on the green credit efficiency through the integration of several methodologies. The paper indicates that enhancing the digitalization, business digitization, and management digitization of commercial banks can greatly enhance the effectiveness of green credit businesses, but the impact of strategic digitization is not significant. Further analysis reveals that digitization facilitates the expansion of overall bank assets, thereby bolstering the green credit business. It also investigates the characteristics of commercial banks and the geographical distribution of their headquarters, indicating a diminished promotional impact for urban and rural banks, as well as banks in the central areas. Finally, this study contends that commercial banks ought to leverage digital resources extensively to facilitate digital transformation and bolster the advancement of green credit operations. It is also recommended that the government should implement preferential policies for regions and banks exhibiting slower developmental progress.

In this work, densities and viscosities of the mixtures of ionic liquids (ILs) 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium halides ([C6mim]X, where X = Cl–, Br–, and I–) and isopropanol (IPA) were measured over the temperature ranging from 288.15 to 323.15 K to investigate the influence of anions, IL concentration, and temperature on the physical properties of the mixtures of ([C6mim]X + IPA). Excess volumes (VE) and viscosity deviations (Δη) were also calculated to study the nonideal behavior of ([C6mim]X + IPA). The VEand Δηvalues of ([C6mim]X + IPA) are negative over the whole compositional range at all temperatures, indicating that IPA molecules preferentially coordinate with IL ions to form more densely packed structures. In addition, the molar enthalpies of mixing (ΔmixH) for the mixtures were determined under 298.15 and 308.15 K, and the nonrandom two-liquid model along with the Gibbs–Helmholtz equation was introduced to describe ΔmixHfor the studied systems. The mixtures of ([C6mim]Br + IPA) and ([C6mim]I + IPA) showed endothermic behavior within the full range of compositions, while the mixtures of ([C6mim]Cl + IPA) showed endothermic first and then changed to exothermic behavior with increasing IL mole fraction.

Energy transfer between atoms and molecules is fundamental to many physical and chemical processes, and understanding the mechanisms and outcomes of energy transfer is crucial for various applications in physics and chemistry. Here, the rovibrational excitation of YO(X 2Σ+) molecules with the collision of Kr and Ne has been studied in the laser-ablation crossed beam and time-sliced ion velocity map imaging setup in combination with the resonance enhanced multiphoton ionization scheme. Significant changes in the angular distribution for different rovibrational excitations of YO molecules are observed with the collision of Kr. The sharp forward distribution for low rovibrational excitation of YO(v′ = 0, 1) molecules suggest that the weak attractive potential between Kr and YO is dominant at large impact parameters. Comparatively, the strong sideway distribution for highly rovibrationally excited YO(v′ = 1, 2, 3, and 5) is due to rainbow scattering from the stronger attractive potential of Kr···YO at relatively small impact parameters. The more isotropic angular distribution in the highly rovibrationally excited YO(v′ = 11) indicates the formation of a short-lived complex. A change in the angular distribution of scattered YO with different rovibrational excitations was also observed in the collisions of Ne. For YO as a heteronuclear diatomic molecule, collisions of the Y- and the O-end of YO with rare gases would affect the contribution of inelastic processes at different impact parameters.

AbstractThis research pertains to the tenets of the Taliban’s gender policy and its roots within a particular political discourse and foreign policy. Further, the research examines the cognition of related countries on Afghanistan’s gender policy and the impact of this policy on the country’s inter-state relations. This paper collects and analyses news articles and recent reports published as the supporting database and published material from JSTOR, ProQuest, Web of Science, Scopus, Gender Studies, and Wiley. The social and historical evolution of Afghanistan is discussed to better comprehend the historical trajectory of gender policy and inequality, as well as the political and diplomatic positions of different countries in Afghanistan, Central Asia, and Asia. Their views on gender policies have a profound impact on its national political and economic situation and the vested interests of power that are concerned about gender equality in Afghanistan. To conclude, the article recommends how countries should approach Afghanistan and the Taliban regime to improve international relations and its foreign policies with countries of strategic significance while enhancing women’s position in the country.

To address the problems of fringe compression in optical mirror measurement, this article shows a method for phase measuring deflectometry (PMD) of spiral fringes in polar coordinates. This method modulates the phase in two linearly independent directions in polar coordinates. Furthermore, spiral stripes have the unique property of spiral arms increasing with radius. It can solve the fringe compression problem at the convex mirror’s edge. Due to the periodicity of angles in polar coordinates, phase errors occur where the phase is zero. Therefore, this study studies a solution of extracting the wrapped phase boundary instead of the absolute phase boundary and dealing with the phase error points, effectively solving this problem. When the tangential and radial gradient data of the surface under test (SUT) were obtained, we used an accurate calculation for Zernike polynomial surface reconstruction in polar coordinates. This algorithm no longer uses the traditional Cartesian pixel arrangement to obtain the sampling points but reconstructs the horizontal and vertical pixels. The polar pixel matrix is used to obtain the fan pixel arrangement. On that basis, the geometric and numerical errors of traditional pixel arrangements can be avoided using Zernike polynomial surface reconstruction in polar coordinates. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method can improve measurement accuracy.

N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is the most abundant eukaryotic mRNA modification and is involved in various biological processes. Increasing evidence has implicated that m6A modification is an important anti-viral defense mechanism in mammals and plants, but it is largely unknown how m6A regulates viral infection in plants. Here we report the dynamic changes and functional anatomy of m6A in Nicotiana benthamianaand Solanum lycopersicumduring Pepino mosaic virus (PepMV) infection. m6A modification in the PepMV RNA genome is conserved in these two species. Overexpression of the m6A writers, mRNA adenosine methylase A (MTA), and HAKAI inhibit the PepMV RNA accumulation accompanied by increased viral m6A modifications, whereas deficiency of these writers decreases the viral RNA m6A levels but enhances virus infection. Further study reveals that the cytoplasmic YTH-domain family protein NbECT2A/2B/2C as m6A readers are involved in anti-viral immunity. Protein-protein interactions indicate that NbECT2A/2B/2C interact with nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD)-related proteins, including NbUPF3 and NbSMG7, but not with NbUPF1. m6A modification-mediated restriction to PepMV infection is dependent on NMD-related factors. These findings provide new insights into the functionality of m6A anti-viral activity and reveal a distinct immune response that NMD factors recognize the m6A readers-viral m6A RNA complex for viral RNA degradation to limit virus infection in plants.

Spin–orbit coupling plays an important role in chemical reactivity, especially in reactions that require the change of electron spin states. However, it is difficult to measure and analyze the reaction dynamics between spin–orbit splitting states, particularly for splitting states with a small energy difference. In this study, we find that nonreactive scattering of spin–orbit splitting states can provide complementary information that is overlooked in chemical reaction studies. Here, the oxidation reactivities of spin–orbit Al(2P1/2,3/2) states with small energy difference of 112 cm–1are clearly distinguished in the high rotational AlO(v= 0 and 1, N) products at low collision energy of 507 cm–1using a laser ablation crossed-beam and time-sliced ion velocity mapping technique, in conjunction with state-selected nonreactive scattering studies. For both the AlO(v= 0 and 1) channels, the spin–orbit relative reactivity σ3/2/σ1/2increases with the increase of rotational level Nof AlO products. However, for AlO(v= 0), the reactivity of the Al(2P3/2) excited state is consistently lower than that of the Al(2P1/2) ground state, whereas for AlO(v= 1), the reactivity of Al(2P3/2) is higher than that of Al(2P1/2) at a higher rotational state. The relative reactivity of spin–orbit split Al(2P) states at different scattering angles shows a more pronounced enhancement of forward scattering relative to side and backward scattering for Al(2P3/2) when a higher rotationally excited AlO is produced. Nonreactive scattering studies of Al(2P) suggest that the Al(2P3/2) state is deexcited to the ground Al(2P1/2) state at the sideways and backward scattering directions, and the deexcitation is supposed to reduce the reactivity of the excited Al(2P3/2) at the corresponding direction.

Autophagy plays an active anti-viral role in plants. Increasing evidence suggests that viruses can inhibit or manipulate autophagy, thereby winning the arms race between plants and viruses. Here, we demonstrate that overexpression of an m6A writer from Solanum lycopersicum, SlHAKAI, could negatively regulate pepino mosaic virus (PepMV) infection, inhibit viral RNA and protein accumulations by affecting viral m6A levels in tomato plants and vice versa. The PepMV-encoded RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRP) directly interacts with SlHAKAI and reduces its protein accumulation. The RdRP-mediated decreased protein accumulation of SlHAKAI is sensitive to the autophagy inhibitor 3-methyladenine and is compromised by knocking down a core autophagy gene. Furthermore, PepMV RdRP could interact with an essential autophagy-related protein, SlBeclin1. RdRP, SlHAKAI, and SlBeclin1 interaction complexes form bright granules in the cytoplasm. Silencing of Beclin1in Nicotiana benthamianaplants abolishes the RdRP-mediated degradation of SlHAKAI, indicating the requirement of Beclin1 in this process. This study uncovers that the PepMV RdRP exploits the autophagy pathway by interacting with SlBeclin1 to promote the autophagic degradation of the SlHAKAI protein, thereby inhibiting the m6A modification-mediated plant defense responses.

A pair of nanostructured mirrors made of a diffraction grating inscribed in the top layer of a Bragg mirror are designed such that a phase shift near π and different reflected amplitudes exist between transverse electric (TE) and magnetic (TM) reflected polarization states at normal incidence. When a standing wave laser resonator is formed with two such mirrors and the two mirrors’ principal axes are twisted one with respect to the other, this phase shift condition suppresses multiple longitudinal mode emission arising from axial spatial hole burning. In addition, the different amplitudes of TE and TM reflected polarizations create polarization eigenstates with different round-trip losses, suppressing one polarization eigenstate. Laser experiments made with a Yb3+-doped Y3Al5O12active material reveal enhanced purity of the emission spectrum compared to similar lasers using conventional laser mirrors. The proposed design enables a miniature single mode laser, replacing more complex designs usually needed to achieve that goal.

In linguistics, the uncertainty of context due to polysemy is widespread, which attracts much attention. Quantum-inspired complex word embedding based on Hilbert space plays an important role in natural language processing (NLP), which fully leverages the similarity between quantum states and word tokens. A word containing multiple meanings could correspond to a single quantum particle which may exist in several possible states, and a sentence could be analogous to the quantum system where particles interfere with each other. Motivated by quantum-inspired complex word embedding, interpretable complex-valued word embedding (ICWE) is proposed to design two end-to-end quantum-inspired deep neural networks (ICWE-QNN and CICWE-QNN representing convolutional complex-valued neural network based on ICWE) for binary text classification. They have the proven feasibility and effectiveness in the application of NLP and can solve the problem of text information loss in CE-Mix [1] model caused by neglecting the important linguistic features of text, since linguistic feature extraction is presented in our model with deep learning algorithms, in which gated recurrent unit (GRU) extracts the sequence information of sentences, attention mechanism makes the model focus on important words in sentences and convolutional layer captures the local features of projected matrix. The model ICWE-QNN can avoid random combination of word tokens and CICWE-QNN fully considers textual features of the projected matrix. Experiments conducted on five benchmarking classification datasets demonstrate our proposed models have higher accuracy than the compared traditional models including CaptionRep BOW, DictRep BOW and Paragram-Phrase, and they also have great performance on F1-score. Eespecially, CICWE-QNN model has higher accuracy than the quantum-inspired model CE-Mix as well for four datasets including SST, SUBJ, CR and MPQA. It is a meaningful and effictive exploration to design quantum-inspired deep neural networks to promote the performance of text classification.

Considering the widespread application of nanotechnology in the food industry, humans are increasingly exposed to food-related engineered nanoparticles (NPs). Upon ingestion, NPs come into contact with human commensal bacteria that play an important role in human health and disease. Therefore, the effects and biotransformation of food-related NPs in the digestive tract, including microbiota, need to be assessed. Herein, artificial saliva was used as a physiologically relevant test medium to investigate the effects of Ag, SiO2and TiO2NPs and food-grade TiO2on the growth and antagonistic activity of Streptococcus salivariusK12, a human beneficial bacterium inhabiting the oral cavity, and bacterially induced biotransformation of NPs. SiO2NPs, TiO2NPs and food-grade TiO2at concentrations up to 100 mg L−1did not affect the growth of S. salivariusK12, while Ag NPs were expectedly growth-inhibitory already at 10 mg L−1, both in aerobic and anaerobic conditions. At sub-growth-inhibitory concentrations, NPs and food-grade TiO2significantly modified the transcription of structural genes (salAand sboA) of two bacteriocins (salivaricins) in S. salivariusK12 genome, signal transduction gene (sboK) and bacteriocin immunity conferring gene (sboG, an ABC transporter). Changes in gene expression were accompanied by the increased antagonistic activity of the bacterial strain. Spent artificial saliva, where bacteria had been cultured, markedly affected the transformation of NPs compared to fresh artificial saliva. The transformations included significant agglomeration, increased dissolution of Ag NPs and enhanced bioavailability of SiO2NPs, TiO2NPs and food-grade TiO2, while Ag NPs became less toxic. The results showed that food-related NPs can affect beneficial bacterial traits needed for competitiveness in microbiota and bacterial activity influences the transformation of NPs, potentially affecting the fate and toxicity of NPs in the digestive tract.

Highly enantioretentive alcoholysis of epoxides is an important way to synthesize enantiopure β-alkoxy alcohols, which are irreplaceable intermediates demanded by biomedicines, fine chemicals and other industries. In this report, we exploit a series of Zr-based metal–organic frameworks (Zr-MOFs) as the catalysts to achieve high activity and enantioretentivity in the alcoholysis of styrene oxide viamodulating their assembly fashions. It is explored that hcp-UiO-66not only exhibits a ∼10 fold improved catalytic activity than both hxl-CAU-26and fcc-UiO-66of varied assemblies but also maintains superior product enantioretentivity. Theoretic calculations together with experimental proof discloses the origin of distinct catalytic activity caused by different assembly fashions. This assembly modulation strategy offers a potential protocol for seeking high-performance catalysts among MOFs by virtue of their rich polymorphisms.

The increasing CO2emission, as the chief culprit causing numerous environmental problems, could be addressed by the electrochemical CO2reduction (CO2R) to the added-value carbon-based chemicals. Ionic liquids (ILs) as electrolytes and co-catalysts have been widely studied to promote CO2R owing to their unique advantages. Among the potential products of CO2R, those only containing one carbon atom, named C1 products, including CO, CH3OH, CH4, and syngas, are easier to achieve than others. In this study, we first summarized the research status on CO2R to these C1 products, and then, the state-of-the-art experimental results were used to evaluate the economic potential and environmental impact. Considering the rapid development in CO2R, future scenarios with better CO2R performances were reasonably assumed to predict the future business for each product. Among the studied C1 products, the research focuses on CO, where satisfactory results have been achieved. The evaluation shows that producing CO viaCO2R is the only profitable route at present. CH3OH and syngas of H2/CO (1 : 1) as the targeted products can become profitable in the foreseen future. In addition, the life cycle assessment (LCA) was used to evaluate the environmental impact, showing that CO2R to CH4is the most environmentally friendly pathway, followed by the syngas of H2/CO (2 : 1) and CO, and the further improvement of the CO2R performance can make all the studied C1 products more environmentally friendly. Overall, CO is the most promising product from both economic and environmental impact aspects.Keywords: Electrochemical-CO2-reduction; Ionic-liquids; C1-product; Economic-evaluation; Environmental-impact.

ABSTRACTType 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) is a chronic autoimmune disease characterized by destruction of pancreatic β-cells, leading to insulin deficiency and hyperglycemia, and its incidence is increasing year by year. The pathogenesis of T1DM is complex, mainly including genetic and environmental factors. Intestinal flora is the largest microbial community in the human body and plays a very important role in human health and disease. In recent years, more and more studies have shown that intestinal flora and its metabolites, as an environmental factor, regulate the development of T1DM through various mechanisms such as altering the intestinal mucosal barrier, influencing insulin secretion and body immune regulation. Intestinal flora transplantation, probiotic supplementation, and other approaches to modulate the intestinal flora appear to be potential therapeutic approaches for T1DM. This article reviews the dysbiosis of the intestinal flora in T1DM, the potential mechanisms by which the intestinal flora affects T1DM, as well as discusses potential approaches to treating T1DM by intervening in the intestinal flora.

Developing an effective catalyst for converting CO2into high-value chemicals is greatly desirable but remains a big hurdle. Herein, Zr-MOF derivative-bearing hydrazino groups were synthesized by mixing the ligands of terephthalic acid and 4-hydrazinobenzoic acid (HBA), resulting in UiO-66-HBA as heterocatalyst for epoxide cycloaddition with CO2. Compared to UiO-66, the optimal UiO-66-HBA0.2displayed outstanding activity for epichlorohydrin cycloaddition, with 96.03 % cyclocarbonate yield under 0.1 MPa CO2at 70 ℃. The great activity of UiO-66-HBA0.2was attributed to the synergistic cooperation of Lewis base offered by HBA moiety and Lewis acid originated from Zr6clusters, which was affirmed by NH3/CO2-temperature-programmed desorption experiments and CO2adsorption isotherms. Moreover, UiO-66-HBA0.2exhibited excellent stability and great substrate compatibility. In addition, a possible mechanism for catalyzing CO2conversion into cyclocarbonate was suggested. This study provides an effective way to design functionalized MOFs-based heterocatalysts for CO2utilization.

Background: Medical device-related pressure injures (MDRPIs) are common in critically ill patients and associated with negative clinical outcomes and elevated healthcare expenses. We aim to estimate worldwide incidence of MDRPI and explore associated factors through systemic review and meta-analysis. Methods: The PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and Ovid EMBASE databases were systematically queried to identify relevant studies published from Jan 1, 2010 up until June 30, 2024. Studies were included if they provided data on the incidence or prevalence of MDRPI. Random-effect models were utilized to calculate the overall or domain-specific aggregated estimates of MDRPI. A meta-regression analysis was additionally performed to investigate the heterogeneity among studies. Results: We included 28 observational studies on 117,624 patients in the meta-analysis. The overall incidence of MDRPI was 19.3% (95% confidence interval (CI) 13.5–25.2%). The incidence of MDRPI in Europe, North America, Asia, South America, and Oceania was 17.3% (95% CI 12.7–21.9%), 3.6% (95% CI 0.0–8.5%), 21.9% (95% CI 14.3–29.6%), 48.3% (95% CI 20.8–75.7%), and 13.0% (95% CI 5.0–21.1%), respectively (p< 0.01). Multivariate meta-regressions revealed South America and special inpatient (critically ill patient, etc.) were independently associated with higher MDRPI incidence. Conclusions: Nearly, 20% of the patients in ICU suffered from MDRPI. The incidence of MDRPI in underdeveloped regions is particularly concerning, highlighting the importance of focusing on measures to prevent it, in order to reduce the medical burden and enhance the quality of life for affected patients.

The hit TV series "To the Wonder" has sparked interest in the Kazak people and their culture. The drama, adapted from a prose collection, follows the story of Li Wenxiu, a woman from the Han ethnic group who integrates with the local Kazak community in Altay Prefecture, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The series explores themes of understanding, respect, and cultural adaptation as Li Wenxiu gradually becomes a part of the local culture. "To the Wonder" has received high ratings and has brought attention to Altay, leading to an increase in tourism to the region. The series also highlights the challenges faced by the Kazak people in the process of modernization and urbanization. [Extracted from the article]

Cotton to clothing Blessed with long days, more intense sunlight, and an array of other natural conditions suitable for cotton growing, Xinjiang's cotton textile industry has not only developed into an economic pillar of the region, but also enriched local culture. Alim Molla, a 19-year-old Uygur man, likes to put on his headphones and listen to music when operating the warping reels at a textile factory in the county of Bachu, some 200 km east of Kashgar City in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. [Extracted from the article]

Geminiviruses are a group of plant viruses that cause severe diseases in many economically important crops worldwide, leading to devastating losses to agricultural production. Here we summarize the occurrence and distribution of geminiviruses in China, which provides valuable information for further epidemiological studies and supports the development of effective disease management strategies.

Although hundreds of knockout mice show infertility as a major phenotype, the causative genic mutations of male infertility in humans remain rather limited. Here, we report the identification of a missense mutation (D136G) in the X-linked TAF7Lgene as a potential cause of oligozoospermia in men. The human aspartate (D136) is evolutionally conserved across species, and its change to glycine (G) is predicted to be detrimental. Genetic complementation experiments in budding yeast demonstrate that the conserved aspartate or its analogous asparagine (N) residue in yeast TAF7 is essential for cell viability and thus its mutation to G is lethal. Although the corresponding D144G substitution in the mouse Taf7lgene does not affect male fertility, RNA-seq analyses reveal alterations in transcriptomic profiles in the Taf7l(D144G) mutant testes. These results support TAF7L mutation as a risk factor for oligozoospermia in humans.A sequencing screen of infertile men identifies a missense mutation in the human TAF7L gene.

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Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is highly toxic and one of the problematic impurities in industrial gas streams, calling for H2S removal down to single-digit ppm levels to protect health and environment, and not to harm to the downstream processes. Here, we discuss the recent developments and challenges of current H2S removal technologies. Furthermore, we present a comprehensive review of H2S removal in ionic liquids (ILs), IL-based solvents/adsorbents/membranes, and deep eutectic solvents (DESs) due to their unique advantages. We analyze theoretical studies to better understand the microscopic details behind H2S removal. We discuss new research on IL/DES-based H2S removal processes from an industrial perspective. Finally, we summarize the utilization of H2S in IL/DES-based systems for the recovery of sulfur and hydrogen, and synthesis of value-added chemicals. This review will provide both general and in-depth knowledge of the achievements, difficulties, and research priorities in developing novel ILs/DESs for efficient and sustainable H2S removal and utilization.

Nanograting-based plasmonic sensors are widely regarded as promising platforms due to their real-time label-free detection and ease of integration. However, many reported grating structures are too complicated to fabricate, which limits their application. We propose a 1D bilayer metallic grating with trapezoidal profile as a near-infrared plasmonic sensor in the spectral interrogation. Trapezoidal gratings tend to perform better than rectangular gratings as sensors, particularly as they can detect at oblique incidence to obtain higher performance. Furthermore, we have successfully fabricated such a grating with a period of 633?nm over a 2.25 cm^2 area using a two-step approach based on laser interference lithography. Glucose detection has been conducted to experimentally validate the sensing performance of the as-prepared grating. The measured sensitivity and figure-of-merit can reach up to 786?nm/RIU and 30, respectively. Our research sheds new light on the development of cost-effective sensing devices.

UPR is a conserved response in eukaryotes and can alleviate endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stresses induced by abiotic and biotic stresses. The interactions between UPR and plant RNA viruses have been documented, while the interplays between UPR and plant DNA viruses remain unknown. Using tomato yellow leaf curl China virus (TYLCCNV) and its associated betasatellite (TYLCCNB) as a model, we indicate that TYLCCNB βC1 is a major inducer of UPR and can upregulate the expression of bZIP60, a transcription factor in Nicotiana benthamianaplants. Treatment using ER stress inducers or overexpression of NbbZIP60increases βC1 accumulation and benefits TYLCCNV/TYLCCNB infection in N. benthamianaplants, and vice versa. In the TYLCCNV/TYLCCNB-infected or the βC1-expressing cells, NbbZIP60 is exported from the nucleus to the nuclear periphery via the XPO1 pathway, and blocking the XPO1 pathway inhibited TYLCCNV/TYLCCNB infection. We have found that the NbbZIP60-regulated pro-survival genes could promote virus infection, and the pro-death gene plays a contrasting role in virus infection. This study reveals that geminivirus infection activates UPR and utilizes the up-regulated molecular chaperons to promote viral infection, and then induces the nuclear export of NbbZIP60 to evade plant defense response, which is a distinct virulence strategy exploited by plant pathogens.

'… He told me one of the fundamental problems that the U.S. has is that the U.S. doesn't have a long-term strategy for dealing with China", Kishore said. FEATURES With face-to-face global exchanges few and far between following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the week spanning November 14 to 19, when Indonesia and Thailand hosted the 17th Group of 20 (G20) Summit and the 29th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders' Meeting, respectively, provided rare but intense opportunities for leaders to meet and discuss urgent matters. "I hope that relations between the U.S. and China will improve so that all countries can concentrate on economic development and on improving the lives of their people instead of on geopolitical maneuvering", Blair concluded. [Extracted from the article]

We present the intracavity generation of beams with radial polarization at an average output power of 750 W and an optical efficiency of 43% from a continuous wave thin-disk laser. Circular grating waveguide output couplers (GWOC) were used to select the radial polarization. The sensitivity of the polarizing function of the GWOC with regards to the fabrication tolerances is also analysed in details with a particular emphasis on the effect of the duty cycle and the geometrical profile of the gratings. Furthermore, we present the conversion of femtosecond laser pulses from linear to azimuthal polarization using a nanograting-based polarization converter. Azimuthally polarized beams with an average power of up to 850 W, a pulse duration of 400 fs and a pulse repetition rate of 1 MHz were generated in this way with a conversion efficiency of >90%.

Hyperspace hashing which is often applied to NoSQL data-bases builds indexes by mapping objects with multiple attributes to a multidimensional space. It can accelerate processing queries of some secondary attributes in addition to just primary keys. In recent years, the rich computing resources of GPU provide opportunities for implementing high-performance HyperSpace Hash. In this study, we construct a fully concurrent dynamic hyperspace hash table for GPU. By using atomic operations instead of locking, we make our approach highly parallel and lock-free. We propose a special concurrency control strategy that ensures wait-free read operations. Our data structure is designed considering GPU specific hardware characteristics. We also propose a warp-level pre-combinations data sharing strategy to obtain high parallel acceleration. Experiments on an Nvidia RTX2080Ti GPU suggest that GHSH performs about 20-100X faster than its counterpart on CPU. Specifically, GHSH performs updates with up to 396 M updates/s and processes search queries with up to 995 M queries/s. Compared to other GPU hashes that cannot conduct queries on non-key attributes, GHSH demonstrates comparable building and retrieval performance.

We numerically study a fan-like metamaterial absorber (FMMA) composed of an Au-TiO_2-Au multilayer with a 3-D finite-difference-time-domain method (FDTD) and verify it experimentally. Our proposed design shows high absorbance, >98% numerically, in the visible spectrum, which is due to the excitation of both localized surface plasmons (LSPs) and propagating surface plasmons (PSPs). In particular, the TiO_2 dielectric spacer sandwiched between the top fan-like nanopatterned structure and the bottom planar Au-film is identified as playing a crucial role in the spectral response of the FMMA. Its introduction excites the PSP mode, which first enhances the absorbance of the FMMA and subsequently redshifts the spectral absorbance with a further increase in the thickness. Moreover, the proposed FMMA, numerically and experimentally, also shows polarization and angle insensitivity in the visible spectrum under normal and selected oblique incidence. These results offer unique potential in sensing applications and devices requiring selective absorption in the visible spectral region.

At that time, Xinjiang locals were mainly Uygurs and Kazaks, as well as Han migrants from neighboring Gansu Province who had been living in Xinjiang for generations. COVER STORY Eighty-one-year-old Shi Huifang could never forget her life-changing decision to venture out into Xinjiang, a remote and bare land to her in northwest China, some six decades ago. [Extracted from the article]

The CO2solubilities (including CO2Henry's constant) in physical- and chemical-based ILs/DESs and the COSMO-RS models describing these properties were comprehensively collected and summarized. The summarized results indicate that chemical-based ILs/DESs are superior to physical-based ILs/DESs for CO2capture, especially those ILs have functionalized cation and anion, and superbase DESs; some of the superbase DESs have higher CO2solubilities than those of ILs; the best physical- and chemical-based ILs, as well as physical- and chemical-based DESs are [BMIM][BF4] (4.20 mol kg−1), [DETAH][Im] (11.91 mol kg−1), [L-Arg]-Gly 1:6 (4.92 mol kg−1) and TBD-EG 1:4 (12.90 mol kg−1), respectively. Besides the original COSMO-RS mainly providing qualitative predictions, six corrected COSMO-RS models have been proposed to improve the prediction performance based on the experimental data, but only one model is with universal parameters. The newly determined experimental results were further used to verify the perditions of original and corrected COSMO-RS models. The comparison indicates that the original COSMO-RS qualitatively predicts CO2solubility for some but not all ILs/DESs, while the quantitative prediction is incapable at all. The original COSMO-RS is capable to predict CO2Henry's constant qualitatively for both physical-based ILs and DESs, and quantitative prediction is only available for DESs. For the corrected COSMO-RS models, only the model with universal parameters provides quantitative predictions for CO2solubility in physical-based DESs, while other corrected models always show large deviations (> 83%) compared with the experimental CO2Henry's constants.

FEATURES Over the past three years, the world has undergone an unprecedented period of turbulence: the COVID-19 pandemic, problems in the post-pandemic era, tense relations between major powers like China and the United States, the Ukraine crisis, the conflicts in the Middle East… These factors prompt questions about the global order and the trajectory of global governance as 2024 is approaching. The Budapest-Belgrade railway is one of the flagship projects of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in this part of Europe. Nye said he does not believe the world is entering a new Cold War between the U.S. and China, because there was almost no economic interdependence and very little social interaction between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. [Extracted from the article]

But overall, a major problem in Chinese society is the stigma still attached to mental health issues - the result of a lack of understanding of mental wellness. Space Hug's Jasper was born in a small village in Yunnan. Do you ever feel, feel so paper thin; like a house of cards, one blow from caving in?. [Extracted from the article]

FEATURES Is there a universal definition of human rights? He continued that a Cold War mentality, hegemonism, unilateral sanctions and the weaponization of human rights issues have undermined global human rights governance. Davidson said certain sections in the UK's political parties have been particularly vocal in their use of human rights criticisms to attack other states' political parties. [Extracted from the article]

Electrochemical reduction of CO2is a novel research field towards a CO2-neutral global economy and combating fast accelerating and disastrous climate changes while finding new solutions to store renewable energy in value-added chemicals and fuels. Ionic liquids (ILs), as medium and catalysts (or supporting part of catalysts) have been given wide attention in the electrochemical CO2reduction reaction (CO2RR) due to their unique advantages in lowering overpotential and improving the product selectivity, as well as their designable and tunable properties. In this review, we have summarized the recent progress of CO2electro-reduction in IL-based electrolytes to produce higher-value chemicals. We then have highlighted the unique enhancing effect of ILs on CO2RR as templates, precursors, and surface functional moieties of electrocatalytic materials. Finally, computational chemistry tools utilized to understand how the ILs facilitate the CO2RR or to propose the reaction mechanisms, generated intermediates and products have been discussed.

A new bafilomycin derivative (1) and another seven known bafilomycins (2–8) were isolated from feces-derived Streptomycessp. HTL16. The structure of 1was elucidated by 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopic analysis. Biological testing demonstrated that these bafilomycins exhibited potent antiviral activities against the influenza A and SARS-CoV-2 viruses, with IC50values in the nanomolar range, by inhibiting the activity of endosomal ATP-driven proton pumps.

Background: With the applications of wireless sensor network technology, threedimensional node location technology is crucial. The process of node localization has some disadvantages, such as the uneven distribution of anchor nodes and the high cost of the network. Therefore, the mobile anchor nodes are introduced to effectively solve accurate positioning.Objective: Considering the estimated distance error, the received signal strength indication technology is used to optimize the measurement of the distance. At the same time, dynamic stiffness planning is introduced to increase virtual anchor nodes. The bird swarm algorithm is also used to solve the optimal location problem of nodes.Method: Firstly, the dynamic path is introduced to increase the number of virtual anchor nodes. At the same time, the improved RSSI distance measurement technology is introduced to the node localization. Then, an intelligent three-dimensional node localization algorithm based on dynamic path planning is proposed. Finally, the proposed algorithm is compared with similar algorithms through simulation experiments.Results: Simulation results show that the node coordinates obtained by the proposed algorithm are more accurate, and the node positioning accuracy is improved. The execution time and network coverage of the algorithm are better than similar algorithms.Conclusion: The proposed algorithm significantly improves the accuracy of node positioning. However, the traffic of the algorithm is increased. A little increase in traffic in exchange for positioning accuracy is worthy of recognition. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm is robust and can be implemented and promoted in the future.

Increasing number of resistant bacteria have emerged with the overuse of antibiotics, which indicates that the bacterial infection has become a global challenge. Furthermore, the pollution of antibiotics to the environment has become a serious threat to public health. It is known that toxins produced by bacteria are the main cause of bacterial infections. Photothermal therapy is an effective antibacterial approach. However, the photothermal reagents cannot eliminate bacterial toxins, and even some anti-bacterial materials are toxic. Here, we synthesized a biomimetic recycled nanoparticle, red blood cell (RBC) membrane-coated Fe3O4nanoparticles (RBC@Fe3O4), as an antibacterial agent. The RBC@Fe3O4nanoparticles act as nano-sponges to trap toxins and then kill them all with a photothermal effect. We can describe this process simply as a battle between two armies. Our strategy is to disarm the “enemy” so that we can easily kill the “enemy” who has no power, which results in enhancing the bactericidal efficacy. The toxin of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus(MRSA) was absorbed by RBC@Fe3O4in vitro. In addition, in vivostudies proved that the RBC@Fe3O4nanoparticles confer obvious survival benefits against toxin-induced lethality by absorbing the toxin of MRSA. Furthermore, using a mouse model of MRSA wound infection, the RBC@Fe3O4nanoparticles with laser irradiation were found to have a superior wound-healing effect. Simultaneously, the RBC@Fe3O4nanoparticles could be recycled in a simple way without affecting the bactericidal efficacy. The highly biocompatible and recyclable RBC@Fe3O4biomimetic nanoparticles based on photothermal therapy and bacterial toxin adsorption strategy are promising for treating bacterial infections.

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A copper-catalyzed reaction protocol for the dehydrogenation of ethylbenzenes into styrene derivatives has been developed. This reaction procedure proceeded well under mild reaction conditions, providing a practical and efficient strategy for the rapid assembly of biologically and pharmaceutically significant molecules, such as vinyl sulfone. Simple alkyl arenes were functionalized via consecutive β-elimination in the presence of N-sulfonylbenzo[d]imidazole with broad substrate scope and good functional group tolerance.