Search

Peanut root rot (PRR) is a prevalent and destructive plant disease attributed to Fusarium solani. Pydiflumetofen (Pyd) is a succinate dehydrogenase inhibitor (SDHI) with antifungal activity against F. solani, yet its resistance mechanism has been inadequately explored. In this study, the EC50values for Pyd against 93 F. solanistrains ranged from 0.0095 to 0.3815 μg/mL, with all strains displaying a minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) of ≤1 μg/mL. Four Pyd-resistant (PR) mutants were obtained, exhibiting stable resistance levels and comparable fitness to their parental strains in terms of mycelia growth, hyphal tip morphology, asexual reproduction, and virulence assessment. Five-point mutations, including FsSdhC1A82V, FsSdhC2L76M, FsSdhC2L135V, FsSdhC2F137L, and FsSdhC2F147L, were identified in the PR mutants. However, molecular docking analysis indicated that only FsSdhC1A82Vand FsSdhC2L135Vcould influence the sensitivity of F. solanito Pyd. These findings help evaluate F. solani’s resistance to Pyd and guide future PRR management with this fungicide.

Activated carbon (AC) has been widely used as a support material with both tunable acidity and abundant functional groups for solid acid catalysts in various chemical processes such as acetylene dimerization. A facile, mild acid modification method that directly activates AC to generate rich defects and oxygen functional group surface structures with Brönsted acid sites and an enhanced conductivity is presented here. Impressively, the catalyst with optimized Brönsted acid sites and an enhanced dispersion of active components exhibited a superior acetylene dimerization catalytic activity. Moreover, theoretical calculations indicated that an increase in hydrogen concentration could inhibit the formation of coke. This research offered a feasible potential way to devise and construct a carbon-based solid acid catalyst with an excellent catalytic performance.

In recent years, the production of acetaldehyde with rich raw materials still has high research value. A series of Zn-HPW/AC catalysts with a Zn–O4configuration were prepared to solve the problems of easy loss of active components and carbon accumulation of Zn-based catalysts in the reaction. The characterization results showed that the phosphotungstic acid (HPW) ligands effectively promoted Zn species dispersion, provided more acid sites, mitigated the loss of Zn, and improved the carbon deposition resistance of the catalyst. The density functional theory (DFT) calculation further confirmed that the water molecules preferentially adsorb on the surface of the catalyst to promote the dissociation of water molecules, and the H of dissociation from water molecules and Zn forms the most stable Zn–OH configuration, which is the main active center of the reaction. Meanwhile the –OH dissociated from water molecules is adducted with C2H2, while H reduces the catalyst, and the original H atoms in the ligand catalyst further participate in the reaction to realize the catalytic cycle. This provides a new idea for the development of green catalysts for acetylene hydration.

Cells are the fundamental units of biological systems and exhibit unique development trajectories and molecular features. Our exploration of how the genomes orchestrate the formation and maintenance of each cell, and control the cellular phenotypes of various organismsis, is both captivating and intricate. Since the inception of the first single-cell RNA technology, technologies related to single-cell sequencing have experienced rapid advancements in recent years. These technologies have expanded horizontally to include single-cell genome, epigenome, proteome, and metabolome, while vertically, they have progressed to integrate multiple omics data and incorporate additional information such as spatial scRNA-seq and CRISPR screening. Single-cell omics represent a groundbreaking advancement in the biomedical field, offering profound insights into the understanding of complex diseases, including cancers. Here, we comprehensively summarize recent advances in single-cell omics technologies, with a specific focus on the methodology section. This overview aims to guide researchers in selecting appropriate methods for single-cell sequencing and related data analysis.

The typical porous structure and the presence of the dangling bonds mainly make the sputtered TMD lubricating film have a short wear life in a vacuum and vulnerable to oxidation or corrosion in moisture, degrading the tribological properties. In this study, periodic N ion bombardment of the deposited MoS2layers was done to obtain a N passivated nanocrystalline MoS2film, and the tribological properties both in a vacuum and in the atmosphere were investigated. It has been demonstrated that by periodic N ion bombardment higher than six times for a MoS2film with a total thickness of about 1.5 μm, the obtained films showed a much lower friction coefficient of 0.020 and a wear life higher than 5.0 × 105sliding cycles in a vacuum compared to about 0.032 and 2.3 × 105sliding cycles for the contrast pure MoS2film. Meanwhile, the periodically N ion dealt MoS2film exhibited a very stable friction coefficient as well as a much longer wear life in a humid environment. The improved tribological properties of the N ion dealt MoS2film were mainly due to the obtained densely distributed MoS2nanocrystals as well as the N passivation of the dangling bonds to inhibit the oxidation of the MoS2in air.

A novel perforated-rib configuration is proposed for controlling the tip leakage flow at the rotor tip of an axial turbine. Three perforated-rib layouts are considered, wherein a perforated rib is installed at (A) the Suction-Side squealer (SS-rib), (B) the Pressure-Side squealer (PS-rib), and (C) the additional squealer along the blade Camber Line (CL-rib). A numerical method is used to show how the novel rib layouts affect the aerodynamic performance of the tip leakage flow. Results show that the coolant jets issuing from the perforated-rib injection holes penetrate deeper into the tip clearance than those in the baseline squealer-tip case, and how the perforated-rib coolant injection affects the tip leakage flow depends strongly on the rib layout. The PS-rib and CL-rib layouts appear promising for controlling the tip leakage flow, playing a significant role in reducing the total pressure loss and improving the turbine blade’s isentropic efficiency. In particular, under an injection mass flow ratio of 1% and a tip clearance of 1% blade span, the PS-rib layout reduces the leakage mass flow rate by 27% and increases the isentropic efficiency by 1.25% compared with those in the baseline squealer-tip case. Meanwhile, the advantages of the PS-rib layout in tip leakage control are confirmed under small and large tip clearances.

The rise of ß-lactam resistance among pathogenic bacteria, due to the horizontal transfer of plasmid-encoded ß-lactamases, is a current global health crisis. Importantly, ß-lactam hydrolyzation by ß-lactamases, not only protects the producing cells but also sensitive neighboring cells cooperatively. Yet, how such cooperative traits affect plasmid transmission and maintenance is currently poorly understood. Here we experimentally show that KPC-2 ß-lactamase expression and extracellular activity were higher when encoded on plasmids compared with the chromosome, resulting in the elevated rescue of sensitive non-producers. This facilitated efficient plasmid transfer to the rescued non-producers and expanded the potential plasmid recipient pool and the probability of plasmid transfer to new genotypes. Social conversion of non-producers by conjugation was efficient yet not absolute. Non-cooperative plasmids, not encoding KPC-2, were moderately more competitive than cooperative plasmids when ß-lactam antibiotics were absent. However, in the presence of a ß-lactam antibiotic, strains with non-cooperative plasmids were efficiently outcompeted. Moreover, plasmid-free non-producers were more competitive than non-producers imposed with the metabolic burden of a plasmid. Our results suggest that cooperative antibiotic resistance especially promotes the fitness of replicons that transfer horizontally such as conjugative plasmids.

Two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors such as monolayer molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) are promising building blocks for ultrascaled field effect transistors (FETs), benefiting from their atomic thickness, dangling-bond-free flat surface, and excellent gate controllability. However, despite great prospects, the fabrication of 2D ultrashort channel FETs with high performance and uniformity remains a challenge. Here, we report a self-encapsulated heterostructure undercut technique for the fabrication of sub-10 nm channel length MoS2FETs. The fabricated 9 nm channel MoS2FETs exhibit superior performances compared with sub-15 nm channel length including the competitive on-state current density of 734/433 μA/μm at VDS= 2/1 V, record-low DIBL of ∼50 mV/V, and superior on/off ratio of 3 × 107and low subthreshold swing of ∼100 mV/dec. Furthermore, the ultrashort channel MoS2FETs fabricated by this new technique show excellent homogeneity. Thanks to this, we scale the monolayer inverter down to sub-10 nm channel length.

To date, MoS2can only be achieved at microscale. Edge pinning effect caused by structure defects is the most obvious barrier to expand the size of structural superlubricity to macroscale. Herein, we plan to pin edge planes of MoS2with nanospheres, and then the incommensurate structure can be formed between adjacent rolling nanoparticles to reduce friction. The sputtered MoS2film was prepared by the physical vapor deposition (PVD) in advance. Then enough Cu2O nanospheres (∼40 nm) were generated in situat the edge plane of MoS2layers by liquid phase synthesis. An incommensurate structure (mismatch angle (θ) = 8°) caused by MoS2layers was formed before friction. The friction coefficient of the films (5 N, 1,000 r/min) was ∼6.0×10−3at the most. During friction, MoS2layers pinned on numerous of Cu2O nanoparticles reduced its edge pinning effect and decreased friction. Moreover, much more incommensurate was formed, developing macro-superlubricity.

This article investigates the problem of distributed shape formation (DSF) in swarm robot systems. DSF involves each robot autonomously selecting and moving toward a target point to achieve a desired shape. A comprehensive mathematical model for DSF of swarm robots is developed, capturing the relationships among states, behaviors, and kinematics constraints. A novel memetic algorithm (MA) is proposed to generate and evolve behavior strategies that enable real-time decision-making for each robot. The proposed MA includes specifically designed behaviors to address subproblems within DSF, such as target selection conflict, collision, and deadlock. These behaviors, along with propositions about the states of robots, are utilized to construct strategies by a tree-based encoding scheme. An evaluation mechanism based on multiagent simulation is devised to evaluate the performance of strategies. Additionally, a repair mechanism is introduced to eliminate redundant or unreachable subtrees in a strategy. To further improve the performance of generated strategies, tree-based local search operators are employed to exploit the neighborhood of the best strategy found yet during the iteration. Experimental results and the Wilcoxon rank-sum test show that the strategies generated by the proposed MA outperform state-of-the-art algorithms, significantly reducing the completion time of DSF.

In arid regions with limited water resources, numerous reservoirs have been built to support economic and social development. However, how the construction of reservoirs interacts with the surrounding ecosystem to affect temperature remains unclear. Spanning 2018 to 2022 in the Shiyang River Basin, we collected surface water and precipitation, as well as stem and soil samples. Using isotopic methods, we quantified how evaporation in the oasis reservoir‐riparian forest system affects the local climate. Our findings show that the latent heat released by evapotranspiration from the reservoir and riparian forest system reduces the daily maximum temperature and daily temperature range by 7°C and 6°C respectively, compared to downstream areas with sparse vegetation around artificial lakes. Additionally, it enhances local moisture recycling, increasing precipitation. This study reveals regional cooling effect due to interactions between water bodies, the atmosphere, and vegetation. We propose that establishing reservoir‐riparian forest systems can positively impact local climate regulation and serve as an effective strategy for adapting to global climate warming. Quantifying evapotranspiration's cooling effect is crucial to understand how water bodies, vegetation, and the atmosphere interact. The construction of water facilities has changed global hydrology and vegetation, especially in arid regions. Clarifying evapotranspiration in arid area reservoirs and nearby vegetation helps address water scarcity and climate change. In this study, a comprehensive observation network was established in Hongyashan Reservoir to quantify the evaporation loss of surface water and the heat absorbed by the vapourization of liquid water in the reservoir‐riparian forest complex system. The results showed that riparian forest accelerated the local water circulation and enhanced the regulation of diurnal temperature difference and diurnal maximum temperature around the region, mainly because the latent heat of water phase transition absorbed a lot of heat. Focusing on the ecosystem and human society at the regional level, the construction of reservoir‐riparian forest composite system will help to expand the ability and resilience of human society to adapt to climate change. Latent heat due to evapotranspiration reduces the daily maximum temperature and the diurnal temperature rangeReservoir‐riparian forest system enhances local moisture recycling, resulting in increased precipitationA substantial portion of raindrops re‐evaporating beneath the clouds, which consumes a considerable amount of heat Latent heat due to evapotranspiration reduces the daily maximum temperature and the diurnal temperature range Reservoir‐riparian forest system enhances local moisture recycling, resulting in increased precipitation A substantial portion of raindrops re‐evaporating beneath the clouds, which consumes a considerable amount of heat

The ability to engineer potential profiles of multilayered materials is critical for designing high-performance tunneling devices such as ferroelectric tunnel junctions (FTJs). FTJs comprise asymmetric electrodes and a ferroelectric spacer, promising semiconductor-platform-compatible logic and memory devices. However, traditional FTJs consist of metal/oxide/metal multilayered structures with unavoidable defects and interfacial trap states, which often cause compromised tunneling electroresistance (TER). Here, we constructed van der Waals (vdW) FTJs by a layered ferroelectric CuInP2S6(CIPS) and graphene. Owing to the gigantic ferroelectric modulation of the chemical potentials in graphene by as large as ∼1 eV, we demonstrated a giant TER of 109. While inserting just a monolayer MoS2between CIPS/graphene, the off state is further suppressed, leading to >1010TER. Our discovery opens a new solid-state paradigm where potential profiles can be unprecedentedly engineered in a layer-by-layer fashion, fundamentally strengthening the ability to manipulate electrons’ tunneling behaviors and design advanced tunneling devices.

To combat increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks, the security community has proposed and deployed a large body of threat detection approaches to discover malicious behaviors on host systems and attack payloads in network traffic. Several studies have begun to focus on threat detection methods based on provenance data of host-level event tracing. On the other side, with the significant development of big data and artificial intelligence technologies, large-scale graph computing has been widely used. To this end, kinds of research try to bridge the gap between threat detection based on host log provenance data and graph algorithm, and propose the threat detection algorithm based on system provenance graph. These approaches usually generate the system provenance graph via tagging and tracking of system events, and then leverage the characteristics of the graph to conduct threat detection and attack investigation. For the purpose of deeply understanding the correctness, effectiveness, and efficiency of different graph-based threat detection algorithms, we pay attention to mainstream threat detection methods based on provenance graphs. We select and implement 5 state-of-the-art threat detection approaches among a large number of studies as evaluation objects for further analysis. To this end, we collect about 40GB of host-level raw log data in a real-world IT environment, and simulate 6 types of cyber attack scenarios in an isolated environment for malicious provenance data to build our evaluation datasets. The crosswise comparison and longitudinal assessment interpret in detail these detection approaches can detect which attack scenarios well and why. Our empirical evaluation provides a solid foundation for the improvement direction of the threat detection approach.

Fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda,is one of the most devastating invasive pests in China. Chlorantraniliprole (CH) is currently the main agent for controlling S. frugiperda. Carbaryl (CA) has been widely used as a foliar treatment to control S. frugiperda, although the pest has become highly resistant to it. This study investigates the comparative toxicity and joint effects of CH and CA on S. frugiperda. Time-toxicity results showed that CH had high toxicity to 1st and 3rd instar larvae, whereas CA had very low toxicity to 1st and 3rd instar larvae. The mixtures of CH and CA at different mass ratios showed strong synergistic effects on toxicity, and the mass ratio of 2:1 exhibited the highest toxicity to S. frugiperda. Furthermore, the synergistic toxicity of CH and CA at the 2:1 mass ratio (CH+CA) was also verified in field populations of S. frugiperda. The life-history parameters showed that CH+CA dramatically decreased the survival rate and fecundity of the parent population (F0) compared with CH treatment at the same concentration. Besides, CH and CH+CA mixture showed induction effect on cytochrome P450s and glutathione-S-transferases (GSTs) activities in S. frugiperda, with cytochrome P450s enzyme responding the fastest. In conclusion, this research found CH+CA provided synergistic effects on the toxicity and the sublethal effect on larvae. The joint effects on the life-history parameters and the detoxifying enzymes in S. frugiperda, may be useful for implementing IPM programs against this Lepidoptera pest.

In wind tunnel tests for the full-model fixed with sting, the low structural damping of the long cantilever sting results in destructive low-frequency and large-amplitude vibration. In order to obtain high-quality wind tunnel test data and ensure the safety of wind tunnel tests, an energy-fuzzy adaptive PD (Proportion Differentiation) control method is proposed. This method is used for active vibration control of a cantilever structure under variable aerodynamic load excitation, and real-time adjustment of parameters is achieved according to the system characteristics of vibration energy. Meanwhile, a real-time method is proposed to estimate the real-time vibration energy through the vibration acceleration signal, and the average exciting power of aerodynamic load is obtained by deducting the part of the power contributed by the vibration suppressor from the total power. Furthermore, an energy-fuzzy adaptive PD controller is proposed to achieve adaptive control to the changes of the aerodynamic load. Besides, the subsonic and transonic experiments were carried out in wind tunnel, the results revealed that comparing to fixed gain PD controllers, the energy-fuzzy adaptive PD controller maintains higher performance.

From a global perspective, the stable isotope altitude effect is crucial for understanding climate information. However, the intensity of this effect can be influenced by the source of moisture, particularly in inland mountainous regions where the moisture sources are complex. Different combinations of moisture sources might affect the altitude effect. Focusing on the upper Shiyang River in the northern part of the Qilian Mountains in China, this study calculated the proportion of recycled moisture in precipitation and utilized the HYSPLIT model to determine the source of advective moisture. It explored the characteristics and mechanisms by which moisture sources affect the spatiotemporal variations in precipitation isotope effects within the study area. The findings indicated that: (a) The altitude effect follows a seasonal pattern: winter < autumn < spring < summer, with a reverse effect in winter. (b) As the contribution of recycled moisture to precipitation increases, the altitude effect of stable isotopes weakens, primarily due to the disruptive influence of recycled moisture on this effect. (c) The altitude effect of stable isotopes in precipitation is determined by the direction of the moisture source and its attributes. When the primary source of advective moisture runs perpendicular to the mountain range and the moisture migration speed is slow, the altitude effect is pronounced. Thus, although temperature directly causes the altitude effect, water vapor sources significantly influence it in inland mountainous regions. The altitude effect has significant seasonal variation, being strong in summer and weakest in winterThe contribution of recirculating water vapor to precipitation is large, weakening the altitude effectThe source of water vapor and the nature of the air masses contribute to the differences in elevation effects The altitude effect has significant seasonal variation, being strong in summer and weakest in winter The contribution of recirculating water vapor to precipitation is large, weakening the altitude effect The source of water vapor and the nature of the air masses contribute to the differences in elevation effects

Carbon materials have been used as the support for catalysts in the field of acetylene hydrochlorination, the influence of inevitable oxygen-containing moieties on the reaction is often ignored and the mechanism of the oxygen-doping structure remains ambiguous. Herein, we explored the effect of the oxygen-containing group (COC) in the support on the activity of single-atom dispersed Cu catalysts. By immersing the Cu single-atom catalyst in an alkaline solution, the epoxy species on the carbon support was cleaved to obtain a pure ether species while the Cu site was modified to a more electron-deficient state. The turnover frequency value of Cu/O-FLP catalyst with epoxy groups was 1.6-fold higher than that of alkaline treated catalyst. Our result indicated that the epoxy groups could assist adjacent single-atom Cu sites to synergistically promote the adsorption and cleavage of the reactant hydrogen chloride toward form COH and CuCl bonds, and reduce the reaction energy barrier. The presence of electron deficient Cu sites and ether species could induce competitive adsorption of the acetylene and hydrogen chloride, thereby reducing the activity of the catalyst. This study highlights the influence of surface oxygen species and the tunability of the support, providing the foundation for the fabrication of higher-activity Cu catalysts for acetylene hydrochlorination.

Traditional electrical grid as the largest and most complex industry in the world is currently under fundamental development. According to the IEEE Std1547.4, large distribution systems can be clustered into a number of micro-grids (MGs) to facilitate the control and operation infrastructure in future distribution systems. A distribution network with distributed energy resources serving a group of loads, can be operated as a MG, in grid-connected or isolated grid modes. Most recently, the concept of MGs has become an important subject in smart grid area, demanding a systematic method for their optimal planning. The prosperous development of the micro-grid concept implies the definition of an appropriate regulation for its integration on distribution systems. The MG operators are responsible for a reliable energy supply to their consumers. MG formation represents a suitable solution for uninterrupted supplying of critical loads, in the absence of network.

Two-dimensional molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) is an emergent semiconductor with great potential in next-generation scaled-up electronics, but the production of high-quality monolayer MoS2wafers still remains a challenge. Here, we report an epitaxy route toward 4 in. monolayer MoS2wafers with highly oriented and large domains on sapphire. Benefiting from a multisource design for our chemical vapor deposition setup and the optimization of the growth process, we successfully realized material uniformity across the entire 4 in. wafer and greater than 100 μm domain size on average. These monolayers exhibit the best electronic quality ever reported, as evidenced from our spectroscopic and transport characterizations. Our work moves a step closer to practical applications of monolayer MoS2.

Two-dimensional (2D) materials and van der Waals heterostructures have attracted tremendous attention because of their appealing electronic, mechanical, and optoelectronic properties, which offer the possibility to extend the range of functionalities for diverse potential applications. Here, we fabricate a novel multiterminal device with dual-gate based on 2D material van der Waals heterostructures. Such a multiterminal device exhibited excellent nonvolatile multilevel resistance switching performance controlled by the source–drain voltage and back-gate voltage. Based on these features, heterosynaptic plasticity, in which the synaptic weight can be tuned by another modulatory interneuron, has been mimicked. A tunable analogue weight update (both on/off ratio and update nonlinearity) of synapse with high speed (50 ns) and low energy (∼7.3 fJ) programming has been achieved. These results demonstrate the great potential of the artificial synapse based on van der Waals heterostructures for neuromorphic computing.

In this paper, low-temperature dielectric-blocked discharge plasma (DBD) was employed for the first time to treat silica-doped H4PMo11VO40(HPAV) catalysts (DBD(Ar/x)-MF-Catal) and apply them in the catalytic methacrolein (MAL) selective oxidation to produce methacrylic acid (MAA). This work investigates in detail the controllable regulation of the concentration of oxidation states on silica-doped HPAV catalysts by adjusting the DBD discharge with controlled changes in voltage, current, treatment time, and treatment medium. It reports the intrinsic correlation between oxidation states and MAL oxidation performance. The research results indicated that the catalytic performance was related to the presence of oxygen vacancies and oxygen species (VO2+), and are the main reason for the selective oxidation of MAL to MAA. Besides, the generation of oxygen vacancies and VO2+altered localized electrons, which resulted in the easier activation of O2. Theoretical calculations of DFT also proved the formation mechanism of oxygen vacancies and VO2+and electron properties on high-performance polymers, which elucidated the intrinsic influence of catalyst components. The DBD(Ar/10)-MF-Catal catalysts with suitable VO2+and oxygen vacancy concentrations exhibited the highest catalytic performance with 90% MAL conversion and 70% MAA selectivity and showed good stability (500 h).

Peanut southern blight, caused by the soil-borne pathogen Sclerotium rolfsii, is a widespread and devastating epidemic. Frequently, it is laborious to effectively control by labor-intensive foliar sprays of agrochemicals due to untimely find. In the present study, seed treatment with physcion (PHY) at doses of 0.08, 0.16, and 0.32 g AI kg–1seed significantly improved the growth and photosynthetic activity of peanuts. Furthermore, PHY seed treatment resulted in an elevated enzymatic activity of key enzymes in peanut roots, including peroxidase, superoxide dismutase, polyphenol oxidase, catalase, lipoxygenase, and phenylalanine ammonia-lyase, as well as an increase in callus accumulation and lignin synthesis at the infection site, ultimately enhancing the root activity. This study revealed that PHY seed treatment could promote the accumulation of reactive oxygen species, salicylic acid (SA), and jasmonic acid (JA)/ethylene (ET) in peanut roots, while also decreasing the content of malondialdehyde levels in response to S. rolfsiiinfection. The results were further confirmed by transcriptome data and metabolomics. These findings suggest that PHY seed treatment activates the plant defense pathways mediated by SA and JA/ET in peanut roots, enhancing the resistance of peanut plants to S. rolfsii. In short, PHY is expected to be developed into a new plant-derived immunostimulant or fungicide to increase the options and means for peanut disease control.

Increasing numbers of novel pesticides have been applied in agriculture. However, traditional evaluation of pesticides does not distinguish between their enantiomers, which may lead to inaccurate results. In this study, systematic research on the chiral insecticide fluxametamide was conducted at the enantiomeric level. The methods for enantioseparation and semipreparative separation of fluxametamide enantiomers were developed. The optical rotation and absolute configuration of two enantiomers were determined, and their stability was verified in solvents and soils. Enantioselective bioactivities against four target pests (Plutella xylostella, Spodoptera exigua, Aphis gossypii, and Tetranychus cinnabarinus) were tested. Acute toxicities of fluxametamide enantiomers toward honeybees were also evaluated. S-(+)-Isomer exhibited 52.1–304.4 times and 2.5–3.7 times higher bioactivity than R-(−)-isomer and rac-fluxametamide, respectively. Meanwhile, rac-fluxametamide was more toxic than S/R-isomer, and S-(+)-isomer showed >30-fold higher acute toxicity than R-(−)-isomer. Molecular docking studies were performed with γ-aminobutyric acid receptor (GABAR) to monitor the mechanism of stereoselective bioactivity. The better Grid score of S-(+)-fluxametamide (−60.12 kcal/mol) than R-(−)-enantiomer (−56.59 kcal/mol) indicated higher bioactivity of S-(+)-isomer than of R-(−)-isomer. The dissipation of fluxametamide in cabbage, Chinese cabbage, and soil was nonenantioselective under field conditions. Development of S-(+)-fluxametamide could maintain the high-efficacy and low-risk properties, which should attract attention of producers, applicators, and managers of pesticides.

The introduction of PEI can enhance the metal-support interaction to make the better metal dispersion and more active sites, and the charge transfer from N atom to Zn species, especially for the Zn/P-MCM-12 catalyst with about 88% C2H2conversion and 85% selectivity.

Field-effect transistor (FET) biosensors based on low-dimensional materials present the advantages of low cost, high speed, small size, and excellent compatibility with integrated circuits (ICs). In this work, we fabricated highly sensitive FET-based DNA biosensors based on chemical vapor deposition (CVD)-grown monolayer MoS2films in batches and explored their application in noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT) for trisomy 21 syndrome. Specifically, MoS2was functionalized with gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) of an optimized size and at an ideal density, and then, probe DNAs for the specific capture of target DNAs were immobilized on the nanoparticles. The fabricated FET biosensors are able to reliably detect target DNA fragments (chromosome 21 or 13) with a detection limit below 100 aM, a high response up to 240%, and a high specificity, which satisfy the requirement for the screening of Down syndrome. In addition, a real-time test was conducted to show that the biosensor clearly responds to the target DNA at concentrations as low as 1 fM. Our approach shows the potential for detecting the over-expression of chromosome 21 in the peripheral blood of pregnant women and achieving Down syndrome screening.

A highly efficient grafting method to synthesise Ti-doped MCM-41 mesoporous supports and their respective Zn catalysts was investigated. The structure and dispersion of titanium species for the as-synthesised materials and their influence on the catalytic performance of Zn catalysts in the acetylene hydration reaction were systematically studied. All of the synthesised materials were characterised by FTIR, XRD, BET, TEM, NH3-TPD, XPS, TG and solid-state UV-vis techniques. NH3-TPD and pyridine FTIR confirm that the incorporation of titanium species greatly enhanced the acid sites and total acid quantity. The XRD, TEM and UV-vis results reveal that the addition of titania in the form of Ti4+ions having a tetrahedral coordination can facilitate the control of zinc particle sizes and enhance the dispersion of zinc species. XPS suggests that the introduction of titania enhanced the enrichment of zinc species on the surfaces of supports. In addition, the superior interaction between active Zn species and the modified support effectively inhibited the deposition of carbon and the reduction of active Zn species during the reaction. Moreover, the incorporation of titania considerably enhanced the catalytic activity and stability of Zn/MCM catalysts. The best Zn/Ti-MCM-5 catalyst exhibited a C2H2conversion of nearly 95% and a selectivity to acetaldehyde of 90%.

The aims of this study were to determine the prevalence of frailty and its relationship with health outcomes in elderly outpatients attending a Diabetes Specialist Clinic. This study was a cross-sectional study. A total of 168 elderly patients (aged 65 years and above) attending the Diabetes Specialist Clinic of a Three-A hospital of Sichuan province were recruited from January 2021 to February 2021, and follow-up was conducted 1 year after day of screening. Baseline characteristics of patients were collected and frail status were assessed at recruitment. The longitudinal outcomes included hospitalization, fall, mortality, emergency visit, and clinic visit. The presence of frailty was determined by the 5-item FRAIL scale, which ranges from 0 to 5 and are categorized as frail (3–5), prefrail (1–2), and robust (0). A phone questionnaire was carried out to obtain health outcomes. Logistic regression analyses was used to evaluate adverse health outcomes at 1 year follow-up. Of the 168 outpatients, 28.0% was robust, 49.4% was prefrail, and 22.6% was frail. Frailty (both prefrail and frail status) was more prevalent in those patients, which were 75 years old and above (57.0%; P < .001), insulin dependent (45.6%; P = .008), and those had diabetic complications (43.8%; P = .005), previous admission (68.6%; P = .016), and co-morbidities (36.4%; P = .001). In the following year after recruitment, 19.1% of robust patients were hospitalized, while the proportion was 45.8% for prefrail patients and 65.8% for frail patients. Prefrail (OR [odds ratio] = 2.35, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.63–2.88; P = .028) and frail (OR = 4.63, 95% CI 2.52–5.81; P = .005) patients were more likely to be hospitalized. Frail (OR = 3.37, 95% CI 2.68–4.04; P < .001) patients were more inclined to fall while prefrail patients (OR = 1.03, 95% CI 0.82–1.56; P = .371) were not. Moreover, prefrail (OR = 3.37, 95% CI 2.31–5.72; P = .017) and frail (OR = 4.29, 95% CI 3.16–5.54; P = .006) patients were more likely to return to the clinic. There is a high incidence of frailty among elderly patients attending a Diabetes Specialist Clinic. Frailty is a predictor of hospitalization, fall, and clinic visits within 1 year.

Pseudocapacitive charge storage has been regarded as a promising mechanism to achieve both high specific energy and power energy storage devices. Some pseudocapacitive anode materials show great high-rate performance, however, it remains a significant challenge to develop the cathode ones. Herein, for the first time, we report a layered iron vanadate (Fe5V15O39(OH)9⋅9H2O, named as kazakhstanite) nanosheets (FeVO NSs) with featuring ultrathin layer thickness (< 10 nm). The FeVO NSs are synthesized by a facile wet-chemical approach with a high yield. Compared to the FeVO nanoparticles, the crystalline layered FeVO NSs have additional interlayered Li+storage sites, leading to the enhanced capacity. Ex-situX-ray diffraction results demonstrate a non-phase change process and there is only ~ 1.1% layer expansion/shrinkage during lithiation and delithiation process. Based on detail kinetics analysis and ex-situX-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results, it is found that over 70% of total capacity is pseudocapacitive contribution, which contributes to the ultrahigh-rate capability (a high capacity of 350, 273 and 90 mAh g−1is achieved at 0.1, 1 and 20 A g−1, respectively) and excellent cycling stability over thousands of cycles. This work presents the high performance vanadate material that delivers highly pseudocapacitive behavior, and provides a promising direction to realize both high energy and high power lithium storage.

Developing an efficient Zn-based catalyst modified with Trifluoromethanesulfonic acid (TfOH) ligand is extremely desirable for the acetylene hydration reaction. In this paper, with the use of a simple impregnation method, a series of Zn-TfOH/AC catalysts were synthesized, and the Zn-1.5TfOH/AC catalyst demonstrated the optimal catalytic performance with 96% acetylene conversion in the hydration of acetylene. The X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) spectra of the fresh Zn-1.5TfOH/AC catalysts demonstrated the establishment of the Zn-O4 coordination structure. According to the characterization results, TfOH ligands effectively inhibited carbon accumulation and Zinc loss, improved acidic sites and the dispersion of active metal, and produced more catalytic active site. Furthermore, the hydration reaction mechanism of Zn-TfOH/AC catalyst with Zn(OTf)2, TfO-ZnCl, and TfO-ZnOH complex configurations was explored by the Density Functional Theory (DFT) method, which showed that the activation barrier increased sequentially TfO-ZnOH < Zn(OTf)2< TfO-ZnCl. Importantly, the OH−in TfO-ZnOH is involved in the reaction and regenerated by the dissociation of H2O, which lowers the energy barrier. This will provide a reference to design more efficient nonmercury catalysts for acetylene hydration.

Two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors offer great potential as high-performance materials for thin film transistors (TFTs) in displays. Their thin, stable, and flexible nature, along with excellent electrical properties, makes them suitable for flexible displays. However, previous demonstrations lacked clear superiority in pixel resolution and TFT performance. Here we present the flexible 2T1C pixel driving circuit for active-matrix displays based on high-quality large-scale monolayer MoS2. A gate-first fabrication process was developed for flexible MoS2-TFTs, showing a remarkable carrier mobility (average at 52.8 cm2V–1s–1), high on/off ratio (average at 1.5 × 108), and negligible hysteresis. The driving current can be modulated by pulsed input voltages and demonstrates a stable and prompt response to both frequency and amplitude. We also demonstrated a 10 × 10 active-matrix with high resolution of 508 pixels per inch, exhibiting 100% yield and high uniformity. The driving circuit works well under bending up to ∼0.91% strain, highlighting its normal functions in flexible displays.

Dimerization of acetylene to monovinylacetylene (MVA) is a vital process for producing chloroprene rubber in the industry and is highly attractive and challenging. To study the influence of ligands on the catalytic performance of the Cu-based catalyst and the catalytic mechanism in the gas–solid acetylene dimerization reaction, the Cu-based catalyst modified with N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) ligands was prepared via an incipient wetness method, which increased the average MVA yield by 50% compared to Cu/AC catalysts. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy, hydrogen temperature-programmed reduction, and transmission electron microscopy results revealed that the Cu-15DMF/AC catalyst formed a Cu–O coordination structure during the process of preparation, which thus changed the electronic environment, enhanced the reducibility of Cu(II) species, and improved the dispersion of active metals. Furthermore, the gas–solid acetylene dimerization reaction in the catalytic mechanism of Cu/AC and Cu-DMF/AC catalysts was comprehensively elucidated through the DFT calculation. It is demonstrated that the rate-determining step for the Cu/AC catalyst was Cu(II) reduction with Cl dissociation (Ts1), whereas the Cu-DMF/AC catalyst was acetylene addition (Ts2). The coordination of DMF and Cu species reduced the energy barrier of the dimerization of acetylene to form MVA and raised the energy barrier of the side reaction. This study provides valuable insights into designing efficient and reusable Cu-based catalysts for gas–solid acetylene dimerization.

Artificial retina implantation provides an effective and feasible attempt for vision recovery in addition to retinal transplantation. The most advanced artificial retinas ever developed based on silicon technology are rigid and thus less compatible with the biosystem. Here we demonstrate flexible photoresponsive ring oscillators (PROs) based on the 2D semiconductor MoS2for artificial retinas. Under natural light illuminations, arrayed PROs on flexible substrates serving as vision pixels can efficiently output light-intensity-dependent electrical pulses that are processable and transmittable in the human visual nerve system. Such PROs can work under low supply voltages below 1 V with a record-low power consumption, e.g. only 12.4 nW at a light intensity of 10 mW/cm2, decreased by ∼500 times compared with that of the state-of-the-art silicon devices. Such flexible artificial retinas with a simple device structure, high light-to-signal conversion efficiency, ultralow power consumption, and high tunability provide an alternative prosthesis for further clinical trials.

[Display omitted]

In this study, the electrochemical properties of astilbin were investigated for the first time and an electroanalytical method was established synchronously, which was based on a β-cyclodextrin–graphene nanocomposite modified electrode (β-CD–GNs/GCE). The electrode process of astilbin was investigated in detail, and some dynamic parameters were calculated. The detecting sensitivity of astilbin was greatly enhanced at this voltammetric sensor. Under optimum conditions, a lower detection limit (1 × 10−8mol L−1) and wider linear range (3.0 × 10−8mol L−1to 2.0 × 10−6mol L−1) were achieved by the proposed sensor. Finally, the proposed method was applied to the analysis of a real sample, and the results showed that the method was applicable and reliable.

A facile process to prepare the supported phosphotungstic acid/chitosan-coated silica gel composite catalyst (PW 12 /CST/SiO 2 ) was presented. SEM-EDX, UV-vis DRS, FT-IR and XRD analyses revealed that PW 12 was highly dispersed on CST/SiO 2 composite support’s surface with the intact Keggin units. The effects of pH, dye concentration, and catalyst loading on adsorption and photodegradation of a tetraazo dye direct fast black G (DB19) by the prepared composite catalyst in the presence of electron donor (isopropanol) were investigated. The kinetics of dye adsorption and photodegradation were analysed by the zero-order kinetic model, and the corresponding rate constants were calculated. The optimal condition for the photocatalytic degradation of DB19 was also established. This study further indicates that PW 12 /CTS/SiO 2 could be used as a bifunctional material to decolourise azo dye in aqueous solutions by a combined adsorption and photocatalytic degradation process.

The 2D semiconductor of MoS2has great potential for advanced electronics technologies beyond silicon. So far, high-quality monolayer MoS2wafers have been available and various demonstrations from individual transistors to integrated circuits have also been shown. In addition to the monolayer, multilayers have narrower band gaps but improved carrier mobilities and current capacities over the monolayer. However, achieving high-quality multi-layer MoS2wafers remains a challenge. Here we report the growth of high-quality multi-layer MoS24-inch wafers via the layer-by-layer epitaxy process. The epitaxy leads to well-defined stacking orders between adjacent epitaxial layers and offers a delicate control of layer numbers up to six. Systematic evaluations on the atomic structures and electronic properties were carried out for achieved wafers with different layer numbers. Significant improvements in device performances were found in thicker-layer field-effect transistors (FETs), as expected. For example, the average field-effect mobility (μFE) at room temperature (RT) can increase from ∼80 cm2·V–1·s–1for monolayers to ∼110/145 cm2·V–1·s–1for bilayer/trilayer devices. The highest RT μFEof 234.7 cm2·V–1·s–1and record-high on-current densities of 1.70 mA·μm–1at Vds= 2 V were also achieved in trilayer MoS2FETs with a high on/off ratio of >107. Our work hence moves a step closer to practical applications of 2D MoS2in electronics.This work reports the first demonstration on the expitaxy of wafer-scale MoS2 multilayers with controlled number of layers and highest electronic qualities towards the practical electronic applications of 2D semiconductors.

This paper introduces the design of an intelligent tracking and drawing system based on the Freescale MCU MC9S12DG128. By using infrared photoelectric sensors, the system can detect real-time route information. Then system steering angle and running speed can be effectively adjusted by combination of proportional control and fuzzy control methods, which realises the dynamical control of the whole system. Based on the communication between PC and RF wireless modules, remote control is effectively realised and accurate drawing is obtained. Finally, experiment results are given to show the effectiveness of the proposed system.

The influence of discharge rate on the discharge behaviour of the Li/S battery with the cathode using a gelatin binder (SGA cathode) is investigated by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy, with the system using poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) binder (SPA cathode) as comparison. It is found that SGA cathode shows smaller plateau potential drop trend and less discharge curve shape change with the discharge rate increasing. Detailed characterization reveals that this is due to the dispersion ability and good adhesion of gelatin, which enable complete conversion of elemental sulfur to polysulfide in the upper plateau region and stable structure of the cathode during discharge. Developing pores in the SGA cathode (the PSGA cathode) can further improve the rate capability of the battery, since porous structure provides a larger contact surface with the electrolyte, and shorter Li+ ion diffusion length. The PSGA cathode shows an initial capacity of 1230 mAhg[?]1-S at 100 mAg[?]1-S, and remains 733 mAhg[?]1-S at a high discharge rate of 1600 mAg[?]1-S.

Background: Melatonin 2-hydroxylase (M2H) is the first enzyme in the catabolism pathway of melatonin, which catalyzes the production of 2-hydroxymelatonin (2-OHM) from melatonin. The content of 2-hydroxymelatonin in plants is much higher than that of melatonin. So M2H may be a key enzyme in the metabolic pathway of melatonin. Method: We conducted a systematic analysis of the M2Hgene family in Gossypium hirsutumbased on the whole genome sequence by integrating the structural characteristics, phylogenetic relationships, expression profile, and biological stress of the members of the Gossypium hirsutum M2Hgene family. Result: We identified 265 M2Hgenes in the whole genome of Gossypium hirsutum, which were divided into 7 clades (clades I-VII) according to phylogenetic analysis. Most M2Hmembers in each group had similar motif composition and gene structure characteristics. More than half of GhM2Hmembers contain ABA-responsive elements and MeJA-responsive elements. Under different stress conditions, the expression levels of the gene changed, indicating that GhM2Hmembers were involved in the regulation of abiotic stress. Some genes in the GhM2Hfamily were involved in regulating melatonin levels in cotton under salt stress, and some genes were regulated by exogenous melatonin. Conclusion: This study is helpful to explore the function of GhM2H, the downstream metabolism gene of melatonin in cotton, and lay the foundation for better exploring the molecular mechanism of melatonin improving cotton's response to abiotic stress.

In this paper, we report that when the low-level features of targets and distractors are held constant, visual search performance can be strongly influenced by familiarity. In the first condition, a was the target amid as distractors, and vice versa. The response time increased steeply as a function of number of distractors (82 msec/item). When the same stimuli were rotated by 90° (the second condition), however, they became familiar patterns- and-and gave rise to much shallower search functions (31 msec/item). In the third condition, when the search was for a familiar target, (or), among unfamiliar distractors, (or), the slope was about 46 msec/item. In the last condition, when the search was for an unfamiliar target, (or), among familiar distractors, s (or s), parallel search functions were found with a slope of about 1.5 msec/item. These results show that familiarity speeds visual search and that it does so principally when the distractors, not the targets, are familiar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

UDP-glycosyltransferases (UGTs) are major phase II enzymes involved in the metabolic detoxification of xenobiotics. In this study, two UGT-inhibitors, 5-nitrouracil and sulfinpyrazone, significantly increased sulfoxaflor toxicity against sulfoxaflor-resistant (Sul-R) Aphis gossypii, whereas there were no synergistic effects in susceptible (Sus) A. gossypii. The activity of UGTs in the Sul-R strain was significantly higher (1.35-fold) than that in the Sus strain. Further, gene expression determination demonstrated that 11 of 23 UGT genes were significantly upregulated (1.40- to 5.46-fold) in the Sul-R strain, among which the expression levels of UGT350A2, UGT351A4, UGT350B2, UGT342C2, and UGT343C2could be induced by sulfoxaflor. Additionally, knockdown of UGT350A2, UGT351A4, UGT350B2, and UGT343C2using RNA interference (RNAi) significantly increased sensitivity (1.57- to 1.76-fold) to sulfoxaflor in the Sul-R strain. These results suggested that UGTs might be involved in sulfoxaflor resistance in A. gossypii. These findings will facilitate further work to validate the functional roles of these UGT genes in sulfoxaflor resistance.