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Electrocatalytic denitrification is an attractive and effective method for complete elimination of nitrate (NO

Palmprint recognition is a reliable biometric identification method because palmprints contain rich and discriminative features. Low-resolution palmprints have attracted much attention due to their simple acquisition and low computational cost. Many previous works have achieved impressive results. However, we noticed that the performances of these methods declined significantly when there was noise in the palmprint images. Traditional denoising algorithms cannot address multiple types of noise in palmprint images and destroy the orientation information, which is of vital importance for recognition. In this paper, we propose a generative adversarial network (GAN)-based model to cope with this problem. This model is an effective denoising method for low-resolution palmprint images that can handle multiple types of noise and reserve more orientation information. The comparative experimental results demonstrate that our model has reached the status of state-of-the-art image inpainting algorithms with accurate masks. The EER (equal error rate) of the palmprint matching decreased from 10.841% to 1.532% after denoising. Moreover, our method is end-to-end and does not require the additional location information of noise.

Y-chromosome short tandem repeat (Y-STR) and Y-chromosome single nucleotide polymorphism (Y-SNP) frequency distributions provide resources for assessment of male population stratification among world-wide populations. Currently, the Y-STR Haplotype Reference Database (YHRD) contains numerous Y-chromosome haplotype profiles from various populations and countries around the world. However, for many of the recently discovered and already phylogenetically mapped Y-SNPs, the population data are scarce. Herein, the typing of 27 Y-STRs (Yfiler Plus) and 143 Y-SNPs (self-designed Y-SNP panel) was performed on 1269 unrelated males from 11 Han Chinese populations. Haplogroup O-M175 was the most predominant haplogroup in our Han Chinese data, ranging from 67.34% (Henan Han) to 93.16% (Guangdong Han). The highest haplogroup diversity (0.967056) was observed in Heilongjiang Han, with a discrimination capacity (DC) value of 0.3723. The number of alleles at single-copy loci varied from 2 for DYS391 (Guangdong Han) to 16 for DYS518 (Henan Han). For the majority of the populations (8/11), both the haplotype diversity and DC values are 1.0000. Furthermore, genetic differentiations were observed between Northern and Southern Han Chinese. These genetic differences were mainly reflected in haplogroup distribution and frequency, and they were confirmed by statistical analysis.

In rice grains, the Waxy (Wx) gene is responsible for the synthesis of amylose, the most important determinant for eating and cooking quality. The effects of several Wx alleles on amylose content and the taste of cooked rice have been elucidated. However, the relationship between artificial selection and the evolution of various Wx alleles as well as their distribution remain unclear. Here we report the identification of an ancestral allele, Wxlv, which dramatically affects the mouthfeel of rice grains by modulating the size of amylose molecules. We demonstrated that Wxlv originated directly from wild rice, and the three major Wx alleles in cultivated rice (Wxb, Wxa, and Wxin) differentiated after the substitution of one base pair at the functional sites. These data indicate that the Wxlv allele played an important role in artificial selection and domestication. The findings also shed light on the evolution of various Wx alleles, which have greatly contributed to improving the eating and cooking quality of rice.

The temporal and spatial characteristics of precipitation in the HRB (Huai River Basin) were studied using the observation data of monthly precipitation provided by the National Climate Center from 1961–2016 and the NCEP/NCAR global monthly reanalysis data. The results showed that: (1) The precipitation was mainly concentrated in summer, accounting for 52% of the total annual precipitation; there was more precipitation in the south, less in the north, and more in the coastal areas, less in the inland in summer; (2) The precipitation showed obvious decadal variations, especially in summer; the range of variation of most regions is above 140 mm; and significant decadal abrupt changes of precipitation from “abnormally less” to “abnormally more” appeared around 1979.

The cathode with low-energy consumption and long-term stability is pivotal to achieve the conversion of nitrate (NO

The internal Fe2+/Fe3+ cycle is important for peroxymonosulfate (PMS) activation by iron-based materials to produce the reactive oxidative species (ROS) for the breakdown of organic contaminants. Previous studies have focused on the contribution of heterogeneous sulfur species to the Fe2+/Fe3+ cycle such as lattice S(-II) and surface SO32– of iron sulfides. In this study, we found that the dissolved S(-II) from mackinawite (FeS) had a substantial contribution to the Fe2+/Fe3+ cycle. Furthermore, the oxidation intermediates of the dissolved S(-II) such as S2O32− and SO32− ions could convert Fe3+ to Fe2+ in solution. The elimination of target organic pollutant bisphenol A (BPA) derived from PMS activation triggered by the dissolved Fe2+ might be enhanced by the equivalent dissolved S(-II) in the FeS/PMS system. These results revealed that previous studies underestimated the significance of PMS activation by dissolved Fe2+ of iron sulfides to organic pollutant degradation. Moreover, SO4•- and •OH were more likely to be the main ROS for BPA degradation in the FeS/PMS system compared with FeO2+. Considering that the metal sulfides have been widely used to activate PMS, H2O2 and peroxydisulfate, this study offers a new perspective on the function of sulfur in these advanced oxidation processes.

Carbonaceous material is not only the excellent adsorbent for organic contaminants removal, but also the effective activator for peroxydisulfate (PDS) activation. In this study, a nitrogen-doped hierarchical porous carbon material (NHGBC-800) presented the attractive bifunctional properties was developed for the removal of model organic contaminant antibiotic tetracycline (TC). On the one aspect, the NHGBC-800 had a large specific surface area (1178.0 m2/g) and achieved good TC removal with a maximal adsorption capacity (Qm) of 629.76 mg/g at 303 K. On the other aspect, TC-saturated NHGBC-800 could effectively activate PDS with itself as the activator, by which the mineralization of desorbed TC and in-situ regeneration of exhausted adsorbent were achieved simultaneously. The Qm of NHGBC-800 recovered 90.61% after first regeneration and still retained 77.18% even after the 6th adsorption-regeneration cycles. Moreover, the as-prepared material maintained good adsorption and regeneration performance under a wide range of pH conditions (3.02–9.83) and in the presence of inorganic anions such as Cl−, SO42−, NO3−, H2PO4−, HCO3−. The electro spin resonance (ESR), reactive oxygen species (ROS) quenching studies and electrochemical measurement revealed that the electron-transfer and single oxygen mediated the non-radical pathways dominated the TC degradation during the regeneration process. Compared with the conventional thermal and electrochemical regenerations, the in-situ regeneration of bifunctional carbon materials induced by PDS activation is more effective, sustainable and environmental-friendly.

Although Co3O4-based non-noble metal electrodes have caused wide concern in electrochemical denitrification, the electrocatalytic activity and stability of these materials are still unsatisfied. In this work, a self-supported electrode (Co3O4/CF) was first fabricated via in-situ growth of needle-like Co3O4 on the cobalt foam (CF) and then used as cathode for electrochemical denitrification. The physicochemical and electrochemical characters of Co3O4/CF could be regulated by calcination temperature. Owing to the needle-like structure and the internal contact between Co3O4 and CF, the as-prepared Co3O4/CF-600 electrode exhibited excellent electrochemical performances for NO3– removal. The influences of current density, initial NO3– concentration, solution pH, and additive Cl- concentration on electrochemical NO3– reduction were considered. A high NO3– removal efficiency (72.9%) and N2 selectivity (96.2%) were achieved by Co3O4/CF-600 electrode under the optimum conditions: current density 5 mA/cm2, Cl- concentration 1500 mg/L and initial NO3– concentration 50 mg N/L. The cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectra (EIS) confirmed that electrochemical denitrification was mainly realized via Co2+–Co3+–Co2+ redox process instead of H*-mediated indirect process. Moreover, the Co3O4/CF electrode material could keep its electrochemical properties even after 10 cycles.

Perovskite nanocrystals (PNCs) have emerged as highly promising optical gain materials for laser applications. Despite the recent surge of reports on their lasing performance, it remains a challenge to achieve PNCs-based single-mode vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) because of their inhomogeneous gain saturation. Here, we successfully demonstrate high performance single-mode VCSELs using CsPbBr3 PNCs that were synthesized via a facile ligand-assisted reprecipitation strategy. The optical gain medium with wide crystal size range was fabricated, and the dense assembly of each individual PNCs was expected to offer a homogeneous optical continuum to reduce gain saturation inhomogeneity. The fabricated VCSELs exhibit excellent single-mode lasing at ~541 nm without mode hopping and high spontaneous emission coupling factor of ~0.24, which is one order of magnitude higher than those of nitride-based VCSELs. Through streak camera direct observations, the stimulated emission of the laser device exhibits an ultrafast decay of ~10 ps, and the electron hole plasma (EHP) mechanism is considered responsible for stimulated emission in the VCSELs. This work paves the way toward next-generation high performance PNC-based single-mode laser devices with reduced fabrication cost for practical application.

Allicin as an active component in allium species being widely present in food waste (FW) and waste activated sludge (WAS). Recently, allicin has been found to inhibit the anaerobic co-digestion. However, few literatures were available related to its impacting on organic matter release and microbial community in anaerobic co-digestion system of FW and WAS. Thus, this work aimed to fill that gap through use a series of batch test under conditions of pH 7 and 35 ± 1 °C. Experimental results showed that the anaerobic co-digestion system almost could not measure methane accumulation before day 20, when allicin dosage was 2.0 μg/L. However, the amount of intracellular material released from FW and WAS to substrate liquid was raised, including organic matter, PO43−-P and NH4+-N. Analysis of microbial community based on high throughput sequencing showed that microbial diversity increased at initial phase of anaerobic co-digestion from FW and WAS, meanwhile, community abundance of Candidatus_Methanofastidiosum raised significantly with co-digestion time. Whereas, methanosaeta abundance was only 19.74% in the allicin test reactor that it was the highest abundance in blank group.

A highly active and selective electrode is essential in electrochemical denitrification. Although the emerging Cu-based electrode has attracted intensive attentions in electrochemical NO3- reduction, the issues such as restricted activity and selectivity are still unresolved. In our work, a binder-free composite electrode (Cu3P/CF) was first prepared by direct growth of copper phosphide on copper foam and then applied to electrochemical NO3- reduction. The resulting Cu3P/CF electrode showed enhanced electrochemical performance for NO3- reduction (84.3%) with high N2 selectivity (98.01%) under the initial conditions of 1500 mg L-1 Cl- and 50 mg N L-1 NO3-. The cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectra (EIS) demonstrated that electrochemical NO3- reduction was achieved through electron transfer between NO3- and Cu0 originated from CF. The in-situ grown Cu3P served as the bifunctional catalyst, the electron mediator or bridge to facilitate the electron-transfer for NO3- reduction and the stable catalyst to produce atomic H* toward NO2- conversion. Meanwhile, the Cu3P/CF remained its electrocatalytic activity even after eight cyclic experiments. Finally, a 2-stage treatment strategy, pre-oxidation by Ir-Ru/Ti anode and post-reduction by Cu3P/CF cathode, was designed for electrochemical chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total nitrogen (TN) removal from real wastewater.

The enhancement of zerovalent iron (ZVI) on anaerobic digestion (AD) has been proved, but there are still some problems that constrain the large-scale application of ZVI, such as the destruction of cell membrane and the inhibition of methanogenesis led by rapid H2 accumulation. Aiming at these problems, sulfidated microscale zerovalent iron (S-mZVI) was employed to evaluate its effect on anaerobic co-digestion (AcoD) of waste activated sludge (WAS) and food waste (FW). Experimental results showed that S-mZVI promoted the direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET) between specific bacteria and methanogens, resulting in higher methane yield. At S-mZVI 10 g/L, the cumulative methane yield and ETS activity reached 264.78 mL/g-VS and 24.62 mg INTF/(g-TS h), which was 1.33 and 1.83 times that of blank. Microbiological analysis demonstrated that the abundance of DIET-related microorganisms such as Syntrophomonas, Methanosarcina and Methanobacterium increased with the increasing dosage of S-mZVI.

Obtaining whispering gallery mode (WGM) lasing with prominent stability and high quality optical cavities is extremely desirable but still a great challenge. Despite the recent surge of reports on microspheres, nanowires and nanoplatelets metal halide crystals, there has few reports on the morphology of Hemispheres (HSs) in the form of uniform, component-tunable microcrystals. Here, CsPbX3 (X = Cl/Br) HSs with smooth surface and regular geometry structure were synthesized on silicon substrates by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method, and the wavelength of laser can be continuously tuned from blue to green (450–540 nm) at room temperature by varying the halide composition. WGM laser with polarization ratio of 0.70 and cavity quality factor Q of 2485 were realized in the CsPbBr3 HS cavity. Besides, the crystal cavity suggested a high photonic and thermal stability for the superb capability of continuous stable lasing output under ambient conditions. All these results illustrate that the synthesis of cesium lead halide perovskite HSs may provide an alternative solution for fundamental researches and applications in optical devices.