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Topography and soil factors are known to play crucial roles in the species composition of plant communities in subtropical evergreen-deciduous broadleaved mixed forests. In this study, we used a systematic quantitative approach to classify plant community types in the subtropical forests of Hubei Province (central China), and then quantified the relative contribution of drivers responsible for variation in species composition and diversity. We classified the subtropical forests in the study area into 12 community types. Of these, species diversity indices of three communities were significantly higher than those of others. In each community type, species richness, abundance, basal area and importance values of evergreen and deciduous species were different. In most community types, deciduous species richness was higher than that of evergreen species. Linear regression analysis showed that the dominant factors that affect species composition in each community type are elevation, slope, aspect, soil nitrogen content, and soil phosphorus content. Furthermore, structural equation modeling analysis showed that the majority of variance in species composition of plant communities can be explained by elevation, aspect, soil water content, litterfall, total nitrogen, and total phosphorus. Thus, the major factors that affect evergreen and deciduous species distribution across the 12 community types in subtropical evergreen-deciduous broadleaved mixed forests include elevation, slope and aspect, soil total nitrogen content, soil total phosphorus content, soil available nitrogen content and soil available phosphorus content., Highlights • Plant community structure and species composition were studied in evergreen-deciduous broadleaved mixed forests in northwestern Hubei Province (central China). • We identified environmental factors, including topography and soil content, that drive plant community structure and species composition. • The major factors that affect species distribution in subtropical forests include elevation and soil available phosphorus content.

One environmentally friendly method used to manage Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel), a key agricultural pest of substantial economic importance, is the sterile insect technique (SIT). Nevertheless, several deficiencies related to this strategy impair the success of the SIT, including the inferior performance of released sterile males compared with wild males, which could be partly solved by the utilization of gut symbionts as probiotic dietary components. In this study, a culture-dependent method was used to isolate and characterize gut-associated bacterial species in adult B. dorsalis genetic sexing strain (GSS) males. In addition, three bacterial isolates from the Enterobacteriaceae family, namely, Enterobacter sp., Morganella morganii, and Moellerella wisconsensis, were used as supplements in larval and adult diets to assess their effects on the life-history traits of irradiated males. Consistent with many previous studies, Enterobacter spp. was shown to be beneficial, with some quality control indices, such as adult size, pupal weight, survival rate under stress and nutritionally rich conditions, and mating competitiveness, being significantly increased, while slight nonsignificant increases in emergence rate and flight ability were observed. Conversely, the M. morganii and M. wisconsensis strains both had negative effects on irradiated male fitness and mating competitiveness. Our results, in combination with those of earlier studies, can contribute to improving the effectiveness of SIT application by enhancing the different aspects of augmentative rearing and biological traits of pests under laboratory rearing conditions.

Low silver Sn-0.3Ag-0.7Cu (SAC0307) composite solder reinforced with graphene nanosheets (GNs) was prepared by powder metallurgy techniques, and the effects of GN content on the melting characteristics, wettability, microhardness and shear strength of the composite solder were investigated. The wettability and microhardness of the composite solder increased significantly, and the initial melting temperature decreased slightly with increasing doping content of GNs, the wettability and microhardness of the composite solder increased significantly, but the initial melting temperature decreased slightly. When the GN content reaches 0.01 wt.%, the wettability angle of the composite solder decreases by ∼ 29%. When the content of GNs reaches 0.09 wt.%, composite solder of microhardness is up to 15.3 HV, approximately 1.12 times larger than that of the un-doped SAC0307 solder. At the same time, it is also found that the shear strength of the composite solder increases with the increase of GN content. When reaching 0.05 wt.%, the shear strength is the highest (24.70 MPa) and then presents a downward trend. In addition, the fracture morphology of microscale solder joints exhibits a typical ductile fracture character to the brittle one with increasing GN content.

The tensile creep properties of line-type Cu/Sn–0.3Ag–0.7Cu(SAC0307)–xNi (x = 0, 0.02, 0.05 and 0.10 wt%)/Cu solder micro-joints were comparatively investigated via dynamic mechanical analysis. The effect of Ni content on the creep behaviour of the solder micro-joints was analysed and discussed. The creep behaviour of the joints at various temperatures and applied stresses was described by a power law. The results showed that the creep lifetime, creep activation energy and creep stress exponent of the Ni-containing solder micro-joints were greater than those of the Ni-free joint. Hence, adding Ni to the SAC0307 solder can enhance the creep resistance of the solder joints. The creep activation energy and the creep stress exponent of the solder micro-joints at 353–398 K and under a tensile stress of 8–15 MPa were 82.44–93.36 kJ/mol and 4.35–4.75, respectively. As the Ni content increased, the creep activation energy and the creep stress exponent first increased and then decreased. The Cu/SAC0307–0.05Ni/Cu solder micro-joint exhibited the strongest creep resistance among the tested joints. The creep deformation mechanisms of all solder micro-joints were mainly controlled by dislocation climbing, and the main creep failure mode was mixed brittle/ductile fracture.

Glucose oxidase (GOD)-based synergistic cancer therapy has aroused great research interest in the context of cancer treatment due to the inherent biocompatibility and biodegradability. However, this emerging therapeutic system still lacks a strategy to predict and regulate the in vivo biocatalytic behavior of GOD in real time to minimize the side effects on normal tissues. Herein, we developed a tumor-specific cascade nanotheranostic system (BNG) that combines GOD-catalyzed oxidative stress and dual-channel fluorescent sensing, significantly improving the synergistic therapeutic efficacy with real-time feedback information. The nanotheranostic system remains completely silent in the blood circulatory system and selectively releases GOD enzymes in the tumor site, with enhanced near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence at 825 nm. Subsequently, GOD catalyzes H2O2 production, triggering cascade reactions with NIR fluorescence at 650 nm as an optical output, along with GSH depletion, enabling synergistic cancer treatment. The designed nanotheranostic system, integrated with tumor-activated cascade reactions and triggering a dual-channel output at each step, represents an insightful paradigm for precise cooperative cancer therapy., Herein, we described the strategy of cascade nanotheranostics for in real-time tracking of GOD release and thus provide the feedback information of biocatalysis cascade process with significantly enhanced in vivo therapeutic efficiency.

Ag-based bonding wires were generally accepted as the most promising material to substitute for Au bonding wires, however, the electrolytic migration concern of Ag limited its industrial application in electronic packaging, especially in ultra-fine pitch wire bonding. In the present study, the electrolytic migration behaviors of Au-coated Ag bonding wires and Ag wires were studied through water drop tests. The dendrites’ growth and morphology evolution were investigated by in-situ optical microscope observation and the microstructure of the cathodic and anodic bonding wires were characterized by scanning electron microscope test. It could be seen that when comparing Au-coated Ag bonding wires with Ag wires, the dendrite assembled by a large number of Ag nanoparticles grew much more slowly from cathode to anode. The Ag2O particle layer on the anodic wires was thinner, the dendrite contact time was delayed and the current densities at the dendrite contact time were much smaller when the Au coating layer exist. The above results show that Au coating could act as a barrier to inhibit electrolytic migration, which has contributed to electronic packaging applications of Au-coated Ag bonding wires.

For Ni-Mn-Z based (Z = Sn, In, Sb) alloys, the martensite transformation (MT) and magnetic transition in austenite state create opposite magnetic cooling effect, which offsets each other when the first-order MT (FOMT) coincides with the second-order magnetic transition (SOMT). In the present study, two successive magnetization peaks are introduced in a Ni48.4Fe1.1Mn38.5Sn12.0 alloy by creation of a partial overlap between reverse MT and magnetic transition in the austenite phase with 1.1 at.% Fe-doping. In addition, significant enhancement of the magnetization difference (ΔM) between martensite/austenite phases is achieved. Consequently, an inverse magnetocaloric effect (IMCE) associated with a positive isothermal magnetic entropy change (ΔSM) of 9.6 J/kg∙K and a working temperature interval (ΔTFWHM) of 306–314 K is found under an external magnetic field of 5.0 T in the reverse MT and TCA temperature range. This IMCE is followed by a conventional magnetocaloric effect (CMCE) with a negative ΔSM of −2.7 J/kg∙K and ΔTFWHM of 316–339 K under 5.0 T. By taking advantage of these two successive MCEs using a special designed device, large caloric cooling effect with enhanced working temperature interval may be of interesting for practical room-temperature refrigeration applications.

Diachasmimorpha longicaudata is the most widely used endoparasitoid in biocontrol programmes against various species of tephritids and is continuously mass-reared under laboratory conditions at a constant temperature; however, little is known about how varying the temperature might affect the effectiveness of the mass rearing of immature D. longicaudata. This study aimed to determine the optimum temperature for the development of larvae D. longicaudata the larvae of its host, Bactrocera dorsalis. Third-instar B. dorsalis were exposed for 4 h to five pairs of parasitoids, and then they were kept at one of six temperatures ranging from 19°C to 34°C. The activities of three major antioxidant enzymes (CAT, POX, SOD) were individually measured 4, 24, 48 and 72 h after exposure to each of the six temperatures. The results were as follows: for CAT the highest CAT activities were recorded at 25°C (intervals 5-24 h and 25-48 h), at 28°C (interval 0-4 h) and at 31°C (interval 49-72 h), and for POX and SOD identically at 25°C (intervals 0-4 h, 5-24 h) and at 31°C (intervals 25-48 h, 49-72 h), respectively. Subsequently, the effects keeping the parasitized larvae at these different temperatures on the biological attributes of D. longicaudata reared under laboratory conditions were investigated. The percentage of their eggs that hatched, percentage of adults that emerged, pupal weight and longevity were significantly greater than that recorded for the control when the parasitized host larvae were kept at 28°C for 4 h, 25°C for 5 and 48 h and 31°C for 49 and 72 h.

With the development of lead-free electronic devices, the failure caused by the growth of tin whiskers poses a potential threat to the reliability of electronic products. In this study, the modified embedded atomic potential proposed by Baskes was used to simulate the interfacial evolution and the whisker growth of copper and tin coatings under electrothermal coupling by using molecular dynamics. Numerical results show that the increase in electric field intensity and temperature can promote the diffusion of Cu atom to Sn atom, and the intermetallic compounds Cu6Sn5 and Cu3Sn are formed successively at the interface of the coating. Compression stress is formed in the coating, and the whisker is shaped at the weak part of the oxide film on the tin layer surface. The increase in electric field intensity and temperature can accelerate the growth of the whisker. This condition is because the increase in electric field intensity or temperature promotes the formation of intermetallic compounds, providing a greater driving force for the growth of tin whiskers. The results can provide a theoretical basis for the growth mechanism of tin whiskers.

We evaluated a protein bait based on an enzymatically hydrolyzed beer yeast and two widely used baits including a sugar + vinegar + wine mixture and apple cider vinegar for their ability to trap Drosophila suzukii (Matsumura) in the laboratory and outdoors. The protein bait was a more attractive lure than the other tested baits, with the protein bait capturing significantly more female and male adults at different developmental stages than the other baits. Furthermore, the protein bait with 20% vinegar attracted significantly more adult flies than the other baits, and the protein bait without dilution attracted the most adults. Except for the addition of 0.05% spinosad, increased insecticide content in protein bait reduced its attractiveness to adult flies. Moreover, we found that D. suzukii has a bimodal activity pattern in visiting protein bait, where maximum activity occurs during 8:00-10:00 a.m. and 14:00-16:00 p.m. The antennae and maxillary palpi played an important role in detecting the chemicals emitted from the protein bait, as the number of intact flies that responded to new protein bait was significantly higher than the number of flies without antennae that responded, but almost 15% of defective flies still responded to the protein bait. Our results suggested that the protein bait based on spent brewery yeast could be a promising alternative for D. suzukii population monitoring and for managing this pest when combined with bioinsecticides, providing guidance for using this protein bait as a component of integrated pest management.

NASICON-type structured NaTi2(PO4)3 has been regarded as a promising anode material for non-aqueous and aqueous Na-ion batteries, whereas its sodium storage performance was greatly restricted by its inherent inferior electronic conductivity. In the present work, a two-step carbon modification method using prefabricated carbon spheres as support and phenolic resin as carbon source was proposed to prepare advanced NaTi2(PO4)3/C. The as-prepared composite with carbon spheres displayed a much higher reversible capacity (126.7 mA·h/g vs 106.7 mA·h/g at 0.5C) than the control sample without carbon spheres. Superior rate capability with discharge capacities of 115.1, 95.5, 80.8 mAh/g at 1C, 10C, 20C, respectively and long-term cycling stability with capacity retention of 92.4% after 1000 cycles at 5C were also observed. Owing to the designing of two-step carbon modification, although the as-prepared sample shows much smaller surface area, it possesses much better conductive network and more uniform particle distribution, resulting in higher electronic conductivity and faster ionic conductivity, thereby superior sodium storage ability at high rate.

Electrochemical nitrate reduction to ammonia (NRA) catalyzed by Cu-based electrodes can realize green synthesis of NH3 while removing nitrate contaminant. However, there still lacks exploration for the effect of supporting matrixes on NRA performance of Cu-based catalysts. We present here the design of three kinds of supporting matrixes including Ni foams (NF), Cu foams (CF) and carbon clothes (CC) to electrochemically grow Cu catalysts and the investigations of their NRA performance. Results show that NF-supported Cu catalyst (Cu@NF) exhibits the best performance in terms of NH3 yield rate, selectivity and Faradaic efficiency. Remarkably, at −0.23 V vs. RHE, Cu@NF delivers a NH3 yield rate up to 0.252 mmol h−1 cm−2, outperforming Cu@CF (0.148 mmol h−1 cm−2) and Cu@CC (0.076 mmol h−1 cm−2). Moreover, Cu@NF well retains NH3 yield rate and selectivity after consecutive five cycles, demonstrating an excellent stability. It is found that NF as supporting matrix can induce Ni doping to Cu catalyst for Cu@NF, which is proposed to favor atomic hydrogen reduction pathway. This work not only explores the effect of supporting matrixes on NRA performance of Cu-based catalysts but also can be extended to design rational supporting matrixes for other electrocatalytic and electro-synthetic systems.

Inferior electronic conductivity and sluggish sodium ion diffusion are still two big challenges for TiO2 anode material for Na ion batteries (SIBs). Herein, we synthesize TiO2/C composites by the pyrolysis of MIL-125(Ti) precursor and successfully introduce defects to TiO2/C composite by a simple magnesium reduction. The as-prepared defect-rich TiO2-δ/C composite shows mooncake-shaped morphology consisting of TiO2-δ nanocrystals with an average particle size of 5 nm well dispersed in the carbon matrix. When used as a SIBs anode, the defect-rich TiO2-δ/C composite exhibits a high reversible capacity of 330.2 mAh g−1 at 50 mA g−1 at the voltage range of 0.001–3.0 V and long-term cycling stability with negligible decay after 5000 cycles. Compared with other four TiO2/C samples, the electrochemical performance of defect-rich TiO2-δ/C is highly improved, which may benefit from the enhanced electronic/ionic conductivities owing to the defect-rich features, high surface area rendering shortened electronic and ionic diffusion path, and the suppress of the TiO2 crystal aggregation during sodiation and desodiation process by the carbon matrix.

Small-sized materials with large surface to volume ratio favor heat transfer during magnetic refrigeration cycling and thus may help enhancing the refrigeration efficiency. Here, high Fe content Ni44.9Fe4.3Mn38.3Sn12.5 polycrystalline microwires were prepared by a melt-extraction technique. The as-extracted microwires were annealed at 1173 K for 60 min, leading to significant grain growth and formation of a secondary Fe-rich γ phase. The annealed microwire exhibits larger magnetization difference (ΔM) between the austenite and martensite phases and smaller thermal hysteresis compared to the as-extracted microwire. The annealed microwire possesses a magnetic transition to austenite at 299 K, followed by a martensitic transformation (MT) from a ferromagnetic austenite to a weak-magnetic martensite at 208 K upon cooling. Under a magnetic field of 50 kOe, the annealed microwires show a maximum magnetic entropy change ΔSm of 6.9 J/kg·K and an effective refrigeration capacity RCeff of 78.0 J/kg over a broad working temperature span ΔTFWHM of 20 K around the MT. In addition, magnetic transition of the austenite gives rise to ΔSm −3.7 J/kg·K and RCmag 232.5 J/kg with ΔTFWHM of 85 K under 50 kOe. Keywords: Ferromagnetic shape memory alloys, Microwires, Martensitic transformation, Magnetocaloric effect, Ni-Fe-Mn-Sn

Ni-Mn-Sn alloys exhibit high magnetocaloric effect (MCE) during the magnetic-field-induced martensite to austenite phase transformation. However, the low magnetization of the austenite, narrow working temperature interval and high magnetic hysteresis reduced their magnetic refrigeration capacity. Here, the effects of Fe doping on the structural and magnetic transitions of Ni 50-x Fe x Mn 38 Sn 12 alloys were investigated. The doping of Fe higher than 2.9% induced the occurrence of a secondary γ phase, creating a dual phase alloy. The martensite transformation temperature significantly decreased with the occurrence of the secondary phase. However, the Curie temperatures of both austenite and martensite changed slightly with the formation of the secondary phase. As a result, the magnetostructural coupling, i.e. overlap of the structural and magnetic transitions between the ferromagnetic austenite and the paramagnetic martensite, occurred in the alloys with x = 0.5 - ∼4.2. Furthermore, the magnetization of the austenite and martensite both increased with increasing Fe content from x = 0 to x = 5.5, with the magnetization difference between the austenite and martensite saturating at x = 4.2. The dual phase Ni 45.8 Fe 4.2 Mn 38 Sn 12 alloy, exhibiting a magnetic field dependence of martensite transformation temperature ΔT M / μΔH - 0.28 K/kOe, showed a wider working temperature interval than that of the un-doped Ni 50 Mn 38 Sn 12 alloy. This demonstrated that the Ni 45.8 Fe 4.2 Mn 38 Sn 12 alloy might exhibit a high magnetic entropy change, wide working temperature interval and low magnetic hysteresis, and thus may be a promising magnetic refrigeration material.

High magnetocaloric refrigeration performance requires large magnetic entropy change ΔS M and broad working temperature span ΔT FWHM . A fourth element doping of Co in ternary Ni-Mn-Sn alloy may significantly enhance the saturation magnetization of the alloy and thus enhance the ΔS M . Here, the effects of Co-doping on the martensite transformation, magnetic properties and magnetocaloric effects (MCE) of quaternary Ni47−xMn43Sn10Cox (x = 0, 6, 11) alloys were investigated. The martensite transformation temperatures decrease while austenite Curie point increases with Co content increasing to x = 6 and 11, thus broadening the temperature window for a high magnetization austenite (13.5, 91.7 and 109.1 A·m2/kg for x = 0, 6 and 11, respectively). Two successive magnetostructural transformations (A → 10 M and A → 10 M + 6 M) occur in the alloy x = 6, which are responsible for the giant magnetic entropy change ΔS M = 29.5 J/kg·K, wide working temperature span ΔT FWHM = 14 K and large effective refrigeration capacity RC eff = 232 J/kg under a magnetic field of 5.0 T. These results suggest that Ni40.6Mn43.3Sn10.0Co6.1 alloy may act as a potential solid-state magnetic refrigerant working at room temperature.

SrO(SrTiO 3 ) n ( n = 1, 2, …, ∞) powders were prepared by a modified sol–gel self-propagating combustion method and characterized by ultraviolet–visible (UV–vis) absorption spectroscopy and infrared spectra. UV–vis spectra indicate that the absorption edge of SrO(SrTiO 3 ) n ( n = 1, 2) shift to the violet with the decrease of n value, and the band gap values obtained from the UV–vis spectroscopy measurements are 3.41 and 3.26 eV, respectively. The infrared spectra show that the width of absorption band of TiO 6 octahedron stretching vibration decreases with the increasing of n value. The optical absorption of the compounds SrO(SrTiO 3 ) n ( n = 1, 2, …, ∞) were investigated by theoretical caculation using density functional theory (DFT). The interband transitions were assigned according to the partial density of states (PDOS). The calculated results are close to the experimental results.