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Strong orthogonal arrays enjoy more attractive space-filling properties than ordinary orthogonal arrays for computer experiments. In this paper, we propose two methods for constructing column-orthogonal nearly strong orthogonal arrays. These designs enjoy column orthogonality, inherit the attractive two-dimensional space-filling property of strong orthogonal arrays, and can accommodate twice or more number of factors than the existing strong orthogonal arrays. In addition, the proposed designs with four levels enjoy an attractive space-filling property under the maximin distance criterion. The construction methods are convenient and flexible, and the resulting designs are useful in computer experiments.

Soft and wet actuator systems have attracted great attention in some applications, such as assistive technologies for rehabilitation, training and regenerative biomedicines. Three-dimensional (3D) printing methods have realized the rapid fabrication of complex structures without the need for expensive dies or post processing. In this review, a comprehensive description is presented on stimuli-responsive hydrogels fabricated by light-responsive and extrusion-based 3D printing technologies. Mechanisms of actuations have been introduced based on stimuli types. As the most common method for 3D printed hydrogel actuators, direct-ink-writing has been discussed, including the two printing parameters of resolution and rheology. In addition, applications of 3D printed hydrogel actuators are presented followed by introductions of recent contributions on enhancing the toughness of 3D printed hydrogel and robust design tools, such as finite element analysis and artificial intelligence.

Developing a highly active and durable non-noble metal catalyst for aqueous-phase levulinic acid (LA) hydrogenation to γ-valerolactone (GVL) is an appealing yet challenging task. Herein, we report well-dispersed Co nanoparticles (NPs) embedded in nitrogen-doped mesoporous carbon nanofibers as an efficient catalyst for aqueous-phase LA hydrogenation to GVL. The Co zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF-67) nanocrystals were anchored on the sodium dodecyl sulfate modified wipe fiber (WF-S), yielding one-dimensional (1-D) structured composite (ZIF-67/WF-S). Subsequently, Co NPs were uniformly embedded in nitrogen-doped mesoporous carbon nanofibers (CoRNC/SMCNF) through a pyrolysis-reduction strategy using ZIF-67/WF-S as the precursor. Benefiting from introducing modified wipe fiber WF-S to enhance the dispersion of Co NPs, and Co0 with Co-Nx dual active sites, the resulting CoRNC/SMCNF catalyst shows brilliant catalytic activity (206 h−1 turnover frequency). Additionally, the strong metal–support interactions greatly inhibited the Co NPs from aggregation and leaching from the mesoporous carbon nanofibers, and thus increasing the reusability of the CoRNC/SMCNF catalyst (reusable nine times without notable activity loss).

The origin of sediment-hosted copper-cobalt deposits (SCDs) within metamorphic terranes remains contentious, particularly in regard to the timing of mineralization relative to basin evolution. Here, we link the timing of Cu-Co mineralization in the Zhongtiao Mountains district, central China, to basin closure during development of the Trans-North China Orogen. Metamorphic apatite from meta-evaporite has a U-Pb age (1844 ± 25 Ma) within error of a Re-Os age for molybdenite from Cu- and Co-bearing veins (1819 ± 10 Ma), implying that mineralization and metamorphism were coincident. In situ trace element and Fe-S isotope analyses of deformed sedimentary pyrite (Py I) and younger euhedral metamorphic pyrite (Py II) in pyritic graphite schist indicate that Co was mobilized from Py I via fluid-mediated dissolution and reprecipitation. In the graphite schist, representing a sulfidic shale metamorphosed at upper greenschist facies conditions, relic Py I has high δ34S values (22.9 ± 0.4‰, n = 10) and δ56Fe values (0.90 ± 0.16‰, n = 8). These values are consistent with bacterial sulfate reduction and pyrite formation in a Paleoproterozoic sulfidic sea (i.e., after the first great oxygenation event). In addition, Py I has unusually high Co contents (0.8–3.0 wt.%), suggesting that transition metals, including Co and Ni, were originally concentrated in sedimentary pyrite in an evaporative setting. The evaporitic setting is supported by the presence of sylvite in sulfidic schists and adjacent scapolitic calc-silicates. Younger Co-poor Py II has slightly lower δ34S values (21.4 ± 0.2‰, n = 19) and higher δ56Fe values (1.61 ± 0.15‰, n = 9), supporting the hypothesis that Co was released from sedimentary sulfide during dissolution and reprecipitation. The great variability of δ34S (14.8 to 22.9‰) and δ56Fe (0.13 to 2.30‰) in hydrothermal pyrite (Py III) associated with Cu-Co mineralization suggests that an external Cu-rich oxidizing fluid was involved in the ore-forming process. Copper and Co in this type of deposit are typically both considered to be derived from fertile basement rocks. This study, however, highlights another potential source for the Co, with its enrichment in a sulfidic sea along an evaporative margin and its upgrading through mobilization during orogenesis that leads to formation of a relatively high-temperature group of SCDs. Tectonometamorphic processes causing such Co enrichments took place during the Paleoproterozoic and Neoproterozoic oxygenation events, implying that the most prospective targets for Co resources are concentrated in ca. 2.2–2.0 Ga and 0.9–0.7 Ga deformed passive margin marine sequences.

Summary The electrochemical synthesis of chemicals and fuel feedstocks has been demonstrated to be a sustainable and "green" alternative to traditional chemical engineering, where oxygen evolution reaction (OER) plays a vital role in coupling with various cathodic reactions. While tremendous attention, involving both research and review topics, has been focused on pushing the limit of OER catalysts' activity, the long-term stability of OER catalysts, which may play an even more important role in large-scale electrolysis industrialization, has been much less emphasized. Until this point, few systematic strategies for developing OER catalysts with industrially relevant durability have been reported. In this review, critical mechanisms that could influence OER stability are summarized, including surface reconstruction, lattice oxygen evolution, and the dissolution-redeposition process of catalysts. Moreover, to bridge the gap between lab-scale OER tests and large-scale electrocatalysis applications, stability considerations in electrolyzer design for long-term operation are also discussed in detail. This review provides catalyst and reactor design principles for overcoming OER stability challenges and will focus more attention from the field on the great importance of OER stability as well as future large-scale electrocatalysis applications.

Four inorganic-organic hybrid octa-Cu cluster sandwiched polyoxotungstates (POTs), [Cu8(H2O)2(en)4(B-α-H2SiW9O34)2] (1), [Cu8(H2O)2(en)4(B-α-H2GeW9O34)2] (2), K2[Cu8(en)4(B-α-HSiW9O34)2]·6H2O (3), and K2[Cu8(en)4(B-α-HGeW9O34)2]·2H2O (4) (en = ethylenediamine), were hydrothermally made and characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, infrared spectra, powder X-ray diffraction, and thermogravimetric analysis, respectively. Structure analysis reveals that the polyoxoanion of 1/2 is a discrete dimer built by two trivalent Keggin [B-α-XW9O34]10- (X = Si/Ge) fragments and one octa-Cu cluster, whereas 3 and 4 display a two-dimensional network built by octa-Cu-sandwiched POT units via substitution of coordinated water on polyanions of 1 and 2 and further expand into a three-dimensional framework via K cation bridges. Ultraviolet-visible diffuse reflectance spectra reveal that 1-4 are potential semiconductor materials. Moreover, its visible light-driven catalytic H2 evolution activity, electrochemical properties, catalysis for oxygenation reactions of thioethers, and magnetic behaviors have been investigated in detail.

N1 -methyladenosine (m1 A) is a prevalent and reversible RNA modification, which plays a crucial role in the regulation of RNA fate and gene expression. However, the lack of tools to precisely manipulate m1 A sites in specific transcripts has hindered efforts to clarify the association between a specific m1 A-modified transcript and its phenotypic outcomes. Here we develop a CRISPR-Cas13d-based tool called reengineered m1 A modification valid eraser (termed "REMOVER") for targeted m1 A demethylation of a specific transcript. The catalytically inactive RfxCas13d (dCasRx) is fused to the m1 A demethylase ALKBH3, and the dCasRx-ALKBH3 fusion protein can mediate potent demethylation of m1 A-modified RNAs. We further find that REMOVER can specifically demethylate m1 A of MALAT1 and PRUNE1 RNAs, thereby significantly increasing their stability. Our study establishes REMOVER as a tool for targeted RNA demethylation of specific m1 A-modified transcripts, which enables further elucidation of the relationship between m1 A modification of specific transcripts and their phenotypic outcomes.

Bulky sample was fabricated by electron beam rapid manufacture (EBRM) technology, in which Ф1.6 mm wire of in-situ TiB2/Al-Si compositeswas selected as deposition metal, following byT6 heat treatment. The microstructure and mechanical properties of the bulky sample before and afterheat treatment were analyzed. Experimental results showed that the microstructure parallel to the weld was similar to that perpendicular to the weld. The microstructure of the as-deposited sample consisted of columnar and equiaxed grains, in which siliconwas distributed along the grain boundary and the grain size was about 30 μm. Besides, some TiB2 particles converged at the grain boundary. After T6 heat treatment, the average grain size of the sample increasedobviously.The average hardness of the sample was increased to 114.65 HV from 46.55 HV, an increase of 146%. The tensile strength of the sample increased to 326.66MPafrom 143.97 MPa, but the elongationdecreased compared with that of the as-deposited state. The tensile test showed that the mechanical properties of TiB2/Al-Si composites formed by electron beam rapid manufacture were isotropic before and after heat treatment.

Background Protocols for Agrobacterium rhizogenes-mediated hairy root transformation of the model legume Lotus japonicus have been established previously. However, little efforts were made in the past to quantify and improve the transformation efficiency. Here, we asked whether effectors (nodulation outer proteins) of the nodule bacterium Sinorhizobium sp. NGR234 can promote hairy root transformation of L. japonicus. The co-expressed red fluorescent protein DsRed1 was used for visualization of transformed roots and for estimation of the transformation efficiency. Results Strong induction of hairy root formation was observed when A. rhizogenes strain LBA9402 was used for L. japonicus transformation. Expression of the effector gene nopP in L. japonicus roots resulted in a significantly increased transformation efficiency while nopL, nopM, and nopT did not show such an effect. In nopP expressing plants, more than 65% of the formed hairy roots were transgenic as analyzed by red fluorescence emitted by co-transformed DsRed1. A nodulation experiment indicated that nopP expression did not obviously affect the symbiosis between L. japonicus and Mesorhizobium loti. Conclusion We have established a novel protocol for hairy root transformation of L. japonicus. The use of A. rhizogenes LBA9402 carrying a binary vector containing DsRed1 and nopP allowed efficient formation and identification of transgenic roots.

This paper solves the flow-shop scheduling problem (FSP) through the reinforcement learning (RL), which approximates the value function with neural network (NN). Under the RL framework, the state, strategy, action, reward signal, and value function of FSP were described in details. Considering the intrinsic features of FSP, various information of FSP was mapped into RL states, including the maximum, minimum, and mean of makespan, the maximum, minimum, and mean of remaining operations, as well as the load of machines. Besides, the optimal scheduling rules corresponding to specific states were mapped into the actions of RL. On this basis, the NN was trained to establish the mapping between states and actions, and select the action of the highest probability under a specific state. In addition, a reward function was constructed based on the idle time (IT) of machines, and the value function was generalized by the NN. Finally, our algorithm was tested on 23 benchmark examples and more than 7 sets of example machines. Small relative errors were achieved on 20 of the 23 benchmark examples and satisfactory results were realized on all 7 machine sets. The results confirm the superiority and universality of our algorithm, and indicate that FSP can be solved effectively by completely mapping it into our RL framework. The research results provide a reference for solving similar problems with RL algorithm based on value function approximation.

As a signaling molecule, hydrogen sulfide (H2S) plays an indispensable role in the modulation of ripening and senescence in fruits and vegetables. To explore the role of H2S in regulating metabolism of postharvest tomato, ripening-related physiological parameters, activities of antioxidant enzymes and gene expression were analyzed in H2S-fumigated tomato fruits. These results show that H2S significantly delayed the color transition and softening of tomato fruit, and maintained higher level of flavonoids and lower level of anthocyanin during storage. Besides, H2S could maintain higher level of nutritional-related metabolites, such as reducing sugar, ascorbic acid during postharvest storage. Moreover, H2S decreased the rate of O2− production, inhibited the production of H2O2 and malondialdehyde (MDA), enhanced the activities of antioxidant enzymes including ascorbate peroxidase (APX), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and guaiacol peroxidase (POD) in tomato fruits, while reduced the activities of phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL), polyphenol oxidase (PPO) and lipoxygenase (LOX). Besides, the expression of the antioxidant-encoding genes SlCAT2, SlPOD12 was generally upregulated with H2S fumigation. Principal component analysis (PCA) suggests that H2S induced significant discrepancy mainly to the differences in firmness, anthocyanin, flavonoid and the activity of guaiacol peroxidase (POD), and the correlation analysis further shows that H2S affected pigment metabolism and nutritional quality. In conclusion, H2S could maintain better appearance and nutritional quality, and prolong the storage period of postharvest tomato fruits through activating the antioxidative system.

On the basis of the lanthanide metalloligand [Ln(ODA)3]3- (H2ODA = oxydiacetic acid), three new Na-Ln heterometallic coordination polymers, [Ln(ODA)3Na2]n [Ln = Eu (1) and Gd (2)] and [Tb(ODA)3Na3(H2O)2]n (3), had been assembled by adjusting the concentration of Na+ ions in the reaction system. The investigations of fluorescence sensing showed that 1 could be a ratiometric probe to detect tetracycline (TC) and oxytetracycline (OTC) with high sensitivity and low detection limits, 71.92 ppb for the former and 45.54 ppb for the latter, and 3 could selectively sense 4-(phenylazo)aniline through the turn-off pathway with 14.59 ppb of detection limits. Moreover, the competing and circulating experiments indicated that both 1 and 3 had satisfactory antiinterference and recyclability for the corresponding analytes. All of these results implied that 1 and 3 should be potential fluorescent sensors for the detection of TC/OTC and 4-(phenylazo)aniline, and the possible sensing mechanism had also been discussed in depth.

The aim of the study was to verify the effect of bioaugmentation by the bacterial consortium YS with hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HPCD) in a soil slurry. The bacterial consortium YS was enriched from a petroleum-polluted soil using pyrene as sole carbon resource. After 3 weeks, the degradation rate of phenanthrene in CK increased from 22.58% to 55.23 and 78.21% in bioaugmentation (B) and HPCD + bioaugmentation (MB) respectively. The degradation rate of pyrene in CK increased from 17.33% to 51.10% and 60.32% in B and MB respectively in the slurry. The augmented YS persisted in the slurry as monitored by 16S rRNA gene high-throughput sequencing and outcompeted some indigenous bacteria. Enhanced polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) degradation was observed in the addition of HPCD due to the enhanced bioavailability of phenanthrene and pyrene. Additionally, the amount of PAH-degrading bacteria and enzymatic activity in bioaugmentation with HPCD were higher than that in the CK group. The results indicated that bioaugmentation with a bacterial consortium and HPCD is an environmentally friendly method for the bioremediation of PAH-polluted soil.

Isotopic dating studies have revealed that many carbonatite-related REE ore systems have protracted and complex temporal evolution histories. The mechanisms that cause these complex dating results remain poorly understood. Here, we present an in-situ Sm-Nd and Th-Pb isotopic investigation of monazite and bastnasite from a geologically-complicated deposit, the world-class Bayan Obo REE deposit of China, with the aim of defining the general mechanisms accounting for the protracted age spread observed in this and many other REE deposits. Monazite and bastnasite are two principle REE ore minerals in the Bayan Obo deposit. Most of the studied monazite and bastnasite grains have experienced fluid-aided modification. The modified grains have generally homogeneous Sm and Nd contents and Sm-Nd isotopic compositions, implying low mobility of Sm and Nd during the modification process. Thus, the Sm-Nd chronometer can be used to constrain the primary crystallization timing of the REE minerals at 1293 ± 48 Ma. However, altered REE minerals have apparent 208Pb-232Th ages (1248–261 Ma) that are variably younger than the primary crystallization age. In most samples, Th contents have no correlations with 208Pb-232Th ages, while Pb contents tend to decrease along with the younging trend of 208Pb-232Th ages. NanoSIMS mapping shows that 208Pb and 208Pb/232Th are heterogeneous, and irregularly distributed in the altered grains. Such results are indicative of variable Pb loss during the fluid-aided modification process. Thus, many Th-Pb ages represent partial isotopic resetting and, hence, are geologically meaningless. Completely reset ages cluster at 450–400 Ma or 280–260 Ma, representing two discrete episodes of post-ore hydrothermal activity. Small amounts of monazite and bastnasite that were newly crystallized during these two overprinting episodes have initial Nd isotopic signatures approaching the time-evolved isotopic compositions of primary ores, which suggests insignificant REE input to the primary ores during these events. This study provides critical evidence to resolve complex dating results and disparate ore genesis models for the giant Bayan Obo deposit. Moreover, our results indicate the resistance of Sm-Nd isotopes, but the susceptibility of Th-(U)-Pb isotopes, to fluid-aided modification. Therefore, younger Th-U-Pb dates in geologically-complicated deposits should be treated with caution as they may represent partial resetting results and/or may not represent events of increased metal tenor.

Energetic metal-organic frameworks (EMOFs) with a high oxygen content are currently a hot spot in the field of energetic materials research. In this article, two series of EMOFs with different ligands were obtained by reacting 1-(trinitromethyl)-1H-1,2,4-triazole-3-carboxylic acid (tntrza) with metal iodide and metal nitrate, respectively. Furthermore, their structure, thermal stability, thermal decomposition kinetics, and energy performance are fully characterized. The research results revealed that the synthesized EMOFs possess a wide range of density (ρ = 1.88∼2.595 g cm-3), oxygen balance (OB(CO2) = -21.1∼ -4.3%), and acceptable energy performance (D = 7.73∼8.74 km s-1 and P = 28.1∼41.1 GPa). The difference in OB(CO2) caused by the ligand structure and metal properties has a great impact on the distribution of gas-phase products after the decomposition of these EMOFs. Noteworthy, [Ag(tntrza)]n is particularly prominent among these EMOFs, not only because of its excellent detonation performance (D = 8.74 km s-1 and P = 41.1 GPa) endowed by its extremely high density (ρ = 2.595 g cm-3) and oxygen balance (OB(CO2) = -4.3%) but also because of its effective catalytic effect on the decomposition of ammonium perchlorate (AP). This article broadens the horizon for the study of oxygen-enriched EMOFs with catalytic effects and helps understand the mechanism of thermal decomposition of EMOFs with nitroform and dinitro groups.

Surface-assisted laser desorption/ionization (SALDI) has become an attractive branch of matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) and has been successfully applied for the detection of small molecules due to the lack of the interference of matrix. Herein, the low-cost and highly accessible polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) was modified using a facile alkali treatment and investigated as a SALDI matrix. The modified PVDF has a strong optical absorption and can be applied as a dual-mode substrate for both SALDI MS and SALDI imaging analysis. Modified PVDF powder showed superior performance in SALDI MS analysis of lipids, with good reproducibility, high sensitivity, and low background interference, especially for triacylglycerols (TAGs) and fatty acids. Additionally, the lipids in raw and extracted serum were both successfully determined with modified PVDF powder. A modified PVDF membrane (m-PVDF-m) showed excellent ability in lipids imaging in tissues due to its flat surface, mass signal enhancement, and elimination of matrix coating. The distribution of several TAGs and cholesteryl esters on mouse kidney section was presented by SALDI imaging directly on m-PVDF-m. These results demonstrated that modified PVDF materials presented exciting opportunities as matrices for the first time in SALDI MS acquisition and SALDI imaging.

Maize/soybean relay intercropping system is a popular cultivation system to obtain high yields of both crops with reduced inputs. However, shading by maize decreases the photosynthetically active radiation, reaching the soybean canopy in maize/soybean relay intercropping system, which reduces soybean radiation use efficiency and competitiveness. Here, we reveal that compact maize in maize/soybean relay intercropping system enhances the photosynthetically active radiation transmittance, leaf area index, dry matter production, radiation use efficiency, and competitiveness of soybean and compensates the slight maize yield loss by substantially increasing soybean yield. In this experiment, soybean was relay intercropped with different maize types (SI, spreading maize; SII, semi-compact maize; and SIII, compact maize) in maize/soybean relay intercropping system, and all the relay intercropping treatments were compared with sole cropping systems of soybean and maize. Results revealed that SIII significantly enhanced the soybean radiation use efficiency (by 77%, from 0.35 g MJ-1 in SI to 0.61 g MJ-1 in SIII) and total radiation use efficiency (soybean radiation use efficiency + maize radiation use efficiency) of maize/soybean relay intercropping system (by 5%, from 3.53 g MJ-1 in SI to 3.73 g MJ-1 in SIII). Similarly, SIII improved the competitiveness (by 62%, from 0.58% in SI to 0.94% in SIII) of soybean but reduced the competitiveness (by 38%, from 1.73% in SI to 1.07% in SIII) of maize, which, in turn, considerably increased soybean yield by maintaining maize yield. On average, over the 2 years, in SIII, relay-intercropped soybean produced 89% of the sole soybean yield, and relay-intercropped maize produced 95% of the sole maize yield. Besides, treatment SIII achieved the mean highest land equivalent ratio value of 1.84 in both years. Thus, enhanced radiation use efficiency of soybean, especially during the co-growth period, was the primary factor responsible for the high productivity of the maize/soybean relay intercropping system.

In this paper, a seven-parameter BRDF model with double-peak characteristic, which could fit double-peak data, was adopted to fit the BRDF of Mars simulation soil. At the same time, the three-dimensional figure of the original data of the sample and the three-dimensional curve of the fitted curve were given. The results proved that the model worked well for this type of data. In addition, the experimental data of four kinds of earth sand samples with different roughness were also fitted and analyzed. It was found that the model still had a good fitting effect on such data. At last, the Mars simulation soil and the four kinds of earth sand samples with different roughness were compared horizontally and vertically. Moreover, the double-peak characteristics and other properties of the Mars simulation soil and the earth sand were analyzed under the same and different roughness.

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is a vital endogenous signal molecule that exerts critical physiological functions such as biological regulation and cytoprotection. Despite significant progress in developing H2S donors, site-specific delivery and controllable release of H2S in biological systems remain a key challenge. Herein, we develop new Cys-triggered fluorescent H2S donor Pro-S that is composed of a dicyanoisophorone-based near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent dye and a thiocarbamate moiety. The H2S donor releases H2S under the attack of Cys, accompanied by the release of a fluorescent reporter, which enables the real-time capturing of H2S by fluorescence spectroscopy or microscopy. Pro-S exhibits strong NIR fluorescence enhancement (70-fold), excellent controllable H2S release (30 min), high H2S release efficiency (62%), and well live-cell compatibility, allowing for visualization of H2S release in cells and zebrafish. Moreover, Pro-S presents a good effect of anti-inflammation in RAW 264.7 cells. This work provides a new idea for the design of H2S donors, which may be beneficial to the comprehension of the potential mechanism of inflammation and optimization of treatment strategies.

The Datong mining area is a typical double system coal seam mining area in China, where the Jurassic and Carboniferous coal seams are mined simultaneously. The upper Jurassic coal seam has been largely mined, leaving a large amount of gob area. Besides, a large amount of harmful water is accumulated. With the exploitation of the 3-5# extra-thick coal seam in the Carboniferous system, the scope of overburden damage is greatly increasing, and the mining fracture field is further developed. Once the mining-induced fractures connect with the overlying gob, it is easy to induce the water discharge disaster. With the mining geological conditions of the 8202 working face in the Tongxin coal mine as references, the disastrous mechanism of water discharge in the abandoned gob above the stope in the mining extra-thick coal seam is researched by numerical simulation with the UDEC numerical software, and the research results are obtained. The water in the overlying gob percolates through the mining-induced fractures in the higher key layer forming a “shower” seepage pattern. The water in the above gob converges in the key fracture channel, flowing into the working face. The seepage in the fractures in the high key stratum experiences the process of increase, decrease, and stabilization, related with the stretching and extrusion deformation between the high key stratum blocks. Compared with other fractures, the flow rates in the No.2 and No.4 fractures in the far field key lay are larger, because the fractures are in the tension state, forming the “saddle-shaped” flow pattern. The influencing distance of mining-induced seepage is about 80 m in front of the working face. The research results provide a guided reference for the prediction and prevention of water discharge disaster in an abandoned gob above the stope in a mining extra-thick coal seam.

Self-reinforced lithium disilicate (Li2Si2O5, LD) glass-ceramics were hot pressing sintered by introducing 5 wt% Li2Si2O5 crystal seeds into two different glass compositions of SiO2-Li2O-P2O5-ZrO2-Al2O3-K2O-La2O3 (7C LD) and SiO2-Li2O-K2O-La2O3 (4C LD). The results show that the seeds play an important role in the crystallization inducement, and microstructural and property improvement of the glass, especially for the glass powder without the nucleating agent of P2O5. The microstructure features a wider bimodal grain size distribution with large rod-like crystals epitaxially grown along the seeds and small crystals nucleated from the glass powder itself, contributing to the improvement of the performance especially the fracture toughness. The specimen of 4C LD glass with the addition of 5 wt% Li2Si2O5 seeds exhibited the best comprehensive properties with a good flexural strength (396±7 MPa), improved fracture toughness (3.31±0.19 MPa·m1/2), and comparable translucency as IPS e.max. This research provides a new idea and method for the improvement of the fracture toughness of lithium disilicate glass-ceramics without affecting its aesthetic appearance, and lays the foundation for its clinical applications.

As an important photoconductive hybrid material, perylene/ZnO has attracted tremendous attention for photovoltaic-related applications, but generally faces a great challenge to design molecular level dispersed perylenes/ZnO nanohybrids due to easy phase separation between perylenes and ZnO nanocrystals. In this work, we reported an in-situ reaction method to prepare molecular level dispersed H-aggregates of perylene bisimide/ZnO nanorod hybrids. Surface photovoltage and electric field-induced surface photovoltage spectrum show that the photovoltage intensities of nanorod hybrids increased dramatically for 100 times compared with that of pristine perylene bisimide. The enhancement of photovoltage intensities resulting from two aspects: (1) the photo-generated electrons transfer from perylene bisimide to ZnO nanorod due to the electric field formed on the interface of perylene bisimide/ZnO; (2) the H-aggregates of perylene bisimide in ZnO nanorod composites, which is beneficial for photo-generated charge separation and transportation. The introduction of ordered self-assembly thiol-functionalized perylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylic diimide (T-PTCDI)/ ZnO nanorod composites induces a significant improvement in incident photo-to-electron conversion efficiency. This work provides a novel mentality to boost photo-induced charge transfer efficiency, which brings new inspiration for the preparation of the highly efficient solar cell.

Thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) sensitized fluorescent organic light-emitting diodes (TSF-OLEDs) have shown great potential for the realization of high efficiency with low efficiency roll-off and good color purity. However, the superior examples of TSF-OLEDs are still limited up to now. Herein, a trade-off strategy is presented for designing efficient TADF materials and achieving high-performance TSF-OLEDs via the construction of a new type of triazolotriazine (TAZTRZ) acceptor. The enhanced electron-withdrawing ability of TAZTRZ acceptor, fused by triazine (TRZ) and triazole (TAZ) together, enables TADF luminogens with small singlet-triplet energy gap (ΔEST) values. Meanwhile, the increased planarity from the TRZ-phenyl linkage (6:6 system) to the TAZ-phenyl linkage (5:6 system) can compensate the decrease of oscillator strength (f) while lowing ΔEST, thus achieving a trade-off between small ΔEST and high f. As a result, the related TSF-OLED achieved an extremely low turn-on voltage of 2.1 V, an outstanding maximum external quantum efficiency (EQEmax) of 23.7% with small efficiency roll-off (EQE1000 of 23.2%; EQE5000 of 20.6%) and an impressively high maximum power efficiency of 82.1 lm W−1, which represents the state-of-the-art performance for yellow TSF-OLEDs.

Phase structure of sputtered Ta coating in the negative glow space and LPH effect were explored. The whole coating/substrate system is substrate → physically gas-absorbed Fe surface → oxygen-enriched TaOx layer → amorphous Ta → α and β dual phase → single α phase. After LPH course, microstructure of Ta coating shows intact, only a few cracks emerge after 100 laser pulses, exhibiting thin HAZ but thick Fe/Ta ICZ, without martensitic transformation. For the electrodeposited Cr coating, continuous thermal stresses produce many extra micro-crack, substrate oxidation and martensitic transformation, leading to crack propagations and final bulk delamination, without any ICZ.

Platinum–rare earth metal (Pt–RE) nanoalloys are among the most active electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction and are predicted to exhibit long-term stability in proton-exchange membran...

Under natural conditions, plants constantly encounter various biotic and abiotic factors, which can potentially restrict plant growth and development and even limit crop productivity. Among various abiotic factors affecting plant photosynthesis, light serves as an important factor that drives carbon metabolism in plants and supports life on earth. The two components of light (light quality and light intensity) greatly affect plant photosynthesis and other plant’s morphological, physiological and biochemical parameters. The response of plants to different spectral radiations and intensities differs in various species and also depends on growing conditions. To date, much research has been conducted regarding how different spectral radiations of varying intensity can affect plant growth and development. This review is an effort to briefly summarize the available information on the effects of light components on various plant parameters such as stem and leaf morphology and anatomy, stomatal development, photosynthetic apparatus, pigment composition, reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, antioxidants, and hormone production.

It is of great importance to develop selective and stable metal catalysts for the aqueous levulinic acid hydrogenation, yet challenging. Herein, we report a yolk-structured sing atom catalyst (SAC) with amine-modified Ru1/Fe3O4 core and periodic mesoporousorganosilica (PMO) shell, synthesized by a core–shell dual stabilization strategy. The Ru single atoms (0.76 wt%) are inserted into the oxygen vacancies of spheric Fe3O4, and stabilized by the amine groups from 1,6-hexanediamine. The hollow PMO sphere is hydrophobic, that affords a strong barrier for interior Ru1/Fe3O4 core, and the shell mesopore (4.2 nm) along with the cavity enhances the porosity of the resultant catalyst. As expected, the amine-promoted Ru1/Fe3O4 core in the hollow PMO shell (denoted as N-Ru1/Fe3O4@void@PMO), proves to be highly selective and stable for the aqueous levulinic acid (LA) hydrogenation under harsh conditions (pH ≈ 1), giving γ-valerolactone (GVL), a biomass-derived platform molecule with wide applications in the preparation of renewable chemicals and liquid transportation fuels. The elaborately fabricated catalyst is highly efficient, delivering 98.9% of selectivity to GVL and 99.0% of LA conversion in acidic water. And a high turnover frequency of 1084 h−1 is achieved and this catalyst can be cycled 7 times without apparent drop of GVL yield and LA conversion. The amine-stabilized Ru single sites, acid-resistant Fe3O4 circled by the hydrophobic shell, and the enhanced porosity of catalyst, are responsible for the excellent catalytic performance of N-Ru1/Fe3O4@void@PMO in acidic water.

In this work, we have proposed a new concept of sodium-ion supercabatteries (i.e., sodium-ion capacitors/batteries, SICBs) based on a novel vacancy defective Ni–Co–Mn ternary perovskite fluoride K0.71Ni0.12Co0.41Mn0.47F2.77/reduced graphene oxide (i.e., KMF(244)/rGO) anode and a capacitor/battery (activated carbon/Na3V2(PO4)2O2F, i.e., AC/NVPOF) hybrid cathode, which reduce the gap between sodium-ion capacitors (SICs) and sodium-ion batteries (SIBs). The KMF(244)/rGO anode, with the synergistic effect of Ni, Co, and Mn redox species and K/F vacancy defects, presents remarkable specific capacity, rate and cycle performance, showing pseudocapacitive-dominated conversion/intercalation dual mechanisms. Interestingly, the KMF(244)/rGO//AC/NVPOF SICBs exhibit superior performance to KMF(244)/rGO//AC SICs and KMF(244)/rGO//NVPOF SIBs, which largely benefits from the synergistic energy storage superiority of SICs and SIBs showing pseudocapacitive, capacitive, and faradaic behavior in electrochemical processes. To sum up, our study presents a novel concept of sodium-ion supercabatteries realized by using the vacancy defective Ni–Co–Mn ternary perovskite fluoride anode with pseudocapacitive-dominated conversion/intercalation dual mechanisms and an AC/NVPOF capacitor/battery hybrid cathode, providing new insight into developing advanced energy storage devices and in-depth understanding of the charge storage mechanisms.

Zinc gallate (ZnGa2O4) materials as a mixed oxide of d10 metal zinc and gallium have a wide range of applications because of their intriguing properties. Considerable effort has been devoted to nanostructuring ZnGa2O4 to regulate or enhance its properties and performance, although further investigation would be still necessary. Herein, for the first time, we demonstrated the nanocasting synthesis of ordered mesoporous ZnGa2O4 with highly crystalline frameworks by using mesoporous silica as the hard template, which exhibits excellent photocatalytic hydrogen (H2) evolution performance. The key for fabricating ordered mesoporous ZnGa2O4 was its improved stability over individual zinc oxide or gallium oxide in alkaline etching solution during the removal of the silica template, which allows for the maintenance of the ordered mesoporous structure in a finely etching silica process. The resultant ordered mesoporous ZnGa2O4 possesses an ultrathin framework of 3–5 nm and a large pore size of 11 nm as well as a relatively high surface area of ∼157 m2 g−1. An enhanced photocatalytic H2 evolution performance of 2.72 mmol h−1 g−1 could be achieved under ultraviolet (UV) light irradiation, which is almost 1.8 and 3.9 times as high as those of ZnGa2O4 nanoflowers (1.5 mmol h−1 g−1) and bulk ZnGa2O4 (0.7 mmol h−1 g−1).

Background Gefitinib is a first-generation epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor (EGFR-TKI). It was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for clinical use in 2003. However, gefitinib has only come to China in recent years. Previous studies have not compared the efficacy and safety of domestic and imported gefitinib. Therefore, we conducted this study. Methods This study included 227 patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who received gefitinib treatment in four medical institutions: The First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Anhui Provincial Cancer Hospital, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Shandong Provincial Institute of Cancer Prevention and Jiangsu Cancer Hospital, from January 2017 to July 2018. The patients were divided into a Yiruike group (55 patients treated with domestic gefitinib, Yiruike) and an Iressa group (172 patients treated with imported gefitinib, Iressa). Because gefitinib resistance usually occurs within 8-10 months of gefitinib administration, the patients were followed up for one year to observe their conditions and compare the occurrence of adverse reactions between the two groups. Results The two groups had no significant difference in baseline data. The median progression-free survival (PFS) of Yiruike group and that of Iressa group were 10.270±2.036 and 12.970±1.634 months, respectively. The mean PFS of Yiruike group and that of Iressa group were 12.598±1.083 and 15.958±0.987 months, respectively. The one-year disease control rate (DCR) of Yiruike group and that of Iressa group were 61.8% and 59.3%, respectively. The differences were all insignificant (P>0.05). The incidence of adverse reactions in these two groups were not significantly different. Conclusions Yiruike was slightly superior to Iressa in terms of DCR. However, comparisons of bioequivalence and DCR were not sufficient for evaluating a drug. Other comparisons require long-term follow-up studies with a large sample size.

Thermo-responsive fluorescent materials are promising candidates for the development of fluorescent thermometers, biological sensors and biomedicine. Since the interesting phenomenon of aggregation...

In this work, three new coordination polymers with a free carboxyl group, [Zn4(HIDCPy)4(DMSO)(DMF)3]n (1), [Cu(HIDCPyO)(DMSO)]n (2), and {[Cd4(HIDCPy)6]·4DMF·4C2H8N·H2O}n (3) (H2IDCPy = 2-(pyridine...

Based on the complex variable techniques combined with the boundary collocation method, a semi-analytical procedure is proposed to explore the anti-plane shear behavior of non-uniformly periodic fibrous composites under uniform remote shear loadings. Specific series with unknown coefficients are introduced to describe the complex potentials of the representative unit cell (RUC) of the composite. The unknown coefficients are determined from the continuity conditions on the interface, the periodic boundary conditions imposed on the edge of the unit cell and the remote loading conditions. Once the complex potentials are determined, the effective moduli of the composite are obtained according to the average-field theory. Extensive numerical examples are provided to investigate the influence of the periodic distribution of the inclusions, the moduli of each component, and the volume fraction of the inclusions on the local stress fields and effective shear moduli of the composite. Numerical results show that the inhomogeneous distribution of the inclusions may induce a continuous area with high equivalent stress in the matrix under certain loadings and material properties of each component. However, we could overcome this disadvantage by changing the components or the periodic arrangement of the inclusions. For the case of a RUC with double inclusions, the two inclusions with the same shear moduli arranged symmetrically in the direction of 45 degrees may induce the transverse isotropy of the composite. Nevertheless, when the two inclusions are horizontally arranged and the volume fraction of the inclusions is large enough (more than 10%), the composite generally shows orthotropic characteristics.

Effective delivery of anticancer agents across the blood-brain barrier (BBB) required innovative strategies to achieve glioma regression. To resolve this problem, we proposed to develop a metal agent that target and treat glioma based on the unique property of apoferritin (AFt) nanoparticles (NPs). Thus, we synthesized a series of Au(III) 3-(4-metyl piperidine)thiosemicarbazides compounds and analyzed their structure-activity relationships, obtaining a Au agent (C6) with remarkable cytotoxicity in glioma. Moreover, we confirmed that C6 kills glioma cells by inducing lethal autophagy and apoptosis. Importantly, our results revealed that the successfully constructed apoferritin-C6 NPs (AFt-C6 NPs) can effectively cross the BBB, inhibit glioma growth, and selectively accumulate in tumors.

This experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of dietary calcium (Ca) or phosphorus (P) deficiency on bone development and related Ca or P metabolic utilization parameters of broilers from 22 to 42 days of age based on our previous study, which indicated that dietary Ca or P deficiency impaired the bone development by regulating related Ca or P metabolic utilization parameters of broilers from 1 to 21 days of age. A total of 504 one-day-old Arbor Acres male broilers were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 treatments with 7 replicates in a completely randomized design, and fed the normal control and Ca- or P-deficient diets from 1 to 21 days of age. At 22 days of age, the broilers were further fed the normal control diet (0.90% Ca+0.35% non-phytate P (NPP)), the P-deficient diet (0.90% Ca+0.18% NPP), the Ca-deficient diet (0.30% Ca+0.35% NPP) or the Ca and P-deficient diet (0.30% Ca+0.18% NPP), respectively. The results showed that dietary Ca or P deficiency decreased (P

The objectives of this study were to investigate antimicrobial resistance of Streptococcus uberis and Streptococcus parauberis isolated from cows with bovine clinical mastitis in China and to examine the distribution of resistance- and virulence-related gene patterns. Antimicrobial susceptibility was determined by the E-test. Genes encoding antimicrobial resistance and invasiveness factors were examined by PCR. A total of 27 strains were obtained from 326 mastitis milk samples. Streptococcus parauberis isolates (n=11) showed high resistance to erythromycin (90.9%), followed by tetracycline (45.5%), chloramphenicol (36.4%) and clindamycin (27.3%). Streptococcus uberis isolates (n=16) were highly resistant to tetracycline (81.3%) and clindamycin (62.5%). Both species were susceptible to ampicillin. The most prevalent resistance gene in S. uberis was tetM (80.0%), followed by blaZ (62.5%) and ermB (62.5%). However, tetM, blaZ, and ermB genes were only found in 27.3, 45.5, and 27.3%, respectively, of S. parauberis. In addition, all of the isolates carried at least one selected virulence-related gene. The most prevalent virulence-associated gene pattern in the current study was sua+pauA/skc+gapC+hasC detected in 22.2% of the strains. One S. uberis strain carried 7 virulence-associated genes and belonged to the sua+pauA/skc+gapC+cfu+hasA+hasB+hasC pattern. More than 59.3% of analysed strains carried 4 to 7 virulence-related genes. Our findings demonstrated that S. parauberis and S. uberis isolated from clinical bovine mastitis cases in China exhibited diverse molecular ecology, and that the strains were highly resistant to antibiotics commonly used in the dairy cow industry. The data obtained in the current study contribute to a better understanding of the pathogenesis of bacteria in mastitis caused by these pathogens, and the findings are relevant to the development of multivalent vaccines and targeted prevention procedures.

Previous studies have documented extensive methylation of CpG islands and abundant methyltransferase gene (DNMT) in Fugacium kawagutii (formerly Symbiodinium kawagutii) genome. However, whether DNA methylation plays a role in regulating gene expression in this and other dinoflagellates remains unclear. Here, we characterized gene body methylation levels using methylation-specific PCR (MS-PCR) and bisulfite sequencing PCR (BSP) and measured transcriptional levels for three photosystem genes in F. kawagutii under different light conditions (20, 100, and 600 µE · m-2 · s-1 ). To explore the association of methylation with DNA methylase, the expression of DNA methyltransferase (Symbio-DIRS-Dnmt3) was also measured. Our results showed that peridinin-chlorophyll a-binding protein (PCP), light-harvesting complex (LHC), and chlorophyll a-c-binding protein complex (acpPC) gene expression was all significantly up-regulated under low light in which their methylation level was down-regulated, constant, and elevated, respectively. Symbio-DIRS-Dnmt3 exhibited elevated transcriptional level under increased light intensity. The results led us to hypothesize that DNA methylation level can be modulated by environmental conditions such as irradiance, probably through the regulation of Symbio-DIRS-Dnmt3 transcription level, and in turn may regulate the expression of genes in F. kawagutii. Further study is needed to determine whether the same gene methylation and expression characteristics reported here occur in other dinoflagellates and to explore their ecological implications.

Two different supermolecular structures of β-iPP cast films were used to investigate structural evolution during the simultaneous biaxial stretching process via small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Based on the mechanical behaviors and porosity variations during the stretching process, it was found that the two samples had different structural evolution modes. During the initial stage of deformation, β-hedrites exhibited violent cavitation behavior in the center region of the hedrites by forming elliptical crazes and expanding, while β-spherulites were more inclined to fragment into blocky crystal structures, which was accompanied by the slippage of these structures. In the later stages of stretching, β-hedrites formed numerous dense regions around the elliptical crazes, which hindered microvoid formation and led to a poor pore size distribution. Conversely, β-spherulites generated abundant microfibrillar structures, and abundant microvoids were formed by directly separating the microfibrils, forming a membrane with a superior pore size distribution. The structural evolution of β-iPP with two different supermolecular structures during the simultaneous biaxial stretching process was studied. The two samples showed different structural evolution modes. β-hedrites exhibited violent cavitation behavior during the initial stage of deformation, but in the late stages of stretching β-hedrites formed numerous dense regions, which hindered microvoid formation and led to a poor pore size distribution. Conversely, β-spherulite generated abundant microfibrillar structures, and abundant microvoids were formed, forming a membrane with a superior pore size distribution.

The German cockroach Blattella germanica (L.) is an important pest in medical, veterinary, and public health. Studies on the olfaction mechanism of hemimetabolous insects have rarely been reported, especially in cockroaches. Pheromone-binding proteins (PBPs) play a vital role in insect sex pheromone recognition, which solubilize and carry the hydrophobic pheromonal compounds through the antennal lymph to receptors. In this study, two potential PBPs (BgerOBP26 and BgerOBP40) were identified on the basis of their biased expression in male antennae using tissue transcriptome data and verified by the quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction approach. We then expressed and purified the two identified odorant-binding proteins (OBPs) using the Escherichia coli expression system and affinity purification. In vitro binding studies showed that the two OBPs display stronger binding affinities to the female volatile sex pheromone blattellaquinone than to its analogues and contact sex pheromone components. Finally, three-dimensional modeling of the two OBPs and dock conformation with sex pheromone molecules showed BgerOBP26 has a larger odorant cavity and more conservative active amino acid residues than BgerOBP40. These results illuminated the binding characteristics of potential PBPs of B. germanica, which could lay the groundwork for improved understanding of many aspects of the chemical ecology of B. germanica. Moreover, this information complements the understanding of the olfactory molecular mechanism in cockroaches and provides potential gene targets for B. germanica control.

The inflorescence of Chrysanthemum morifolium cv. ‘Hangju’ has been widely used in China due to its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. The biosynthesis and regulation of flavonoids, a group of bioactive components, in C. morifolium are poorly understood. Transcriptome sequencing is an effective method for obtaining transcript information. Therefore, single-molecule real-time (SMRT) sequencing was performed to obtain the full-length genes involved in flavonoid biosynthesis and regulation in C. morifolium. High-quality RNA was extracted from the inflorescence of C. morifolium at different flowering stages and used to construct two libraries (0–5 kb and 4.5–10 kb) for sequencing. Finally, 125,532 non-redundant isoforms with a mean length of 2009 bp were obtained. Of these, 2,083 transcripts were annotated to pathways related to flavonoid biosynthesis, and 56 isoforms were annotated as CHS, CHI, F3H, F3’H, FNS II, FLS, DFR and ANS genes. Based on gene expression levels at different stages, we predicted the major genes involved in flavonoid biosynthesis. By phylogenetic analysis, we found two candidate MYB transcription factors (CmMYBF1 and CmMYBF2) activating flavonol biosynthesis. Based on the full-length transcriptomic data and further quantitative analysis, the major genes involved in flavonoid biosynthesis and regulation in C. morifolium were predicted in our study. The results provide a valuable theoretical basis for the introduction and cultivation of C. morifolium cv. ‘Hangju’.

Nanobubble is a rising research field, which attracts more and more attentions due to its potential applications in medical science, catalysis, electrochemistry and etc. To better implement these applications, it is urgent to understand one of the most important mechanisms of nanobubbles, the evolution. However, few attentions have been paid in this aspect because of the methodology difficulties. Here we successfully used dark-field microscopy to study the evolution process of single nanobubbles generated from formic acid dehydrogenation on single Pd-Ag nanoplates. We found some of the nanobubbles in this system can exhibit three distinct states representing different sizes, which can transform among each other. These transitions are not direct but through some intermediate states. Further kinetic analysis reveals complicated mechanisms behind the evolution of single nanobubbles. The results acquired from this study can be applicable to nanobubble systems in general and provide insights into the understanding of mechanisms affecting the stability of nanobubbles and their applications.

A new exceptionally-preserved Cambrian biota, with fossils belonging to multiple phyla, has recently been found from the middle part of the Longha Formation, near Fulu Village, southeastern Yunnan, South China, and is named the Fulu biota. Groups recovered so far include polymerid trilobites, agnostoids, large bivalved arthropods, bradoriid arthropods, echinoderms, brachiopods, priapulids (worms), hyoliths, macroscopic algae, and trace fossils. The arthropods dominate the biota and are highly diverse with echinoderms second in diversity. The associated agnostoids provide a precise late Guzhangian Age (late Miaolingian Epoch) for the biota, indicating that the biota occurs stratigraphically about halfway between the occurrences of the Kaili and the Guole biotas of South China, from both of which the new Fulu biota differs significantly in faunal components. Guzhangian biotas preserving poorly mineralized tissues and complete echinoderms have been previously unknown in Gondwana until now; thus, the discovery of Fulu biota provides a unique window into life at this critical time interval.

To well address the problem of low stability for Ru-based catalysts against sintering and leaching during synthesis and aqueous levulinic acid (LA) hydrogenation to γ-valerolactone (GVL), herein we demonstrate an “inside-to-outside” synthetic strategy for robust yolk-structured nanospheres within a single Ru nanoparticle (NP, 4.2 nm) anchored inside the mesoporous shell (pore size, 4.0 nm), denoted as YS Ru@HMCS (yolk-structured Ru encapsulated into hollow mesoporous carbon sphere). Such a shell-supported-core configuration combines the merits of conventional yolk-structured and supported types, in which the active core is not only fully exposed, but also strongly anchored on the shell, based on the optimized interaction between oxidized Ru NP and N-doped mesoporous carbon shell. As a consequence, the resultant YS Ru@HMCS, delivers a high LA conversion (99.4%), a large selectivity to GVL (99.9%), and prolonged cycling life (up to 9 cycles) under water towards the LA hydrogenation, that exceeds conventional yolk-structured and supported analogues. Sintering-resistant, a single Ru NP is successfully encapsulated, and its leaching-resistant property is enhanced based on the improved metal-support contact, thus affording a highly stable Ru catalyst. Moreover, such a synthetic concept can be extended to the stabilization of other supported catalysts, providing a general approach to enhancing both the thermal and chemical stability of supported nanocatalysts.

China hosts a large proportion of global REE resources. This paper presents a preliminary review of the types and ore genesis of endogenic REE deposits in China. Three major types of REE deposits are identified, namely carbonatite-type, alkaline and alkali granite-type and hydrothermal-type deposits. The carbonatite-type deposits mainly include Bayan Obo in northern China, Maoniuping in southwestern China, Weishan in eastern China, and Miaoya in Central China, all of which are genetically related to carbonatite/carbonatite-alkaline complex. This type of deposit mainly contains economic light REE (LREE), which are mainly hosted in fluoro-carbonate and/or phosphate. Apart from LREE, some deposits may also show obvious enrichments in heavy REE (HREE), Nb, Th, and Sc. The above-mentioned carbonatite-type REE deposits were formed in different periods, including Meso-Proterozoic (Bayan Obo), Paleozoic (Miaoya), Mesozoic (Weishan) and Cenozoic (Maoniuping). They were generated in intra-continental extension (Bayan Obo, Miaoya, and Weishan) or post-collisional (Maoniuping) setting. The ore-related intrusions were mainly derived from very low degrees partial melting of the sub-continental lithosphere mantle (SCLM). Before the formation of carbonatite, the SCLM had been metasomatized by recycled crustal components, which elevated the contents of REE and other components (e.g., Nb, Ba, F, and P). The parental carbonatitic or CO2-rich silicate magmas have experienced intensive fractional crystallization or immiscibility of carbonate- and silicate-rich melts, which further improve the contents of REE in the later-stage magmas. A subset of REE minerals was crystallized in the magmatic evolution process, while a large proportion of REE were retained in the residual melts. Furthermore, the REE were transported out of the magma chamber by volatile-rich fluids (e.g., F−, SO42− and Cl−), and were deposited adjacent to the carbonatitic intrusions. The alkaline and alkali granite-type deposits mainly include Baerzhe and Saima in northeastern China, which have genetic associations with SiO2-saturated or -unsaturated alkaline intrusions, respectively. Compared with the carbonatite-type deposit, this type of deposits contains relatively high contents of HREE, which are mainly hosted in phosphate or silicate. Notably, this type of deposits may also contain economic Zr, Nb, and Ta. The above-mentioned deposits were formed in the Mesozoic under an intra-continental extensional setting. Similar to the carbonatite, the ore-related alkaline intrusions were derived from the sub-continental lithosphere mantle (SCLM), which had been metasomatized by REE- and volatile-bearing components. The parental silicate magmas have experienced intensive fractional crystallization during the evolution process. Many REE-, Nb-, and Zr-bearing minerals were crystallized in the later magmatic process. These minerals were later modified by magmatic-hydrothermal fluids, which lead to remobilization and further enrichment of REE, Zr and Nb. A few IOCG deposits also show obvious enrichment in LREE, which are represented by the Paleoproterozoic Yinachang and Lala deposits in southwestern China. Diverse minerals occur as REE hosts in this type of deposits, mainly including fluoro-carbonate, phosphate, and silicate. No spatially associated magmatic intrusions can be identified in the IOCG-type deposits, but available data indicate that REE enrichment was genetically related to some hidden magmatic intrusions. The intrusions were generated in a rift-setting and vary from mafic to felsic in composition. In this type of deposit, REEs were initially deposited in apatite and allanite. In the later stages, apatite and allanite were modified by multiples phases of fluids. During the fluid/mineral interaction processes, REEs were mobilized and reprecipitated in other REE minerals, including monazite, bastnaesite, xenotime, synchysite. Multiple stages of fluid/mineral interaction are important for the final enrichment of REE in this type of deposit. In the future, more studies are needed to accurately evaluate the resources of REE in China, to target more deposits that are relatively enriched in medium-heavy REE, and to provide guidance for the effective utilization of accompanied metals in the REE deposits.

Alternate wetting and drying (AWD) irrigation has been widely used as an efficient rice production method to obtain better yield without continuous flooding (CF) of the paddy field. However, how this practice affects gene expression to regulate rice physiology and morphology is largely unknown. In this study, we used two rice varieties, Nipponbare, a lowland rice cultivar, and Gaoshan 1, an upland cultivar, and found that root dry weight (RDW) and root oxidation activity (ROA) in both cultivars substantially increased in response to AWD. We then analyzed the differences in transcriptome profiles of their roots irrigated in AWD vs. CF conditions. AWD responsive genes are mainly involved in lignin biosynthetic pathway and phytohormone signal transduction pathway and belong mainly to bHLH, bZIP, NAC, WRKY, and HSF transcription factor families. We discussed how these differentially expressed genes may contribute to the morphological adaptations observed in roots exposed to AWD. This analysis also provides useful information to explain the similarities and differences in adaptation to AWD irrigation between the two rice ecotypes.

Background Among eukaryotic organisms, alternative splicing is an important process that can generate multiple transcripts from one same precursor messenger RNA, which greatly increase transcriptome and proteome diversity. This process is carried out by a super-protein complex defined as the spliceosome. Specifically, splicing factor 1/branchpoint binding protein (SF1/BBP) is a single protein that can bind to the intronic branchpoint sequence (BPS), connecting the 5′ and 3′ splice site binding complexes during early spliceosome assembly. The molecular function of this protein has been extensively investigated in yeast, metazoa and mammals. However, its counterpart in plants has been seldomly reported. Results To this end, we conducted a systematic characterization of the SF1 gene family across plant lineages. In this work, a total of 92 sequences from 59 plant species were identified. Phylogenetic relationships of these sequences were constructed, and subsequent bioinformatic analysis suggested that this family likely originated from an ancient gene transposition duplication event. Most plant species were shown to maintain a single copy of this gene. Furthermore, an additional RNA binding motif (RRM) existed in most members of this gene family in comparison to their animal and yeast counterparts, indicating that their potential role was preserved in the plant lineage. Conclusion Our analysis presents general features of the gene and protein structure of this splicing factor family and will provide fundamental information for further functional studies in plants.

Hydrothermal fluids in orogenic and intrusion-related (mesothermal) gold deposits are dominated by saline-aqueous-carbonic fluids, commonly represented by the ternary system H2O-NaCl-CO2. The phase equilibria, thermodynamic properties (PVTx, density, compositions of fluid phases) and quartz dissolution-precipitation behavior in the H2O-NaCl-CO2 system, which are still poorly constrained, are of great importance to understanding the process of hydrothermal gold mineralization. Here, we conducted thermodynamic modeling to constrain the fluid properties under single- and two-phase conditions in the H2O-NaCl-CO2 system at temperatures of 300 to 500 °C and pressures of 0.001 to 3.5 kbar. Our results illustrate thermodynamic controls rooted in the equilibria of the H2O-NaCl-CO2 system. Increasing CO2 and/or NaCl contents shift the solvus to higher pressures and temperatures, expanding the pressure–temperature region of L + V immiscibility. Calculated isopleths of CO2 content in coexisting, immiscible vapor and liquid describe the maximum amount of CO2 that may be present in fluid inclusions through the studied P-T-x ranges. Quartz solubility in the H2O-NaCl-CO2 fluids shows strong dependence on temperature, pressure, and CO2 content, with several potential triggers for vein mineral deposition. Specifically, solubility of quartz generally decreases with decreasing temperature, pressure, and increasing CO2 content both in the single- and two-phase fluids, but exhibits retrograde behavior in the L + V field or at the phase-transition boundary. In detail, the dependence of quartz solubility on pressure is weak at low temperatures (300 °C), and becomes progressively stronger at high temperatures (400 °C and 500 °C), vice versa for temperature dependency at different pressures. The present study reviews two mechanisms of fluid immiscibility and constrain the conditions at which distinct fluid inclusion types, bedding-parallel shear veins and fault-related extension veins are formed in mesothermal gold deposits. Thermodynamic modeling of the solvus of the H2O-NaCl-CO2 system is consistent with the hypothesis that decompression is an efficient mechanism driving fluid immiscibility at specific ranges of temperature and composition, producing coexisting liquid- and vapor-phase fluids, both with low density and relatively low content of CO2. For fluids with high CO2 contents (>10 mol. %), cooling at relatively high pressure may also lead to fluid immiscibility, producing a liquid with low CO2 content in equilibrium with a vapor of medium to high CO2 content. Very CO2-rich, or “pure CO2” fluid inclusions (>90 mol. % CO2, type I) cannot be produced by immiscibility under these conditions, but may rather be the result of decrepitation of primary H2O-NaCl-CO2 fluid inclusions. Within the P-T-x ranges studied here, cooling-dominated phase separation accounts for the formation of fluid inclusions with moderate to high CO2 contents (50–80 mol. % CO2, type IIa). Fluid inclusions with low to moderate CO2 contents (5–30 mol. % CO2, type IIb) can represent the original ore-forming fluids, or can be produced by decompression-dominated phase separation. And H2O-NaCl fluid inclusions (type III) generally represent the latest-stage ore-forming fluids, or can be produced by decompression-induced immiscibility at high temperature. In orogenic (mesothermal) gold deposits, decompression-induced quartz precipitation during pressure fluctuation is dominant in bedding-parallel shear veins. Fault-related extension veins are associated with initial decompression-induced quartz precipitation and subsequent cooling-dominated deposition.

Furazan has rarely been used as a building block in the development of energetic cations. In this study, polyamino-substituted furazan-triazole was explored as an energetic cation for the synthesis of energetic salts 3–6. All new compounds were characterized by infrared and NMR spectroscopy, elemental analysis, and single crystal X-ray diffraction. The experimental results revealed that these salts have good thermal stabilities; the decomposition temperatures of these salts, except nitroformate 6, were over 200 °C. These salts (IS: 16–40 J; FS: 200–360 N) are more insensitive than RDX. The noncovalent interaction (NCI) and Hirshfeld surface analyses were performanced to comprehensively study their structure–property relationships. The good molecular stabilities of these salts can arise from (a) abundant π–π interactions on account of the planar furazan-triazole backbone and (b) an extensive hydrogen bonding network resulting from large amounts of amino groups. Simultaneously, all the salts exhibit promising detonation performances (D: 8049–8836 m s–1; P: 26.9–34.8 GPa), which were much higher than both those of TNT, and salt 6 was even comparable to RDX.

Maximin distance Latin hypercube designs (LHDs) are extensively applied in computer experiments, but it is challenging to construct such designs. In this paper, based on a 2 2 full factorial design and a series of saturated two-level regular designs, a number of maximin distance LHDs are constructed via the rotation method. Some of the constructed LHDs are exactly optimal and the others are asymptotically optimal under the maximin L 2 -distance criterion. The constructed maximin distance LHDs have two prominent advantages: (i) no computer search is needed; and (ii) they are orthogonal or nearly orthogonal. Detailed comparisons with existing LHDs show that the constructed LHDs have larger minimum distances between design points.

Bacterial wilt caused by Ralstonia solanacearum is an important disease of pepper (Capsicum annuum), an economically important solanaceous vegetable worldwide, in particular, under high temperature (HT) conditions. However, the molecular mechanism underlying pepper immunity against bacterial wilt remains poorly understood. Herein, CaCBL1, a putative calcineurin B-like protein, was functionally characterized in the pepper response to R. solanacearum inoculation (RSI) under HT (RSI/HT). CaCBL1 was significantly upregulated by RSI at room temperature (RSI/RT), HT, or RSI/HT. CaCBL1-GFP fused protein targeted to whole epidermal cells of Nicotiana benthamiana when transiently overexpressed. CaCBL1 silencing by virus-induced gene silencing significantly enhanced pepper susceptibility to RSI under RT or HT, while its transient overexpression triggered hypersensitive response mimic cell death and upregulation of immunity-associated marker genes, including CabZIP63, CaWRKY40, and CaCDPK15, the positive regulators in the pepper response to RSI or HT found in our previous studies. In addition, by chromatin immunoprecipitation PCR and electrophoretic mobility shift assay, CaCBL1 was found to be directly targeted by CaWRKY40, although not by CaWRKY27 or CaWRKY58, via the W-box-2 within its promoter, and its transcription was found to be downregulated by silencing of CaWRKY40 while it was enhanced by its transient overexpression. These results suggest that CaCBL1 acts as a positive regulator in pepper immunity against R. solanacearum infection, constituting a positive feedback loop with CaWRKY40.