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This article presents the results of deformation characteristics and crack stress thresholds of cement stone under different acid treatment times. A series of true triaxial tests were conducted on cement stones under four sulfuric acid treatment times (0, 7, 14, and 28 days). The microstructures of cement stone under different acid treatment times were examined. In the range of 0 to 14 days, the damaging effect of sulfuric acid dominated, and the structural integrity was damaged by sulfuric acid. In the range of 14 to 28 days, the strengthening effect of calcium sulfate precipitate dominated, and the structural integrity was enhanced by calcium sulfate precipitate. The cement stone exhibited anisotropic deformation characteristics under true triaxial stress states. With an increase in acid treatment time, the deformation modulus of cement stone first decreased and then slightly increased. The crack stress thresholds first increased and then decreased with an increasing intermediate principal stress coefficient. With an increase in acid treatment time, the crack stress thresholds first decreased and then slightly increased. Substantially, the ratio of crack stress thresholds was analyzed. The proportion of the unstable crack growth stage and crack growth stage increased with minimum principal stress. Additionally, the proportion of the unstable crack growth stage and thecrack growth stage first increased and then decreased with increasing acid treatment time. However, the proportion of the stable crack growth stage had the opposite variation law to that of the unstable crack growth stage and crack growth stage.

Water pollution caused by antibiotics is a growing problem and photodegradation by efficient catalysts is an environmentally friendly technology that can effectively degrade organic pollutants in water. Here, a novel method was innovatively used to synthesize niobium oxyfluoride (Nb3O7F) nanosheets decorated with Au nanoparticles, which is the first report for the composites of Au and Nb3O7F. We prepared the Nb3O7F nanosheets via hydrothermal synthesis followed by deposition of Au nanoparticles on their surface using HAuCl4. The prepared samples were characterized by XRD, HRTEM, XPS, and UV–Vis. The diameters of most Au NPs are ranging from 5 to 25 nm with an average size of about 16.9 nm, as well as the Nb3O7F nanosheets in size ranging from 200 nm to 700 nm. The chemical composition of the Au-Nb3O7F showed a Au/Nb atomic ratio of 1/10, as well as a Nb/O/F ratio of 3/7/1. UV–Vis spectrum reveals a largest absorption peak at 520 nm for the Au-Nb3O7F nanosheets. The prepared Au-Nb3O7F nanomaterials were applied to the visible-light photodegradation of tetracycline hydrochloride, with the photocatalytic degradation rate reached more than 50% under the optimal conditions within 1 h. Capture experiments indicated that h+ and •O2- are the main active substances involved during the course of the photodegradation. Furthermore, the proposed mechanism for the photodegradation of the novel Au-Nb3O7F nanosheets was given.

IoT-based Sensors networks play a pivotal role in improving air quality monitoring in the Middle East. They provide real-time data, enabling precise tracking of pollution trends, informed decision-making, and increased public awareness. Air quality and dust pollution in the Middle East region may leads to various health issues, particularly among vulnerable populations. IoT-based Sensors networks help mitigate health risks by offering timely and accurate air quality data. Air pollution affects not only human health but also the region’s ecosystems and contributes to climate change. The economic implications of deteriorated air quality include healthcare costs and decreased productivity, underscore the need for effective monitoring and mitigation. IoT-based data can guide policymakers to align with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) related to health, clean water, and climate action. The conventional monitor based standard air quality instruments provide limited spatial coverage so there is strong need to continue research integrated with low-cost sensor technologies to make air quality monitoring more accessible, even in resource-constrained regions. IoT-based Sensors networks monitoring helps in understanding these environmental impacts. Among these IoT-based Sensors networks, sensors are of vital importance. With the evolution of sensors technologies, different types of sensors materials are available. Among this carbon based sensors are widely used for air quality monitoring. Carbon nanomaterial-based sensors (CNS) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as adsorbents exhibit unique capabilities in the measurement of air pollutants. These sensors are used to detect gaseous pollutants that includes oxides of nitrogen and Sulphur, and ozone, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). This study provides comprehensive review of integration of carbon nanomaterials based sensors in IoT based network for better air quality monitoring and exploring the potential of machine learning and artificial intelligence for advanced data analysis, pollution source identification, integration of satellite and ground-based networks and future forecasting to design effective mitigation strategies. By prioritizing these recommendations, the Middle East and other regions, can further leverage IoT-based systems to improve air quality monitoring, safeguard public health, protect the environment, and contribute to sustainable development in the region.

Due to its excellent photocatalytic performance over the last few years, graphitic-like carbon nitride (g-C3N4) has garnered considerable notice as a photocatalyst. Nevertheless, several limitations, including small surface area, the rates at which photo-generated electrons and holes recombine are swift, and the inefficient separation and transport of photoexcited carriers continue to impede its solar energy utilization. To overcome those limitations in single-component g-C3N4, constructing a heterogeneous photocatalytic system has emerged as an effective way. Among the various studies involving the incorporation of hetero composite materials to design heterojunctions, among the most promising approaches is to assemble a Z-scheme photocatalytic configuration. The Z-scheme configuration is essential because it facilitates efficient photocarrier separation and exhibits superior redox ability in separated electrons and holes. Moreover, ternary composites have demonstrated enhanced photocatalytic activities and reinforced photostability. Ternary Z-scheme heterostructures constructed with g-C3N4 possess all the above-mentioned merits and provide a pioneering strategy for implementing photocatalytic systems for environmental and energy sustainability. A summary of the latest technological advancements toward design and fabrication in ternary all-solid-state Z-scheme (ASSZ) and direct Z-scheme (DZ) photocatalysts built on g-C3N4 is presented in this review. Furthermore, the review also discusses the application of ternary Z-scheme photocatalytic architecture established on g-C3N4.

This paper describes a study on the heat transfer properties of the deeply buried pipeline energy pile group, which is an efficient and convenient geothermal development technology. Through in situ experiments and a simulation algorithm, the research investigated the heat transmission characteristics of the deeply buried pipe energy pile group and optimized different intermittent operation schemes. The findings suggest that prolonged operation of the pile cluster intensifies heat buildup within the pile foundation, thereby adversely affecting the system’s overall heat exchange efficiency. Employing an intermittent operating mode can alleviate this heat accumulation phenomenon, thereby promoting sustained heat exchange performance of the piles over time. To evaluate the comprehensive thermal interaction and energy efficiency ratio of the energy pile heat exchange system, various intermittent operation strategies were compared in the study. Among them, the intermittent operational scheme with a ratio of n = 5 was found to be optimal, with the total average heat transfer rate of the pile set only 0.51% lower than that of the continuous operational mode, but the overall energy efficiency ratio improved by 19.6%. The intermittent operational mode proposed in this study can achieve the goal of saving energy and efficiently extracting geothermal resources, providing theoretical guidance for the extraction and utilization of subsurface geothermal power by energy piles.

This paper aims to improve the deicing performance and energy utilization of bridge pylon crossbeams with built-in carbon fiber electric heating (BPB–CFEH). Therefore, a three-dimensional thermal transfer model of BPB–CFEH with one arrangement is established. Two ice-melting regions and two ice-melting stages were set up according to the characteristics of the icing of the crossbeam. The effects of wind speed and ambient temperature on the paving power required to reach the complete melting of the icicles within 8 h were analyzed. The effects of the laying spacing and rated voltage of the carbon fiber heating cable on the melting ice sheet and the thermal exchange of the two regions of the icicle after heating for 8 h were compared. Additionally, its effect on energy utilization of the process from the ice sheet melting stage to the ice column melting stage was analyzed. Ice-melting experiments verified the applicability and reasonableness of the simulated ice-melting calculation formula. The results show that under ambient temperature of −10 °C and wind speed of 4.5–13.5 m/s, the proposed paving power is 817.5–2248.12 W/m2. Increasing the rated voltage and shortening the spacing increases the thermal exchange capacity of the two melting regions. The shortening of the spacing improves the energy utilization rate of the melting stage of the ice sheet to the melting stage of the icicle processes. The difference between the melting time obtained from the formula proposed by numerical simulation and the melting time obtained from indoor tests is about 10 min. This study provides a design basis for the electrothermal ice melting of bridge pylon crossbeams.

The quasi-steady diffusiophoresis of a soft particle composed of an uncharged hard sphere core and a uniformly charged porous surface layer in a concentric charged spherical cavity full of a symmetric electrolyte solution with a concentration gradient is analyzed. By using a regular perturbation method with small fixed charge densities of the soft particle and cavity wall, the linearized electrokinetic equations relevant to the fluid velocity field, electric potential profile, and ionic concentration distributions are solved. A closed-form formula for the diffusiophoretic (electrophoretic and chemiphoretic) velocity of the soft particle is obtained as a function of the ratios of the core-to-particle radii, particle-to-cavity radii, particle radius to the Debye screening length, and particle radius to the permeation length in the porous layer. In typical cases, the confining charged cavity wall significantly influences the diffusiophoresis of the soft particle. The fluid flow caused by the diffusioosmosis (electroosmosis and chemiosmosis) along the cavity wall can considerably change the diffusiophoretic velocity of the particle and even reverse its direction. In general, the diffusiophoretic velocity decreases with increasing core-to-particle radius ratios, particle-to-cavity radius ratios, and the ratio of the particle radius to the permeation length in the porous layer, but increases with increasing ratios of the particle radius to the Debye length.

The identification of stay cable icing is crucial for robot deicing to improve efficiency and prevent damage to stay cables. Therefore, it is significant to identify the areas and degree of icing in the images of stay cables. This study proposed a two-stage model that combines U-Net and ResNet50. In the first stage, this model used U-Net to segment the surface ice and icicles from the stay cable. The image of icing obtained after segmentation was used as the input for the second stage. In the second stage, ResNet50 was used to classify the degree of icing. The experimental results show that the proposed model can successfully segment the icicles and surface ice from the stay cable icing image to complete the classification of the icing degree. The mean pixel accuracy and intersection over the union of icing were 96.65% and 82.10%, respectively. The average accuracy of the icing degree classification was 95.71%. The method proposed in this study meets the requirements of robustness, segmentation accuracy, and classification accuracy for stay cable icing recognition, which provides a research basis for the precise icing recognition of cable-deicing robots.

The photocatalytic technique has drawn far-ranging interests in addressing the current issues; however, its property suffers from the limited visible light response and rapid recombination of carriers. To address these issues, two specific approaches have been proposed to enhance the photocatalytic activity: (1) ultrasound-assisted synthesis has been utilized to prepare photocatalysts, resulting in refined grain size, increased specific surface area, and reduced photogenerated carrier recombination; (2) sonophotocatalysis and piezoelectric enhanced photocatalysis have been developed to accelerate the reaction, which utilizes the synergism between ultrasound and light. On one side, sonophotocatalysis generates cavitation bubbles which induce more reactive radicals for redox reactions. On the other side, ultrasound induces deformation of the piezoelectric material structure, which changes the internal piezoelectric potential and improves the photocatalytic performance. Currently, intensive efforts have been devoted to related research and great progress has been reached with applications in pollutant degradation, new energy production, and other fields. This work starts by elucidating the fundamental concept of ultrasound-assisted photocatalyst synthesis and photocatalysis. Then, the synergistic behavior between ultrasonic and light in ultrasonic-assisted photocatalysis has been thoroughly discussed, including pollutant degradation, water splitting, and bacterial sterilization. Finally, the challenge and outlook are investigated and proposed.

Coprophagy prevention (CP) affects the growth performance, hepatic lipid synthesis, and gut microbiota in rabbits. Supplementation with Clostridium butyricum (C. butyricum, Strain number: CCTCC M 2019962) has been found to improve growth performance in rabbits. However, it remains unknown whether C. butyricum can ameliorate the effects of CP on hepatic lipid synthesis and the underlying mechanisms are yet to be elucidated. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the impact of CP on hepatic lipid synthesis and the underlying mechanism based on the gut–liver axis. The findings revealed that supplementation with C. butyricum could reverse CP-related growth performance, lipid accumulation, bile acid synthesis, and inflammation. Furthermore, C. butyricum exerted protective effects on the gut by preserving intestinal barrier integrity and modulating gut microbiota composition; these factors may represent potential mechanisms through which C. butyricum improves CP-related outcomes. Specifically, C. butyricum reshaped the microbiota by increasing butyric acid levels, thereby maintaining secondary bile acid (deoxycholic acid, chenodeoxycholic acid) balance and attenuating the inhibitory effects of the FXR/SHP pathway on lipid synthesis (SREBP1c/ApoA1). Moreover, the activation of butyrate/GPR43pathway by C. butyricum reduced damage to the intestinal barrier (ZO-1/Occludin/Claudin1) and restored the gut immune microenvironment in CP rabbits. In summary, supplementation with C. butyricum can alleviate the adverse effects of CP on growth performance and hepatic lipid synthesis by modulating the gut–liver axis.

Carbon fiber heating technology has been widely used in pavement surfaces in practical engineering projects as an environmentally friendly, efficient, and safe ice melting technique. However, the current design of carbon fiber-heated pavement focuses primarily on the ice melting effect while neglecting the crucial mechanical performance evaluation. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the temperature and thermal strain distributions of concrete pavement through model tests and develop a corresponding three-dimensional numerical model to analyze the temperature stress field distribution of carbon fiber-heated pavement. The accuracy of the numerical model is verified by comparing the model test results with the numerical analysis results. The numerical model test results indicate that the maximum compressive stress near the carbon fiber wire is 4 MPa, while the maximum tensile stress between the two carbon fiber wires is 1 MPa. According to the design standard for highway cement concrete pavement, the temperature stress induced by temperature change is significantly lower than the design value of the material’s inherent strength. In addition, a linear relationship between the depth and temperature gradient affecting temperature stress is observed after establishing a correlation between the temperature gradient and temperature stress. The findings of this study can provide valuable insight into the design of carbon fiber-heated concrete pavements.

It is an economical way to use the pile-supported embankment for the construction of the embankment over soft soil. The combined use of piles and reinforcement effectively reduces the differential settlement of the embankment surface. However, the previous analysis of embankment stress and settlement did not take into account the anisotropy in the embankment filler. In this paper, the UMAT subroutine is developed by using the material subroutine interface in ABAQUS 2016 finite element software. The anisotropy of soil cohesion and friction angle has been incorporated into the Mohr–Coulomb yield criterion so that it can consider the anisotropy of soil. The accuracy of the anisotropic yield criterion in this paper is verified by an ABAQUS source program and related engineering examples. It is found that the anisotropy value of soil cohesion is inversely proportional to the stress ratio on the pile–soil interface while being directly proportional to the tensile stress applied to the geogrid. The results show that the anisotropy of the friction angle decreases with the soil arching effect but increases by 23.1% with the tensile stress on the geogrid. The position of the settlement plane remains relatively constant at 2.3 m as the friction angle anisotropy coefficient increases. These research results provide valuable theoretical guidance for on-site construction design.

The stress and deformation of pile-supported immersed tunnels under seismic loads is a critical issue in tunnel design. This paper utilizes ABAQUS (version 2020) finite element software to analyze the seismic load response of the sand compaction pile-immersed tunnel–seawater pressure (SIS) system, which is verified by a physical model. The study shows that the suppression effect of the seawater on the vertical frequency of the tunnel increases with depth. When the replacement rate of the piled foundation reaches 50%, the deformation of the tunnel “H-shaped” structures increases, which also changes the vertical frequency of the tunnel. However, the presence of the suppression effect causes resonance injury at the far end of the tunnel from the earthquake source, resulting in a shift of the peak stress point. It was also found that seawater pressure affects the resistance–deflection (p-y) at the tip of the pile more than at the end of the pile. The slenderness ratio (γ) of the pile affects the p-y value at the end of the pile more than at the tip of the pile. The connection between the piled foundation and the tunnel is most stable when γ is in the range of 9.25 to 15.

The plastic region of piles under seismic loads is a crucial concern in seafloor improvement design. This paper establishes a physical model of the sand compaction pile-immersed tunnel–water pressure system. This research studies pile arrangements that minimize the sand compaction pile plastic region under seismic loads. The experiments were validated through numerical simulations. The results show that “X-shaped” and rectangular pile groups increase the Energy Residual Index (ERI) due to differences in pile spacing and the instability of the quadrilateral prism damping units formed by piles and soil. In this scenario, piles are limited to heavy and mild plastic regions, with boundary depths at L = 2.25 D and L = 2.08 D (L represents the pile length, and D is the pile diameter). Furthermore, increased water pressure amplifies the structural resonance injury, increasing ERI. In conjunction with the soil, hexagonal pile groups create triangular prism damping units that counteract seismic wavefronts. The total kinetic energy and strain energy of the piled foundation are lower than those of the “X-shaped” and rectangular pile groups. The boundaries between the heavy plastic region, the moderate plastic region, and the mild plastic region are located at depths of L = 4 D and L = 8 D, respectively. This study also reveals that a top-heavy mass distribution in the structure leads to maximum deformation in the heavy plastic region. Pile–soil damping units primarily operate within the moderate plastic region.

Integrating the advantages of terpyridine (tpy) ligands with excellent chromophoric sensitization ability and lanthanides (Lns) with characteristic luminescent and magnetic properties, discrete terpyridine-lanthanide (tpy-Ln) molecular and supramolecular complexes are of great value in many fields and have drawn significant attention from the community of supramolecular chemistry, coordination chemistry and materials science. Compared to the well-documented coordination behavior between transition metals and tpy, the construction of tpy-Ln molecular and supramolecular complexes remains a longstanding challenge due to the high coordination diversity and the lack of stereochemical preference of Lns. Nevertheless, with the advancement of self-assembly strategies, i.e., employing diverse anions as capping components and utilizing secondary auxiliary ligands as well as engineering of tpy ligands, diverse tpy-Ln molecular and supramolecular complexes have been constructed and their potential applications have been explored. This review comprehensively summarizes the progress of discrete tpy-Ln molecular and supramolecular complexes in the past decades, covering the structures of mononuclear, binuclear and multinuclear architectures. Beyond structures, the potential applications of these tpy-Ln complexes are also introduced. This review aims to shed more light on the design and construction of novel discrete tpy-Ln supramolecular complexes and materials with molecular level precision and multiple functions through coordination-driven self-assembly.

Coordination-driven self-assembly presents a key challenge of selectively targeting desired products. Here terpy-Zn complexes assemble head-to-tail, providing selective access to metallo-macrocycles

Zinc finger and SCAN domain-containing 4 (ZSCAN4), a DNA-binding protein, maintains telomere length and plays a key role in critical aspects of mouse embryonic stem cells, including maintaining genomic stability and defying cellular senescence. However, the effect of ZSCAN4 in porcine parthenogenetic embryos remains unclear. To investigate the function of ZSCAN4 and the underlying mechanism in porcine embryo development, ZSCAN4 was knocked down via dsRNA injection in the one-cell stage. ZSCAN4 was highly expressed in the four- and five- to eight-cell stages in porcine embryos. The percentage of four-cell stage embryos, five- to eight-cell stage embryos, and blastocysts was lower in the ZSCAN4 knockdown group than in the control group. Notably, depletion of ZSCAN4 induced the protein expression of DNMT1 and 5-Methylcytosine (5mC, a methylated form of the DNA base cytosine) in the four-cell stage. The H3K27ac level and ZGA genes expression decreased following ZSCAN4 knockdown. Furthermore, ZSCAN4 knockdown led to DNA damage and shortened telomere compared with the control. Additionally, DNMT1-dsRNA was injected to reduce DNA hypermethylation in ZSCAN4 knockdown embryos. DNMT1 knockdown rescued telomere shortening and developmental defects caused by ZSCAN4 knockdown. In conclusion, ZSCAN4 is involved in the regulation of transcriptional activity and is essential for maintaining telomere length by regulating DNMT1 expression in porcine ZGA.

To address the issues of low efficiency and lengthy running time associated with trajectory planning for 6-degree-of-freedom manipulators, this paper introduces a novel solution that generates a time-optimal path for a manipulator while adhering to its kinematic limitations. The proposed method comprises several stages. Firstly, the kinematics of the manipulator are analyzed. Secondly, the manipulator’s joint-space path points are interpolated via the quintic B-spline curve. Subsequently, the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II (NSGA-II) is improved by applying reinforcement learning to optimize its crossover and mutation probabilities, and the variable neighborhood search (VNS) algorithm is integrated to enhance its local search capability. Finally, the joint increments and running time of the manipulator are optimized using the improved NSGA-II, and the time-optimal trajectory is then determined by simulation on MATLAB. Furthermore, compared with other conventional optimization methods, the proposed approach has reduced the total running time by 19.26%, effectively improving the working efficiency of the manipulator.

In this study, a fingerprint-activity relationship modeling between chemical fingerprints and antirheumatic activity was established, and multivariate statistical analysis was used to evaluate the quality of Taxilli Herba (TH) from different hosts. Characteristic fingerprints of 20 batches of TH samples were generated by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole-time of flight tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-Triple TOF-MS/MS), and the similarity analysis was calculated based on thirteen common characteristic peaks by hierarchical clustering analysis (HCA). Subsequently, nine efficacy markers were discovered by combining fingerprints and antirheumatic activity through grey correlation analysis (GCA) and bivariate correlation analysis (BCA). Meanwhile, the content of 5 constituents in 9 markers was determined by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole-linear ion trap tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-QTRAP-MS/MS). The comprehensive quality of TH was assessed using multivariate statistical analysis, including principal components analysis (PCA) and technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS). The results showed that a high dose of TH extract could markedly ameliorate arthritis damage compared to other doses, with flavonoids playing an important role in the antirheumatic activity. The comprehensive quality of samples from Morus alba L. (SS) was superior to those from Liquidambar formosana Hance (FXS). The present study will demonstrate the markers associated with efficacy, and provide an applicable strategy for more comprehensive quality control and evaluation of TH.

The bridge tower beams of long-span bridges freeze during winter. The accumulated ice on the beam flakes off and falls into the bridge deck from a high altitude with temperature rise, threatening traffic safety. To solve this problem, an electric heating method is used to melt the snow and ice on bridge tower beams. A design scheme based on embedding carbon fiber heating wires in a bridge tower beam is proposed in which electrical energy is converted into heat energy to melt the snow and ice on the beam. In this paper, a beam icing test and beam de-icing test are carried out through a laboratory model test. The model test results show that under the conditions of a wind speed of 4.5 m/s and an ambient temperature of −15 °C, the average internal temperature of the beam after heating stabilization is 1.37 °C; this is higher than the average critical temperature of 1.31 °C. This temperature is sufficient to melt the ice and proves the practicability of this method. The de-icing method of embedded carbon fiber heating is simple, efficient, and environmentally friendly. This can provide a reliable reference for the practical application of de-icing a bridge beam.

Several elements have an impact on COVID-19, including comorbidities, age and sex. To determine the protein profile changes in peripheral blood caused by a SARS-CoV-2 infection, a proximity extension assay was used to quantify 1387 proteins in plasma samples among 28 Finnish patients with COVID-19 with and without comorbidities and their controls. Key immune signatures, including CD4 and CD28, were changed in patients with comorbidities. Importantly, several unreported elevated proteins in patients with COVID-19, such as RBP2 and BST2, which show anti-microbial activity, along with proteins involved in extracellular matrix remodeling, including MATN2 and COL6A3, were identified. RNF41 was downregulated in patients compared to healthy controls. Our study demonstrates that SARS-CoV-2 infection causes distinct plasma protein changes in the presence of comorbidities despite the interpatient heterogeneity, and several novel potential biomarkers associated with a SARS-CoV-2 infection alone and in the presence of comorbidities were identified. Protein changes linked to the generation of SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies, long-term effects and potential association with post-COVID-19 condition were revealed. Further study to characterize the identified plasma protein changes from larger cohorts with more diverse ethnicities of patients with COVID-19 combined with functional studies will facilitate the identification of novel diagnostic, prognostic biomarkers and potential therapeutic targets for patients with COVID-19.

The icing of bridge pylon crossbeams is a problem that could pose a serious threat to traffic during a cold winter. However, little research has been carried out on the problem and few corresponding countermeasures have been provided. This paper aims to propose a novel heating system, and to study the feasibility of beam de-icing and the related de-icing strategies so as to provide a reference scheme for the practical application of beam de-icing. A number of icing and de-icing tests were carried out on a scale model of Wuhan Yangtze River Second Bridge in the cold chamber. The de-icing effects of the beam in different environments and different de-icing methods were compared, and the recommended pre-heating time, applicable environment range, and heating method were given. The results of the model experiments show that pre-heating the heating system can prevent the surface of the beam from freezing and that the anti-icing method is more suitable for beam de-icing than the passive de-icing method. When the pre-heating time exceeds 7 min, the entire anti-icing process can be ice-free. When the wind velocity exceeds 5 m/s, it is safer to shut down the heating system, and using the passive de-icing method at the end of the icing can also eliminate the hidden danger of beam icing.

Through a two-step solvothermal method, different molar ratios of BiPO4 were grown in situ on the surface of oxygen-vacancy-rich BiOBr (Ov-BiOBr), successfully constructing a BiPO4/Ov-BiOBr heterojunction composite material. By constructing a novel type I high-low junction between the semiconductor BiPO4 and Ov-BiOBr, stronger oxidative holes or reductive electrons were retained, thereby improving the redox performance of the photocatalyst. The composite catalyst with a 10% molar content of BiPO4 demonstrated the highest degradation rate of tetracycline (TC), degrading over 95% within 90 min, with a rate constant of 0.02534 min−1, which is 2.3 times that of Ov-BiOBr and 22 times that of BiPO4. The 10% BiPO4/Ov-BiOBr sample displayed the best photocatalytic activity, producing 139 μmol·L−1 H2O2 in 120 min, which is 3.6 times the efficiency of Ov-BiOBr and 19 times that of BiPO4. This was due to the appropriate bandgap matching between BiPO4 and Ov-BiOBr, the photo-generated electron transfer channel via Bi-bridge, and efficient charge separation. It was inferred that the free radical species ·OH and ·O2− played the dominant role in the photocatalytic process. Based on experimental and theoretical results, a possible photocatalytic mechanism was proposed.

Mining structural novel and bioactive natural products from traditional Chinese drugs and folk medicines have attracted attention from pharmacologists and pharmaceutical chemists for a long time. In this study, the chemical constituents of Asplenium ruprechtii Sa. Kurata was systematically studied based on the evaluation of neuroprotective activity on hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-induced damage of SH-SY5Y cell lines. Sixteen chemical monomers (1–16), including two new structures of 9,19-cycloartane-triterpenoid saponins (1,2), were discovered. Their chemical structures were established based on extensive spectroscopic data analysis, including the one- and two-dimensional (1D and 2D) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) data and high-resolution electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (HRESIMS). All monomer compounds were docked with an “active pocket” at the N-terminal of the GluN2B protein, where compounds 13–16 were found to possess high binding scores, which warrant further study on the molecular mechanism. Our findings provide insight and research techniques for discovering new drugs based on neuroprotective activity.

Semantic co-reference and ellipsis always lead to information deficiency when parsing natural language utterances with SQL in a multi-turn dialogue (i.e., conversational text-to-SQL task). The methodology of dividing a dialogue understanding task into dialogue utterance rewriting and language understanding is feasible to tackle this problem. To this end, we present a two-stage framework to complete conversational text-to-SQL tasks. To construct an efficient rewriting model in the first stage, we provide a large-scale dialogue rewrite dataset (DIR), which is extended from two cross-domain conversational text-to-SQL datasets, SParC and CoSQL. The dataset contains 5908 dialogues involving 160 domains. Therefore, it not only focuses on conversational text-to-SQL tasks, but is also a valuable corpus for dialogue rewrite study. In experiments, we validate the efficiency of our annotations with a popular text-to-SQL parser, RAT-SQL. The experiment results illustrate 11.81 and 27.17 QEM accuracy improvement on SParC and CoSQL, respectively, when we eliminate the semantic incomplete representations problem by directly parsing the golden rewrite utterances. The experiment results of evaluating the performance of the two-stage frameworks using different rewrite models show that the efficiency of rewrite models is important and still needs improvement. Additionally, as a new benchmark of the dialogue rewrite task, we also report the performance results of different baselines for related studies. Our dataset will be publicly available once this paper is accepted.

Abstract A flower‐like nickel‐cobalt‐manganese hydroxide (NiCoMn‐OH) modified with two‐dimensional Ti3C2 nanoflakes has been synthesized via simple one‐step hydrothermal method. The NiCoMn‐OH/Ti3C2 composite exhibits a high specific capacity of 670.3 C/g at a specific current of 1 A/g, higher than 614.6 C/g for NiCoMn‐OH and 8.9 C/g for Ti3C2 at the same conditions. The improved electrochemical performance is due to that Ti3C2 is absorbed and distributed on the surface of NiCoMn‐OH in its situ synthesis process and enhances its electro‐activity. The hybrid supercapacitor based on NiCoMn‐OH/Ti3C2 and RGO shows high specific capacity of 177.5 C/g at 0.5 A/g and 103.1 C/g at 10 A/g, retaining 93.28% of initial capacity after 5000 charge/discharge cycles at 7 A/g. The hybrid supercapacitor also displays extraordinary specific energy of 41.15 Wh/kg at a specific power of 375 W/kg and 21.46 Wh/kg even at 7.5 kW/kg.

Abstract Lithium‐ion batteries are the predominant energy storage devices for portable electronic devices and hold great promise for renewable energies and sustainability. High capacity and long‐life anode materials are highly desired for the next‐generation Li‐ion battery with high energy density. Herein, a high‐performance anode electrode constructed with cobalt and zinc sulfides nanocrystals embedded within a nitrogen and sulfur co‐doped porous carbon is successfully designed bimetal‐organic frameworks as the precursor. Benefiting from synergistic effects of bimetal sulfides, the unique rhombohedral dodecahedral nanostructure with rough surface area and N,S‐codoped carbon matrix, such an anode material presents superior initial reversible capacity of 938.2 mA h g−1 with a high‐capacity retention of 65.6% after 100 cycles at 150 mA/g. The effective nanostructure design is expected to open a venue to construct high‐performance materials for energy and environment applications.

The lysozyme-modified nanoparticles (LY@ZnO NPs) were synthesized by the reduction–oxidation method, and the morphology and structure of LY@ZnO were analyzed by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microsclope (SEM), and particle size analysis. The antibacterial effects of LY@ZnO against Escherichia coli (E. coli, Gram-negative bacteria) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus, Gram-positive bacteria) were discussed by measuring the zone of inhibition (ZOI) and growth inhibition. The antimicrobial experiments showed that the LY@ZnO NPs possessed better antibacterial activity than ZnO. Besides, the antibacterial mechanism of LY@ZnO was also investigated, which was attributed to the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Furthermore, the toxicities of LY@ZnO in vivo and in vitro were discussed by the cell counting kit-8 method and animal experiments, showing that LY@ZnO possessed excellent biocompatibility. Finally, the therapeutic effect of LY@ZnO on a rat skin infection model caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) was also studied, which exhibited good anti-infective activity. Our findings showed that LY@ZnO possessed remarkable antibacterial ability due to its excellent membrane permeability and small particle size. Besides, LY@ZnO also exhibited certain stability and great safety, which showed tremendous prospects for microbial infection in patients. It would also be helpful for a better understanding of the enzyme-modified nanomaterials against bacteria.

Cadmium is one of the most toxic heavy metal contaminants in soils and water bodies and poses a serious threat to ecosystems and humans. However, cadmium is also an important resource widely used in many industries. The recovery of cadmium in the form of high-value products is considered as an ideal disposal strategy for Cd-contaminated environments. In this work, Pistia stratiotes was used to recycle cadmium from wastewaters through phytoaccumulation and then transformed into carbon-supported cadmium sulfide photocatalyst (CdS@C) through carbonization and hydrothermal reaction. The CdS@C photocatalyst contained a mixture of cubic and hexagonal CdS with lower band gap energy (2.14 eV) and high electron-hole separation efficiency, suggesting an excellent photoresponse ability and photocatalytic efficiency. The impressive stability and photocatalytic performance of CdS@C were demonstrated in efficient photodegradation of organic pollutants. •OH and O2•- were confirmed as the major active species for organic pollutants degradation during CdS@C photocatalysis. This work provides new insights into addressing Cd contaminated water bodies and upcycling in the form of photocatalyst.

In this work, explicitly pyro-catalytic performance is observed in sol-gel-synthesized ferroelectric Bi0.5Na0.5TiO3 lead-free nanomaterials, and its application for dye wastewater purification is also actualized under temperature fluctuations varying from 23 °C to 63 °C. The decomposition ratios of the pyro-catalytic Bi0.5Na0.5TiO3 nanomaterials on Rhodamine B, methyl blue and methyl orange can reach 96.75%, 98.35% and 19.97%, respectively. In the pyro-catalytic process, the probed active species such as hydroxyl radicals, superoxide radicals and holes play an extremely important role in decomposing dye molecules. The ferroelectric Bi0.5Na0.5TiO3 lead-free nanomaterials will have an excellent prospect for dye wastewater purification due to its explicit pyro-catalysis.

Fatty acid composition is a key factor affecting the flavor and quality of goat milk. CircRNAs are now recognized as important regulators of transcription, and they play an important role in the control of fatty acid synthesis. Thus, understanding the regulatory mechanisms controlling this process in ruminant mammary glands is of great significance. In the present study, mammary tissue from dairy goats during early lactation and the dry period (nonlactating) were collected and used for high-throughput sequencing. Compared to levels during the dry period, the expression level of circ003429 during early lactation was lower (12.68-fold downregulated). In isolated goat mammary epithelial cells, circ003429 inhibited the synthesis of triglycerides (TAG) and decreased the content of unsaturated fatty acids (C16:1, C18:1, and C18:2), indicating that this circRNA plays an important role in regulating lipid synthesis. A binding site for miR-199a-3p in the circ003429 sequence was detected, and a dual-luciferase reporter system revealed that circ003429 targets miR-199a-3p. Overexpression of circ003429 (pcDNA-circ003429) downregulated the abundance of miR-199a-3p. In contrast, overexpression of miR-199a-3p increased TAG content and decreased mRNA abundance of Yes-associated protein 1 (YAP1) (a target gene of miR-199a-3p), and TAG content was decreased and mRNA abundance was increased in response to overexpression of circ003429. These results indicate that circ003429 alleviates the inhibitory effect of miR-199a-3p on the mRNA abundance of YAP1 by binding miR-199a-3p, resulting in subsequent regulation of the synthesis of TAG and unsaturated fatty acids.

Biochar is widely used for the adsorptive removal of Cd from water and soil, but the Cd-enriched biochar produced carries a risk of secondary pollution. In this work, biochar derived from rice straw was used to adsorb Cd from plating wastewater. The Cd-enriched biochar showed a saturated adsorption capacity of about 63.5 mg/g and could be recycled and used in a mesoporous carbon-supported CdS (CdS@C) photocatalyst after pyrolysis carbonization and a hydrothermal reaction. The results demonstrated that the as-prepared CdS@C photocatalyst contained mixed cubic and hexagonal CdS phases, with a considerably lower band gap (2.1 eV) than pure CdS (2.6 eV). CdS@C exhibited an enhanced photocatalytic performance for the degradation of organic dyes under visible light irradiation compared with pure CdS due to its excellent light-harvesting capacity and efficient electron-hole separation. Moreover, the continuous formation of active species (h+, •OH, and O2•−) was responsible for the photodegradation of organic dyes using CdS@C. This work provides new insights for the safe disposal of Cd-enriched wastewater and for improving the economic viability of Cd-contaminated resources by recovering a value-added photocatalyst.

In order to establish a method for the simultaneous determination of trace elements Al, As, B, Ca, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Li, Mg, Mn, Na, Ni, P, Si, Ti, and Zn in Corydalis conspersa and Corydalis linarioides, we collected the samples from different areas and treated with acid hydrolysis into tissues to be detected by the way of inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry compared with the standard element control method. We can know that the contents of Al, Ca, Fe, K, Mg, Na, and P in roots, stems, leaves, and flowers were higher. The contents of elements in different tissues and areas were as follows: flower > leaf > stem > root, Zeku County > Guide County > Nangqian County > Henan County. Among them, the contents of each element in the flowers of Maixiu Forest Farm were higher, while the contents of B, Cr, Cu, Li, Mn, Ni, Si, Ti, and Zn in roots, stems, and leaves of other areas were lower. The contents of heavy metal elements complied with the limit degree. A 3-factor model was obtained by principal component analysis which could clarify 82.46% of the total experimental data; the factors of Al, Fe, Mg, Na, P, Ca, Cu, Si, and Zn had great influence on the efficacy of 21 kinds of medicinal materials. Cluster analysis classified the samples into three categories; the flowers of Corydalis conspersa and stems of Corydalis linarioides from different collection areas are clustered containing high contents of type 1 and 3 characteristic components; the roots, stems, and leaves from other collection areas are clustered with low contents of 1 and 2 characteristic components. It can be used for the determination of trace elements in Corydalis conspersa and Corydalis linarioides to provide effective basis for revealing the function of trace elements with plant growth.

Generating natural language descriptions for structured representation (e.g., a graph) is an important yet challenging task. In this work, we focus on SQL-to-text, a task that maps a SQL query into the corresponding natural language question. Previous work represents SQL as a sparse graph and utilizes a graph-to-sequence model to generate questions, where each node can only communicate with k-hop nodes. Such a model will degenerate when adapted to more complex SQL queries due to the inability to capture long-term and the lack of SQL-specific relations. To tackle this problem, we propose a relation-aware graph transformer (RGT) to consider both the SQL structure and various relations simultaneously. Specifically, an abstract SQL syntax tree is constructed for each SQL to provide the underlying relations. We also customized self-attention and cross-attention strategies to encode the relations in the SQL tree. Experiments on benchmarks WikiSQL and Spider demonstrate that our approach yields improvements over strong baselines.

RNA interference (RNAi) has been developed and used as an emerging strategy for pest management. Here, an entomopathogen Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) was used to express the dsRNA for the control of Plutella xylostella. A vector containing a 325-bp fragment of the conserved region of P. xylostella arginine kinase gene (PxAK) flanking in two ends with the promoter Pro3α was developed and transferred into Bt 8010 and BMB171, and consequently engineered Bt strains 8010AKi and BMB171AKi expressing dsRNA of PxAK were developed. The two engineered Bt strains were separately mixed with Bt 8010 in a series of ratios, and then fed to the P. xylostella larvae. We found that 8010:8010AKi of 9:1 and 8010:BMB171AKi of 7:3 caused a higher mortality than Bt 8010. PxAK expression levels in the individuals treated with the mixtures, 8010AKi and BMB171Aki, were lower than that in the control. The intrinsic rate of increase (r) and net reproductive rate (R0) of the population treated with 8010:8010AKi of 9:1 were lower than those of the population treated with Bt 8010 or 8010AKi. We developed a Bt-mediated insect RNAi for the control of P. xylostella and demonstrated a practical approach to integrating the entomopathogen with RNAi technique for the pest management.

Water pollution by toxic substances, such as dye molecules, remains a major environmental problem that needs to be solved. In the present work, the magnetic composite hydrogel based on the poly(2-(methacryloyloxy)-N-(2-hydroxyethyl)-N,N-dimethylethan-1-aminium bromide-co-N-isopropylacrylamide) copolymer with incorporated Fe3O4 particles ((poly(DMAEAB-co-NIPAm)@Fe3O4)) was prepared by an in situ synthesis technique for the efficient removal of dye molecules from water. The successfully synthesized magnetic hydrogel was characterized by FTIR, XRD, TGA, and TEM. The removal efficiency of the anionic dye bromophenol blue (BPB) and the cationic dye rhodamine B (RDM) by the prepared hydrogel adsorbents was evaluated. Various adsorption parameters, including the concentration of adsorbents and adsorption time, were also investigated. The results showed that the synthesized magnetic hydrogel had excellent BPB removal performance compared to the removal of RDM. The optimum adsorbent concentration for 0.5 mM BPB solution was approximately 0.5 g/L, and the removal efficiency was more than 99%. The kinetics data of BPB removal fitted well into the pseudo-2nd-order model, indicating that BPB dye adsorption involves chemical adsorption and physical adsorption. In addition, recycling studies were conducted to examine the reusability of the magnetic hydrogel for BPB removal for up to five cycles and the hydrogel could be reused without losing its high removal efficiency. The magnetic hydrogel poly(DMAEAB-co-NIPAm)@Fe3O4 with high removal efficiency, good selectivity, and reusability shows great potential for the removal of anionic dyes in wastewater treatment.

Discriminative correlation filter (DCF) based tracking algorithms have obtained prominent speed and accuracy strengths, which have attracted extensive attention and research. However, some unavoidable deficiencies still exist. For example, the circulant shifted sampling process is likely to cause repeated periodic assumptions and cause boundary effects, which degrades the tracker’s discriminative performance, and the target is not easy to locate in complex appearance changes. In this paper, a spatial–temporal regularization module based on BACF (background-aware correlation filter) framework is proposed, which is performed by introducing a temporal regularization to deal effectively with the boundary effects issue. At the same time, the accuracy of target recognition is improved. This model can be effectively optimized by employing the alternating direction multiplier (ADMM) method, and each sub-problem has a corresponding closed solution. In addition, in terms of feature representation, we combine traditional hand-crafted features with deep convolution features linearly enhance the discriminative performance of the filter. Considerable experiments on multiple well-known benchmarks show the proposed algorithm is performs favorably against many state-of-the-art trackers and achieves an AUC score of 64.4% on OTB-100.

Exploiting efficient electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reactions (HERs) is important for boosting the large-scale applications of hydrogen energy. Herein, MoP-RuP2 encapsulated in N,P-codoped carbon (MoP-RuP2@NPC) with abundant interfaces were prepared via a facile avenue with the low-toxic melamine phosphate as the phosphorous resource. Moreover, the obtained electrocatalyst possessed a porous nanostructure, had abundant exposed active sites and improved the mass transport during the electrocatalytic process. Due to the above merits, the prepared MoP-RuP2@NPC delivered a greater electrocatalytic performance for HERs (50 mV@10 mA cm−2) relative to RuP2@NPC (120 mV) and MoP@NPC (195 mV) in 1 M KOH. Moreover, an ultralow potential of 1.6 V was required to deliver a current density of 10 mA cm−2 in the two-electrode configuration for overall water splitting. For practical applications, intermittent solar energy, wind energy and thermal energy were utilized to drive the electrolyzer to generate hydrogen gas. This work provides a novel and facile strategy for designing highly efficient and stable nanomaterials toward hydrogen production.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the most common liver diseases which lacks ideal treatment options. Kaempferol and kaempferide, two natural flavonol compounds isolated from Hippophae rhamnoides L., were reported to exhibit a strong regulatory effect on lipid metabolism, for which the mechanism is largely unknown. In the present study, we investigated the effects of kaempferol and kaempferide on oleic acid (OA)-treated HepG2 cells, a widely used in vitro model of NAFLD. The results indicated an increased accumulation of lipid droplets and triacylglycerol (TG) by OA, which was attenuated by kaempferol and kaempferide (5, 10 and 20 μM). Western blot analysis demonstrated that kaempferol and kaempferide reduced expression of lipogenesis-related proteins, including sterol regulatory element-binding protein 1 (SREBP1), fatty acid synthase (FAS) and stearoyl-CoA desaturase 1 (SCD-1). Expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) and CCAAT enhancer binding proteins β (C/EBPβ), two adipogenic transcription factors, was also decreased by kaempferol and kaempferide treatment. In addition, western blot analysis also demonstrated that kaempferol and kaempferide reduced expression of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) and nuclear transcription factor-erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2). Molecular docking was performed to identify the direct molecular targets of kaempferol and kaempferide, and their binding to SCD-1, a critical regulator in lipid metabolism, was revealed. Taken together, our findings demonstrate that kaempferol and kaempferide could attenuate OA-induced lipid accumulation and oxidative stress in HepG2 cells, which might benefit the treatment of NAFLD.

The exploitation of new methods to control material structure has historically been dominating the material science. The bottom-up self-assembly strategy by taking atom/molecule/ensembles in nanoscale as building blocks and crystallization as a driving force bring hope for material fabrication. DNA-grafted nanoparticle has emerged as a “programmable atom equivalent” and was employed for the assembly of hierarchically ordered three-dimensional superlattice with novel properties and studying the unknown assembly mechanism due to its programmability and versatility in the binding capabilities. In this review, we highlight the assembly strategies and rules of DNA-grafted three-dimensional superlattice, dynamic assembly by different driving factors, and discuss their future applications.

With the aim of achieving high microwave absorption and electromagnetic shielding performance, reduced graphene oxide (rGO) and Fe3O4@SiO2 nanochains are successfully combined at various mass ratios. By selecting the right mass ratio, an rGO/Fe3O4@SiO2 composite with excellent microwave absorption properties is obtained, and, due to the addition of highly conductive rGO, the desired shielding effectiveness is also achieved. The reflection loss (RL) value of the composite can reach −48.34 dB with a mass ratio of 1:1, and the effective bandwidth (

Lincomycin (LIN), as a waterborne contaminant, may pose a threat to algal health and may affect the provision of ecosystem services. In addition, the molecular mechanisms of lincomycin in algae are still unknown. Here, we attempted to use the transcriptome analysis to elucidate for the first time the potential impact of LIN at an environmentally relevant concentration on the algal growth, and verify the hypothesis that lincomycin can disrupt algal protein synthesis by combining with its subunits of ribosome at high-LIN level. In this study, 7-day growth inhibition tests and RNA-seq sequencing were conducted in Raphidocelis subcapitata (R. subcapitata) in response to a LIN at the concentrations of 0.5 µg L−1 (low), 5 µg L−1 (medium), and 400 µg L−1 (high) treatment groups. A negligible influence on algal growth and merely 21 (21 up- and 0 downregulated) differentially expressed genes (DEGs) was observed at low concentration of LIN, and medium groups showed a 13.4% inhibition and 92 (64 up- and 48 downregulated) DEGs, while high-LIN dosing caused 65.4% reduction in algal growth and 2514 (663 up- and 1851 downregulated) DEGs. In 0.5 and 5 µg L−1 groups, LIN upregulated the genes in the process of photosynthesis consisting of photosynthesis-antenna proteins, and porphyrin and chlorophyll metabolism pathways, suggesting that photosynthesis at low LIN exposure was more sensitive than algal growth. Whereas DEGs in the 400 µg L−1 group were mostly enriched in carbohydrate, carbon fixation in photosynthetic organisms, and nucleotide metabolism pathways. Furthermore, genes involved in detoxification processes were nearly downregulated in high-LIN group. In addition, genes encoding the antioxidant enzymes in the peroxisome pathway such as superoxide dismutase (sod2), peroxin-2 (pex2), 2,4-dienoyl-CoA reductase ((3E)-enoyl-CoA-producing) (decr2) were upregulated, which are responsible for deleting extra intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) caused by LIN to protect algal health, suggesting the occurrence of oxidative stress. Taken together, this is the first meticulous study unraveling the molecular mechanism of antibiotics in algae.

Jittering sieve is a significant component of corn harvester, and it is used to separate kernels from impurities. The sieves may be blocked by kernels during the separating process, leading to the reduction of working performance. Unfortunately, the automatic recognition of blockage has not been studied yet. To address this issue, in this study we develop machine-vision-based algorithms to divide the jittering sieve into sub-sieves and to recognize kernel blockages. Additionally, we propose the metric to evaluate blocking level of each sub-sieve, aiming to provide the basis for automatic blockage clearing. The performance of the proposed algorithm is verified through simulation experiments on real images. The success ratio of edge determination reaches 100%. The mean cross-correlation coefficient of the blockage levels and the actual numbers of blocked kernels for all test scenes is 0.932. The results demonstrate the proposed algorithm can be used for accurate blockage recognition, and the proposed metric is appropriate for evaluating the blockage level.

Metallic 1T-phase MoS2 is a newly emerging and attractive catalyst since it has more available active sites and high carrier mobility in comparison with its widely used counterpart of semiconducting 2H-MoS2. Herein, 1T/2H-MoS2(N) (N: MoO3 nanowires were used to prepare 1T/2H-MoS2) was synthesized by using molybdenum trioxide (MoO3) nanowires as the starting material and applied in the photodegradation of antibiotic residue in water. Enhanced photocatalytic performance was observed on the obtained 1T/2H-MoS2(N), which was 2.8 and 1.3 times higher than those on 1T/2H-MoS2(P) (P: commercial MoO3 powder was used to prepare 1T/2H-MoS2) and 2H-MoS2, respectively. The active component responsible for the photodegradation was detected and a reaction mechanism is proposed.