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In the energy performance contracting (EPC) mode, the energy services company (ESCO) involved in energy efficiency retrofitting of existing buildings often faces the parallel construction of multiple tender segments and multi-professional subcontractors. The one-to-many structure for ESCO and subcontractors causes difficulties to the project quality management and directly affects the effect of energy efficiency retrofitting of existing buildings. Therefore, this paper constructs a revenue-sharing incentive model by considering situation where subjects have fairness cognition. Through the social calculation experiment of the model, results show the following: (1) increasing the revenue-sharing coefficient will help to optimize the engineering quality of energy efficiency retrofitting and increase the energy-saving income; (2) in order to get better incentive effect, the engineering quality grade of energy efficiency retrofitting should match with the incentive strength; (3) because of the impact of fairness cognition, the incentive level difference is too large, and the incentive effect will gradually weaken in the subsequent incentive cycle; (4) subcontractor’s effort level changes can prompt ESCO to adjust the corresponding incentive intensity. Finally, some suggestions are put forward to optimize the engineering quality management of energy efficiency retrofitting of existing building, which is of great significance to improve the effect of energy efficiency retrofitting of existing building under EPC mode.

Cu-based chemical vapor deposition method can produce large-area graphene films, usually polycrystalline films with grain boundaries as the main defects. One way to reduce grain boundaries is to grow oriented graphene domains (OGDs), which can ultimately perfectly integrate. In contrast to previously reported methods of limiting OGD growth on Cu (1 1 1), we find that OGDs can grow on Cu substrates with a large surface crystallographic structure tolerance. Density functional theory calculations show that this is due to the single lowest energy state of graphene nucleation. The growth temperature is crucial. It must be high enough (1045 °C) to suppress mis-OGD nucleation, but not too high (1055 °C) to deteriorate OGD growth. Mis-OGD nucleation can also be caused by C impurity in Cu grains, which can be depleted by thermal pretreatment of the substrate in an oxidizing atmosphere. On the other hand, OGD growth is not sensitive to the atmosphere at growth stage within the range that we have tested.

The oil oxidation characteristics of the whole temperature regions from 30 °C to 600 °C during oil reservoir air injection were revealed by experiments. The whole oil oxidation temperature regions were divided into four different parts: dissolving and inflation region, low temperature oxidation region, medium temperature oxidation region and high temperature oxidation region. The reaction mechanisms of different regions were explained. Based on the oil oxidation characteristics and filed tests results, light oil reservoirs air injection development methods were divided into two types: oxygen-reducing air flooding and air flooding; heavy oil reservoirs air injection in-situ combustion development methods were divided into two types: medium temperature in-situ combustion and high temperature in-situ combustion. When the reservoir temperature is lower than 120 °C, oxygen-reducing air flooding should be used for light oil reservoir development. When the reservoir temperature is higher than 120 °C, air flooding method should be used for light oil reservoir development. For a normal heavy oil reservoir, when the combustion front temperature is lower than 400 °C, the development method is medium temperature in-situ combustion. For a heavy oil reservoir with high oil resin and asphalting contents, when the combustion front temperature is higher than 450 °C, the development method at this condition is high temperature in-situ combustion. Ten years field tests of air injection carried out by PetroChina proved that air has advantages in technical, economical and gas source aspects compared with other gas agents for oilfield gas injection development. Air injection development can be used in low/super-low permeability light oil reservoirs, medium and high permeability light oil reservoirs and heavy oil reservoirs. Air is a very promising gas flooding agent. Key words: air injection, full temperature regions, oil oxidation, reaction characteristics, coke formation, reservoir types, development methods

Scalable synthesis of highly efficient and nonprecious metal based catalysts for pH-universal hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is a daunting challenge. In this work, we fabricated self-supported composites of (Ni,Co)₃C mesoporous nanosheets/N-doped carbon with adjustable sizes from 1 cm × 1 cm to 25 cm × 25 cm using a facile and rapid electrodeposition, which was then followed by carbonization. The as-prepared catalyst shows small overpotentials of 58, 118, and 71 mV at 10 mA cm–² in acid, neutral, and basic electrolytes, respectively with high exchange current densities. The above HER activities exceeded most non-noble metal caride-based catalysts in a pH-universal electrolyte. Theoretical calculations suggest that bimetallic carbide is favorable for HER because of its metallic conductivity, close-to-zero Gibbs free energy change (ΔGH*), and downshifted d-band center (ed) revealed by density of states (DOS). The outstanding performance can be attributed to the tunable ultrathin nanosheet-like structure, large specific surface area, and electronic structure modulations. Our work developed an efficient, controllable, and large-scale synthesis of a cost-effective, highly efficient, high performance, and stable catalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction, which can operate in a wide pH range.

How can command-and-control instruments (CACs) influence consumers’ adoption of energy consumption monitoring technology (ECMT) in public buildings? We attempt to answer this question in an extended theory of planned behaviour in which CACs and energy-saving awareness (ESA) are introduced. Empirical data are collected by a questionnaire survey with 298 respondents, and structural equation modelling (SEM) is used to analyse the research model. The results indicate that ESA has a direct impact on consumers’ adoption of ECMT. The CACs have no direct effect on consumers’ adoption of ECMT but can indirectly affect consumers’ adoption of ECMT through three paths: CAC → ATT (attitudes) → BI (behavioural intention), CAC → ESA → BI and CAC → SN (subjective norm) → BI. Finally, suggestions are proposed, such as optimising the selection and combination of policy instruments, promoting the operation manager’s attitude towards ECMT to a more positive orientation, improving the ESA of the operation manager and providing more support for and pressure on the operation manager who has not adopted ECMT.

Colloidal quantum dot (CQD) based photoelectrochemical cells (PECs) for solar-driven hydrogen (H2) generation offer an avenue to convert solar energy into chemical fuel. So far, recent advances in CQD-based PEC performance have relied on the use of defect passivation strategies. Specifically, shell-isolated defect passivation in ternary I–III–VI CQDs has been shown to contribute to lowered trap state densities, strengthened effective charge separation, and improved photovoltaic performance. Here we present a kind of heavy metal-free Cu-doped AgIn5S8/ZnS (CAIS/ZnS) core/shell CQD that shows a remarkable photocatalytic efficiency with an engineered shell thickness. In particular, we add a capping ZnS layer to protect the CAIS/ZnS CQD surface in photoanodes and thus enable a dual defect passivation strategy based on the homojunction combination. This strategy passivates surface defects and enhances photogenerated charge transportation in order to maintain high catalytic efficiency, and the additional ZnS layer suppresses energy transfer and nonradiative recombination for better charge injection and greater stability performance of PEC devices. As a result, we achieved a saturated photocurrent density of 23.40 mA cm−2 for a CAIS/ZnS CQD-based PEC measured at 0.75 V versus RHE under 3 suns (that is 3 times the standard solar irradiance of 100 mW cm−2), as compared to 10.60 mA cm−2 under 1 sun, which is a record for heavy metal-free CQD-based photoelectrodes for solar driven hydrogen generation. Importantly, our PEC devices maintained over 50% of their original photocurrent density after 6800 s of aging under 1 sun at 0.5 V versus RHE. Our work reveals a new platform for the development of high-efficiency photocatalysts based on I–III–VI CQDs.

The polarization of fast radio bursts (FRBs), which are bright astronomical transient phenomena, contains information about their environments. Using wide-band observations with two telescopes, we report polarization measurements of five repeating FRBs and find a trend of lower polarization at lower frequencies. This behavior is modeled as multipath scattering, characterized by a single parameter, σ RM , the rotation measure (RM) scatter. Sources with higher σ RM have higher RM magnitude and scattering time scales. The two sources with the highest σ RM , FRB 20121102A and FRB 20190520B, are associated with compact persistent radio sources. These properties indicate a complex environment near the repeating FRBs, such as a supernova remnant or a pulsar wind nebula, consistent with their having arisen from young stellar populations.

Homeobox B9 (HOXB9) is involved in the occurrence and development of malignant tumors. However, the functions and underlying molecular mechanisms of HOXB9 in pancreatic cancer have yet to be identified. In this study, we find that both HOXB9 mRNA and protein levels are down-regulated in pancreatic cancer tissues and cell lines. Kaplan-Meier survival plots of 150 pancreatic cancer cases show that higher expression of HOXB9 in pancreatic cancer patients is associated with higher survival rates. We also find that over-expression of HOXB9 inhibits pancreatic cancer cell proliferation both in cell lines and the nude mouse xenograft as well as PDX models. Applying cell cycle PCR array analysis, Flow CytoMetry, ChIP-qPCR, and luciferase experiments, we observe that HOXB9 blocks cell cycle progression in the G0/G1 phase via up-regulating RBL2 and inhibiting c-Myc, and we further find that DNMT1 inhibits the expression of HOXB9 in pancreatic cancer by promoting the methylation of its promoter. Our findings highlight a novel mechanism of the DNMT1/HOXB9/RBL2/c-Myc pathway in regulating the cell cycle and proliferation of pancreatic cancer cells and provide a research basis for the prognosis and therapeutic application of HOXB9 in pancreatic cancer.

It has been proved experimentally that tungsten oxide (WO3) in a defective state has a positive effect on nitrogen reduction reactions (NRRs) owing to the surface modification by adding oxygen vacancies and doping. However, the role of different oxygen vacancies in the electrocatalytic NRR is still behind the scenes. In this study, we have carried out first-principles calculations to grapple with its causes and consequences, focusing on the two-dimensional WO3-x surface on an atomic scale. Our study shows that WO3 does not promote nitrogen reduction simply by a dimension reduction without oxygen vacancy. Two NRR processes, which are found to follow the associative mechanism in various pathways, are initiated at relatively lower potentials at two possible vacancies. It is the polarized electrons after being adsorbed over the dangling oxygen vacancy, which weaken the N[triple bond, length as m-dash]N bond and enables N2 reduction with a rate-limiting potential as large as -1.89 V. In contrast, the desorption of NH3 from the planar vacancy is kinetically challenging at a cost of 1.47 eV, in which case the d orbitals of under-coordinated W match the p orbitals of N and form both bonding state and anti-bonding state. It demonstrates that P-VO-WO3 and N2 can bond firmly but NH3 desorption ought to pay a price. Two alternative schemes are accordingly proposed to balance good nitrogen adsorption and desorption. This noble metal-free system, by regulating vacancy sites, demonstrates its potential as an eco-friendly and fine-grained artificial material for electrochemical nitrogen reduction.

This study conducts a literature survey on the chemical steam additives tested in both lab and field settings from 1982 to present (2020). We summarize the major recovery mechanisms of both steam-based recovery process and steam-chemical-based recovery process. Next, we review the previous lab-scale/field-scale studies examining the applications of surfactants, alkali, and novel chemicals in the steam-based oil recovery process. Among the different surfactants studied, alpha-olefin sulfonate (AOS) and linear toluene sulfonate (LTS) are the recommended chemicals for their foam control/detergency effect. In particular, AOS was observed to perform especially well in residual oil saturation (ROS) reduction and sweep efficiency improvement when being co-injected with alkali. Application of organic alkali (alone or with a co-surfactant) has also drawn wide attention recently, but its efficacy in the field requires further investigation and the consumption of alkali by sands/clay is often an inevitable issue and, therefore, how to control the alkali loss requires further investigation. Novel chemical additives tested in the past five years include fatty acids (such as tail oil acid, TOA-Na+), Biodiesel (o/w emulsion), along with other types of chemical additives including switchable hydrophilicity tertiary amines (SHTA), chelating agents, Deep Eutectic Solvents (DES), graphite and SiO2 particles, ionic liquids and urea. High thermal stability of some of the novel chemicals and their potential in increasing displacement efficiency and ROS reduction efficiency in the lab studies require further investigation for their optimized application in the field settings to minimize the use of steam while improving the recovery effectively. This review reveals that when being properly applied, chemical additives can improve oil recovery via steam foam control, detergency effect (IFT reduction and wettability control), and viscosity reduction. In certain cases, microemulsion generation could be observed (o/w or w/o) with the addition of chemical additives at steam condition (which leads to recovery improvement), but the microemulsion effect on the conformance control (separate from the foamy effect), is lacking detailed investigation.

The liposoluble tanshinones are bioactive components in Salvia miltiorrhiza and are widely investigated as anti-cancer agents, while the molecular mechanism is to be clarified. In the present study, we identified that the human fragile histidine triad (FHIT) protein is a direct binding protein of sodium tanshinone IIA sulfonate (STS), a water-soluble derivative of Tanshinone IIA (TSA), with a Kd value of 268.4 ± 42.59 nM. We also found that STS inhibited the diadenosine triphosphate (Ap3A) hydrolase activity of FHIT through competing for the substrate-binding site with an IC50 value of 2.2 ± 0.05 µM. Notably, near 100 times lower binding affinities were determined between STS and other HIT proteins, including GALT, DCPS, and phosphodiesterase ENPP1, while no direct binding was detected with HINT1. Moreover, TSA, Tanshinone I (TanI), and Cryptotanshinone (CST) exhibited similar inhibitory activity as STS. Finally, we demonstrated that depletion of FHIT significantly blocked TSA’s pro-apoptotic function in colorectal cancer HCT116 cells. Taken together, our study sheds new light on the molecular basis of the anti-cancer effects of the tanshinone compounds.

Policies aimed at influencing air transportation must operate in a complex, interacting global system of passengers, airlines, airports and other stakeholders. Tools which are capable of assessing policy outcomes in this situation are vital. Given the high uncertainty about future demand, costs and technology characteristics on policy-relevant timescales, such tools also need to allow the evaluation of outcomes from a wide range of plausible futures. This paper presents the validation study and initial baseline results from a comprehensive, open source update of the global AIM aviation systems model. We show that running the model from 2005 to 2015 using 2005 base year data reproduces well the observed demand levels and patterns of growth. Running from a 2015 base year, we project global demand in 2050 of between 13,800 billion and 46,000 billion revenue passenger kilometres (RPK), respectively 2.2 and 7.4 times year 2015 values, depending primarily on the future scenario for population, income and oil price assumed. Absent any radical change in aircraft technology, this would lead to global direct CO2 emissions from aviation of between 876 and 2500 Mt, or 1.5 to 4.4 times the year-2015 level. This wide level of baseline variation may present a challenge for long-term aviation policy and its adaptability to different futures.

Developing novel low-cost and efficient electron transport layer (ETL) materials for high-efficiency planar heterojunction perovskite solar cells (PSCs) still remains challenges. Herein, we report a low-temperature colloid-synthesized and solution-deposited strontium stannate SrSnO3 (SSO) perovskite oxide nanoparticle can be an effective alternative ETL. More importantly, the introduction of yttrium dopant results in a significant improvement in the optoelectronic properties of yttrium-doped SrSnO3 (YSSO), exhibiting higher electron conductivity and faster electron transfer, as well as better band alignment at ETL/perovskite interface compare to undoped SSO, which is also supported by theory calculation. Consequently, these factors boost all photovoltaic performance parameters, leading to an improvement in the efficiency of planar PSCs. The resulting YSSO-based PSCs exhibit an average efficiency of 17.8% and a maximum power conversion efficiency of 19.0% with the significant reduction of J–V hysteresis, and those devices show high long-term stability as well. Our findings provide the full potential of the perovskite oxide toward future photovoltaic applications, especially for cost-efficient planar PSCs.

This paper examines the beneficial impact of high-speed rail (HSR) on reducing aviation CO2 emissions in China. As a fast-growing economy and the world’s largest CO2 emitter, China has made massive infrastructure investments but has also committed to reducing emissions across all sectors. This study demonstrates that investments in China’s HSR can effectively contribute to reduction of emissions from domestic aviation, a sector that is particularly challenging to decarbonize. Although a wide body of literature has assessed the competition between HSR and air transport, little attention has been paid to the climate implications of this phenomenon. It is estimated that, through mode substitution for air transport, HSR generated a cumulative net saving of between 1.76 and 2.76 million tons of CO2 from 2012 to 2015. This was equivalent to 3.2%–5.1% of 2015 domestic aviation emissions. Importantly, it is also demonstrated that by not taking into account the electricity consumption of HSR, its environmental benefits could be overestimated. Lastly, through analysis of future energy mix scenarios this study highlights that HSR has a great potential to reduce CO2 emissions even further if China achieved its climate pledge in the Paris Agreement in terms of decarbonizing its electricity generation sector by 2030.

The air oxidation of super-heavy oil at low temperature was studied in laboratory and its influences on oil viscosity, component and steam sweep efficiency before and after air-injection were analyzed. The feasibility, operation mode and air flooding effect at the late stage of steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) were investigated by numerical simulation. The experimental results show for vertical-horizontal well pair SAGD test area of Xing VI Formation in Block Du 84 of Liaohe Oilfield, the low temperature oxidation occurred between 150–250 °C (steam chamber temperature), the oil viscosity increased greatly after low temperature oxidation, consequently, the oil displacement efficiency dropped sharply. Three development methods in the late stage of SAGD were simulated, i.e., steam + air low temperature oxidation, only air low temperature oxidation and only air high temperature oxidation. By comparing production dynamic curves and residual oil distribution etc., high temperature oxidation reduced the heat loss in late stage of SAGD, recovered the residual oil effectively, and prolonged reservoir development time. Key words: super heavy oil, SAGD, air injection, low temperature oxidation, high temperature oxidation

The graphite as the potassium ion battery anode is studied in KPF6-EC/DMC and KPF6-DME electrolytes. It is found that the graphite demonstrates superior rate performance with a capacity of 87 mAh g−1 at a current rate of 10 C (corresponding to 2.8 A g−1) and excellent capacity retention ability of 84% after 3500 cycles in DME-based electrolyte. Moreover, its initial coulombic efficiency is 87.4%, higher than 69.6% in EC/DMC-based electrolyte. The K+ solvating with DME complexes co-intercalate into graphite leading a high operational voltage at ∼0.7 V vs. ∼0.2 V in carbonate-based electrolyte, a fast apparent K+ diffusion coefficient of 10−8 cm2 s−1, a negligible solid-electrolyte interface film, a small volume expansion (7.7% in (002) plane vs. 63% in EC/DMC electrolyte). This study addresses the importance of electrolyte in altering the potassium storage mechanisms to tune the energy density and power density in potassium ion batteries (KIBs).

Polarity introduced by inversion symmetry broken along direction has strong impacts on the physical properties and morphological characteristics of III–V component nanostructure. Take III–V component semiconductor InSb as an example, we systematically investigate the growth sequence and morphology evolution of InSb (111) on Bi (001) substrate from adatoms to bilayers. We discovered and verified that the presence of amorphous-like morphology of monolayer InSb was attributed to the strong interaction between mix-polarity InSb and Bi substrate. Further, our comprehensive energy investigations of bilayer InSb reveal that an amorphous first layer will be crystallized and polarized driven by the low surface energy of the reconstructed second layers. Phase diagrams were developed to describe the ongoing polarization process of bilayer InSb under various chemical environments as a function of deposition time. The growth mechanism and polarity phase diagram of bilayer InSb on Bi substrate may advance the progress of polarity controllable growth of low-dimensional InSb nanostructure as well as other polar III–V compound semiconductors.

Discovery of pulsars is one of the main goals for large radio telescopes. The Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST), that incorporates an L-band 19-beam receiver with a system temperature of about 20~K, is the most sensitive radio telescope utilized for discovering pulsars. We designed the {\it snapshot} observation mode for a FAST key science project, the Galactic Plane Pulsar Snapshot (GPPS) survey, in which every four nearby pointings can observe {\it a cover} of a sky patch of 0.1575 square degrees through beam-switching of the L-band 19-beam receiver. The integration time for each pointing is 300 seconds so that the GPPS observations for a cover can be made in 21 minutes. The goal of the GPPS survey is to discover pulsars within the Galactic latitude of $\pm10^{\circ}$ from the Galactic plane, and the highest priority is given to the inner Galaxy within $\pm5^{\circ}$. Up to now, the GPPS survey has discovered 201 pulsars, including currently the faintest pulsars which cannot be detected by other telescopes, pulsars with extremely high dispersion measures (DMs) which challenge the currently widely used models for the Galactic electron density distribution, pulsars coincident with supernova remnants, 40 millisecond pulsars, 16 binary pulsars, some nulling and mode-changing pulsars and rotating radio transients (RRATs). The follow-up observations for confirmation of new pulsars have polarization-signals recorded for polarization profiles of the pulsars. Re-detection of previously known pulsars in the survey data also leads to significant improvements in parameters for 64 pulsars. The GPPS survey discoveries are published and will be updated at http://zmtt.bao.ac.cn/GPPS/ ., 38 pages, 22 figures. See http://www.raa-journal.org/docs/Supp/2021Newsonline.pdf for News and Views

The pandemic situation of COVID-19 blocks many traditional information exchange paths, intensifies the information asymmetry in the implementation of the energy efficiency retrofitting project of existing building and seriously affects the decision-making effect of the energy performance contracting (EPC) subject. Therefore, based on the information-sharing platform, this paper constructs the synergistic incentive framework; designs the computational experimental models from the aspects of system information structure, system organization structure, synergistic communication strategy and subject knowledge structure; and analyzes the influence mechanism and evolution law of information on synergistic incentive performance from the two dimensions of the influence of the synergy cycle on the incentive performance and the influence of the incentive cycle on the synergy degree. The results show that increasing the information redundancy length and the information redundancy width can improve the synergy degree and incentive validity. The concentration of subject number or information dimension in a certain information area can quickly improve the synergy degree and incentive utility in the early stage of the synergistic incentive cycle, but the above situation is opposite in the later stage. Increasing the information communication path is beneficial to the effective information dissemination among subjects and can improve the efficiency of the decision-making of the subjects. Lastly, considering the background of COVID-19 epidemic situation, this paper puts forward the remedial methods and coping strategies make up for the lack of synergistic incentive information between EPC subjects. Research results can provide strong support for the design of synergistic incentive mechanism of EPC subjects.

In this study, a proximity catalysis route was developed for the fast growth of graphene/h-BN vertical heterostructures on Cu foils, which shows much improved synthesis efficiency (500 times faster than other routes) and good crystalline quality graphene (large single crystalline length up to 10 μm). The key advantage of our synthesis route is the introduction of fresh Cu foil (or Cu foam) into the high-temperature zone using a turntable. At high temperatures, Cu vapor acts as a gaseous catalyst, which can reduce the energy barrier of graphene growth and promote the decomposition of carbon sources. Therefore, after the first layer of hexagonal boron nitride is grown on the Cu substrate, another layer of graphene can be grown by introducing a fresh catalyst. Our calculations have revealed the catalytic effect and graphene growth contribution of Cu vapor evaporated by the suspended catalyst. We also investigated the growth sequence of graphene from 1 to 24 carbon atoms on h-BN/Cu and determined the morphology evolution of these carbon clusters. In this regard, multilayer stacked heterogeneous structures can be synthesized, thus increasing their potential applications in high performance electronic devices and energy harvesting/transition directions.

Passive building is a kind of building that can use natural way to reduce energy consumption on the premise of satisfying indoor comfort. The characteristics of energy saving and emission reduction can solve the problem of energy shortage, which is the future development trend of buildings in the Yangtze River Delta region. However, the popularization of passive architecture in the Yangtze River Delta region is relatively slow in recent years. This paper analyzes its development status and influencing factors, and puts forward some suggestions to provide some reference for promoting the explosive development of passive buildings in the Yangtze River Delta region.

β-Catenin is a central component in the Wnt signaling pathway; its degradation has been tightly connected to ubiquitylation, but it is rarely examined by loss-of-function assays. Here we observe that endogenous β-catenin is not stabilized upon ubiquitylation depletion by a ubiquitylation inhibitor, TAK-243. We demonstrate that N-terminal phosphorylated β-catenin is quickly and strongly stabilized by a specific neddylation inhibitor, MLN4924, in all examined cell types, and that β-catenin and TCF4 interaction is strongly enhanced by inhibition of neddylation but not ubiquitylation. We also confirm that the E3 ligase β-TrCP2, but not β-TrCP1, is associated with neddylation and destruction of β-catenin. GSK3β and adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) are not required for β-catenin neddylation but essential for its subsequent degradation. Our findings not only clarify the process of β-catenin modification and degradation in the Wnt signaling pathway but also highlight the importance of reassessing previously identified ubiquitylation substrates.

Iron pyrite (FeS

Inflammatory pain activates astrocytes and increases inflammatory cytokine release in the spinal cord. Mitochondrial fusion and fission rely on the functions of dynamin-related protein 1 (Drp1) and optic atrophy 1 (OPA1), which are essential for the synaptic transmission and plasticity. In the present study, we aimed to explore the effects of 2-bromopalmitate (2-BP), an inhibitor of protein palmitoylation, on the modulation of pain behavior. Rats were intraplantar injected with complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA) to establish an inflammatory pain model. In the spinal cord of rats with CFA-induced inflammatory pain, the expression of astrocyte-specific glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and contents of proinflammatory cytokines IL-1β and TNF-α were increased. Mitochondrial Drp1 was increased, while OPA1 was decreased. Consequently, CFA induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and Bcl-2-associated X protein (BAX) expression. The intrathecal administration of 2-BP significantly reversed the pain behaviors of the inflammatory pain in rats. Moreover, 2-BP also reduced the Drp1 expression, elevated the OPA1 expression, and further reduced the GFAP, IL-1β, and TNF-α expression and ROS production. Furthermore, in vitro study proved a similar effect of 2-BP on the regulation of Drp1 and OPA1 expression. 2-BP also increased the mitochondrial membrane potential and decreased the levels of BAX, ROS, and proinflammatory cytokines. These results indicate that 2-BP may attenuate the inflammatory pain of CFA-treated rats via regulating mitochondrial fission/fusion balance and function.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the survival and prognostic factors of patients who were with advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and developed an esophageal fistula. The data from 221 patients with advanced ESCC developed esophageal fistula from January 2008 to December 2017 at the Harbin Medical University Cancer Hospital was retrospectively analyzed. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated by the Cox proportional hazard models. The median survival time after a diagnosis of the esophageal fistula was calculated using the Kaplan–Meier method. We found that the pathogens infected by patients are common bacteria in nosocomial infection. Besides, the incidence rate of esophagomediastinal fistula was the highest (54.2%) in the lower third of the esophagus. Kaplan–Meier analysis revealed a median survival time of 11.00 months and a median post-fistula survival time of 3.63 months in patients who developed esophageal fistula in advanced esophageal cancer. In the univariate analysis, gender, therapies for ESCC before the development of fistula, type of esophageal fistula, treatment of esophageal fistula and hemoglobin (Hb) level were the factors with significant prognostic value. Gender, type of esophageal fistula and Hb level were identified as independent prognostic factors in further multivariate analysis. In summary, our study demonstrated that several factors are significantly related to patients with esophageal fistula and should be concerned about in clinical practice.

Taking the lighting energy efficiency retrofitting of a university library as a case study, this study aims to solve the existing problems in energy efficiency retrofitting in library lighting, such as one-sided consideration of factors, deviation from reality, and rebound of energy use. On the basis of illuminance suitability analysis, this study considers the technology and economy factors into the decision-making process and constructs a decision-making system for realizing the energy saving goal of the system. Findings show that using the illuminance suitability analysis data to determine the illuminance trigger threshold of energy saving light source and intelligent lighting system can guarantee the lighting energy saving rate and lighting visual environment, eliminate the “energy use rebound effect”, and achieve good technical and economic results.

Studies assessing the impact of market-based environmental policies in aviation rely on various scenarios of airline cost pass-through, because there is little empirical evidence with respect to the impacts of airline costs on airfares. Instead, the costs effect has been indirectly measured by proxy variables such as distance, fuel price, and aircraft sizes. This paper provides empirical evidence of airline cost pass-through by developing an airfare model that explicitly captures airline operating costs. Using a feasible generalized two-stage least squares (FG2SLS) approach, we obtained coefficients of airline fuel costs per passenger, non-fuel costs per passenger, and non-fuel costs per flight modeling for seven world regions (20 region-pair markets). A comparison of the estimated cost pass-through elasticities conducted across regional markets suggests that airlines may respond to the cost increases differently, depending on the cost types and the markets they operate in. Based on the estimated coefficients, we systematically evaluate the potential impacts of introducing a carbon tax policy within two major regional markets with distinct cost pass-through elasticities.

Despite the dramatic antitumor efficiency of certain immune checkpoint inhibitors, immunotherapy has met a bottleneck regarding the response rate and resistance in cancer patients. Increasing evidence indicates that Wnt/β-catenin signaling, one of the best-characterized cancer drivers, promotes cancer progression by regulating the tumor-immune cycle in most of the nodes, including dendritic cells, T cells, and tumor cells. Specifically, abnormal Wnt/β-catenin signaling directly alters a number of regulators critical for the antitumor activities of T cells, especially effector T cells, T helper cells, and regulatory T cells. We propose that targeting Wnt/β-catenin signaling would potentially improve clinical outcomes of cancer patients by overcoming the primary, adaptive, and acquired resistance to immunotherapy.

The mechanisms of oxygen-reduced air flooding (ORAF) and the explosion limit and the corrosion control approaches were studied based on the pilots of oxygen-reduced air flooding (ORAF) in the Dagang, Changqing and Daqing oil fields in China. On the foundation of indoor investigations and pilots, the explosion limits, oxygen reduction limits and corrosion control approaches were clarified. When the temperature of reservoir is equal to and higher than 120 °C, there is a violent reaction between oxygen and crude oil, that means the effect of low temperature oxidation would be fully taken use of to enhance oil recovery by air flooding directly; nitrogen dominated immiscible flooding with oxygen-reduced air should be applied in cases where reservoir temperature is below 120 °C with little oxygen consumption and little heat generated. The oxygen-reduced air flooding is suitable for 3 types of reservoirs: low permeability reservoir, water flooding development reservoir of high water-cut and high temperature and high salinity reservoir. In the process of development, in order to ensure safety, the oxygen reduction limits should be controlled fewer than 10%, while oxygen-reduced air can obviously reduce the corrosion rate of pipes; The surface pipelines and injection wells don't need to consider about oxygen corrosion with no water, special materials and structure of pipe or corrosion inhibitor can be applied to the surface pipelines and injection wellbores with water. Air/oxygen-reduced air is a low-cost displacement medium and it could be applied in many special conditions of low permeability reservoir for energy supplement, huff and puff and displacement, that means oxygen-reduced air flooding has become the most potential strategic technology in 20 years. Key words: oxygen-reduced air flooding, explosion limit, oxygen-reduction limit, low temperature oxidation, oxygen corrosion control

Hydrogen energy as a promising renewable and sustainable energy has attracted growing attentions in recent years, in searching of low-cost electrocatalysts with high efficiency as alternatives of non-noble metals for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Herein we report an in-situ cobalt and nitrogen co-doped mesoporous graphitic carbon catalysts by directly pyrolyzing hyperbranched cobalt phthalocyanine (H-CoPc), which can efficiently catalyze HER in acidic, alkaline or neutral electrolytes. With only 0.62 at% of cobalt dopants, the outstanding Co@NG-800 catalyst exhibits excellent durability and HER activities with the overpotential as low as 286 mV in acid, 290 mV in alkaline and 480 mV in neutral, achieved at 10 mA cm−2 current density. These activities indicate that the Co@NG-800 catalyst can couple with the best available oxygen-evolving catalysts in the overall water-splitting. Meanwhile, the mesoporous structure derived from H-CoPc provides more active sites than un-hyperbranched precursor. This work may provide a novel organic metal complexes and simple route in designing highly active and durable transition metal and nitride co-doped carbonaceous electrocatalysts for HER.

Food resources are often not sufficient to satisfy the nutritional and energetic requirements during winter conditions at high latitudes. Dietary analysis is a prerequisite to fully understanding the feeding ecology of a species and the nature of trophic interactions. Previous dietary studies of Asian Great Bustard (Otis tarda dybowskii) relied on behavioral observations, resulting in categorization of diet limited to broad taxonomic groupings. Here, we applied a high‐throughput sequencing meta‐barcoding approach to quantify the diet of resident and migratory Asian Great Bustard in three wintering sites during early winter and late winter. We detected 57 unique plant taxa in the bustard diet, among which 15 species were confirmed by a local plant database we generated. Both agricultural and natural foods were detected, indicating a relatively broad dietary niche. Spatiotemporal dietary changes were discovered, revealing diet differences among wintering sites and a general shift toward lower plant diversity later in winter. For the nonmigratory population, we detected a significantly more diverse array of plant species in their diet. We hypothesize that dietary variation between resident and migratory populations could be involved in the recent transition to partial migration in this species, although climate change can not be excluded. Collectively, these results support protecting unharvested grain fields and naturally unplowed lands to help conserve and promote population growth of Asian Great Bustard.

Complete configurations of monolayer graphene with zigzag-edged hexagonal nanohole are systematically built using three indices. The three integers lead to an atomistic precisely gap opening criteria, which steered via density functional theory based calculations. The guiding rule reveals that the semimetallic and semiconducting variation is consistent with a peculiar sequence with a period of 3 for odd and even indices differently. According to the cyclic sequence, there are one-third nanoporous graphene in our framework open a gap. The physical correspondence of Dirac point matching in reciprocal space and charge distribution in real space for the gap opening/closing is revealed. The periodic nanoperforation induced gap sizes were fitted as functions of three key indices. Furthermore, the coexistence of Dirac and flat bands is observed for some unique structures, which is sensitive to the atomic patterns. Our results indicate that the energy gap tunability of nano-perforated graphene can be used for flexible optoelectronic, photocatalytic and electrochemical applications. In particular, the atomically-thin electrically-connected geometry of nanoporous graphene suggests potential application in functional conductive coatings. The clear advantage of our system is in the combination of two properties: the possibility of applying electric voltage to the perforated sheet and rich chemically active atomic sites.

Pyrite FeS2 exhibits an ultrahigh energy density (1671 W⋅h⋅kg−1, for the reaction of FeS2 + 4Li = Fe + 2Li2S) in secondary lithium-ion batteries, but its poor cycling stability, huge volume expansion, the shuttle effect of polysulfides, and slow kinetic properties limit its practical application. In this work, we synthesize a composite structure material CoS on FeS2 surface (FeS x @CoS, 1 < x ≤ 2) by using a cobalt-containing MOF to improve its cycle stability. It is found that CoS inhibits the side reactions and adsorbs polysulfides. As a result, the modified FeS2 shows a higher discharge capacity of 577 mA⋅h⋅g−1 (919 W⋅h⋅kg−1) after 60 cycles than 484 mA⋅h⋅g−1 (778 W⋅h⋅kg−1) of bare pyrite FeS2. This efficient strategy provides a valuable step toward the realization of high cycling stability FeS2 cathode materials for secondary lithium-ion batteries and enriches the basic understanding of the influence of FeS2 interfacial stability on its electrochemical performances.

Constitutive photomorphogenesis 9 (COP9) signalosome 6 (CSN6) plays an essential role in tumor development. The present study aims to demonstrate that CSN6 is an important biomarker and has prognostic value for patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). We analyzed CSN6 expression levels in PDAC and adjacent non-cancerous tissues using immunohistochemistry (IHC) and quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) analysis. We found that CSN6 was highly expressed in PDAC tissues, contrasting to adjacent non-cancerous tissues. Interestingly, CSN6 expression was positively associated with proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) expression. Further investigation indicated that CSN6 knockdown significantly suppressed the proliferation of PDAC cells and decreased the expression levels of PCNA, while CSN6 overexpression increased the proliferation, as well as the expression levels of PCNA in PDAC cells. Furthermore, a χ(2) test indicated that the expression of CSN6 in PDAC tissues was markedly associated with tumor infiltration and serum carbohydrate antigen 19–9 levels. In addition, univariate and multivariate analyses showed that CSN6 levels were significantly correlated with poor clinical outcomes of patients with PDAC. Kaplan–Meier analysis showed that patients with high expression of CSN6 had shorter overall survival. These results suggest that the expression of CSN6 correlates with the progression of PDAC, resulting in poor prognosis. Thus, CSN6 may play a significant role in the development of PDAC and is a potential target to prevent and treat PDAC.

With the global warming in the future, the meteorological data based on the Typical Meteorological Year (TMY) can no longer accurately reflect the changes in building energy consumption under future meteorological conditions. This paper selects the typical meteorological year (TMY) in the Yangtze River Delta region as the base year data and the monthly scale forecast data provided by the IPCC, and uses the “Morphing” method to predict hourly weather data in 2050 and 2080. The use of energy simulation software Energy Plus of the Yangtze River Delta region in a passive multi-storey residential building energy simulation, analysis of building energy performance under future climate change, projected changes passive residential building energy demand over the next 60 years of trend.

Cu@WC core-shell nanowires, as the WC-based materials with Pt-like electronic configurations around the Fermi level, have been successfully fabricated via chemical oxidation and electro-reduction processes followed by magnetron sputtering of WC for pH-universal hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The Cu@WC catalyst showed low overpotentials of 92, 119 and 173 mV at 10 mA cm−2 in acidic, alkaline and neutral conditions with high exchange current densities. The core-shell structure was verified to increase the WC’s carrier density with the interfacial, strongly delocalised electrons under the external electric potential and matched work functions between Cu and WC preserving the high level of Pt-like electrons in WC. The Δ G H * calculations demonstrated that the lattice mismatch between WC and Cu modifies the atomic and electronic structures of WC and weakens the hydrogen bond during absorption leading to enhanced HER performance. This work provides a deep insight into the WC-based core-shell catalysts for pH-universal HER.

Solutions with large-scale dispersions of 2D black phosphorus (BP), often referred to as phosphorene, are obtained through solvent exfoliation. But, rapid phosphorene synthesis remains a challenge. Furthermore, although the chemical sensing capability of BP-based sensors has been theoretically predicted, its experimental verification remains lacking. In this study, we demonstrate the use of supercritical carbon dioxide-assisted rapid synthesis (5h) of few-layer BP. In addition, we construct a non-enzymatic hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) sensor based on few-layer BP for the first time to utilize BP degradation under ambient conditions. The proposed H2O2 sensor exhibits a considerably lower detection limit of 1 × 10(-7) M compared with the general detection limit of 1 × 10(-7) M-5 × 10(-5)M via electrochemical methods. Overall, the results of this study will not only expand the coverage of BP research but will also identify the important sensing characteristics of BP.

Fluorinated carbons are reported to have the highest energy density as Li primary cell cathodes. While it has poor rate performance and the electrochemical reaction mechanism is still unclear. In this work, fluorinated graphite CF0.88 as K cell cathode is studied. It demonstrates a better rate performance, higher operational voltage, and higher energy density than that of Li cell. Without modification, the micro-size fluorinated graphite demonstrates a specific energy density of 805 Wh kg−1 at 2C (1C corresponding to 821 mA g−1) in K cell vs. 776 Wh kg−1 in Li cell. A dissolution-recrystallization mechanism is proposed for CF cathodes for discharge process. A high K ion diffusion coefficient and an early KF nucleation ascribe to its good performance. After discharge, amorphous CF0.88 transforms to ordered graphite and KF crystals. KF particles nuclear and grow on the electrode surface. Electrolyte plays not only a role as K+ conductor, but also a solution medium to dissolve-aggregate KF. Moreover, electrolyte salt concentration determines particle size of discharge product KF.

Smart home IoT devices are becoming increasingly popular. Modern programmable smart home hubs such as SmartThings enable homeowners to manage devices in sophisticated ways to save energy, improve security, and provide conveniences. Unfortunately, many smart home systems contain vulnerabilities, potentially impacting home security and privacy. This paper presents Vigilia, a system that shrinks the attack surface of smart home IoT systems by restricting the network access of devices. As existing smart home systems are closed, we have created an open implementation of a similar programming and configuration model in Vigilia and extended the execution environment to maximally restrict communications by instantiating device-based network permissions. We have implemented and compared Vigilia with forefront IoT-defense systems; our results demonstrate that Vigilia outperforms these systems and incurs negligible overhead.

Forkhead box protein M1 (FOXM1) was identified as an oncogenic transcription factor and master regulator of tumor progression and metastasis. FOXM1 expression often correlates with poor prognosis and chemotherapy resistance. In the present study, we investigated the association of FOXM1 expression and chemoresistance in pancreatic cancer. Elevated FOXM1 protein levels were associated with gemcitabine chemoresistance in patients with pancreatic cancer. In gemcitabine resistance cell line models of pancreatic cancer, FOXM1 expression increased, which induced gemcitabine chemoresistance in vitro. In pancreatic cancer cells treated with gemcitabine, FOXM1 affected nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) signaling activity. Immunohistochemical analysis demonstrated a negative association of FOXM1 expression and the level of phosphorylated signal transducer and activator of transcription 1 (pSTAT1) in human pancreatic cancer tissues. Dual-luciferase reporter assays and chromatin-immunoprecipitation assays demonstrated that pSTAT1 directly binds to the FOXM1 promoter to down-regulate its transcription. Interferon γ (IFNγ) promoted gemcitabine-induced cell apoptosis and inhibited cell proliferation in vitro and in vivo by FOXM1 inhibition. These data suggested that FOXM1 enhances chemoresistance to gemcitabine in pancreatic cancer. IFNγ could be used to down-regulate the expression of FOXM1 through STAT1 phosphorylation, thereby increasing the sensitivity of pancreatic cancer cells to gemcitabine. These studies suggested the sensitization by IFNγ in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) chemotherapy, which requires further clinical studies.

The production of chemicals from renewable biomass resources is usually limited by factors including high-cost processes and low efficiency of biosynthetic pathways. Fatty acids (FAs) are an ideal alternative biomass. Their advantages include high-efficiently producing acetyl-CoA and reducing power, coupling chemical production with CO2 fixation, and the fact that they are readily obtained from inexpensive feedstocks. The important platform chemical 3-hydroxypropionate (3HP) can be produced from FAs as the feedstock with a theoretical yield of 2.49 g/g, much higher than the theoretical yield from other feedstocks. In this study, we first systematically analyzed the limiting factors in FA-utilization pathways in Escherichia coli. Then, we optimized FA utilization in Escherichia coli by using a combination of metabolic engineering and optimization of fermentation conditions. The 3HP biosynthesis module was introduced into a FA-utilizing strain, and the flux balance was finely optimized to maximize 3HP production. The resulting strain was able to produce 3HP from FAs with a yield of 1.56 g/g, and was able to produce 3HP to a concentration of 52 g/L from FAs in a 5-L fermentation process. The strain also could produce 3HP from various type of FAs feedstock including gutter oil. This is the first report of a technique for the efficient production of the platform chemical 3HP from FAs.

In this paper, 1D In2Te3 nanowires were synthesizes through a simple solvothermal approach. The morphology was first studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Transmission electron microscopy (TEM). From the results, the nanowires have a diameter from 100 to 200 nm and a length of dozens of microns. X-ray Diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Raman spectrum were used to study the composition, crystal structures, and optical property. Based on the typical nanowire sample, experiment factors were changed to synthsize other samples in order to study the influence factors. A possible growth mechanism of the nanowires was proposed based on a series of experimental results. This material has a broad light detection range covering the UV-visible-NIR region from the photoelectrical test, which makes it potential for applications in photodetectors and solar cells.

Homogeneously distributed self-assembling graphene aerogel/gold nanoparticle (GA/GNs) hybrid materials with three-dimensional (3D) interconnected pores were fabricated through a simple hydrothermal route. A highly sensitive glucose oxidase (GOD) sensor is then developed based on the GA/GN hybrid materials. The obtained porous structure of the GA/GNs hybrid favored high-density immobilization of the enzyme and penetration of water-soluble molecules, which provided a biocompatible sensing platform for GOD immobilization. This GOD biosensor exhibits remarkable sensitivity (257.60 μA · mM−1 · cm−2), an approximate linear detection range of glucose concentration (50 μmol · L−1 to 450 μmol · L−1), and a detection limit of 0.597 μmol · L−1. These results indicate that the in situ encapsulation of different nanomaterials into a 3D graphene aerogel framework can enable the fabrication of a series of graphene-based 3D porous materials with promising applications.