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This article about collaborative research approaches between professors at Chinese universities and teachers in public schools examines theory-practice relationships and the cooperative interactions that need to be developed between those producing theory and those living practice. The work is based on a 24-year New Basic Education (NBE) collaborative research partnership that has produced knowledge about "two-way transformation" informing future actions. This paper focuses mainly on the theory-to-practice portion of the transformation. This research study's significance has to do with five partnership conditions: (1) theorists must change their assumptions about practice; (2) partners must have deep understandings of each other and reach mutually beneficial consensus; (3) partners must have sustained and frequent communications after reaching consensus; (4) comprehensive applications of various research methods and continuous reflection and reconstruction of methodologies are necessary, and (5) "transformation intermediaries" are also exceedingly important. Narratives of experiences illustrate how these five underlying conditions were achieved.

Engineering living functional biofilms offers an ecofriendly and efficient technique for the corrosion protection of metallic materials in marine environments. Its firm attachment to the metal surface is a key step to effectively improve the corrosion protection. Herein, engineered Escherichia coli biofilm with strong metal binding ability is constructed by genetically appending a metal binding domain (MBD) to extracellular amyloids. The engineered living biofilm improved the corrosion resistance of X70 carbon steel. Moreover, a biofilm‐induced mineralization layer, mainly composed of calcite, is formed on the X70 surface, which provided a stable corrosion barrier. At the end of 7‐days immersion, the icorr decreased from 5.1 ± 0.4 µA cm−2 without biofilm to 0.5 ± 0.1 µA cm−2 with E. coli MBD biofilm, resulting in a corrosion inhibition efficiency of 90.2%. It also demonstrated the corrosion protection effect for 304 stainless steel, suggesting possible broad applications of the engineered biofilm. The application of synthetic biology offers a novel approach in the development of anti‐corrosion technologies in water environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the viscometer is used to evaluate the viscosity of slag containing 10% SiO2 with varying CaO/Al2O3 ratios. When CaO/Al2O3 ratio increases in the 3.00–4.00 range, the viscosity exhibits a non‐monotonic behavior characterized by an initial decrease followed by an increase, with a minimum value of 0.046 Pa·s observed at 1673 K. The slag with a CaO/Al2O3 ratio above 3.00 has relatively low and stable viscosity within the range of 1373–1673 K, which is beneficial for slab quality of high‐aluminum steel. X‐ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy are used to better understand the viscosity evolution of slag containing 10% SiO2. A higher CaO/Al2O3 ratio depolymerizes network structures due to the breaking effect of free oxygen O2−. Upon surpassing a CaO/Al2O3 ratio of 3.50, the transformation of the crystallization phase occurs from CaO·SiO2 to 2CaO·SiO2. Additionally, a higher CaO/Al2O3 ratio promotes the precipitation of the 11CaO·7Al2O3·CaF2 crystal in the slag. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the viscometer is used to evaluate the viscosity of slag containing 10% SiO2 with varying CaO/Al2O3 ratios. When CaO/Al2O3 ratio increases in the 3.00–4.00 range, the viscosity exhibits a non‐monotonic behavior characterized by an initial decrease followed by an increase, with a minimum value of 0.046 Pa·s observed at 1673 K. The slag with a CaO/Al2O3 ratio above 3.00 has relatively low and stable viscosity within the range of 1373–1673 K, which is beneficial for slab quality of high‐aluminum steel. X‐ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy are used to better understand the viscosity evolution of slag containing 10% SiO2. A higher CaO/Al2O3 ratio depolymerizes network structures due to the breaking effect of free oxygen O2−. Upon surpassing a CaO/Al2O3 ratio of 3.50, the transformation of the crystallization phase occurs from CaO·SiO2 to 2CaO·SiO2. Additionally, a higher CaO/Al2O3 ratio promotes the precipitation of the 11CaO·7Al2O3·CaF2 crystal in the slag. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inspired by the micro/nanostructures of a leaf surface, a smart photo-responsive zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorod-modified polysulfone (PSF) nano-fibrous membrane was successfully fabricated using a combination of electrospinning and hydrothermal reactions in this research. Via a hydrothermal reaction, ZnO nanorods can be grown easily on the electrospun PSF nanofibers to form a hierarchical micro-/nano-structure with a large specific surface area. Importantly, due to the photo-sensitivity of ZnO nanorods, the membrane became hydrophilic and performed efficient oil–water separation under ultraviolet (UV) irradiation. Moreover, this membrane demonstrated self-cleaning properties which promoted the degradation of foulants and contaminants under UV irradiation. This novel membrane is a good candidate for smart separation applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]