A Comparative Analysis of Selection Pressures Suffered by Mitochondrial Genomes in Two Planthopper Species with Divergent Climate Distributions.

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) has been widely used as a valuable tool in studies related to evolution and population genetics, under the implicit assumption of neutral evolution. However, recent studies suggest that natural selection also plays a significant role in shaping mitochondrial genome evolution, although the specific driving forces remain elusive. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether and how climate influences mitochondrial genome evolution by comparing the selection pressures acting on mitochondrial genomes between two rice planthoppers, Sogatella furcifera (Horváth) and Laodelphax striatellus (Fallén), which have different climate distributions. We employed the dN/dS method, MK test and Tajima's D tests for our analysis. Our results showed that the mitochondrial genomes of the two species appear to undergo predominantly purifying selection, consistent with the nearly neutral evolution model. However, we observed varied degrees of purifying selection among the 13 protein-coding genes. Notably, ND1, ND2, ND6, COIII, and ATP8 exhibited significantly stronger purifying selection and greater divergence between the two species compared to the other genes. Additionally, we observed relatively stronger purifying selection in the mitochondrial genomes of S. furcifera compared to L. striatellus. This difference could be attributed to varying metabolic requirements arising from distinct habitats or other factors that are unclear here. Furthermore, we speculate that mito-nuclear epistatic interactions may play a role in maintaining nonsynonymous polymorphisms, particularly for COI and COII. Overall, our results shed some light on the influence of climate on mitochondrial genome evolution.

Crucial roles of ion-specific effects in the flotation of water-soluble KCl and NaCl crystals with fatty acid salts.

HYPOTHESIS: Flotation of water-soluble KCl and NaCl minerals in brines is significant for K-fertilizer production, but its mechanism is controversial. Dissolved salt ions are expected to change the physicochemical properties of solvents, interfaces, and collector colloids, thereby affecting flotation significantly. EXPERIMENTS: Flotation experiments of KCl and NaCl crystals in brines were conducted using potassium and sodium laurates as collectors. Contact angle (CA) and surface tension measurements, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis, and molecular dynamics simulations (MD) were applied to gain a molecular understanding of changing interfacial properties and crystal-collector colloid interactions in the presence of dissolved ions in terms of salt flotation. FINDINGS: While K+ ions activate the NaCl crystal flotation, Na+ ions depress the KCl crystal flotation, in agreement with the studies of CA, XPS, and MD results with these crystals. XPS results showed no collector adsorption at crystal surfaces which is a requirement of conventional flotation and presents a new theoretical challenge. We argue the crucial role of ion specificity: Na-laurate colloids adsorb at the bubble surface as a monolayer but solvent-separated from KCl crystals, inhibiting their flotation, or in interactive contact with NaCl crystals, enhancing their flotation. Increasing K+ concentration weakens NaCl crystal hydration, increasing Na-laurate colloid attraction with crystals for better flotation. The Contact Interactive Collector Colloid (CICC) and Solvent-separated Interactive Collector Colloid (SICC) hydration states are critical to salt crystal flotation via collector colloid-crystal attraction by dispersion forces.

Flotation surface chemistry of water-soluble salt minerals: from experimental results to new perspectives.

The flotation separation of water-soluble salt minerals has to be conducted under the condition of saturation in brines which represents a challenging but exciting topic of colloid and surface chemistry. Despite several proposals on explaining the success of this industrial application for many decades, our understanding of the flotation separation is still far from complete yet, owing to the complexity of the highly selective collection of salt crystals by air bubbles in brines. Here, we thoroughly review the experimental results for halogen, oxyanion, and double salts and match them with the proposed theories on the flotation of soluble salts to identify the agreed and disagreed cases. The experimental results show that the flotation of these salts varies from collectors (surfactants applied to control the crystal hydrophobicity) to collectors and is strongly affected by the brine ion composition and pH conditions. We find some exceptional flotation results that cannot be simply explained by the crystal surface charge and wettability. Furthermore, we outline several disputes and discrepancies between the experiments and the theories when different collectors are applied. Apart from the extensive consideration of surface hydration, the presence of external ion species exhibits ubiquitous effects on the surface properties of salt crystals and the colloidal properties of collectors. We conclude that the interactions between salt ions, water molecules, collectors, and salt crystals must be considered more thoroughly, and the activity of collectors at the air-liquid interface should also be the focus. Advanced techniques such as molecular dynamics simulation, atomic force microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and sum-frequency generation spectroscopy are expected to be promising research tools for future studies.

Catalytic oxidative dehydrogenation of N-heterocycles with nitrogen/phosphorus co-doped porous carbon materials.

A metal-free oxidative dehydrogenation of N-heterocycles utilizing a nitrogen/phosphorus co-doped porous carbon (NPCH) catalyst is reported. The optimal material is robust against traditional poisoning agents and shows high antioxidant resistance. It exhibits good catalytic performance for the synthesis of various quinoline, indole, isoquinoline, and quinoxaline 'on-water' under air atmosphere. The active sites in the NPCH catalyst are proposed to be phosphorus and nitrogen centers within the porous carbon network.

Efficient iron single-atom catalysts for selective ammoxidation of alcohols to nitriles.

Zeolitic imidazolate frameworks derived Fe1-N-C catalysts with isolated single iron atoms have been synthesized and applied for selective ammoxidation reactions. For the preparation of the different Fe-based materials, benzylamine as an additive proved to be essential to tune the morphology and size of ZIFs resulting in uniform and smaller particles, which allow stable atomically dispersed Fe-N4 active sites. The optimal catalyst Fe1-N-C achieves an efficient synthesis of various aryl, heterocyclic, allylic, and aliphatic nitriles from alcohols in water under very mild conditions. With its chemoselectivity, recyclability, high efficiency under mild conditions this new system complements the toolbox of catalysts for nitrile synthesis, which are important intermediates with many applications in life sciences and industry.

Genetic evidence of transoceanic migration of the small brown planthopper between China and Japan.

BACKGROUND: The small brown planthopper, Laodelphax striatellus (Fallén), is an important pest of rice. It is suspected of migrating over the sea from China to Japan. However, where in China it comes from and how it affects Japanese populations remain unclear. RESULTS: Here, we studied the genetic structure of 15 L. striatellus populations sampled from Japan and China using single nucleotide polymorphisms generated by the double digest restriction site-associated DNA sequencing technique. We found weak genetic differentiation between the Chinese and Japanese populations. Our data revealed migration signals of L. striatellus from China to southern and northern Japan. However, the source regions of the immigrants remain unclear due to the low genetic differentiation between populations. Our results also pointed to the possibility of backward gene flow from Japanese to Chinese populations. We suspect that the south-eastern wind associated with the East Asian summer monsoon may facilitate the reverse migration of L. striatellus from Japan to China. Interestingly, we found that the X chromosome displayed relatively higher genetic differentiation among populations and suffered more intensive selection pressure than autosomes. CONCLUSION: We provide genetic evidence of transoceanic migration of L. striatellus from China to Japan and found that the X chromosome can aid the deciphering of the migration trajectories of species with low genetic differentiation. These findings have implications for forecasting the outbreak of this pest and also provide insights into how to improve the tracking of the migration routes of small insects via population genomics. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry.

Fuzzy Adaptive Switching Control for Stochastic Systems With Finite-Time Prescribed Performance.

The issue of fuzzy adaptive switching control for stochastic systems with arbitrary switching signal and finite-time prescribed performance is investigated in this article. A piecewise function is adopted to characterize finite-time prescribed performance, and the error signal is converted to a new state variable via the tangent function. Unknown functions are approximated via fuzzy-logic systems (FLSs). Based on the stochastic stability theory and common Lyapunov function, a fuzzy adaptive switching control scheme is presented. The control law is proposed for the stochastic switched closed-loop system so that not only all the signals are ensured to be semiglobally uniformly ultimately bounded (SGUUB) in probability but also a residual error related to the finite-time prescribed performance bound is guaranteed. Eventually, simulation studies for a practical system are given to show the effectiveness of the presented fuzzy adaptive switching control scheme.

Synthesis of N-Heterocycles via Oxidant-Free Dehydrocyclization of Alcohols Using Heterogeneous Catalysts.

N-Heterocycles, such as pyrroles, pyrimidines, quinazolines, and quinoxalines, are important building blocks for organic chemistry and the fine-chemical industry. For their synthesis, catalytic borrowing hydrogen and acceptorless dehydrogenative coupling reactions of alcohols as sustainable reagents have received significant attention in recent years. To overcome the problems of product separation and catalyst reusability, several metal-based heterogeneous catalysts have been reported to achieve these transformations with good yields and selectivity. In this Minireview, we summarize recent developments using both noble and non-noble metal-based heterogeneous catalysts to synthesize N-heterocycles from alcohols and N-nucleophiles via acceptorless dehydrogenation or borrowing hydrogen methodologies. Furthermore, this Minireview introduces strategies for the preparation and functionalization of the corresponding heterogeneous catalysts, discusses the reaction mechanisms and the roles of metal electronic states, and the influence of support Lewis acid-base properties on these reactions.

Residual wide-kernel deep convolutional auto-encoder for intelligent rotating machinery fault diagnosis with limited samples.

This paper deals with the development of a novel deep learning framework to achieve highly accurate rotating machinery fault diagnosis using residual wide-kernel deep convolutional auto-encoder. Unlike most existing methods, in which the input data is processed by fast Fourier transform (FFT) and wavelet transform, this paper aims to learn important features from limited raw vibration signals. Firstly, the wide-kernel convolutional layer is introduced in the convolutional auto-encoder that can ensure the model can learn effective features from the data without any signal processing. Secondly, the residual learning block is introduced in convolutional auto-encoder that can ensure the model with sufficient depth without gradient vanishing and overfitting problems. Thirdly, convolutional auto-encoder can learn constructive features without massive data. To evaluate the performance of the proposed model, Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) bearing dataset and Southeast University (SEU) gearbox dataset are used to test. The experiment results and comparisons verify the denoising and feature extraction ability of the proposed model in the case of very few training samples.

Command Filter-Based Adaptive NN Control for MIMO Nonlinear Systems With Full-State Constraints and Actuator Hysteresis.

This article studies the issue of adaptive neural network (NN) control for strict-feedback multi-input and multioutput (MIMO) nonlinear systems with full-state constraints and actuator hysteresis. Radial basis function NNs (RBFNNs) are introduced to approximate unknown nonlinear functions. The command filter is adopted to solve the issue of "explosion of complexity." By applying a one-to-one nonlinear mapping, the strict-feedback system with full-state constraints is converted into a new pure-feedback system without state constraints, and a novel NN control method is proposed. The stability of the closed-loop system is proved via the Lyapunov stability theory, and the tracking errors converge to small residual sets. The simulation results are given to confirm the validity of the proposed method.

Iron-Catalyzed Regioselective α-C-H Alkylation of N-Methylanilines: Cross-Dehydrogenative Coupling between Unactivated C(sp3)-H and C(sp3)-H Bonds via a Radical Process.

The iron-catalyzed α-C-H alkylation of N-methylanilines without any directing group by cross-dehydrogenative coupling between unactivated C(sp3)-H and C(sp3)-H bonds has been established for the first time, which provides a good complement to C(sp3)-H activation reactions and expands the field of Fe-catalyzed C-H functionalizations. Many different C(sp3)-H bonds in cyclic alkanes, cyclic ethers, and toluene derivatives can be used as coupling partners. Mechanistic investigations including the radical reaction process, the main role of various reagents, and the kinetic isotope effect experiment were also described.

Observer-Based Adaptive Fuzzy Fault-Tolerant Optimal Control for SISO Nonlinear Systems.

This paper investigates adaptive fuzzy output feedback fault-tolerant optimal control problem for a class of single-input and single-output nonlinear systems in strict feedback form. The considered nonlinear systems contain unknown nonaffine nonlinear faults and unmeasured states. Fuzzy logic systems are used to approximate cost function and unknown nonlinear functions, respectively. It is assumed that the states of the systems to be controlled are unmeasurable, thus an adaptive state observer is developed. To solve the nonaffine nonlinear fault control design problem, filtered signals are introduced into the adaptive backstepping control design procedures, and in the framework of adaptive critic technique and fault-tolerant control technique, a novel adaptive fuzzy fault-tolerant optimal control scheme is developed. The stability of the closed-loop system is proved by using Lyapunov stability theory. The simulation results verify the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy.

Nickel-Catalyzed Cross-Dehydrogenative Coupling of α-C(sp3)-H Bonds in N-Methylamides with C(sp3)-H Bonds in Cyclic Alkanes.

A nickel-catalyzed cross-dehydrogenative coupling reaction of α-C(sp3)-H bonds in N-methylamides with C(sp3)-H bonds from cyclic alkanes has been developed, which offers a cheap transition-metal-catalyzed C-H activation method for amides without the requirement for any extraneous directing group. This new strategy is highly selective and tolerates a variety of functional groups. Mechanistic investigations into the reaction process are also described in detail.

Cobalt(ii)-catalyzed regioselective C-H halogenation of anilides.

A cobalt-catalyzed regioselective C-H halogenation methodology is reported herein. The highlight of this work is the highly selective C-H functionalization of anilides, which results in high-yielding, versatile, and practical halogenated products. Thereby, brominations, chlorinations and iodinations of many electron-rich and electron-deficient anilides were achieved in a highly selective fashion. Mechanistic studies with respect to the pathway of the reaction are also described.

Fuzzy Adaptive Decentralized Optimal Control for Strict Feedback Nonlinear Large-Scale Systems.

This paper considers the optimal decentralized fuzzy adaptive control design problem for a class of interconnected large-scale nonlinear systems in strict feedback form and with unknown nonlinear functions. The fuzzy logic systems are introduced to learn the unknown dynamics and cost functions, respectively, and a state estimator is developed. By applying the state estimator and the backstepping recursive design algorithm, a decentralized feedforward controller is established. By using the backstepping decentralized feedforward control scheme, the considered interconnected large-scale nonlinear system in strict feedback form is changed into an equivalent affine large-scale nonlinear system. Subsequently, an optimal decentralized fuzzy adaptive control scheme is constructed. The whole optimal decentralized fuzzy adaptive controller is composed of a decentralized feedforward control and an optimal decentralized control. It is proved that the developed optimal decentralized controller can ensure that all the variables of the control system are uniformly ultimately bounded, and the cost functions are the smallest. Two simulation examples are provided to illustrate the validity of the developed optimal decentralized fuzzy adaptive control scheme.

The selective hydrogenolysis of C-O bonds in lignin model compounds by Pd-Ni bimetallic nanoparticles in ionic liquids.

ß-O-4 and α-O-4 linkages can be selectively cleaved by Pd-Ni bimetallic nanoparticles in ionic liquids using hydrogen gas as the hydrogen donor under ambient pressure and neutral conditions. No hydrogenation of the benzene ring takes place in the catalytic system. An obvious improvement in activity is found compared with single nickel and palladium catalysts based on the results of experiments and characterization. After the reaction, the catalytic system still remains in the reactor by simple extraction, which can be reused without further treatment.