Experimental and simulation studies on the improvement of coal dust pollution by an aqueous solution of sodium α-alkenylsulfonate and amino acid-based surfactants.

The use of surfactants is crucial for the prevention and control of coal dust pollution in coal mining operation areas, yet there still exist many challenges in the control of coal dust pollution. In this paper, the green biomass-based amino acid surfactant sodium myristoyl glutamate (SMG) and the anionic surfactant sodium α-alkenyl sulfonate (AOS) were selected to investigate the improvement of coal dust wettability by single and binary solutions from the macroscopic and microscopic perspectives. Molecular simulations were used to reveal the microscopic mechanism of the wettability of coal dust by the different solutions. Experimental measurements showed that the contact angle of the AOS + SMG aqueous solution was as low as 13.8° on a coal surface. Coating the coal dust with the AOS + SMG solution reduced the surface tension by 12.02% compared to coating the coal with a single component solution. Additionally, the use of the binary AOS + SMG solution increased the hydrophilic group content in the coating by 11.77% compared to a single component solution, and the linkage between hydrophilic groups was enhanced, which pulls the water molecules to wet the coal dust. These research results should provide a new way to promote more environmentally friendly coal dust pollution control technology.

Experimental study on the an-isotropic critical current of REBCO tape.

Superconducting magnets are widely used in nuclear fusion reactors, high-energy particle accelerators, steady-state high magnetic fields, etc. Higher magnetic fields and higher operating temperatures are two application trends. High temperature superconducting (HTS) materials are the only choice for high temperature and high field magnets in the future. The first- and second-generation HTS materials have a typical tape structure; their critical performance is magnetic field angle and temperature dependent. A new test facility is developed for an experimental study on the an-isotropic critical current. The field angle can be changed from 0° to 360° with a resolution of 1°. The rotation deviation angle is measured to be 0.2° when the upper part rotates 90°. The temperature can be changed from 4.2 to 80 K. The temperature errors are ±50, ±80, and ±135 mK for 4.2-20, 20-40, and 40-80 K, respectively. The angle dependence of critical current (Ic) of the tested rare-earth barium copper oxide tape within 0°-30° is strong. From 30° to 90°, the sample Ic almost does not change with the magnetic field angle. The implementation of the project will not only promote the structural optimization of HTS tapes but also promote the miniaturization and economical application of HTS magnets.

Motor-Cognitive Interventions May Effectively Improve Cognitive Function in Older Adults with Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a syndrome that occurs in the preclinical stage of Alzheimer's disease. Early intervention can be effective in preventing Alzheimer's disease, but further research is needed on intervention methods. To identify interventions that are more suitable for Chinese characteristics and to investigate the effects of motor-cognitive intervention on the cognitive functions of older adults with MCI, we screened 103 community-dwelling older adults with MCI aged 65 years and older in Qingdao, Shandong, China; divided them into an intervention group and a control group; and administered a motor-cognitive intervention to the intervention group for 12 weeks. The study used the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) to assess the initial cognitive level of the MCI participants and detect the effects of the intervention. We found that the cognitive abilities of the intervention group were significantly improved at the end of the intervention, as well as at the end of the follow-up, compared with the control group. The results of the current study suggest that the motor-cognitive intervention we used may improve the cognition of older people with MCI in the Chinese community.

Effects of salinity on methane emissions and methanogenic archaeal communities in different habitat of saline-alkali wetlands.

The increase in temperature caused by global climate change has promoted the salinization of wetlands. Inland saline-alkaline wetlands have an environment of over-humidity and shallow water and are hot spots for CH4 emissions. However, there are few reports on the effect of salinity on CH4 emissions in inland saline-alkaline wetlands. This study conducted simulation experiments of increased salinity to investigate the impact of salinity, habitat, and their interactions on CH4 emissions, as well as to examine the response of methanogenic archaea to salinity. Overall, salinity inhibited CH4 emissions. But there were different responses in the three habitat soils. Salinity decreased the relative abundance of methanogenic archaea and changed the community structure. In addition, salinity changed soil pH and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and ammonium (NH4+) concentrations, which were significantly correlated with methanogenic archaea. Our study showed that salinity changed the soil physicochemical properties and characteristics of the methanogenic archaeal community, affecting CH4 emissions.

Intermittent Defect Fluctuations in Oxide Heterostructures.

The heterogeneous nature, local presence, and dynamic evolution of defects typically govern the ionic and electronic properties of a wide variety of functional materials. While the last 50 years have seen considerable efforts into development of new methods to identify the nature of defects in complex materials, such as the perovskite oxides, very little is known about defect dynamics and their influence on the functionality of a material. Here, the discovery of the intermittent behavior of point defects (oxygen vacancies) in oxide heterostructures employing X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy is reported. Local fluctuations between two ordered phases in strained SrCoOx with different degrees of stability of the oxygen vacancies are observed. Ab-initio-informed phase-field modeling reveals that fluctuations between the competing ordered phases are modulated by the oxygen ion/vacancy interaction energy and epitaxial strain. The results demonstrate how defect dynamics, evidenced by measurement and modeling of their temporal fluctuations, give rise to stochastic properties that now can be fully characterized using coherent X-rays, coupled for the first time to multiscale modeling in functional complex oxide heterostructures. The study and its findings open new avenues for engineering the dynamical response of functional materials used in neuromorphic and electrochemical applications.

A Simple and Effective Visual Fluorescent Sensing Paper-Based Chip for the Ultrasensitive Detection of Mercury Ions in Environmental Water.

Traces of mercury ions in environmental water can harm humans and animals. Paper-based visual detection methods have been widely developed for the rapid detection of mercury ions; however, existing methods are not sensitive enough to be used in real environments. Here, we developed a novel, simple and effective visual fluorescent sensing paper-based chip for the ultrasensitive detection of mercury ions in environmental water. CdTe-quantum-dots-modified silica nanospheres were firmly absorbed by and anchored to the fiber interspaces on the paper's surface to effectively avoid the unevenness caused by liquid evaporation. The fluorescence of quantum dots emitted at 525 nm can be selectively and efficiently quenched with mercury ions, and the ultrasensitive visual fluorescence sensing results attained using this principle can be captured using a smartphone camera. This method has a detection limit of 2.83 µg/L and a fast response time (90 s). We successfully achieved the trace spiking detection of seawater (from three regions), lake water, river water and tap water with recoveries in the range of 96.8-105.4% using this method. This method is effective, low-cost, user-friendly and has good prospects for commercial application. Additionally, the work is expected to be utilized in the automated big data collection of large numbers of environmental samples.

Phase Transition Dynamics in a Complex Oxide Heterostructure.

Understanding the behavior of defects in the complex oxides is key to controlling myriad ionic and electronic properties in these multifunctional materials. The observation of defect dynamics, however, requires a unique probe-one sensitive to the configuration of defects as well as its time evolution. Here, we present measurements of oxygen vacancy ordering in epitaxial thin films of SrCoO_{x} and the brownmillerite-perovskite phase transition employing x-ray photon correlation spectroscopy. These and associated synchrotron measurements and theory calculations reveal the close interaction between the kinetics and the dynamics of the phase transition, showing how spatial and temporal fluctuations of heterointerface evolve during the transformation process. The energetics of the transition are correlated with the behavior of oxygen vacancies, and the dimensionality of the transformation is shown to depend strongly on whether the phase is undergoing oxidation or reduction. The experimental and theoretical methods described here are broadly applicable to in situ measurements of dynamic phase behavior and demonstrate how coherence may be employed for novel studies of the complex oxides as enabled by the arrival of fourth-generation hard x-ray coherent light sources.

Monitoring diacylglycerols in biofluids by non-isotopically paired charge derivatization combined with LC-MS/MS.

Diacylglycerols (DAGs) are important lipid mediators in cellular signaling transduction and metabolism. Imbalanced production or consumption of DAGs has a negative impact on the physiological functions of the body. However, comprehensive monitoring of structurally diverse DAGs remains a daunting task due to the rapid metabolism and ion suppression characteristics in biofluids. These bottlenecks call for developing a method that enables sensitive quantification of DAGs in biological sample. In this work, a straightforward charge derivatization strategy was developed to insert a series of structure analogs charge label, i.e., N, N-dimethylglycine (DMG) and N, N-dimethylalanine (DMA), on the free hydroxyl group of the DAGs. Owing to the existence of tertiary amino groups in charge label, the mass spectrometry ionization response of the derivatized DAGs was significantly increased in comparison with traditional metal ion adducts. After charge derivatization, the specific neutral loss diagnostic ions (DMG, 103 Da and DMA, 117 Da) were captured by mass spectrometry. Then, the DMG/DMA-oriented paired multiple reaction monitoring methods based on the characteristic diagnostic ions of the derivatized DAGs have been developed as sensitive methods for the detection (detection limit = 16 aM) and quantification (quantification limit = 62.5 aM) of DAGs in serum. Moreover, the tagged 1,2-DAGs and 1,3-DAGs sn-isomers have been well separated on the reversed-phase column in combination with ultra-performance liquid chromatography. Finally, metabolic characterizations of the tagged DAGs were further explored in L-Arginine-induced acute pancreatitis mice and resveratrol treated model mice. The results indicated that 1,2-DAGs were increased in the serum of model mice relative to normal controls and resveratrol significantly altered this metabolic abnormality. The currently established DMG/DMA-oriented paired charge derivatization strategy is promising for depicting DAGs changes more accurately in metabolic studies of lipid-related diseases and accurately evaluating drug treatment strategies.

High boron stress leads to sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) toxicity by disrupting photosystem â ¡.

This sugar beet acts as a soil remediator in areas where there are high levels of boron (B) in the soil, since it has a high requirement of boron (B) for growth, and has strong resistance to high B levels. Although B toxicity in different plants has been widely researched, little is known about the response of photosystem II (PSII) activity in sugar beet leaves to B toxicity at present. To clarify the growth and photosynthetic physiological response of sugar beet to B toxicity, the effects of different concentrations of H3BO3 (0.05, 1.5, 2.5,3.5 mM) on the growth, photosynthetic characteristics and antioxidant defense system of sugar beet seedlings were investigated by hydroponic experiments. In the present study, high B stress inhibited the growth of sugar beet and significantly decreased the biomass of the plants. There was a remarkable increase in the accumulation of B in the shoots, which affected photosynthesis and decreased the photosynthetic pigments. As B toxicity increased, leaf PSII activities and maximum photochemical efficiency of PSII (Fv/Fm) showed a tendency to decrease; at the same time, the photosynthetic performance index based on absorbed light energy (PIABS) decreased as well. Meanwhile, the energy allocation parameters of the PSII reaction center were changed, the light energy utilization capacity and the energy used for electron transfer were reduced and the thermal dissipation was increased at the same time. Furthermore, B toxicity decreased catalase (CAT) activity, increased peroxidase (POD) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities, and increased malondialdehyde (MDA) accumulation. According to the results obtained in this study, high B concentrations reduced the rate of photosynthesis and fluorescence, thus weakened antioxidant defense systems, and therefore inhibited the growth of sugar beet plants. Thus, in high B areas, sugar beet possesses excellent tolerance to high B levels and has a high B translocation capacity, so it can be used as a phytoremediation tool. This study provides a basis for the feasibility of sugar beet resistant to high B environments.

Experimental Study on Danggui Shaoyao San Improving Renal Fibrosis by Promoting Autophagy.

Renal fibrosis could lead to chronic kidney disease (CKD) developing into the end-stage with its pathological manifestation is the deposition of extracellular matrix (ECM). Danggui Shaoyao San (DSS) is one of the widely used herbal formulas in ancient China, which has been proven to have efficacy in the treatment of CKD. The experiment employed TGF-ß1 to stimulate the NRK-52E cells to establish a renal fibrosis model. With rapamycin (RAPA) used as the positive control, we detected the expression of fibronectin (FN), caspase-3, and autophagy-related proteins in the NRK-52E cells treated with DSS by Western blot and immunofluorescence assay. In order to further verify autophagy-promoting effects of DSS, we adopted 3-MA to inhibit autophagy. The experiment has found that DSS can lower the protein levels of FN and caspase-3 in the NRK-52E cells induced by TGF-ß1. After TGF-ß1 stimulation, the expression of LC3 II/I and Beclin 1 has decreased, and the protein levels of mTOR and p62 have increased. Consistent with rapamycin, DSS has significantly reduced these effects of TGF-ß1. It has also been found that DSS can increase the expression of LC3 II/I and Beclin 1 proteins and can reduce the level of mTOR in cells treated with 3-MA, suggesting that DSS can promote autophagy. In conclusion, DSS has been proved to reduce the apoptosis and fibrosis of NRK-52E cells induced by TGF-ß1, which may be achieved by promoting autophagy.

Controlled Formation of Conduction Channels in Memristive Devices Observed by X-ray Multimodal Imaging.

Neuromorphic computing provides a means for achieving faster and more energy efficient computations than conventional digital computers for artificial intelligence (AI). However, its current accuracy is generally less than the dominant software-based AI. The key to improving accuracy is to reduce the intrinsic randomness of memristive devices, emulating synapses in the brain for neuromorphic computing. Here using a planar device as a model system, the controlled formation of conduction channels is achieved with high oxygen vacancy concentrations through the design of sharp protrusions in the electrode gap, as observed by X-ray multimodal imaging of both oxygen stoichiometry and crystallinity. Classical molecular dynamics simulations confirm that the controlled formation of conduction channels arises from confinement of the electric field, yielding a reproducible spatial distribution of oxygen vacancies across switching cycles. This work demonstrates an effective route to control the otherwise random electroforming process by electrode design, facilitating the development of more accurate memristive devices for neuromorphic computing.

Origin of giant electric-field-induced strain in faulted alkali niobate films.

A large electromechanical response in ferroelectrics is highly desirable for developing high-performance sensors and actuators. Enhanced electromechanical coupling in ferroelectrics is usually obtained at morphotropic phase boundaries requiring stoichiometric control of complex compositions. Recently it was shown that giant piezoelectricity can be obtained in films with nanopillar structures. Here, we elucidate its origin in terms of atomic structure and demonstrate a different system with a greatly enhanced response. This is in non-stoichiometric potassium sodium niobate epitaxial thin films with a high density of self-assembled planar faults. A giant piezoelectric coefficient of ∼1900 picometer per volt is demonstrated at 1 kHz, which is almost double the highest ever reported effective piezoelectric response in any existing thin films. The large oxygen octahedral distortions and the coupling between the structural distortion and polarization orientation mediated by charge redistribution at the planar faults enable the giant electric-field-induced strain. Our findings demonstrate an important mechanism for realizing the unprecedentedly giant electromechanical coupling and can be extended to many other material functions by engineering lattice faults in non-stoichiometric compositions.

Exogenous salicylic acid alleviates fomesafen toxicity by improving photosynthetic characteristics and antioxidant defense system in sugar beet.

Fomesafen herbicide application has become major pollution in the growth and production of crops. Spraying fomesafen on the target crops may drift out to non-target crops. In northeast China, sugar beets are always planted adjacent to soybeans. Salicylic acid (SA) plays an important role in crop growth and alleviating abiotic stress, however, the role of SA in relieving fomesafen stress in sugar beet growth has rarely been investigated. Therefore, a pot study was conducted to elucidate the effects of different concentrations (0.025, 0.25, 0.5, 1, 5, and 10 mM) of SA on morphological parameters, photosynthetic performance, and antioxidant defense system in sugar beet seedlings under fomesafen (22.5 g a.i. ha-1) stress. The results showed that fomesafen stress inhibited the growth of sugar beet seedlings, and photosynthetic performance, while increased membrane lipid peroxidation and oxidative stress. However, exogenous SA alleviated the fomesafen stress and increased plant height, biomass, photosynthetic pigment contents, net photosynthetic rate (Pn), and photochemical efficiency of PSⅡ (Fv/Fm) in sugar beet leaves. Meanwhile, exogenous SA maintained the cell membrane integrity by reducing the content of malondialdehyde (MDA) and electrolyte permeability and regulating the activities of antioxidant enzymes including superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), catalase (CAT), and polyphenol (PPO). Therefore, it is concluded that exogenous SA ameliorated the adverse effects of fomesafen on the growth of sugar beet seedlings, with a pronounced effect at 1 mM SA. The present study results may have useful implications in managing other plants that are poisoned by herbicides.

Phytotoxicity response of sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) seedlings to herbicide fomesafen in soil.

Fomesafen is the most widely used herbicide in the soybean field. However, there are urgent practical challenges with the long-term persistence of fomesafen in soil and its effects on the subsequent crops in agricultural production. Therefore, pot experiments were conducted to study the effects of fomesafen residues (0-0.05 mg kg-1) on growth, photosynthetic characteristics, and the antioxidant defense system of sugar beet seedlings. The results showed that with the increase of fomesafen residues, the phytotoxicity index increased, while the plant height, leaf area, root length, root volume, and dry weight of sugar beet decreased. Photosynthetic pigment content, net photosynthetic rate (Pn), maximum photosynthetic efficiency (Fv/Fm), and actual photosynthetic efficiency (Y(II)) declined with a dose-dependent manner of fomesafen, but the intercellular CO2 concentration (Ci) and non-photochemical quenching coefficient (NPQ) increased under fomesafen. On the other hand, the residues of fomesafen increased the content of malondialdehyde (MDA) and membrane permeability by aggravating oxidative stress and triggering the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POD), and polyphenol oxidase (PPO). In addition, sugar beet seedlings were significantly sensitive to fomesafen as the concentration of fomesafen in the soil was up to 0.025 mg kg-1. In conclusion, the present study showed that fomesafen residues in the soil could affect the morphophysiology and photosynthetic performance of sugar beet. This study is beneficial for understanding the effects of the herbicide fomesafen residues on non-target crops.

Effect of boron deficiency on the photosynthetic performance of sugar beet cultivars with contrasting boron efficiencies.

Boron (B) deficiency severely affects the quality of sugar beet production, and the employment of nutrient-efficient varieties for cultivation is a crucial way to solve environmental and resource-based problems. However, the aspect of leaf photosynthetic performance among B-efficient sugar beet cultivars remains uncertain. The B deficient and B-sufficient treatments were conducted in the experiment using KWS1197 (B-efficient) and KWS0143 (B-inefficient) sugar beet cultivars as study materials. The objective of the present study was to determine the impacts of B deficiency on leaf phenotype, photosynthetic capacity, chloroplast structure, and photochemical efficiency of the contrasting B-efficiency sugar beet cultivars. The results indicated that the growth of sugar beet leaves were dramatically restricted, the net photosynthetic rate was significantly decreased, and the energy flux, quantum yield, and flux ratio of PSII reaction centers were adversely affected under B deficiency. Compared to the KWS0143 cultivar, the average leaf area ratio of the KWS1197 cultivar experienced less impact, and its leaf mass ratio (LMR) increased by 26.82% under B deficiency, whereas for the KWS0143 cultivar, the increase was only 2.50%. Meanwhile, the light energy capture and utilization capacity of PSII reaction centers and the proportion of absorbed light energy used for electron transfer were higher by 3.42% under B deficiency; KWS1197 cultivar managed to alleviate the photo-oxidative damage, which results from excessive absorbed energy (ABS/RC), by increasing the dissipated energy (DIo/RC). Therefore, in response to B deprivation, the KWS1197 cultivar demonstrated greater adaptability in terms of morphological indices and photosynthetic functions, which not only explains the improved performance but also renders the measured parameters as the key features for varietal selection, providing a theoretical basis for the utilization of efficient sugar beet cultivars in future.

Alkali-deficiency driven charged out-of-phase boundaries for giant electromechanical response.

Traditional strategies for improving piezoelectric properties have focused on phase boundary engineering through complex chemical alloying and phase control. Although they have been successfully employed in bulk materials, they have not been effective in thin films due to the severe deterioration in epitaxy, which is critical to film properties. Contending with the opposing effects of alloying and epitaxy in thin films has been a long-standing issue. Herein we demonstrate a new strategy in alkali niobate epitaxial films, utilizing alkali vacancies without alloying to form nanopillars enclosed with out-of-phase boundaries that can give rise to a giant electromechanical response. Both atomically resolved polarization mapping and phase field simulations show that the boundaries are strained and charged, manifesting as head-head and tail-tail polarization bound charges. Such charged boundaries produce a giant local depolarization field, which facilitates a steady polarization rotation between the matrix and nanopillars. The local elastic strain and charge manipulation at out-of-phase boundaries, demonstrated here, can be used as an effective pathway to obtain large electromechanical response with good temperature stability in similar perovskite oxides.

Will China's fertilizer use continue to decline? Evidence from LMDI analysis based on crops, regions and fertilizer types.

China implemented the Action Plan for the Zero Increase of Fertilizer Use in 2015, which led to a decrease in fertilizer use. However, Will fertilizer use continue to reduce? With data obtained from 2006 to 2017, the paper used the logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) method to analyze the scale effect, intensity effect and structural effect of fertilizer use change in China from three aspects: crops, regions and fertilizer types. Our finding suggests that (1) The intensity effect was the most critical factor affecting the decline in fertilizer use in China. (2) The sowing scale and fertilization intensity of grain, vegetables and fruits had the most significant driving effect on fertilizer reduction. (3) The three effects of each region were different in space, and the eastern region contributed most to the fertilizer decrement. (4) Nitrogen fertilizer and compound fertilizer had the most considerable influence on fertilizer reduction, especially in the sowing scale and fertilization intensity since 2009. The government should establish a fertilizer reduction management system, which includes scale control, intensity reduction, structural adjustment and other measures.

Giant piezoelectricity in oxide thin films with nanopillar structure.

High-performance piezoelectric materials are critical components for electromechanical sensors and actuators. For more than 60 years, the main strategy for obtaining large piezoelectric response has been to construct multiphase boundaries, where nanoscale domains with local structural and polar heterogeneity are formed, by tuning complex chemical compositions. We used a different strategy to emulate such local heterogeneity by forming nanopillar regions in perovskite oxide thin films. We obtained a giant effective piezoelectric coefficient [Formula: see text] of ~1098 picometers per volt with a high Curie temperature of ~450°C. Our lead-free composition of sodium-deficient sodium niobate contains only three elements (Na, Nb, and O). The formation of local heterogeneity with nanopillars in the perovskite structure could be the basis for a general approach to designing and optimizing various functional materials.

The causal nexus between energy consumption, carbon emissions and economic growth: New evidence from China, India and G7 countries using convergent cross mapping.

Understanding the causality between energy consumption, carbon emissions and economic growth is helpful for policymakers to formulate energy, environmental and economic policies. For the first time, based on nonlinear dynamics, this paper employs multispatial convergent cross mapping (CCM) to revisit the energy-carbon-economy causation for China, India and the G7 countries using both aggregate data and per capita data. The findings indicate that there are significant differences between developing countries and developed countries. A bidirectional nexus between energy consumption, carbon emissions and economic growth is found in China and India, but various causal relationships are identified in the G7 countries, including bidirectional, unidirectional and neutral nexus. The results confirm that the decoupling phenomenon is common in most G7 countries. By leveraging a variety of samples and a new approach, this study provides new evidence for policy authorities to formulate country-specific policies to obtain better environmental quality while achieving sustainable economic growth.

Maneuvering Target Tracking Using Simultaneous Optimization and Feedback Learning Algorithm Based on Elman Neural Network.

Tracking maneuvering targets is a challenging problem for sensors because of the unpredictability of the target's motion. Unlike classical statistical modeling of target maneuvers, a simultaneous optimization and feedback learning algorithm for maneuvering target tracking based on the Elman neural network (ENN) is proposed in this paper. In the feedback strategy, a scale factor is learnt to adaptively tune the dynamic model's error covariance matrix, and in the optimization strategy, a corrected component of the state vector is learnt to refine the final state estimation. These two strategies are integrated in an ENN-based unscented Kalman filter (UKF) model called ELM-UKF. This filter can be trained online by the filter residual, innovation and gain matrix of the UKF to simultaneously achieve maneuver feedback and an optimized estimation. Monte Carlo experiments on synthesized radar data showed that our algorithm had better performance on filtering precision compared with most maneuvering target tracking algorithms.