Electrochromic visualization of latent fingermarks deposited on nonconductive surfaces.

Electrochromic visualization of latent fingermarks has already been achieved on conducting surfaces such as stainless steel. However, their enhancement on non-conducting surfaces such as glass via electrochromism has not been reported. Considering the non-conductive nature of substrates, a layer of gold was introduced to the fingermark-bearing surfaces, in which gold was used as the cathodes to assemble electrochromic devices for visualization. The contact between gold nanoparticles of the as-obtained conducting layer in the fingermark region should be affected by the height difference within the fingermark, leading to conductivity differences, which give rise to coloration differences in electrochromic devices. It is demonstrated that 1,1'-dibenzyl-4,4'-bipyridinium dichloride can be used as the electrochromic chromophore for the visualization of latent fingermarks deposited on nonconducting surfaces, and the primary and secondary characteristic information can be obtained. The electrochromic visualization herein solves the problem of electrochromically enhancing latent fingermarks on non-conducting surfaces.

Satellite reveals a steep decline in China's CO2 emissions in early 2022.

Response actions to the coronavirus disease 2019 perturbed economies and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The Omicron variant that emerged in 2022 caused more substantial infections than in 2020 and 2021 but it has not yet been ascertained whether Omicron interrupted the temporary post-2021 rebound of CO2 emissions. Here, using satellite nitrogen dioxide observations combined with atmospheric inversion, we show a larger decline in China's CO2 emissions between January and April 2022 than in those months during the first wave of 2020. China's CO2 emissions are estimated to have decreased by 15% (equivalent to -244.3 million metric tons of CO2) during the 2022 lockdown, greater than the 9% reduction during the 2020 lockdown. Omicron affected most of the populated and industrial provinces in 2022, hindering China's CO2 emissions rebound starting from 2021. China's emission variations agreed with downstream CO2 concentration changes, indicating a potential to monitor CO2 emissions by integrating satellite and ground measurements.

Novel antioxidant peptides in fermented pork sausage: Purification, characterization, and cytoprotective functions on Caco-2 cells.

In this study, crude peptides from fermented sausages inoculated with Lactobacillus plantarum CD101 and Staphylococcus simulans NJ201 were initially separated by ultrafiltration and molecular-sieve chromatography. The obtained fractions with high 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity and ferric-reducing antioxidant power values (MWCO-1 and fraction A) were used in Caco-2 cells to evaluate their cytoprotective effect on oxidative damage triggered by H2O2. MWCO-1 and A showed slight cytotoxicity. Increased glutathione peroxidase, catalase, and superoxide dismutase activities and decreased malondialdehyde content were observed in the peptide-treated groups. Fraction A was further purified using reversed high-performance liquid chromatography. Eighty potential antioxidant peptides were identified by liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry, and fourteen antioxidant peptides were synthesized. SDEEVEH and FAGDDAPR showed strong DPPH radical scavenging activity, whereas ALELDSNLYR and QEYDESGPSIVHR presented strong ABTS+· scavenging activity. These peptides might have great potential for food and pharmacological applications.

Record-high CO2 emissions from boreal fires in 2021.

Extreme wildfires are becoming more common and increasingly affecting Earth's climate. Wildfires in boreal forests have attracted much less attention than those in tropical forests, although boreal forests are one of the most extensive biomes on Earth and are experiencing the fastest warming. We used a satellite-based atmospheric inversion system to monitor fire emissions in boreal forests. Wildfires are rapidly expanding into boreal forests with emerging warmer and drier fire seasons. Boreal fires, typically accounting for 10% of global fire carbon dioxide emissions, contributed 23% (0.48 billion metric tons of carbon) in 2021, by far the highest fraction since 2000. 2021 was an abnormal year because North American and Eurasian boreal forests synchronously experienced their greatest water deficit. Increasing numbers of extreme boreal fires and stronger climate-fire feedbacks challenge climate mitigation efforts.

Spatiotemporal Pattern and Convergence Test of Energy Eco-Efficiency in the Yellow River Basin.

Examining the convergence characteristics of energy eco-efficiency in the Yellow River Basin (YRB) is of great significance for the sustainable development of China. It fulfills the international commitment to carbon peak and carbon neutrality. Based on the Super-EBM model and ML index, this paper measures the energy eco-efficiency of 60 cities in the YRB during 2006-2018, and then spatial and temporal patterns are both analyzed before the final investigation of the convergence in the YRB. The results show the following: (1) From 2006 to 2018, the energy eco-efficiency of the YRB showed a significant upward trend, but there was still a 25.61% improvement compared with the production frontier. (2) The spatial differentiation of the energy eco-efficiency in the YRB was significant, and the inter-regional differences were the main reason for this. (3) There was no σ-convergence in energy eco-efficiency in the YRB during 2006-2018, but absolute and conditional ß-convergence did occur. (4) Although the significant factors in the convergences were different, the levels of energy eco-efficiency in the different reaches all developed towards stable levels, and the catch-up effects in the less-developed regions were significant.

Can Global Value Chains Embedment Reduce Carbon Emissions Embodied in Exports?-Empirical Test Based on the Manufacturing Industries.

Active participation in the global value chains (GVC) has been recognized as an important factor in curbing the growth of carbon emissions. However, how GVC embedment affects carbon emissions in economies and what are the pathways of its impact need to be further studied. This paper analyzes the mechanism of GVC embedment affecting carbon emissions embodied in exports (CEEE) and selects 17 manufacturing industries in 36 economies around the world for empirical testing. It is found that GVC embedment significantly reduces the CEEE. Specifically, GVC embedment has a suppressive effect on the CEEE of both developed and developing countries, and the former has a greater suppressive effect than the latter; the effect on the CEEE of low-tech industries is significantly negative but not conducive to carbon emissions reduction in high-tech industries; complex and forward embedment have higher emissions reduction effects compared with simple and backward embedment. More importantly, GVC embedment reduces the CEEE through energy conservation effect, structure effect and transfer effect, and all of them show significant inverted U-shaped mediation effect. The findings of this paper have important implications for the sustainable economic development around the world under the GVC division of labor system.

Two-Dimensional Decoupling and Decomposition Analysis of CO2 Emissions from Economic Growth: A Case Study of 57 Cities in the Yellow River Basin.

Precise decoupling of CO2 emission and economic development holds promise for the sustainability of China in a post-industrialization era. This paper measures the energy-related CO2 emissions of 57 cities in the Yellow River Basin (YRB) during 2006-2019 and analyzes their decoupling states and dynamic evolution paths based on the derived general analytical framework of two-dimensional decoupling states to decompose their decoupling index using the LMDI method. The results show that (1) from 2006 to 2019, the economic growth and CO2 emissions of cities along the YRB are dominated by weak decoupling at an average contribution of 53.2%. Their dynamic evolution paths show fluctuations of "decoupling-recoupling" states, while the evolution trend is relatively ideal. (2) The factors of economic output, energy intensity and population scale inhibit the decoupling in most cities, which contribute 39.44%, 19.34%, and 2.75%, respectively, while the factors of industrial structure, carbon emission coefficient, and energy structure promote the decoupling in most cities in the YRB, with average contributions of -12.63%, -8.36%, and -0.67%, respectively. (3) The significant increase in the contribution of energy intensity is the main reason for the "Worse" path of cities, while the industrial structure and energy structure factors promote to the "Better" path of cities. This work satisfies the urgent need for the ecological protection of the YRB and opens new avenues for its high-quality development.

Effect of oxidation on the process of thermal gelation of chicken breast myofibrillar protein.

In this study, the effect of protein oxidation on the thermal gelation of chicken breast myofibrillar proteins (MPs) was investigated. MP samples treated with different degrees of oxidation were heated (1.5 °C/min) to different end-point temperatures to simulate the thermal gelation process. The results showed that the water-holding capacity (WHC) significantly decreased with increasing temperature, and higher oxidation degree resulted in worse WHC of heat-induced gel. Compared with high degrees of oxidation, low degrees of MP oxidation reduced the migration of immobile water, inhibited its release as free water, enhanced WHC and favored the formation of ß-sheet and ß-turn structures. Therefore, low oxidation promoted the formation of ß-sheet and ß-turn structures to form a better gel microstructure with less formation of free water on the thermal gelation and therefore increased the WHC. High oxidation was just the opposite, and high temperature aggravated this negative effect.

Understanding the unbalance of interest in taxi market based on drivers' service profit margins.

Nowadays, ride-hailing services have been established as a part of the urban transportation. Their arrival has remade the profit structure and resulted in the unbalance of interest in taxi market. Here, we establish the service models of taxis, carpooling, and car-hailing under "Internet +" from the perspective of profit margins, to perform a comparative analysis among the different services. RESULTS: First, Profit margins are generally higher for short trips than for long trips, though empty cruise fee to a certain degree make up for the driver's decreased profit margins. Second, the profit margin for carpooling is roughly 1.85 times that of ride-hailing, and 1.75 times that of taxis. This shows that the sharing economy has a certain advantage. Third, Profit margins are higher and fluctuations are lower on non-work days than on work days. At last, Profit margins are roughly 1.3 times higher on non-congested roads than on congested roads. The reduced profitability on congested roads makes it even harder to catch a ride during rush hours and on congested roads. We suggest that the relevant departments make appropriate efforts to make it more attractive for drivers to take on passengers during rush hours and on congested roads, and promote the sharing in the taxi market.

A comparative study of volatile components in Dianhong teas from fresh leaves of four tea cultivars by using chromatography-mass spectrometry, multivariate data analysis, and descriptive sensory analysis.

Dianhong teas produced from fresh leaves of different tea cultivars (YK is Yunkang No. 10, XY is Xueya 100, CY is Changyebaihao, SS is Shishengmiao), were compared in terms of volatile compounds and descriptive sensory analysis. A total of 73 volatile compounds in 16 tea samples were tentatively identified. YK, XY, CY, and SS contained 55, 53, 49, and 51 volatile compounds, respectively. Partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) were used to classify the samples, and 40 key components were selected based on variable importance in the projection. Moreover, 11 flavor attributes, namely, floral, fruity, grass/green, woody, sweet, roasty, caramel, mellow and thick, bitter, astringent, and sweet aftertaste were identified through descriptive sensory analysis (DSA). In generally, innate differences among the tea varieties significantly affected the intensities of most of the key sensory attributes of Dianhong teas possibly because of the different amounts of aroma-active and taste components in Dianhong teas.

[Impact of Marine-atmospheric Process on Aerosol Number Size Distribution in the South China Sea].

The shipboard measurements of aerosol number concentration from August 28th to October 13th, 2012 were conducted to analyze the characteristics of temporal-spatial distribution and number size distribution of marine aerosol in the South China Sea. The impact of meteorological condition on the marine aerosol was also analyzed in this paper. The result showed that the temporal-spatial distribution and number size distribution of marine aerosol were influenced by the backward trajectory of the air masses and the time they spent over the sea, and the meteorological conditions in the local sea area such as wind speed, wind direction, temperature, relative humidity and cloud cover. In terms of temporal-spatial distribution of marine aerosol in the South China Sea, the aerosol in the sea areas under the influence of continental air mass concentration showed much higher concentration than that in the clean maritime air mass (2300 cm-3 vs. 1200 cm-3). During the ship observation, three kinds of number size distribution of marine aerosol were found and classified:polluted type, marine type 1 and marine type 2 (clean). All the distributions had a similar sub-micron mode and a similar coarse mode. The marine type 2 (clean) had the same distribution shape as polluted type except that the value of concentration was much lower. The sub-micron peak of marine type 1 appeared near 0.08 µm and its concentration was significantly higher than that of marine type 2 (clean). Non-precipitating clouds as well as abundant moisture contributed to the growth of ultrafine particles to the size of accumulation mode aerosol (0.05-0.12 µm). Number concentration of particles in this range showed weak positive correlation with wind speed since wind can enhance the efficiency of sea-air exchange and accelerate the release of gas precursors of sulfate aerosol to the atmosphere. The concentration of coarse particles ranging from 0.5-6 µm in diameter strongly depended on the wind speed, and the correlation coefficient reached a value of 0.7.