Despite great strides being achieved in improving cancer patients’ outcomes through better therapies and combinatorial treatment, several hurdles still remain due to therapy resistance, cancer recurrence and metastasis. Drug resistance, culminating in relapse and metastatic disease continue to be associated with fatal disease. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are a subpopulation of cancer cells known to be resistant to therapy and cause metastasis. Whilst the debate on whether CSCs are the origins of the primary tumor rages on, CSCs have been further characterised in many cancers with data illustrating that CSCs display great abilities to self-renew, withstand therapies due to enhanced epithelial to mesenchymal (EMT) properties, enhanced expression of ABC membrane transporters, activation of several survival signaling pathways and increased immune evasion DNA repair mechanisms. CSCs also display great heterogeneity with the consequential lack of specific CSC markers presenting a great challenge to their targeting. In this updated review we re-visit CSCs within the tumor microenvironment (TME) and present novel treatment strategies targeting CSCs. These promising strategies include targeting CSCs-specific properties using small molecule inhibitors, immunotherapy, microRNA mediated inhibitors, epigenetic methods as well as targeting CSC niche-microenvironmental factors and differentiation. Lastly, we present recent clinical trials undertaken to try to turn the tide against cancer by targeting CSC-associated drug resistance and metastasis.

Heavy metal ions (HMIs) have acute toxic effects on the health and are dangerous for human ex-istence and the ecosystem. Therefore, its sensitive and selective detection is of great importance. In recent years various nanocomposite materials have been used by researchers for the detection of HMIs by using various modalities of electrochemical techniques. This review article summarizes the recent advances in developing electrochemical sensors based on numerous nanocomposite mate-rials for detecting heavy metal ions. Nanocomposites materials, such as Metal-Organic Framework (MOF), organic conducting polymers (OCP), carbon nanotubes, graphene/reduced graphene oxide, graphitic carbon nitride, metal oxide, chitosan, mxenes, metal nanoparticle-based nanocomposites, etc. have been explored by various researchers to improve the sensing properties of electrochemical sensors. This review emphasized the synthesis and characterization techniques of nanocomposite materials, modalities for HMI detection by electrochemical technique and the electrochemical sensors. Moreover, this review highlights the development of portable biosensors for detecting HMIs in real-world scenarios, such as environmental monitoring, food safety, and clinical diagnosis. This review also demonstrates the importance of electrochemical sensors-based on nanocomposite ma-terials as a reliable, sensitive, and selective tool for detecting HMIs.

The efficiency of cold steel rolling depends mainly on the quality of the metal-working coolant (MWC) and its cost. In this connection, it is actual to search for new compositions of lubricants and emulsions, which provide the lowest values of the friction coefficients in deformation zone and are obtained by waste recycling in other industries. In this study we have developed new compositions of the MWC on basis of mono- and diglycerides and their esters of boric acid synthesized from the wastes of sunflower oil production. The new compositions of MWC were tested in DSEA on laboratory rolling mill 100x100 with a roll diameter of 100 mm. The efficiency of new MWC during cold rolling of brass L63 samples was determined by factor of metal stretch forming λ. We found the new metal-working coolants to show the most efficiency under higher cobbing that provides the highest metal stretch forming. The composition with 30 % of mono- and diglycerides is the most effective because it provides the minimum coefficient of friction that leads to increase of factor of metal stretch forming. Thereby the metal-working coolants on basis of mono- and diglycerides obtained from the wastes of sunflower oil production can be recommended for use in strip rolling of copper-zinc alloys because of a low cost, availability and high efficiency.

Abstract: This work is part of the interest of solving the problems of water contamination with last generation pollutants, for which a novel and in an aqueous medium FeBTC material incorporated with magnetite nanoparticles was proposed. That material was synthesized by in situ solvothermal method, the Fe3O4 nanoparticles were added during the Fe-BTC MOF synthesis and used in the drug’s adsorption. The materials were characterized by XRD, FTIR and Raman spectroscopy, and N2-physisorption at 77 K. Fe3O4-FeBTC material showed a maximum adsorption capacity of 357.1 mg g−1 for diclofenac sodium, 70.9 mg g−1 for naproxen sodium, and 122.9 mg g−1 for Ibuprofen. A pseudo-second-order kinetic model can describe the adsorption process, and the thermodynamic study revealed that the adsorption of the three drugs was a feasible, spontaneous, and exothermic process. The incorporation of magnetite nanoparticles in the FeBTC considerably increased the adsorption capacity of pristine FeBTC. Also, hybridization of the FeBTC with magnetite nanoparticles reinforced the most vulnerable part of the MOF, increasing its thermal and aqueous media stability. The electrostatic interaction, H-bonding, and interactions in the open-metal sites played a vital role in drug adsorption. The competition of sites in the multicomponent mixture's adsorption showed selective adsorption at diclofenac sodium and naproxen sodium.

OVOL proteins (OVOL1 and OVOL2), vertebrate homologs of Drosophila OVO, are critical regulators of epithelial lineage determination and differentiation during embryonic development in tissues such as kidney, skin, mammary epithelia, testis. OVOL inhibits EMT and can promote MET; moreover, they can regulate the stemness of cancer cells, thus playing an important role during cancer cell metastasis. Due to their central role in differentiation and maintenance of epithelial lineage, OVOL overexpression has been shown to be capable of reprogramming fibroblasts to epithelial cells. Here, we review the roles of OVOL mediated epithelial differentiation across multiple contexts – embryonic development, cancer progression, and cellular reprogramming.

A simple and rapid positive–negative colorimetric approach to determine the presence of antimony ions based on the use of gold nanoparticles conjugated with oligonucleotide (poly-A sequence) is developed. Colorimetric measurements reveal that the aggregates of modified gold nanoparticles were afforded after adding antimony ions, thus changing the solution color from pink to blue. The results of aptamer’s interaction on the gold nanoparticle surface with target analyte can be detected either by photometry or by the naked eye. The realized assay provides rapid (2 min), sensitive (detection limit 10 ng/mL), specific, and precise (variation coefficient less than 3.8%) detection of antimony (III) in drinking water

This mini-review critically summarizes the knowledge of imprinted polymer-based electrochemical sensors, for the detection of pesticides, metal ions and waterborne pathogenic bacteria, focusing on the period the last 5 years (citation of 78 papers published in 2017-2021, ie 63% of total citations). MIP-based electrochemical sensors exhibit low limit of detection, high selectivity, high sensitivity and low cost. Herein, we focused on the timely topics of water pollution by organics, inorganics and micro-organisms represented by pesticides, metal ions and bacteria, respectively. We put the emphasis on the design of imprinted polymers and their composites and coatings by radical polymerization, oxidative polymerization of conjugated monomers or sol-gel chemistry. Whilst most imprinted polymers are used in conjunction with differential pulse or square wave voltammetry for sensing organics and metal ions, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) appears as the chief technique for detecting bacteria. This successful combination of EIS and imprinting technology should be harnessed in the coming years in the case of bacteria. Interestingly, bacteria are not always probed by bacteria-imprinted polymers; we report here their detection by monitoring specific (macro)molecules that reflect bacterial activity, for example quorum sensing signaling molecules or flagella proteins. If much has been developed in the past decade with glassy carbon or gold electrodes, it is clear that carbon paste electrodes of imprinted polymers are more and more investigated due to their versatility. Shortlisted case studies were critically reviewed and discussed; clearly a plethora of tricky strategies of designing selective electrochemical sensors are offered to “Imprinters”. We anticipate this review will be of interest to experts and new comers in the field who are paying time and effort combining electrochemical sensors with MIP technology.

This paper explores as a case study the development of e-cigarette use and smoking within small friendship group (n=8) in Glasgow, Scotland. Interviewed twice at six months apart these 16/17 year olds reported substantial change in their use of and attitudes towards e-cigarettes and tobacco. At time 1 vaping generated much excitement and interest, with 6/8 having their own vape device. At time 2 only two young people still vaped, with the others no longer professing any interest in continued vaping. The two regular smokers, who had been smoking before they first vaped, now only vaped privately and to reduce their tobacco intake. This small case study illustrates plasticity in the use of electronic cigarettes; just as young people can initiate using these devices so too can they more away from their use- with such changes in actual use occurring within a relatively short period of time. These findings demonstrate more than anything else the volatility in young peoples’ substance use behaviour. If we are to better understand these behaviours we require both quantitative and qualitative research studies that are capable of both monitoring changes in individual and group behaviour over time but which are also able to elucidate the nuance of individual behaviour differentiating between long term, frequent, consistent use and more episodic, experimental and infrequent use by young people.

We investigate financial feasibility of a few thinning schedules for spruce stands. Some example stands have previously experienced commercial low thinning, whereas others young stand cleaning only. High thinning is combined with quality thinning, and further growth of trees is estimated using a Norwegian growth model. High capital return rates are gained by diameter-limit cutting to the transition diameter between pulpwood and sawlogs. Repeated thinnings lead to reduction in the capitalization during several decades, the system approaching a stationary state. The transient forest stands investigated shown a significant excess capital return, in relation to the stationary state, and this excess return is due to transient tree size distribution. Correspondingly, capital return rate gained in rotation forestry is somewhat higher than that of stationary continuous-cover forestry, and the volumetric yield is much higher. The productive capacity of stands previously thinned from below apparently has been ruined by that treatment.

The diversification of life-histories is mediated by cooperation, innovations of biological information, modularity, and heterochrony in developmental processes. These processes are defined, contextualized, and exemplified, studying the evolution of coloniality (i.e. life-history involving modularization of the multicellular individual) in the family of benthic tunicates Styelidae. This study proposes that in these colonial tunicates there is an inter-generational division of labor, where one generation is feeding, a second is developing by morphogenetic processes, and a third is aging by programmed cell death and phagocytosis. The communication system developed in these colonies is mediated, by changes in proportion, location, and gene expression of specialized blood cells. Colonial life-history in animals is related to the reduction of individual size; development of extra-corporeal tissues to interconnect zooids; the inter-generational division of labor; and the reduction of zooid’s individuality. Processes analogous with the widely accepted major evolutionary transitions (METs), suggesting that coloniality could be studied as a MET. The understanding of colonial life-histories could provide information about key mechanisms for life diversification.

Both types of surgical guides – with and without metal sleeves are founded beneficial in clinical studies. The aim of this in vitro study was to compare time of surgical procedure in dental implantology depending of used type of the surgical guide. Ten three dimensional (3D) printed models of lower jaws were prepared based on complete virtual model of patient clinical conditions with missing teeth 37, 46 and 47. Five of this models were used for implant sites preparation performed with use of surgical guide without metal sleeves and dedicated surgical kit, and next five were used for the same procedure performed with surgical guide with metal sleeves and dedicated surgical kit. Time of implant site preparation were measured and noted. Statistical analysis was performed using Student’s t test for independent samples. Difference of time in both groups were founded as statistically significant (t=-9.94; df =28; p=0.0000). Type of surgical guide is important factor which can impact on time of implant site preparation and all surgical procedure.

Clean production of renewable fuels is a great challenge of our scientific community. Iridium complexes have demonstrated a superior catalytic activity in the water oxidation (WO) reaction, which is a crucial step in water splitting process. Herein we have used a defective zirconium MOF with UiO-66 structure as support of a highly active Ir complex based on EDTA with formula [Ir(HEDTA)Cl]Na. The defects are induced by the partial substitution of tereftalic acid with smaller formiate groups. Anchoring of the complex occurs through a post-synthetic exchange of formiate anions, coordinated at the zirconium clusters of the MOF, with the free carboxylate group of the [Ir(HEDTA)Cl]-complex. The modified material was tested as heterogenous catalyst for the WO reaction by using Cerium Ammonium Nitrate as sacrificial agent. Although TOF and TON values are comparable to those of other iridium heterogenized catalysts, the MOF exhibits iridium leaching not limited at the first catalytic run, as usually observed, suggesting a lack of stability of the hybrid system under strong oxidative conditions.

Legacy mining industry has left a large number of tailings ponds exposed to water and wind erosion that causes serious environmental and health problems. Prior to rehabilitation actions a deep sampling of the materials infilling the pond used to be necessary. Thus, the primary objective of this study is to demonstrate the usefulness of the Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) method as a non-invasive tool to determine the physicochemical composition of mine tailings ponds, enabling more efficient and low-cost surveys. To achieve this objective, three ERT profiles and three boreholes in each profile were carried out, from each borehole three waste samples from differents depths were collected and a geochemical characterization of the samples was carried. In order to estimate the composition of the infilling wastes in tailing ponds from electrical resistivity measures, several regression models were calculated for different physicochemical properties and metal concentrations. As a result, a high resistivity area was depicted in profiles G2 and G3 while a non-resistive area (profile G1) was also found. Relationships among low resistivity values and high salinity, clay content and high metal concentrations and mobility were established. Specifically, calibrated models were obtained for electrical conductivity, particles sizes of 0.02-50 µm and 50-2000 µm, total Zn and Cd concentration, and bioavailable Ni, Cd and Fe. Therefore, the ERT technique could be considered as a useful tool for mine tailings ponds characterization, and it can be used to estmate some physicochemical properties and metal concentrations of this mine waste.

Polymers in highly confined geometries can display complex morphologies including ordered phases. A basic component of a theoretical analysis of their phase behavior in confined geometries is the knowledge of the number of possible single-chain conformations compatible with the geometrical restrictions and the established crystalline morphology. While the statistical properties of unrestricted self-avoiding random walks (SAWs) both on and off-lattice are very well known, the same is not true for SAWs in confined geometries. The purpose of this contribution is a) to enumerate the number of SAWs on the simple cubic (SC) and face-centered cubic (FCC) lattices under confinement for moderate SAW lengths, and b) to obtain an approximate expression for their behavior as a function of chain length, type of lattice, and degree of confinement. This information is an essential requirement for the understanding and prediction of entropy-driven phase transitions of model polymer chains under confinement. In addition, a simple geometric argument is presented that explains, to first order, the dependence of the number of restricted SAWs on the type of SAW origin.

The energy transition requires integration of different energy carriers, including electricity, heat, and transport sectors. Energy modeling methods and tools are essential to provide a clear insight into the energy transition. However, the methodologies often overlook the details of small-scale energy systems. The study states an innovative approach to facilitate sub-national energy systems with 100% renewable penetration and sectoral integration. An optimization model, OSeEM-SN, is developed under the Oemof framework. The model is validated using the case study of Schleswig-Holstein. The study assumes three scenarios representing 25%, 50%, and 100% of the total available biomass potentials. OSeEM-SN reaches feasible solutions without additional offshore wind investment, indicating that they can be reserved for supplying other states’ energy demand. The annual investment cost varies between 1.02 bn – 1.44 bn €/yr for the three scenarios. The electricity generation decreases by 17%, indicating that with high biomass-based combined heat and power plants, the curtailment from other renewable plants can be decreased. Ground source heat pumps dominate the heat mix; however, their installation decreases by 28% as the biomass penetrates fully into the energy mix. The validation confirms OSeEM-SN as a beneficial tool to examine different scenarios for sub-national energy systems.

Novel collector lead(II)-benzohydroxamic acid (Pb(II)-BHA) complexes in aqueous solution were characterized by using experimental approaches, including Ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy and electrospray ionization–mass spectrometry (ESI-MS), as well as first-principle density functional theory (DFT) calculations with consideration for solvation effects. The Job plot delineated that a single coordinated Pb(BHA)⁺ should be formed first, and the higher coordination number complexes can be formed subsequently. Moreover, the Pb(II)-BHA species can aggregate with each other to form complicated structures, such as Pb(BHA)₂ or highly complicated complexes. ESI-MS results validated the existence of Pb-(BHA)_n=1,2 under different solution pH values. Further, the first-principles calculations suggested that Pb(BHA)⁺ should be the most stable structure, and the Pb atom in Pb(BHA)⁺ will act as an active site to attack nucleophiles. These findings are meaningful to further illustrate the adsorption mechanism of Pb(II)-BHA complexes in mineral processing.

Organophosphorus nerve agents are amongst the most toxic chemicals known to human beings. 9 They interfere with the central nervous system, resulting in continuous muscle contractions, 10 paralysis and even death. Prohibition by many countries around the world cannot disguise the 11 remaining presence of nerve agents in stockpile storage and governmental deployment, 12 highlighting the dire need for an efficient catalyst to degrade and detoxify nerve agents by 13 hydrolysis. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have raised a few eyebrows for their permanent 14 porosity, precise tunability, and lasting stability. Modern Reticular Chemistry fosters the design and 15 synthesis of well-defined crystalline MOFs with open Lewis acidic metal sites that can catalytically 16 hydrolyze nerve agents both in aqueous solution and in solid state systems, unveiling unparalleled 17 potential for MOF-based personal protection gears. In this review, a summary of the representative 18 catalytically active MOFs in nerve agent hydrolysis is discussed. MOFs are categorized by their 19 reticular structure, emphasizing the capability and mechanistic insights of each single MOF in nerve 20 agent hydrolysis. The author’s perspective on the current challenges and future directions of MOF- 21 based catalysts in real-world protection applications is also provided, which hopefully could shed some 22 light on the future development of commercially available MOF protection suits.

In this paper, we revisit the q-states clock model for small systems. We present results for the thermodynamics of the q-states clock model from $q=2$ to $q=20$ for small square lattices $L \times L$, with L ranging from $L=3$ to $L=64$ with free-boundary conditions. Energy, specific heat, entropy and magnetization are measured. We found that the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT)-like transition appears for $q>5$ regardless of lattice size, while the transition at $q=5$ is lost for $L<10$; for $q\leq 4$ the BKT transition is never present. We report the phase diagram in terms of $q$ showing the transition from the ferromagnetic (FM) to the paramagnetic (PM) phases at a critical temperature T$_1$ for small systems which turns into a transition from the FM to the BKT phase for larger systems, while a second phase transition between the BKT and the PM phases occurs at T$_2$. We also show that the magnetic phases are well characterized by the two dimensional (2D) distribution of the magnetization values. We make use of this opportunity to do an information theory analysis of the time series obtained from the Monte Carlo simulations. In particular, we calculate the phenomenological mutability and diversity functions. Diversity characterizes the phase transitions, but the phases are less detectable as $q$ increases. Free boundary conditions are used to better mimic the reality of small systems (far from any thermodynamic limit). The role of size is discussed.

The welding performance of shipbuilding steel under large heat input could be improved greatly by the Mg addition to the steel, but the impact toughness of the HAZ is not stable. According to the three different thickness steel plates obtained in the industrial experiment, the large heat input welding was carried out by different heat input, and the impact toughness analysis, impact fracture analysis, metallographic microstructure analysis and inclusions analysis were carried out. The results showed that, the HAZ of three kinds of thickness plates induced a lot of IAF, with Mg addition, the inclusion dimension had been reduced effectively, and the IAF induced ability of the inclusions had also been improved. The difference of HAZ impact toughness with different welding heat input and different impact temperature is significant, in consideration of the influence of welding heat input and metallographic microstructure on impact toughness of HAZ, the welding heat load had far greater effect than metallographic microstructure on ductile-brittle transition temperature. At the same time, if the original metallographic microstructure of steel was coarse, the pinning effect of the inclusions would be reduced significantly, and the microstructure of HAZ would be coarsened and the impact toughness of HAZ would be decreased, so there is a certain matching relationship between the metallographic microstructure and the inclusion dimension.

Over the centuries, honey is known for its superior usage in culinary, and for its rich nutrition and therapeutic values which are scientifically proven in the medical field. The chemical composition of honey varies depending on its botanical sources and environment. Therefore, the nutrition content in honey is highly likely to be affected by contaminants, such as heavy metals and pesticides. To ensure the quality of honey, parameters such as the heavy metal content should be within the safe range of total standard mineral and trace elements as defined by the International Food Standard (Codex Alimentarius), and pesticides should not be present at all. The high concentration of heavy metal and pesticides not only deteriorates the quality and quantity of honey, but also causes harm to the bee colony itself. In the agriculture sector, the excessive usage of pesticides and fertilizer negatively impacts the overall honey production process. Bees, a pollinating agent, bring the polluted nectar back to their beehives, eventually contaminating the honey and depreciating its value. Hence, this article will comprehensively review the activities that contribute to heavy metal and pesticide contamination, the interactions of bees as a pollinating agent, the impact of the pollutant to the colonies, and subsequently to the honey production.

A method for measuring the real part of the weak value of spin for non-zero rest mass atoms is presented using a variant on the original Stern-Gerlach apparatus. The experiment utilises helium in the metastable 2³S₁ state. A full simulation for observing the real part of the weak value using the impulsive approximation has been carried out and it predicts a displacement of the beam, Δ_w, that is within the resolution of our detector. It also indicates how this shift might be increased. The full analysis also indicated that there is a limit, L, to the applicability of the weak value approximation and has been evaluated for our apparatus. This experiment has the possibility to be expanded to utilise other nobal gas species such as neon and argon in the ³P₂ metastable state, but we shall restrict this paper to metastable helium only.

Determination of indoor location based on fine time measurement (FTM) of the round trip time (RTT) of a signal between an initiator (smartphone) and a responder (Wi-Fi access point) enables a number of applications. However, the accuracy currently attainable — standard deviations of 1–2 meter in distance measurement under favorable circumstances — limits the range of possible application. A first responder, for example, may not be able to unequivocally determine on which floor someone in need of help is in a multi-story building. The error in location depends on several factors, including the bandwidth of the RF signal, delay of the signal due to the high relative permittivity of construction materials, and the geometry-dependent “noise gain” of location determination. Errors in distance measurements have unusual properties that are exposed here for the first time. Improvements in accuracy depend on understanding all of these error sources. This paper introduces “frequency diversity,” a method for doubling the accuracy of indoor location determination using weighted averages of measurements with uncorrelated errors obtained in different channels. The properties of this method are verified experimentally with a range of responders. Finally, different ways of using the distance measurements to determine indoor location are discussed and the Bayesian grid update method shown to be more useful than others, given the non- Gaussian nature of the measurement errors.

The development of sensors for monitoring Carbon Monoxide (CO) in a large range of temperature is of crucial importance in areas as monitoring of industrial processes or personal tracking using smart objects. Devices integrating GaN/Ga₂O₃ core/shell nanowires (NWs) is a promising solution allowing combining the high sensitivity of the electronic properties to the states of GaN-core surface; and the high sensitivity to CO of Ga₂O₃-shell. Because the performances of sensors primarily depend on the material properties composing the active layer of the device, it is essential to control these properties and in first time its synthesis. In this work, we investigate the synthesis of GaN/Ga₂O₃ core-shell NWs with a special focus on the formation of the shell. The GaN NWs grown by Plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy, are post-treated following thermal oxidation to form Ga₂O₃-shell surrounding the GaN-core. We establish that the Ga₂O₃-shell thickness can be modulated from 1 up to 14 nm by changing the oxidation conditions, and follows the diffuse-controlled reaction. By combining XRD-STEM and EDX analysis, we also demonstrate that the oxide shell formed by thermal oxidation is crystalline and presents the β-Ga₂O₃ crystalline phase, and is synthesized in epitaxial relationship with the GaN-core.

Causal relationships lie at the very core of our scientific description of biophysical phenomena. Nevertheless, observable facts such as chaotic dynamics, symmetry breaks, long-range collisionless neural interactions, zero-value energy singularities, particle/wave duality, ecological approaches to visual perception elude cause effect inductive explanations. We illustrate how simple topological claims, seemingly useless and far away from scientific inquiry (e.g., “given at least some wind on Earth, there must at all times be a cyclone or anticyclone somewhere”; “if one stirs to dissolve a lump of sugar in a cup of coffee, it appears there is always a point without motion”; “at any moment, there is always a pair of antipodal points on the Earth’s surface with equal temperatures and barometric pressures”) describe a real world, made of projections and mappings unsupplied with causality. Unavoidable, necessary, passive, spontaneous changes in systems’ shapes, dimensions and symmetries incarnate biophysical quantifiable counterparts of abstract mathematical concepts. Real features arising from topological mechanisms do not require causal powers to be produced, because are independent of exerted physical forces, energetic fields’ actions and thermodynamic constraints. Providing examples that shed novel interpretative light on phenomena such as double slit experiments, cellular mechanisms and brain function, we conclude as follows: countless scientific matters can be accessed through methodological weapons which not just break causality, replace temporal correlations and probabilistic a priori knowledge of previous cases, but also permit augments in available information devoid of entropy increases and energy losses.

The measures for tackling the COVID-19 may shrink the global GDP by approximately 6% in 2020, the deepest post-war recession. As a result, the global energy demand declined by 3.8% in the first quarter of 2020. Concerning fossil fuels, this conjuncture reduced the demand drastically and collapsed the prices to historic levels. Despite the general market disruptions, renewable energy sources (RES) seem to be more resilient to the crisis because they are the only sources that will grow in demand in 2020, driven by priority dispatch. The RES´s significant growth in cumulative installed capacity in the last two decades and the significant cost reductions of RES and energy storage technologies are positive signs towards better market conditions for the global energy transition. Currently, the crisis is seen by international agencies and transition scholars as an opportunity to advance a renewable-based energy transformation. Nevertheless, this article aims at caution about another possibility: if societal changes are not urgently implemented, the crisis may weaken the global energy transition. This article examines this last possibility from a three-level perspective: 1) post-COVID economic recovery, 2) low oil and natural gas prices and competitiveness of alternative sources and, 3) reorganization of the world energy market and the OPEC+. This paper exists to stimulate debate.

The blue sepal color of hydrangea is due to a metal complex anthocyanin composed of 3-O-glucosyldelphinidin (1) and an aluminum ion with the co-pigments 5-O-caffeoylquinic acid (2) and/or 5-O-p-coumaroylquinic acid (3). The three components, namely, anthocyanin, Al³⁺ and 5-O-acylquinic acids, are essential for blue color development, but the complex is unstable and only exists in aqueous solution. Furthermore, the complex did not give analyzable NMR spectra or crystals. Therefore, many trials to determine the detailed chemical structure of the hydrangea-blue complex have failed to date. Instead, via experiments mixing 1, Al³⁺ and 2 or 3 in a buffered solution at pH 4.0, we obtained the same blue solution derived from the sepals. However, the ratio was not stoichiometric but fluctuated. To determine the composition of the complex, we tried direct observation of the molecular ion of the complex using electrospray-ionization mass spectrometry. In a very low-concentration buffer solution (2.0 mM) at pH 4.0, we reproduced the hydrangea-blue color by mixing 1, 2 and Al³⁺ in ratios of 1:1:1, 1:2:1 and 1:3:1. All solution gave the same molecular ion peak at m/z = 843, indicating that the blue solution has a ratio of 1:1:1 for the complex. By using 3, the observed mass number was m/z = 827 and the ratio of 1, 3 and Al³⁺ was also 1:1:1. A mixture of 1, 3-O-caffeoylquinic acid (4) and Al³⁺ did not give any blue color but instead was purple, and the intensity of the molecular ion peak at m/z = 843 was very low. These results strongly indicate that the hydrangea blue-complex is composed of a ratio of 1:1:1 for 1, Al³⁺ and 2 or 3.

Developing particles of different anisotropic shapes are the hot topic since decades as they guarantee some special features of properties not possible through other means. Again, controlling atoms to develop certain size and shape particle is a quite challenging job. In this study, gold particles of different shapes are developed via pulse-based electronphoton-solution interface process. Gold atoms of certain transition state develop monolayer assembly at solution surface around the light glow (known in argon plasma) being generated at bottom of copper capillary (known in cathode). The rate of uplifting gold atoms to solution surface is being controlled by forcing energy (travelling photons) pursuing electrons and high energy photons (in high density) entering to solution. Gold atoms dissociated from the precursor under dissipating heat energy into the solution supplied under propagating photons characteristic current through immersed graphite rod (known in anode). Placing packets of nano shape energy of tuned pulse protocol over compact monolayer assembly comprising transition state atoms develop tiny-sized particles of formed shape. On separation of joint tiny particles into two equilateral triangular-shaped tiny particles, exerting forces of surface format elongate atoms of one-dimensional arrays converting them into structures of smooth elements. Due to immersing level of force, such tiny-shaped particles pack from different zones at centre of light glow where they assembled structures of smooth elements for developing mono-layers of different shapes of particles. Developing one-dimensional particles deal assembling of structures of smooth elements of packing tiny-shaped particles from nearly rearward zones of reflection of north-south poles, whereas, developing multi-dimensional particles deal assembling of structures of smooth elements of packing tiny-shaped particles from the east-west poles and near regions. Depending on the number of assembled structures of smooth elements at point of nucleation, packing of tiny-shaped particles from different zones develop different shapes of the anisotropic particles. At fixed precursor concentration, increasing the process time results into develop particles of low aspect ratio. Under tuned parameters, developing mechanisms of particles exhibiting unprecedented features are discussed.

The results reveal CILSS as the most accurate data set with a Kappa coefficient of 68% and an overall accuracy of 83%. CILSS data shows a decrease of savanna and forest whereas an increase of cropland over the period 1975 to 2013. The increase of cropland area of 30.97% from 1975 to 2013 can be related to the increase in population and their food demand, while the losses of forest area and the decrease of savanna are further amplified by using wood as energy sources and the lack of forest management. The three datasets were used to simulate future LULC changes using the Terrset Land Change Modeler. The validation of the model using CILSS data for 2013 showed a quality of 50.94%, it is only 40.04% for ESA and 20.13% for Globeland30. CILSS data was utilized to simulate the LULC distribution for the years 2020 and 2027 because of its satisfactory performances. The results show that a high spatial resolution is not a guarantee of high quality. The results of this study can be used for impact studies and to develop management strategies for mitigating negative effects of land use and land cover change.

The forest transition – or forest-area transition – has been put forward as a land-use concept by A.S. Mather in 1992 (The forest transition. Area 24, 367-379), to describe the historical trend generally observed in the forest area of developed countries, embodied in a V-shaped curve of the forest area over time, and that may serve as a paradigm to understand and anticipate deforestation in the developing world. Well in line with a geographical approach to forests, forest transition has thus been defined as one-dimensional, forest area being the reference state variable. From a forestry perspective, the analysis appears to be reductive, as forests are described by many other state variables than area, including forest growing stock, composition in tree species, or stand structure. Whether the drivers of forest transition (population dynamics, economic modes of production and consciousness, as classified by Mather) also impact these other forest state variables in a general way thus comes forth as a logical issue.From a deductive analysis of forest transition drivers, and from forest trends brought to light in Europe, France, and at other places in the world, we here argue that the forest transition concept can be extended to a multi-dimensional space of forest attributes, characterized by typical ideal dynamics. Cumulative impacts onto forests and irreversible losses in forest biodiversity over a forest transition are hence highlighted. Global change, as a parallel consequence of countries’ developing process, further appears as one additional albeit less coupled dimension of forest transition, as it modifies forest productivity and vitality over time. Since forest ecosystem services and forest profitability primarily depend on such attributes, we argue that the extension of the forest transition concept has significance for land-use change and forest protection issues. A prospect on future changes in the forests of developed countries with the European space as a benchmark is finally proposed that leads to extend the temporal significance of forest transition. Though poorly described, returning forests on abandoned agricultural lands are significant, and deserve greater attention.

Selective laser melting (SLM) is a commonly used laser powder bed technique where the final properties are influenced by many different powder related properties, such as particle size distribution, chemical composition and flowability. In applications where high hardness, wear resistance, strength and good heat properties are required, high speed steels (HSS) are widely used today. HSS has high carbon content and are therefore considered as unweldable. The rapidly growing implementation of AM technologies has led to a growing range of new applications and demands for new alloys and properties. The interest in being able to manufacture HSS by SLM without cracking is therefore increasing. In SLM, it is possible to preheat the base plate to a few hundred degrees Celsius which has been used for HSS and proved successful due to reduced thermal gradients. In this study, the properties of SLM produced high speed steel PEARL Micro®2012 with a carbon content of 0.61 wt.-% have been investigated and compared to those of a forged and rolled PM-HIP counterpart ASP®2012.

The epithelial-mesenchymal (E/M) hybrid state has emerged as an important mediator of elements of cancer progression, facilitated by epithelial mesenchymal plasticity (EMP). We review here evidence for the presence, prognostic significance, and therapeutic potential of the E/M hybrid state in carcinoma. We further assess modelling predictions and validation studies to demonstrate stabilised E/M hybrid states along the spectrum of EMP, as well as computational approaches for characterising and quantifying EMP phenotypes, with particular attention to the emerging realm of single-cell approaches through RNA sequencing and protein-based techniques.

To understand SARS-CoV-2 microevolution, this study explored the genome-wide frequency, gene-wise distribution, and molecular nature of all point-mutations detected across its 71,703 RNA-genomes deposited in the GISAID repository, till 21 August 2020. Globally, nsp1/nsp2/nsp3/ nsp11 and orf7a/orf3a/S were the most mutation-ridden non-structural and structural genes respectively. Phylogeny based on 4,618 spatiotemporally-representative genomes revealed that entities belonging to the early lineages are mostly spread over Asian countries (including India, the biggest hotspot of the pandemic) whereas the recently-derived lineages are more globally distributed. Of the total 16,602 polymorphism-bearing sites in the pan-genome, 11,037 and 4,965 involved transitions and transversions, which in turn were predominated by cytidine-to-uridine and guanosine-to-uridine conversions, respectively. Positive selection of nonsynonymous mutations (dN/dS >1) in most of the structural, but not non-structural, genes indicated that SARS-CoV-2 has already harmonized its replication/transcription machineries with the host’s metabolic system, while it is still redefining virulence/transmissibility strategies at the molecular level.

Liquid metal alloy, incorporated with microfluidic manipulation, has become a promising candidate for flexible resistive sensor array (RSA) that can imitate the functions of human skin. One advantage of RSA with shared rows and shared columns is to reduce the number of wires from M × N to M + N (rows: M and columns: N) and hence to greatly lessen the complexity and burden on the electrical system. The associated drawback is the crosstalk effect between adjacent elements during measurement. Although many literatures have reported several methods to resolve this limitation, almost all of them focus only on the high resistance value (≥100 Ω) RSA. There is a lack of detailed experimental data that addresses low resistance RSA with sensing elements below 100 Ω. Here, we aim to fill the gap of this field. We established two common RSA readout systems, i.e. zero potential methods (ZPM) (setting non-scanned-sampling-electrode zero potential (S-NSSE-ZP) and setting non-scanned-sampling-electrode zero potential with amplifier (S-NSSE-ZP-A)) and to compare their performances in low resistance value (≤100 Ω) RSA. For ideal resistor RSA, the measurement results show that S-NSSE-ZP has at least one time higher error than S-NSSE-ZP-A.

Joining of aluminium alloys to steels has been extensively studied, especially in the automotive sector. However, aluminium alloys are known to be difficult to join with steels when methods involving fusion welding are used because of hot cracking problem. Hence, a high strength joint between these dissimilar metals would be of benefit especially in reducing the weight of products. In this work the torch brazing method was applied to join AR500 steel with AA7075 aluminium alloy using Al-Si-Zn base filler metal at various flame times. The effect of the brazing work on the intermetallic phase formation and the mechanical strength of the joints were investigated. In this work, the maximum shear load obtained was 6460 N and the presence of the intermetallic phases had reduced the shear strength of the brazed joints. However, the torch brazing process using Al-Si-Zn filler metal had successfully facilitated the joining of these dissimilar metals.

Photoelectrochemical water splitting is a promising field for sustainable energy production using hydrogen. Development of efficient catalysts is essential for resourceful hydrogen production. The most efficient catalysts reported to date have been extremely precious rare-earth metals. One of the biggest hurdles in this research area is the difficulty of developing highly efficient catalysts comparable to the noble metal catalysts. Here, we report that non-noble metal dichalcogenide (Co₃Se₄) catalysts made using a facile one-pot electrodeposition method, showed highly efficient photoelectrochemical activity on a Si photocathode. To enhance light collection and enlarge its surface area even further, we implemented surface nano-structuring on the Si surface. The nano-structured Si photoelectrode has an effective area greater than that of planar silicon and a wider absorption spectrum. Consequently, this approach exhibits reduced overvoltage as well as increased photo-catalytic activity. Such results show the importance of controlling the optimized interface between the surface structure of the photoelectrode and the electrodeposited co-catalyst on it to improve catalytic activity. This should enable other electrochemical reactions in a variety of energy conversion systems.

Despite the long and extensive history of 3D technology, it has recently attracted the attention of researchers. This technology has become the center of interest of young people because of the real feelings and sensations it creates. People see their environment as 3D because of their eye structure. In this study, it is hypothesized that people lose their perception of depth during sleepy moments and that there is a sudden transition from 3D vision to 2D vision. Regarding these transitions, the EEG signal analysis method was used for deep and comprehensive analysis of 2D and 3D brain signals. In this study, a single-stream anaglyph video of random 2D and 3D segments was prepared. After watching this single video, the obtained EEG recordings were considered for two different analyses: the part involving the critical transition (transition-state) and the state analysis of only the 2D versus 3D or 3D versus 2D parts (steady-state). The main objective of this study is to see the behavioral changes of brain signals in 2D and 3D transitions. To clarify the impacts of the human brain’s power spectral density (PSD) in 2D-to-3D (2D_3D) and 3D-to-2D (3D_2D) transitions of anaglyph video, 9 visual healthy individuals were prepared for testing in this pioneering study. Spectrogram graphs based on Short Time Fourier transform (STFT) were considered to evaluate the power spectrum analysis in each EEG channel of transition or steady-state. Thus, in 2D and 3D transition scenarios, important channels representing EEG frequency bands and brain lobes will be identified. To classify the 2D and 3D transitions, the dominant bands and time intervals representing the maximum difference of PSD were selected. Afterward, effective features were selected by applying statistical methods such as standard deviation (SD), maximum (max), and Hjorth parameters to epochs indicating transition intervals. Ultimately, k-Nearest Neighbors (k-NN), Support Vector Machine (SVM), and Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) algorithms were applied to classify 2D_3D and 3D_2D transitions. The frontal, temporal, and partially parietal lobes show 2D_3D and 3D_2D transitions with a good classification success rate. Overall, it was found that Hjorth parameters and LDA algorithms have 71.11% and 77.78% classification success rates for transition and steady-state, respectively.

：Sleep stage on the whole night is not steady. Sleepers generally pass through three to five cycles. In each cycle, there are occur four typical sleep stages, such as wake stage (WS), light stage (LS), deep sleep (DS), rapid eye movement sleep stage (REM). According to the natural routine, in this paper, we investigate the stage transition and analyze the feature of stage transition using the local cluster Algorithm (LCA). Two-cycle sleep model (TCSM) is proposed to automatically classify sleep stages using over-night continuous heart rate variability (HRV) data. The generated model is based on the characteristics of the nested cycle's sleep stage distribution and the transition probabilities of sleep stages. Experiments were conducted using a public data set including 400 healthy subjects (female 239, male 161) and the model’s classification accuracy was evaluated for four sleep stages: WS, LS, DS, REM. The experimental results showed that based on the TCSM model, the segmentation classification of pure sleep is 5.2% higher than that of the traditional method, and the accuracy of segmentation classification is 11.2% higher than the traditional sleep staging accuracy. The experimental performance is promising in terms of the accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity rates compared with the ones of the state-of-the-art methods. The study contributes to improve the quality of sleep monitoring in daily life using easy-to-wear HRV sensors.

We describe the direct formation of mixed-phase (1T and 2H) MoS2 layers on Si as a photocathode via atomic layer deposition (ALD) for application in the photoelectrochemical (PEC) reduction of water to hydrogen. Without typical series-metal interfaces between Si and MoS2, our p-Si/SiOx/MoS2 photocathode showed efficient and stable operation in hydrogen evolution reactions (HERs). The resulting performance could be explained by spatially genuine device architectures in three dimensions (that is, laterally homo and vertically heterojunction structures). The ALD-grown MoS2 overlayer with the mixed-phase 1T and 2H homojunction passivates light absorber and surface states and functions as a monolithic structure for effective charge transport within MoS2. It is also beneficial in the operation of p-i-n heterojunctions with inhomogeneous barrier heights due to the presence of mixed-phase cocatalysts. The effective barrier heights reached up to 0.8 eV with optimized MoS2 thicknesses, leading to a 670 mV photovoltage enhancement without employing buried Si p-n junctions. The fast-transient behaviors via light illumination show that the mixed-phase layered chalcogenides can serve as efficient cocatalysts by depinning the Fermi levels at the interfaces. A long-term operation of ~ 70 h was also demonstrated in a 0.5 M H2SO4 solution.

It is known that the elastic characteristics of polyamides change with increasing temperature, in particular, the Young's modulus decreases significantly. This fact is practically not taken into account in design calculations of metal-polymer plain (MP) bearings, operating under conditions of the boundary and dry friction. The purpose of the study is the analysis of the effect of temperature on the change of the Young's modulus and, accordingly, the contact strength and triboresource according to the developed method of calculating MP bearings. MP bearings with a bushing made of polyamide PA6 reinforced with glass or carbon dispersed fibers were investi-gated. Quantitative and qualitative regularities of change of the maximum contact pressures and resource of the bearings at temperature increase under conditions of boundary and dry friction are established. The pressures in the bearing bushing made of PA6+30GF will be lower than for the bushing made of PA6+30CF. The resource of the bushing made of PA6+30CF will be significantly greater than for PA6+30GF. For thermoplastic polymers, the increase in temperature will have a useful practical effect due to the decrease in the rigidity of the polymer composites of the bearing bushing.

Leclère et al.¹ have outlined the possibility of a biodiversity transition for the 21^st century, a line of thinking equivalent to the Forest Transition theory and what it says about forest cover globally². The authors use a suite of global models to explore the impacts on global biodiversity of interventions on land-use, consumption and production patterns. They outline six strategies that have the potential to stop the downfall of global terrestrial biodiversity by 2050 and redress it to a pre-1970 level by 2100. Although robust, sophisticated and well-illustrated, the conclusions of this paper cannot alone be used to frame a post-2020 biodiversity strategy.

MDA, as a sign of oxidative stress, was increasing as a factor that changes the toxicity of responses in the workplace and causes male infertility etiology. This study aims to measure the MDA levels of workers in the casting industry metal. This type of research was analytical explanatory research with a cross-sectional design. This study's variables include the variables taken are MDA levels while the independent variables were age, years of service, type of work, IMT, marital status, and smoking habits. A saturated sampling technique took the research sample of 34 workers. Data analysis used univariate and bivariate methods. The results determined that respondents had MDA hormone levels below the average of 24 or 70.6%, while respondents who had MDA levels above an average of 10 or 29.4%. MDA levels relating to the length of work and marital status, while the type of work, IMT, and smoking habits are not associated with MDA levels in metal casting industry workers in the CV. Bonjor Jaya Klaten.

Transition from primary to secondary school is more successful when students’ learning is consistent. Students are also more likely to enjoy the school, engage with learning, and have a high academic achievement in the secondary school when they feel motivated. This is a critical aspect especially in cases when global pandemics situations allow only the online schooling opportunity. Students that are away from school lack the traditional sources of motivation and self-regulated learning skills, thus research is needed to identify other important factors that can be developed in remote settings. The aim of this study was to find out how students perceive their experience with the transition from primary to secondary school and how such a transition influences students’ self-regulated learning (SRL) and motivation. Self-reported data were collected during the COVID-19 breakout from a total of N=80, 6th and 7th grade students aged 12-14 years old. Results showed that students had a successful transition, especially when they are supported by their parents and teachers. Next, Bivariate Pearson Correlation analysis indicated that students’ perceptions about their experience with the transition from primary to secondary school and their self-regulated learning and motivation are significantly correlated. No gender differences were found among all main study variables.

Phenotypic switching in cancer cells has been found to be present across tumor types. Recent studies on Glioblastoma report a remarkably common architecture of four well-defined phenotypes coexisting within high levels of intra-tumour genetic heterogeneity. Tumours grown from any cell type recapitulate the original phenotypic composition. Similar dynamics have been shown to occur in breast cancer, melanoma and likely across further cancer types. Given the adaptive potential of phenotypic switching (PHS) strategies, understanding how it drives tumour evolution and how to break down these architectures is a major priority. Here we model the ecological dynamics behind PHS. The model is able to reproduce experimental results, and specific conditions for cancer progression and clearance reveal novel features of plastic tumours and its direct consequences on therapy resistance. Following our results we discuss \textit{transition} therapy as a novel scheme to target not only combined cytotoxicity but also the rates of phenotypic switching.

A new strategy to nanoengineer gold/fluorocarbon multilayer (ML) nanostructures is reported. We have investigated the morphological changes occuring at the metal-polymer interface in multilayer structures with varying volume fraction of gold (Au) and the kinetic growth aspect of the microscale properties of nano-sized Au in plasma polymer fluorocarbon (PPFC). Investigations were carried out at various temperatures and annealing time by means of grazing incidence small-angle and wide-angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS and GIWAXS). We have fabricated a series of multilayers with variying volume fraction (0.12, 0.27, 0.38) of Au and bilayer periodicity in ML structure. They show an interesting granular structure consisting of nearly spherical shaped nanoparticles within the polymer layer. The nanoparticle (NP) morphology changes due to the collective effects of NPs diffusion within ensembles in the in-plane vicinity and inter-layer with increasing temperature. The in-plane NPs size distinctly increases (from 1.9 to 4 nm) with increasing temperature. The NPs become more spherical thus reducing the surface energy. Linear growth of NPs with temperature and time shows diffusion-controled growth of NPs in the ML structure. The structural stability of the multilayer is controlled by the volume ratio of the metal in polymer. At room temperature UV-Vis shows a blueshift of the plasmon peak from 560 nm in ML Au/PTFE_1 to 437 nm in Au/PTFE_3. We have identified the fabrication and post-deposition annealing conditions to limit the Local Surface Plasmon resonance (LSPR) shift (from 〖∆λ〗_LSPR=180 nm (Au/PTFE_1) to 〖∆λ〗_LSPR=67 nm (Au/PTFE_3 ML)) and their optical response over a wide visible wavelength range. A variation in the dielectric constant of the polymer in precence of varying Au inclusion is found to be the main factor affecting the LSPR frequency. Our finding may provide insights in Nano engineering ML structure can be useful to systematically control the growth of NPs in polymer matrix.

Intratumoral heterogeneity is a major ongoing challenge in the effective therapeutic targeting of cancer. Accumulating evidence suggests that a fraction of cells within a tumor termed Cancer Stem Cells (CSCs) are primarily responsible for this diversity resulting in therapeutic resistance and metastasis. Adding to this complexity, recent studies have shown that there can be different subpopulations of CSCs with varying biochemical and biophysical traits resulting in varied dissemination and drug-resistance potential. Moreover, cancer cells can exhibit a high level of plasticity or the ability to dynamically switch between CSC and non-CSC states or among different subsets of CSCs. The molecular mechanisms underlying such plasticity has been under extensive investigation and the trans-differentiation process of Epithelial to Mesenchymal transition (EMT) has been identified as a major contributing factor. Besides genetic and epigenetic factors, CSC plasticity is also shaped by non-cell-autonomous effects such as the tumor microenvironment. In this review, we discuss the recent developments in understanding CSC plasticity in tumor progression at biochemical and biophysical levels, and the latest in silico approaches being taken for characterizing cancer cell plasticity with implications in improving existing therapeutic approaches.

Over the last decades, the coated glass products, and especially the low-emissivity coatings have become a common building material used in modern architectural projects. More recently, these material systems became common in specialized glazing systems featuring solar energy harvesting. Apart from achieving the stability of optical parameters in multilayer coatings, it is also important to have improved control over the design of visual color properties of the coated glass. We prepare metal-dielectric composite (MDC) based multilayer thin-film structures using the RF-magnetron sputtering deposition and report on their optical and chromaticity properties in comparison with these obtained using pure metal-based Dielectric/Metal/Dielectric (DMD) trilayer structures of similar compositions. Experimentally achieved Hunter L, a, b values of MDC-based multilayer building blocks of coatings provide a new outlook on the engineering of future-generation optical coatings with better color consistency and developing approaches to broaden the range of achievable color coordinates and better environmental stability.

The use of cow bones for biomaterial is still limited; accordingly, the cow bones waste has low economic value. Basically, a human’s and a cow’s bones are the same in terms of their forming compound. Aluminum (Al) has the potential to combine with hydroxyapatite (HAp) to make metal matrix composites (MMC) that have the potential for biomaterials. Compatible elements to be combined with Al and HAp are magnesium (Mg), titanium (Ti), and Copper (Cu), used self-high propagating temperatures synthesis (SHS). MMC can be processed to be a useful, solid product. Applying pressure to the SHS reaction and heating process may result in biomaterial composite product consisting of some matrix materials such as Al come from cans materials used in the experiment was HAp that was processed from cow bones calcination, added by can that contained aluminum and wetting agent, namely magnesium. The exothermic temperature was 800-900°C. The compaction process was done to allow materials to be bound. Based on the ASTM F138 standard for element of biomaterials, the porosity value was below 30% and hardness level above 40 HV. Cow bones and can-based composite sample with the composition of HAp-Al-Mg: 85%-10%-5% met the standard since the hardness value was: 73.3 HV with a porosity value of 29.88%.

The remediation of dredged marine sediments contaminated by heavy metals has drawn increasing attention worldly. The immobilization was regarded as a promising method to reduce adverse impacts on marine ecosystem. In this study, kaolinite and limestone were used as amendments to immobilize heavy metals (e.g. Zn, Pb and Cu) respectively in dredged marine sediments collected from the coastal zone adjacent to Tianjin Port in Bohai Bay. The sequential extraction procedure was applied to identify the mobility of heavy metals and further to evaluate the immobilization effect of amendments. The physical-chemical properties of sediments, such as pH, electrical conductivity (EC), salinity, and total organic carbon (TOC), were also measured to better understand their influence on heavy metals’ mobility. In addition, the compositions of clay minerals were also analyzed to identify the transformation process of minerals in the sediments. The results of sequential extraction procedure indicated that mobile fractions of heavy metals were converted into relatively stable fractions because of the two amendments. In addition, EC, salinity and TOC decreased moderately while no obvious variations of pH in the sediments were observed with the addition of the the kaolinite and the limestone. The percentage of montmorillonite decreased to minimum value while that of chlorite increased gradually during the experimental periods for 40 days probably due to complexation reaction. It was confirmed that both kaolinite and limestone can effectively reduce the mobility and bioavailability of heavy metals, particularly for Zn, generally, limestone has a better immobilization effect compared with kaolinite.

The current manuscript presents a review on existing kiln burner technologies for the cement production process, in the context of the current climate of energy transition and environmental remediation. Environmental legislation has become ever stricter in response to global climate change, and cement plants need to adapt to this new reality in order to remain competitive in the market and ensure their longevity. The cement production process is a well-established technology with more than a century of existence. There are several plants in operation whose process is outdated by modern standards, particularly considering the current industry decarbonization needs. The cement process requires tremendous amounts of energy, mainly recovered from the combustion of solid, liquid or gaseous fuels, which yields massive emissions of greenhouse gases. Thus, an important onus is placed upon the minimization of pollutant emission in the combustion system, as well as a substitution of fossil fuels with more sustainable alternatives. One of the sus-tainable alternative fuels comes in the form of refuse derived fuels (RDF). These high caloric frac-tions of municipal solid waste present a double advantage by reducing the amount of fossil fuels used and reducing the landfilling fraction of waste. However, their use in rotary kiln burners comes with important limitations for burner operation, namely that a high degree of control over primary air supply is needed to ensure complete combustion with minimal pollutant emission.

In recent years, the need for safe and modern composite barrier for the prevention of groundwater contamination and the provision of Geo-environmental protection has been studied together with the need of designing low cost and effective liner for isolating landfill contents from the environment. In this study, various mix designs involving two natural adsorbents, the Na-Bentonite and the pH-adjusted sawdust were prepared for a series of Geo-environmental experiments to be carried out to determine the adsorption capacity, buffering capacity, pH changes, and COD changes among others, in the presence of Pb(NO3)2 contaminant concentrations. Generally, the results showed an increase in adsorption capacity in the acidic segment of the treatment. An increase of 58% of the adsorption efficiency of the Na-Bentonite in adsorbing the contaminant at the highest concentration was the most important achievement of the system while in the acidic segment.

This research paper presents a new application of electroactive polyimide doped with gold nanoparticles (PI/AuNPs) as a chemiresistor sensor for detecting hydrogen sulfide gas. The synthesis of PI/AuNPs was done in a simple 3-step process of polymerization using the as prepared amine-capped aniline trimer (ACAT), followed by imidization, and doping. Spectral analyses via FTIR, LC-MS and ¹H-NMR confirmed the formation of amine-capped aniline trimer with a MW of 288 g mol^-1. Comparison of ACAT, BSAA, and PI FTIR spectra showed successful polymerization of the last, while XRD validated the incorporation of metal nanoparticles onto the polymer matrix showing characteristic diffraction peaks corresponding to gold. Furthermore, TEM, and FE-SEM revealed the presence of well-dispersed Au nanoparticles with an average diameter of about 60nm. The electroactive PI/AuNPs-based sensor showed a sensitivity of 0.29% ppm^-1 H₂S at a linear concentration range of 50 to 300 ppm H₂S (r = 0.9777). The theoretical limit of detection was found at 0.142 ppm or 142 ppb H₂S gas. The sensor provided a stable response reading at an average response time of 43±5 seconds, which was easily recovered after an average time of 99±5 seconds. The sensor response was highly repeatable and reversible with RSD values of 8.88%, and 8.60%, respectively. Compared with the performance of the conventional conducting polyaniline also doped with gold nanoparticles (PANI/AuNPs), the fabricated electroactive PI/AuNPs exhibited improved sensing performance making it a potential candidate in monitoring H₂S in the environment and for work-related safety.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs), such as exosomes or oncosomes are released with molecules unfavorable for survival from cells. In addition, accumulating evidence has shown that tumor cells often eject anti-cancer drugs such as chemotherapeutics and targeted drugs within EVs, a novel mechanism of drug resistance. The EV-releasing, drug resistance phenotype is often coupled with cellular dedifferentiation and transformation, cells undergoing epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and taking on a cancer stem cell phenotype. Recent studies have shown that the release of EVs is also involved in immunosuppression. The concept of the resistance-associated secretory phenotype (RASP) is reviewed herein.

Cotton fiber development transition from elongation to secondary cell wall biosynthesis is a critical growth shifting phase that affects cotton fiber final length, strength and other properties. Morphological dynamic analysis indicates that an asynchronous fiber developmental pattern between two cotton species. The critical time point for Gh and Gb fiber elongation termination is, respectively, 23 and 27 days post-anthesis (dpa). The temporal changes of protein expression at three representative development periods (15–19, 19–23, 23–27 dpa) were examined in both species with iTRAQ technics. Strikingly, a large proportion of differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) was identified at 19–23 dpa in Gh or at 23–27 dpa in Gb, corresponding to their fiber developmental transition timing from elongation to secondary cell wall biosynthesis. To better understand fibers transitional development, we comparatively analyzed those DEPs in 19–23 dpa of Gh vs. in 23–27 dpa of Gb, and noted that these cotton species indeed share fundamentally similar fiber development features under the biological processes. It also showed that there have limited overlaps in both specific upregulated and downregulated proteins between the two species, suggesting specie-specific protein regulations in development. Proteomic profiling revealed dynamic changes of several key proteins and biological processes that potentially correlate with fiber development transition. During the transition, upregulated proteins mainly involved in carbohydrate/energy metabolism, oxidation-reduction, cytoskeleton, protein turnover, Ca²⁺ signaling etc, whereas important downregulated proteins mostly concentrated in phenylpropanoid and flavonoid secondary metabolism pathways. Several changed proteins in this key stage were also validated by qRT-PCR. Overall, the present study provides accurate pictures of the regulatory networks of functional proteins during the fiber developmental transition.

This paper explores the latest developments in electrolysis technology, a key player in the transition to sustainable energy systems. Electrolysis, despite currently contributing a small share to global hydrogen production, holds immense potential for producing green hydrogen. The study delves into the efficiency of electrolysis systems, emphasizing ongoing efforts to enhance energy conversion rates. It investigates the impact of high-temperature electrolysis on reducing electricity consumption, thus making the process more efficient. The paper discusses the various challenges in the research on water electrolysis and underscores the critical role electrolysis plays in integrating renewable energy sources. The study emphasizes the need for continuous advancements in electrolysis technology to bridge existing gaps, making a compelling case for its pivotal role in the green hydrogen revolution.

Understanding how and why cells cooperate to form multicellular organisms is a central aim of evolutionary biology. Multicellular groups can form through clonal development (where daughter cells stick to mother cells after division) or by aggregation (where cells aggregate to form groups). These different ways of forming groups directly affect relatedness between individual cells, which in turn influences the degree of cooperation and conflict within the multicellular group. It is hard to study the factors that favoured multicellularity by focusing only on obligately multicellular organisms, like complex animals and plants, because the factors that favour multicellular cooperation cannot be disentangled, as cells cannot survive and reproduce independently. We propose bakers yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, as an ideal model for studying the very first stages of the evolution of multicellularity. This is because it can form multicellular groups both clonally and through aggregation and uses a family of proteins called ‘flocculins’ that determine the way in which groups form, making it particularly amenable to lab experiments. We briefly review current knowledge about multicellularity in S. cerevisiae and then propose a framework for making predictions about the evolution of multicellular phenotypes in yeast based on social evolution theory. We finish by suggesting outstanding questions and potentially fruitful avenues for future research.

AMR and drug void have caused huge panic today with few thousand death per year. MDR Typhoid was a serious old disease and caused serious health hazard in humen and animals demanding an update on molecular biology of the status on transferable genetic elements. R-plasmids combined in F’-plasmid and the new MDR conjugative plasmids were shown abundant in Sanmonella ranging 70-440kb with similarities. BlaTEM, blaCTX-M, blaOXA, blaNDM mdr genes were abundant in >50 plasmids analyzed and metal resistant gene clusters are predominant in most large plasmids. Among the acetyltransferase all catA1, aacA1 and aac-1b-cr genes were located. Abundant streptomycin phosphotransferases (StrAB) and rarely colistin resistant Mcr-5/9 phosphoethanolamine–lipid A transferase were detected. Altered isomeric dihydropterote synthases (Sul1/2/3) were present giving sulfamethoxazole resistance and dhfr gene frequently associated giving trimethoprim resistance. Metal resistant gene clusters like SilABC (CusABC), PcoAB, RcnA, terABC, and merABCXT etc were found in many Salmonella enterica plasmids. Toxin genes like HipA and virulence genes like spvABD were located in few plasmids increasing virulence and pathogenesis. Drug efflux genes tetA or tetB and OqxB, floR, CmlA were frequent where as QepA and EamA genes were rarely seen. Thus, Salmonella metal resistant genes combined with antibiotic resistant genes has tried to overcome the both toxic antibiotics and metalions causing Typhoid AMR. Such acquisition spreads salmoniasis in the live stocks (pig, cow, chicken) where toxic soil and water dominate increasing chance of MDR typhoid in human.

Metal-organic framework (MOF) is a porous hybrid material of metal ions connected by organic bridging ligands. The coordination bonds link the metal ions, metal-ion clusters, and organic ligands to create the MOFs, and the materials are a distinctive class of crystalline frameworks. These porous materials possess relatively large surface area, tunable pore sizes, various functionalities, and high thermal stability. Therefore, diverse area of research including electrochemical sensor development utilizes distinctive and engineered MOFs materials. The review critically analyzes the strategy adopted for synthesizing a variety of MOFs materials. The role of these engineered materials in the fabrication of a miniaturized device demonstrates the detection of various emerging water contaminants in an aqueous medium. The studies demonstrated an understanding of the insights of sensor and device development. Moreover, the challenges encountered utilizing the MOFs in the electrochemical sensor development are precisely included, along with future perspectives of these studies.

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are among the most abundant air pollutants. Their high concentrations can adversely affect the human body and therefore, early detection of VOCs is of outmost importance. Among the different VOCs, in this review paper, we have focused our attention on the monitoring of acetaldehyde by chemiresistive gas sensors using nanostructured semiconducting metal oxides. These sensors not only can provide a high sensing signal for detection of acetaldehyde, but also high thermal and mechanical stability and low price. This review paper is divided into three major sections. First, we will introduce acetaldehyde as the target gas and the importance of its detection. Then, the fundamentals of chemiresistive gas sensors will be briefly presented and, in the last section, a survey of literature on acetaldehyde gas sensors will be discussed. Acetaldehyde sensors working mechanism, their structures and configurations are reviewed. Finally, the future development outlook and potential applications are discussed, giving a complete panoramic view for researcher working and interested in acetaldehyde detection for different purposes in many fundamentals and applicative fields.

The optimization of the production process of metal mines has been traditionally driven only by economic benefits while ignoring resource efficiency. However, it has become increasingly aware of the importance of resource efficiency since mineral resource reserves continue to decrease while the demand continues to grow. To better utilize the mineral resources for sustainable development, this paper proposes a multi-objective optimization model of the production process of metal mines considering both economic benefits and resource efficiency. Specifically, the goals of the proposed model are to maximize the profit and resource utilization rate. Then, the fast and elitist Non-Dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm (NSGA-II) is used to optimize the multi-objective optimization model. The proposed model has been applied to the optimization of the production process of a stage in the Huogeqi Copper Mine. The optimization results provide a set of Pareto-optimal solutions that can meet varying needs of decision makers. Moreover, compared with those of the current production indicators, the profit and resource utilization rate of some points in the optimization results can increase respectively by 2.99% and 2.64%. Additionally, the effects of the decision variables (geological cut-off grade, minimum industrial grade and loss ratio) on objective functions (profit and resource utilization rate) were discussed using variance analysis. The sensitivities of the Pareto-optimal solutions to the unit copper concentrate price were studied. The results show that the Pareto-optimal solutions at higher profits (with lower resource utilization rates) are more sensitive to the unit copper concentrate prices than those obtained in regions with lower profits.

Vibrational overtones in deeply bound molecules are sensitive probes for variation of the proton-to-electron mass ratio μ. In nonpolar molecules, these overtones may be driven as two-photon transitions. Here, we present procedures for experiments with O₂⁺, including state-preparation through photoionization, a two-photon probe, and detection. We calculate transition dipole moments between all X²П_g vibrational levels and those of the A²П_u excited electronic state. Using these dipole moments, we calculate two-photon transition rates and AC-Stark-shift systematics for the overtones. We estimate other systematic effects and statistical precision. Two-photon vibrational transitions in O₂⁺ provide multiple routes to improved searches for μ variation.

In the application of classical nucleation theory (CNT) and all other theoretical models of crystallization of liquids and glasses it is always assumed that nucleation proceeds only after the supercooled liquid or the glass have completed structural relaxation processes towards the metastable equilibrium state. Only employing such assumption, the thermodynamic driving force of crystallization and the surface tension can be determined in the way it is commonly performed. The present paper is devoted to the theoretical treatment of a different situation when nucleation proceeds concomitantly with structural relaxation. To treat the nucleation kinetics theoretically for such cases, we need adequate expressions for the thermodynamic driving force and the surface tension accounting for the contributions caused by the deviation of the supercooled liquid from metastable equilibrium. In the present paper, such relations are derived. They are expressed via deviations of structural order parameters from their equilibrium values. Relaxation processes result in changes of the structural order parameters with time. As a consequence, the thermodynamic driving force and surface tension, and basic characteristics of crystal nucleation, such as the work of critical cluster formation and the steady-state nucleation rate, also become time-dependent. We show that this scenario may be realized in the vicinity and below the glass transition temperature, and it may occur only if diffusion (controlling nucleation) and viscosity (controlling the alpha-relaxation process) in the liquid decouple. Analytical estimates are illustrated and confirmed by numerical computations for a model system. The theory is successfully applied to the interpretation of experimental data. Several further consequences of this newly developed theoretical treatment are discussed in detail. In line with our previous investigations, we reconfirm that only when the characteristic times of structural relaxation are of similar order of magnitude or longer than the characteristic times of crystal nucleation, elastic stresses evolving in nucleation may significantly affect this process. Completing the analysis of elastic stress effects, for the first time expressions are derived for the dependence of the surface tension of critical crystallites on elastic stresses. As the result, a comprehensive theoretical description of crystal nucleation accounting appropriately for the effects of deviations of the liquid from the metastable states and of relaxation on crystal nucleation of glass-forming liquids, including the effect of simultaneous stress evolution and stress relaxation on nucleation, is now available. As one if its applications, this theoretical treatment provides a new tool for the explanation of the low-temperature anomaly in nucleation in silicate and polymer glasses (the so-called \breakdown" of CNT at temperatures below the temperature of the maximum steady-state nucleation rate). We show that this anomaly results from much more complex features of crystal nucleation in glasses caused by deviations from metastable equilibrium (resulting in changes of the thermodynamic driving force, the surface tension, and the work of critical cluster formation, in the necessity to account of structural relaxation and stress effects) than assumed so far.

This review summarizes experimental and theoretical studies of transition metal complexes with two types of novel metal-carbon bonds. One type features complexes with carbones CL2 as ligands, where the carbon(0) atom has two electron lone pairs which engage in double (σ and π) donation to the metal atom [M] CL2. The second part of this review reports complexes which have a neutral carbon atom C as ligand. Carbido complexes with naked carbon atoms may be considered as endpoint of the series [M]-CR3 → [M]-CR2 → [M]-CR → [M]-C.

This paper focuses on parametric model order reduction (PMOR) of guided ultrasonic wave propagation and its interaction with damage in a fiber metal laminate (FML). Structural health monitoring in FML seeks to detect, localize and characterize the damage with high accuracy and minimal use of sensors. This can be achieved by the inverse problem analysis approach which employs the signal measurement data recorded by the embedded sensors in the structure. The inverse analysis requires to solve the forward simulation of the underlying system several thousand times. These simulations are often exorbitantly expensive and triggered the need for improving their computational efficiency. A PMOR approach hinged on the proper orthogonal decomposition method is presented in this paper. An adaptive parameter sampling technique is established with the aid of a surrogate model to efficiently update the reduced-order basis in a greedy fashion. A numerical experiment is conducted to illustrate the parametric training of the reduced-order model. The results show that the reduced-order solution based on the PMOR approach is accurately complying with that of the high fidelity solution.

In this study, we seek to analyze and numerically evaluate a plasmonic sensor. To form the sensor structure, we use several amplifiers, such as two rings attached to each other and a cavity, as well as two metal insulating metal waveguides (MIM). At the beginning of this simulation, we must examine the resonant wavelengths and the refractive index of the resonators using the finite difference time domain method. By changing the refractive index and changing the dimensions of the cavity and the rims, we seek to investigate the sensor performance and the conduction characteristics of the plasmonics and to obtain the effect of these parameters. To evaluate the sensor performance, we calculate the three factors of sensitivity coefficient S, quality factor Q and figure of merit (FOM), here we reach the sensitivity of 987.6 nm / RIU. Such a plasmonic sensor with a simple framework and high optical resolution can be very useful for sensor systems on optical circuits.

The purpose of this study is to estimate the mean transitioning probabilities from a Healthy state to malaria positive uncomplicated state or to malaria positive severe state. It also classifies the various transitioning probabilities of moving through the various states based on some baseline characteristics. Malaria test results for 2019 over a 12-month period were collected from the University of Ghana school clinic. An H-U model for the study was developed and the transition rates from the cross-sectional data are indicated. With two states Healthy (H) and Uncomplicated (U) forming a state space, there were four possible transitions. The results show that the probability of transitioning from a Healthy state to a malaria positive state is 0.03% while the probability that an individual will remain at Healthy state (H) after the test is 99.73%. It was found that if an individual is already positive and has taken medication the probability that its second test came out negative is 6.45% while the chances that it will remain positive but uncomplicated is 93.55%. The study also showed that in the long run, about 95.98% of persons who visited the student clinic with malaria symptoms recorded negative tests for malaria parasite while about 4% recorded positive for malaria. In terms of disaggregation by gender, it was realized that the number of reported negative test results were higher for females (97.08%) than for males (96.13%). However, the infection rate is higher for males (3.87%) than females (2.92%). It is recommended that in as much as the University of Ghana has two health centers (a clinic and hospital), there should be a centralized system to track students’ health so research done would not be biased.

Chronic rhinosinusitis is a common inflammatory disease of paranasal sinuses, which causes rhinorrhea, nasal congestion and hyposmia. The genetic predisposition or the exposure to irritants can sustain the inflammatory response and the development of nasal polyposis. Nasal polyps are benign and teardrop-shaped growths that project in the nasal cavities and originate from the ethmoid sinuses. This inflammatory process is associated with high expression of IL-5 cytokine and infiltration of eosinophils. Humanized monoclonal antibodies targeting IL-5 or its receptor, represent a therapeutic strategy in the treatment of nasal polyposis in combination with corticosteroids. The molecular pathogenesis of nasal polyps in CRS patients is associated to the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), a process in which epithelial cells lose their typical phenotype acquiring a mesenchymal phenotype. TGFβ/SMAD, ERK, and Wnt/β-catenin pathways are altered in EMT during the nasal tissue remodeling. miRNA and inhibitor molecules targeting these altered signaling pathways are able to interfere with EMT; which could lead to alternative therapies. Nasal polyps are an alternative source of mesenchymal stem cells which can be easily isolated from surgical biopsies. A molecular understanding of the biology of PO-MSCs will contribute to delineating inflammatory process underlying the development of nasal polyps.

The apparent metal-insulator transition (MIT) in two-dimension (2D) was discovered by Kravchenko et al. [1] more than two decades ago in strongly interacting 2D electrons residing in a Si-metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (Si-MOSFET). Its origin remains unresolved. Recently, low magnetic field reentrant insulating phases (RIPs), which dwell between the zero-field (B=0) metallic state and the integer quantum Hall (QH) states where the Landau-level filling factor υ > 1, have been observed in strongly correlated 2D GaAs hole systems with large interaction parameter rs (~20-40) and high purity. A new complex phase diagram was proposed, which includes zero field MIT, low magnetic field RIPs, integer QH states, fractional QH states, high field RIPs and insulating phases (HFIPs) with υ < 1 in which the insulating phases are explained by the formation of Wigner crystal. Furthermore, evidences of new intermediate phases were reported. All contribute to the further understandings of the puzzle. This review article serves the purpose of summarizing those recent experimental findings and theoretical endeavors, to foster future research efforts.

Today, contamination from heavy metals in the atmosphere is a global concern. Efficient detection techniques are therefore necessary if heavy metal exposure levels in different media are to be determined. The voltammetry method for in situ detection of heavy metal ions is a very sensitive electrochemical method. This thesis explores emerging developments in electrode alteration, materials production and experimental optimization. An electrochemical sensing platinum nanoparticle in the tantalum electrode is provided by means of an Ion Beam Sputtering Deposition (IBSD). The electrode was made with a Pt solution, sputtered simultaneously with hydrochloric acid corrosion on tantalum substrate. In the study of heavy metal ions, for example, the platinum nanoparticle electrodes as prepared were used Square wavelength voltammetry (OSWV) Hg²⁺, Cu²⁺ and Ag²⁺. The porous electrodes were observed in a broader range by the Pt nanostructure electrode for heavy metal ions. Furthermore, the susceptibility to detection has been shown to be saturated as the thickness of the layer electrode exceeded 50 nm. For Hg²⁺ 0,003-1 M, for Cu²⁺ 0,005-3 M and for Ag²⁺ the linear detection scale is 0,009-4 M. There has also been good reusability and repeatability. In addition, a scan electron microscope (SEM) used to study platinum electrode forming process and nanostructure. This electrode will have interesting applications in sensing systems.

Metal 3D printing technology is a promising manufacturing method. The quality of the printed product can pass for mechanical application, if the anisotropy of the microstructure, imperfections, deformation, and residual stress of the printed sample could be lower than the appropriate level or if they are fully illuminated. Thermal stress is one of the significant reasons for deformation in the 3D printed samples. Thermal stresses are the direct consequence of the local temperature gradient. In this research, the effect of the temperature printer’s chamber (from room temperature to 900 C) was studied on thermal stress and subsequent total deformation in the printed sample. The printed sample is a six-layers-printed walk, which could be considered as a building block of other complex shapes and give us inside about deformation. The computational results show a meaningful reduction in thermal stress and deformation at the higher temperature of the printer’s chamber. The lower final deformation of the printed sample is an important subject, especially for samples with complex shapes.

Among others, road traffic, industrial emissions, commercial activities, smoking and cooking are considered as major contributing factors for the increasing levels of pollutants in atmosphere. High levels of potentially toxic metals and microbes in atmosphere, especially in indoor air, may pose serious threat to human health. Therefore, concentration and associated health risks of potentially toxic trace metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Pb, and Zn) and their risk to human health, and microbial load in indoor air was assessed using air condition (AC) filter dust samples collected from 5 locations representing residential, agricultural and industrial settings of Eastern Province, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The levels of trace metals varied considerably among sampling areas, with the highest levels of Cr and Cd recorded in the Industrial-area sites followed by the Agricultural and Urban-Residential sites. The highest levels of Pb and Fe were found in the Agricultural area sites followed by the Industrial and Urban-Residential area sites. The metals in dust sample, especially Cd, Cr and Pb, showed a considerable health risk through dermal pathway. Among the sites, the highest hazard quotient for these metals was found for Al-Qatif-Industrial areas sites and among the metals it was the highest for Cd. The cancer risk from the metals contained in AC filter dust was negligible. Samples collected from Agricultural and Industrial area sites were substantially contaminated with bacteria and fungi, respectively. Bacterial contaminants were mostly Gram Negative, with considerable antibiotic resistance and haemolytic activity. Thus, indoor air quality as assessed by AC filter dust depicted that a considerable health risk could be posed by the trace heavy metals and microorganisms for a long-term exposure. Furthermore, this study demonstrated that AC filters dust could be a unique and reliable test sample for the assessment of indoor environment.

In this paper, we synthesized MC(BeA-co-MMA) copolymer microcapsules through suspension polymerization. The pendent n-behenyl group of BeA is highly crystalline, and it acts as the side-chain in the structure of BeA-co-MMA copolymer. The highly crystalline n-behenyl side-chain provides BeA-co-MMA copolymer thermal-energy-storage capacity. In order to investigate the correlation between thermal properties and crystal structure of BeA-co-MMA copolymer, the effects of monomer ratio, temperature changing and changing rate, as well as synthesis method were discussed. The monomer ratio influenced crystal transition behavior and thermal properties greatly. The DSC results proved that when the monomer ratio of BeA and MMA was 3:1, MC(BeA-co-MMA)3 showed the highest average phase change enthalpy ΔH (105.1 J·g–1). It indicated that the n-behenyl side-chain formed relatively perfect crystal region, which ensured a high energy storage capacity of copolymer. All the DSC and SAXS results proved that the amount of BeA had a strong effect on the thermal-energy-storage capacity of copolymer and the long spacing of crystals, but barely on the crystal lamella. It was found that MMA units worked like defects in the n-behenyl side-chain crystal structure of BeA-co-MMA copolymer. Therefore, a lower fraction of MMA, that is, a higher fraction of BeA contributed to a higher crystallinity of BeA-co-MMA copolymer for providing a better energy storage capacity and thermoregulation property. ST(BeA-co-MMA) copolymer sheets with the same ingredients as microcapsules were also prepared through light-induced polymerization aiming at clarifying the effect of synthesis method. The results proved that synthesis method mainly influenced the copolymer chemical component, but lightly on the crystal packing of n-behenyl side-chain.

The origin of cancer remains one of the most important enigmas in modern biology. The prevailing paradigm has failed to grasp a comprehensive view of the disease. Naturally, therapies developed under the current assumptions are inadequate and cancer is practically an incurable disease. Meanwhile, descriptive studies continuously extend the molecular complexity of cancer without an equivalent advancement in its understanding. Furthermore, they tend to accumulate inconsistencies inexplicable under the classical view. This paper presents a compelling theory of the origin of carcinomas. By hypothesis, a series of generic events in epithelial tissues promoted by cellular aging and inflammation enables the reactivation of developmental programs. The origin of carcinomas in vivo is described as the time-ordered cell state transitions undergone by epithelial cells in the hyperplasia due to replicative senescence and inflammation towards a mesenchymal undifferentiated endogenous cell state with cancerous behavior. In support of the theory, the molecular, cellular, and histopathological evidence is critically reviewed. A plausible model for the origin of carcinomas is presented to explain the mechanism underlying carcinogenesis from an evolutive and developmental perspective. The implications of the hypothesis in the current strategies for cancer prevention and treatment are discussed along with rational alternatives and some predictions for possible experimental validation.

While the scientific community has focused on documenting environmental degradation and developing scenarios that help identify the operational margins for system Earth, less attention has been given to the mental models of decision-makers that underpin environmental policies. We suggest that global efforts to stop deforestation and biodiversity loss are failing in part due to a critical blind spot in the analysis—human agency. To address this weakness, we propose to formulate mental models and translate them into strategy games. This will increase the representation of agency in scenario development and create spaces for deliberation between different worldviews. We claim that personal transformation can be achieved through transparent democratic dialogues that identify, challenge, and respond to the human and social limitations inherent to decision-making and we present empirical examples that validate that claim. Their transformation through gaming gives decision-makers access to the experience of consciousness: “what is it like being a stakeholder?”. Such experience will help to break free of established norms in science and political processes.

Understanding potential uptake and biodistribution of engineered nanoparticles in soil-grown plants is imperative for toxicity and risk assessment considering the oral exposure of edibles by humans. Herein, we assessed potential influence of particle size (25, 50, and 250 nm) and concentration (0, 50, 100, 200, and 500 mg/kg-soil) of Copper oxide nanoparticles (CuONPs) on: (1) the root system architecture, and the physicochemical attributes of soil at the soil-root interface, (2) leading to Cu transport and accumulation in root, stem, leaf and seed in soybean (Glycine max cv Kowsar) grown for entire lifecycle of 120 days, and compared with soluble Cu²⁺ ions and water-only controls, and (3) performed a comparative assessment of total seed Cu levels in soybean with other valuable food sources for Cu intake and discussed its human health implications. Our findings showed particle size- and concentration-dependent influence of CuONPs on Cu uptake and tissue distribution in root, stem, leaf and seed in soybean. Alterations in root architecture (root dry weight, root length, root volume, and root area) were dependent on the Cu compound type, Cu concentrations, and their interactions (p<0.05), except for root density. Concentration-response relationships for all three sized CuONPs, and Cu²⁺ ions, were linear. CuONPs and Cu²⁺ ions had inhibitory effects on root growth and development. Overall, soybean responses to smallest size CuONPs-25 nm were higher for all parameters investigated compared to two larger sized CuONPs (50 nm, 250 nm) or Cu²⁺ ions. Cu uptake/bioaccumulation differed among soybean tissues in the order: root > leaf > stem > seed. Despite reduced root architecture and seed yield, our smallest size CuONPs-25 nm led to increased total seed Cu uptake compared to the larger sized CuONPs and Cu²⁺ ions tested. Our findings also suggest that soil amendment by CuONPs, more so by the smallest size CuONPs-25 nm, could significantly improve nutritional Cu value in soybean seed as reflected by % Daily Values (DV), and are rated “Good” to “Very Good” according to the “World’s Healthiest Foods” rating. However, until the potential toxicity and risk from consumption of soybean seed is characterized in humans, caution should be exercised when the Cu fortified seeds are used for daily human consumption when addressing Cu deficiency and associated illnesses, globally.

We review the latest developments in the field of the metal-insulator transition in strongly-correlated two-dimensional electron systems. Particular attention is given to recent discoveries of a sliding quantum electron solid and interaction-induced spectrum flattening at the Fermi level in high-quality silicon-based structures.

The out-of-equilibrium dynamics of many body systems has recently received a burst of interest, also due to experimental implementations. The dynamics of both observables, such as magnetization and susceptibilities, and quantum information related quantities, such as concurrence and entanglement entropy, have been investigated under different protocols bringing the system out of equilibrium. In this paper we focus on the entanglement entropy dynamics under a sinusoidal drive of the tranverse magnetic field in the 1D quantum Ising model. We find that the area and the volume law of the entanglement entropy coexist under periodic drive for an initial non-critical ground state. Furthermore, starting from a critical ground state, the entanglement entropy exhibits finite size scaling even under such a periodic drive. This critical-like behaviour of the out-of-equilibrium driven state can persist for arbitrarily long time, provided that the entanglement entropy is evaluated on increasingly subsytem sizes, whereas for smaller sizes a volume law holds. Finally, we give an interpretation of the simultaneous occurrence of critical and non-critical behaviour in terms of the propagation of Floquet quasi-particles.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is one of the most prevailing neurodegenerative diseases, characterized by memory dysfunction and the presence of hyperphosphorylated tau and amyloid β (Aβ) aggregate in multiple brain regions, including the hippocampus and cortex. The exact etiology of AD has not yet been confirmed. However, epidemiological reports suggest that populations who were exposed to environmental hazards are more likely to develop AD than those who were not. Arsenic (As) is a naturally occurring environmental risk factor abundant in the Earth’s crust and human exposure to As predominantly occurs through drinking water. Convincing evidence suggests that As causes neurotoxicity and impairs memory and cognition although the hypothesis and molecular mechanism of As-associated pathobiology in AD are not clear yet. However, exposure to As and its metabolites leads to various pathogenic events such as oxidative stress, inflammation, mitochondrial dysfunctions, ER stress, apoptosis, impaired protein homeostasis, and abnormal calcium signaling. Evidence has indicated that As exposure induces alterations that coincide with most of the biochemical, pathological, and clinical developments of AD. Here, we overview existing literature to gain insights into the plausible mechanisms that underlie As-induced neurotoxicity and the subsequent neurological deficits in AD. Prospective strategies for the prevention and management of arsenic exposure and neurotoxicity have also been discussed.

Sorghum is a multipurpose crop, but Cr(VI) toxicity influenced the production of the crop and have established highlighted courtesy, due to robust toxicity and a comparatively less known mode of action. Many reports approve the negative impact of Cr(VI) on plants. Yet, it is not clear that, at what concentrations, Cr(VI) inhibits the growth and nutrient quality of Sorghum. In the present research, toxic effects appeared after 1ppm of Cr treatment. The plant growth decreased 15 – 20% and nutritional quality decreased 30 – 40% significantly with increasing concentration of Cr(VI). Toxic components increased 14 – 16% with increasing concentration of Cr(VI) in both the varieties (HJ 541 and SSG 59-3). Chromium was accumulated more in roots followed by shoots with increasing Cr(VI) treatments (0-4 ppm). Chromium at 4ppm level was becoming lethal to Sorghum. Sorghum cultivar SSG 59-3 was more tolerable to Cr toxicity than HJ 541. Chromium accumulated in Sorghum and increased HCN content and at higher doses adversely affects the nutritive values and growth making it toxic for animal consumption. These findings may be useful for scheming a mitigation strategy for chromium toxicity.

Copper is a heavy metal used in many industries and known for its negative impacts on the environment and human’s health. A novel structured metal organic framework (MOF) was used for copper adsorption for this work. SEM, EDAX, XRD and FTIR were done to confirm the structure of MOF prepared. MOF of 0.05 gm was used to examine its ability in Cu+ 2 removals with different initial concentrations of Cu+2 and pH values (5, 7 and 9). The prepared MOF was able to achieve Cu removal with 94.6%, 93%, 91.5%, and 92.5 % for the initial concentrations of 5, 10, 15, and 20 ppm respectively. It also performed very well for pH 5 and 7 with average removal ranging from 93.9%-95% for pH 5 and 7 for the initial concentrations of 5, 10, and 15 respectively which indicate that the prepared MOF is of high ability in Cu+ 2 removal.

The Heisenberg {\it ab initio} theory of magnetization is developed to apply for multilayer nanoparticles. The theory is based on distribution and partition functions modification with account the difference between exchange integral and closest neighbour numbers, that change the system of resulting transcendental equation for magnetization and its reversal to form either a paramagnetic type curve or hysteresis loops patterns. The equations are obtained within the Heisenberg partition function construction by Heitler diagonalization of energy matrix via irreducible representations of permutation symmetry group. A combination with the Gauss distribution gives the explicit expression for the partition function in the asymptotic limit] at large spin range in terms of transcendent function. The exchange integral, as a parameter of the equation of state (material equation) is evaluated from Curie temperature value by means of a formula derived within the presented theory. Methods of data processing from the simultaneous solution of the material equation system are proposed. The multi-valued function of hysteresis loop is found by combination of graphical approach and special procedure for elimination of mistaken peaks and prolapses of the patterns. The theory and computation methods are applied to spherical particles with separate surface layers consideration. The contribution of the surface layers, that are specified by number of closest neighbors and exchange integrals into overall magnetization, is studied for two-layer and three-layer models, that are discussed and compared graphically.

Most of the commonly used Ionic Liquids (ILs) contain bulky organic cations with suitable anions. With our COMPLET (Concept of Melting Point Lowering due to Ethoxylation), we follow a different approach. We use simple, low-toxic, cheap and commercially available anions of the type Cx(EO)yCH2COO– to liquefy presumably any simple metal ion, independently of its charge. In the simplest case, the cation can be sodium or lithium, but synthesis of Ionic Liquids is also possible with cations of higher valences such as transition or rare earth metals. Anions with longer alkyl chains are surface active and form surface active ionic liquids (SAILs), which combine properties of ionic and nonionic surfactants at room temperature. They show significant structuring even in their pure state, i.e. in the absence of water or any other added solvent.

The copper deposition on the platinum and palladium nanoelectrode has been studied using cyclic voltammetry. The use of nanoelectrode platinum and palladium are defined in the study of heavy metals. The noble nanoelectrode of metal has a typical silicone processing structure. In comparison to the nanoelectrodes, the geometry of the electrode series is complex and balanced. Nanoelectrodes of platinum are found effective in detecting heavy metal. There was regular analysis of the use of the sensors. The identification constraints down to the ng /L level was accomplished by refined electrode geometry and the stripping procedures. The process was used for the study of water sample determination. Another heavy metal ion attack voltammetric reaction was studied. The SEM picture clearly observed and characterized the nanoparticle electrode by X-ray diffraction and cyclic voltammetry.

The activity of the mitochondrial Permeability Transition Pore, mPTP, a highly regulated multi-component mega-channel, is enhanced in aging and in aging-driven degenerative diseases. mPTP activity accelerates aging by releasing large amounts of cell-damaging Reactive Oxygen Species, Ca2+ and NAD+. The various pathways that control the channel activity, directly or indirectly, can therefore either, inhibit, or accelerate aging, retards, or enhance the progression of aging-driven degenerative diseases, and determine lifespan and healthspan. Autophagy, a catabolic process that removes and digests damaged proteins and organelles protects the cell against aging and disease. However, the protective effect of autophagy depends on mTORC2/SKG1 inhibition of mPTP. Autophagy is inhibited in aging cells. Mitophagy, a specialized form of autophagy, which retards aging by removing mitochondrial fragments with activated mPTP, is also inhibited in aging cells, and this inhibition leads to increased mPTP activation, which is a major contributor to neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases. The Increased activity of mPTP in aging turns autophagy/mitophagy into a destructive process leading to cell aging and death. Several drugs and lifestyle modifications that enhance healthspan and lifespan enhance autophagy and inhibit the activation of mPTP. Therefore, elucidating the intricate connections between pathways that activate and inhibit mPTP, in the context of aging and degenerative diseases, could enhance the discovery of new drugs and lifestyle modifications that slow aging and degenerative disease.

Metal halide perovskites (MHPs), in particular lead-based halide perovskites have earned a recognized fame in several fields for their outstanding optoelectronics properties including direct generation of free charge carriers, optimal ambipolar charge carrier transport properties, high absorption coefficient, point-defect tolerance, and compositional versatility. Nowadays, this class of materials represents a real and promising alternative of silica for the photovoltaic technologies. This worthy success led to a growing interest in the exploration of MHP materials in other hot research fields such as the solar-driven photocatalytic water splitting towards hydrogen production, CO2 reduction to CO and CH4, useful organic reactions such as organic synthesis (formation of C-C, C-N, and C-O bonds), and pollutants and dye degradation. Nevertheless, many of these perovskite materials showed air and moisture instability problems that considerably hinder their practical application for photocatalytic water splitting and photodegradation of CO2. Moreover, if the chemical instability is a problem that can be in part mitigated by the optimization of the lattice structure, the presence of lead represents a real problem for the practical application of these type of materials in commercial devices. To successfully overcome this problem, lead-free metal halide perovskites (LFMHPs) have gained increasing interest thanks to their promising optoelectronic properties, comparable to lead-based materials, and their eco-friendly nature. Among all the lead-free perovskite alternatives, this mini review will focus the attention on the bismuth-based perovskites and perovskite derivatives with specific focus on solar-driven photocatalysis application for H2 evolution.

Food preservatives are compound that are used for the treatment of food to improve the shelf life. In the food industry, is necessary to monitor all processes, for both safety and quality of the product. An electronic nose (or e-nose) is a biomimetic olfactory system that could find numerous industrial applications, including food quality control. Commercial electronic noses are based on sensor arrays composed by a combination of different sensors, which include conductometric metal oxide devices. Metal oxide nanowires are considered among the most promising materials for the fabrication of novel sensing devices, which can enhance the overall performances of e-noses in food applications. In the present work, is reported the fabrication of a novel sensor array based on SnO2, CuO and WO₃ nanowires deposited on top of commercial μHPs, provided by ams Sensor Solutions Germany GmbH. The array was tested for the discrimination of four typical compounds added to food products or used for their treatment to increase the shelf life: ethanol, acetone, nitrogen dioxide and ozone. Results are very promising: the sensors array was able to operate for long time consuming less than 50mW for each single sensor, and PCA analysis confirms that the device was able to discriminate between different compounds.

The wide interest in developing green energy technologies stimulates the scientific community to seek, for devices, new substitute material platforms with low environmental impact, ease of production and processing and long-term stability. The synthesis of metal oxide (MO) semiconductors fulfils these requirements and efforts are addressed at optimizing their functional properties, through improvement of charge mobility or energy level alignment. Two MOs have rising perspectives for application in light harvesting devices, mainly for the role of charge selective layers but also as light absorbers, namely MoO3 (an electron blocking layer) and Co3O4 (a small band gap semiconductor). The need to achieve better charge transport has prompted us to attempt doping strategies with vanadium (V) ions that, when combined with oxygen in V2O5, produce a high work function MO. We report on subcritical hydrothermal synthesis of V-doped mesostructures of MoO3 and of Co3O4, in which a tight control of the doping is exerted by tuning the relative amounts of reactants. We accomplished a full analytical characterization of these V-doped MOs that unambiguously demonstrates incorporation of the vanadium ions in the MO crystal lattice, as well as effects on the optical properties and work function. We foresee a promising future use of these materials as charge selective materials in energy devices based on multilayer structures.

Solid oxide cells are capable of efficiently converting various chemical energy carriers to electricity and vice versa. The urgent challenge nowadays is the faster degradation rate compared with other fuel cell/electrolyzer technologies. To understand the degradation mechanisms, simulation of a solid oxide cell is helpful. Since most previous research developed models using commercial software, such as COMSOL and ANSYS Fluent, a gap for knowledge transfer is being gradually formed between academia and industry due to licensing issues. This paper introduces a multiphysics model, developed by a computational code, openFuelCell2. The code is implemented with an open-source library, OpenFOAM. It accounts for momentum transfer, mass transfer, electrochemical reactions and metal interconnect oxidation. The model can precisely predict I-V curves under different temperatures, fuel humidity and operation modes. Comparison between OpenFOAM and COMSOL simulations shows good agreement. The metal interconnect oxidation is modelled, which can predict the thickness of the oxide scale under different protective coatings. Simulations are conducted by assuming an ultra-thin film resistance on the rib surface. It is revealed that coatings fabricated by atmospheric plasma spraying can efficiently prevent metal interconnect oxidation, with a contribution of only 0.53 \% to the total degradation rate.

An electrochemical sensing platinum nanoparticle in the tantalum electrode is provided by means of an Ion Beam Sputtering Deposition (IBSD). The electrode was made with a Pt solution, sputtered simultaneously with hydrochloric acid corrosion on tantalum substrate. In the study of heavy metal ions, for example, the platinum nanoparticle electrodes as prepared were used Square wavelength voltammetry (OSWV) Hg²⁺, Cu²⁺ and Ag²⁺. The porous electrodes were observed in a broader range by the Pt nanostructure electrode for heavy metal ions. Furthermore, the susceptibility to detection has been shown to be saturated as the thickness of the layer electrode exceeded 50 nm. For Hg²⁺ 0,003-1 M, for Cu²⁺ 0,005-3 M and for Ag²⁺ the linear detection scale is 0,009-4 M. There has also been good reusability and repeatability. In addition, a scan electron microscope (SEM) used to study platinum electrode forming process and nanostructure. This electrode will have interesting applications in sensing systems.

A critical challenge underpinning the adoption of Additive Manufacture (AM) as a technology is the postprocessing of manufactured components. For Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) this can involve the removal of powder from the interior of the component, often by vibrating the component to fluidise the powder to encourage drainage. In this paper we develop and validate a computational model of the flow of metal powder suitable for predicting powder removal from such AM components. The model is a continuum Eulerian multiphase model of the powder including models for the granular temperature; the effect of vibration can be included through appropriate wall boundaries for this granular temperature. We validate the individual sub-models appropriate for AM metal powders by comparison with in-house and literature experimental results, and then apply the full model to a more complex geometry typical of an AM Heat Exchanger. The model is shown to provide valuable and accurate results at a fraction of the computational cost of a particle-based model.

Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) is a versatile technique that complements the information given by the more traditional thermal analysis techniques such as differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and thermal mechanical analysis (TMA). Dynamic constants such as storage modulus, loss modulus, and loss factor are temperature dependent and provide information about interfacial bonding between reinforced fibre and polymer matrix of composite material. To study the above mentioned properties at the glass transition region, for unidirectional fibrous composites reinforced with continuous fibers a reliable model was applied. In particular, the composite material was considered as composed of three phases with the intermediate phase between matrix and fibres, the interphase, to have variable properties depending on those of main phases and the mode of preparation of the overall material. The glass transition temperature is defined as the point at which the specific volume versus temperature curve changes abruptly slope marking the region between rubbery polymer and glassy polymer nature. Hence, the behaviour of unidirectional fibrous composites was investigated at this region. Examination of the glass transition temperature, which constitutes an upper limit for the structurally important glassy region through the loss factor, was performed by its consideration as a combination of glass transition temperature of matrix and interphase.

Residual stress (RS) is the most challenging problem in metal additive manufacturing (AM) since the build-up of high tensile RS may influence the fatigue life, corrosion resistance, crack initiation, and failure of the additively manufactured components. While tensile RS is inherent in all the AM processes, fast and accurate prediction of stress state within the part is extremely valuable and would result in optimization of the process parameters in achieving a desired RS and control of the build process. This paper proposes a physics-based analytical model to rapidly and accurately predict the RS within the additively manufactured part. In this model, a transient moving point heat source (HS) is utilized to determine the temperature field. Due to the high temperature gradient within the proximity of the melt pool area, material experience high thermal stress. Thermal stress is calculated by combining three sources of stresses known as stresses due to the body forces, normal tension, and hydrostatic stress in a homogeneous semi-infinite medium. The thermal stress determines the RS state within the part. Consequently, by taking the thermal stress history as an input, both the in-plane and out of plane RS distributions are found from incremental plasticity and kinematic hardening behavior of the metal by considering volume conservation in plastic deformation in coupling with the equilibrium and compatibility conditions. In this modeling, material properties are temperature-sensitive since the steep temperature gradient varies the properties significantly. Moreover, the energy needed for the solid-state phase transition is reflected by modifying the specific heat employing the latent heat of fusion. Furthermore, the multi-layer and multi-scan aspects of metal AM are considered by including the temperature history from previous layers and scans. Results from the analytical RS model presented excellent agreement with XRD measurements employed to determine the RS in the Ti-6Al-4V specimens.

The recovery of precious metals is a project with both economic and environmental significance. In this paper, it presents how to use bacterial mineralization to selectively recover gold from multi-ionic aqueous systems. The Bacillus licheniformis FZUL-63, separated from a landscape lake in FuZhou University, was shown to selectively mineralize and precipitate gold from coexisting ions in aqueous solution. The removal of Au(III) was almost happened in first hour, and FTIR data show that the amino, carboxyl and phosphate groups on the surface of the bacteria are related to the adsorption of gold ions. XPS results implied that Au(III) ions are reduced to monovalent, and then the Au(I) was adsorbed on the bacterial surface at the beginning stage(first hour). XRD results showed the gold biomineralization began about 10 hours after the interaction between Au(III) ions and bacteria. The Au(III) mineralization has been rarely influenced by other co-existing metal ions. TEM analysis shows the gold nanoparticles are polyhedral structure with a particle size of ~20 nm. The Bacillus licheniformis FZUL-63 could selectively mineralize and recover 478 mg/g(dry biomass) gold from aqua regia-based metal wastewater through four cycles. It could be of great potential in the practical application.

Radially polymerized dendritic compounds are nowadays an established polymer category next to their linear, branched and cross-linked counterparts. Their uncommon tree-like architecture is characterized by adjustable internal cavities and external groups. They are therefore exceptional absorbents and this attainment of high concentrations into their interior renders them ideal reac-tion media. In this framework they are applied in many environmentally benign implementa-tions. One of the most important among them is water purification though pollutant decomposi-tion. Simple and composite catalysts and photo-catalysts containing dendritic polymers and ap-plied in water remediation will be discussed jointly with some unconventional solutions and fu-ture prospects.

This study examines whether gas is emitted from the materials used in the fabrication of metal vacuum panels or not and if emitted, their degree as time goes by. As experimental materials, metal sheets, foamed concrete as a core material, and polymer materials as a sealing material between metal sheets were selected. Experiments on the type and the degree of bending of metal materials showed that aluminum’s vacuum reaching time of 0.001 torr was at least 40 sec to 90 sec in its flat plate, but its vacuum reaching time increased from 3 times to 4.5 times in case of 90 ° and 135 ° bending state. For this reason, it is judged that stainless steel or steel material is suitable because aluminum is inadequate in terms of processability at the time of fabricating the metal vacuum panel. Also, vacuum arrival times and weight changes with increasing foam content of inorganic foamed concrete increased from 22,000 sec to 42,000 sec with increasing foaming rate and also, the weight change increased from 1.7% to 8%. Also, the experimental results on the type of honeycomb materials, the PE (polyethylene) with a vacuum reaching time of 30,000 sec and with a weight change of 0.5% and the PTFE (Poly-tetrafluoro ethylene) with a vacuum reaching time of 29,000 sec and with a weight change of 2.2% showed the optimum value.

The influence of the Fe2O3 addition amount on the dephosphorization of hot metal at 1623 K with the slag of the low basicity (CaO/SiO2) of about 1.5 was investigated by using high-temperature laboratorial experiments. With increasing the Fe2O3 addition amount, the contents of [C], [Si], [Mn] and [P] in hot metal at the end of dephosphorization decrease, and the corresponding removal ratios increase. The P2O5 content in slag increases, and the CaO and SiO2 contents in slag decrease. The phosphorus mainly exists in the form of the nCa2SiO4-Ca3(PO4)2 solid solution in the phosphorus-rich phase and the value of coefficient n decreases from 20 to 1 with increasing the Fe2O3 addition amount from 5 g to 30 g. With increasing the Fe2O3 addition amount, the oxygen potential and activity at the interface between the slag and hot metal increase. When the oxygen potential and the oxygen activity at the interface are greater than 0.72×10-12 and 7.1×10-3, respectively, the dephosphorization ratio begins to increase rapidly. With increasing the Fe2O3 addition amount to 30 g, the ratio of the Fe2O3 addition amount to theoretical calculation consumption is around 175%, and the dephosphorization ratio reaches the highest value of 83.3%.

While traditional AC mechanical circuit breakers have been competent for protecting AC circuits, high penetration of DC power distribution technologies like DC microgrids (MGs) obligate better disruption performance features such as quick and reliable switch-ing speeds. However, a DC circuit breaker (DCCB) novel design is challenging due to the need to quickly break high currents within milliseconds, caused by the high fault current rise in DC grids compared to AC grids. In DC grids, the circuit breaker must provide zero current crossing and be designed for absorbing surges since the arc is not naturally extinguished by the system. Additionally, the DC breaker must mitigate the magnetic energy stored in the system inductance and withstand residual over-voltages after current interruption. These challenges require a fundamentally different topology for DCCBs, which are typically made using solid-state semiconductor technology, metal oxide varistors (MOV), and ultra-fast switches. This study aims to provide a comprehensive review on development, design, and performance description of DCCBs in parallel with a specific concentration on analysis of internal topology, energy absorption path and sub-circuits in Solid-State (SS)-based DCCBs. The research explores various novel designs that introduce different structures for energy dissipation solution. The classification of these designs is based on the fundamental principles of surge mitigation and a detailed analysis of the techniques employed in DCCBs. In addition, our framework offers an advantageous reference point for the future evolution of SS-circuit breakers in numerous developing power delivery systems.

Heavy metals are compounds that can be hazardous and impair growth of living organisms. Bacteria have evolved the capability not only to cope with heavy metals but also to detoxify polluted environments. Three heavy metal-resistant strains of Mucilaginibacer rubeus and one of Mucilaginibacter kameinonensis were isolated from the gold/copper Zijin mining site, Longyan, Fujian, China. These strains were shown to exhibit high resistance to heavy metals with minimal inhibitory concentration reaching up to 3.5 mM Cu(II), 21 mM Zn(II), 1.2 mM Cd(II), and 10.0 mM As(III). Genomes of the four strains were sequenced by Illumina. Sequence analyses revealed the presence of a high abundance of heavy metal resistance (HMR) determinants. One of the strain, M. rubeus P2, carried genes encoding 6 putative P1B-1-ATPase, 5 putative P1B-3-ATPase and 4 putative Zn(II)/Cd(II) P1B-4 type ATPase, and 16 putative RND-type metal transporter systems. Moreover, the four genomes carry a high abundance of genes coding for putative metal binding chaperones. Analysis of the close vicinity of these HMR determinants uncovered the presence of clusters of genes potentially associated with mobile genetic elements. These loci include genes coding for tyrosine recombinases (integrases) and subunits of mating pore (type 4 secretion system) respectively allowing integration/excision and conjugative transfer of numerous genomic islands. Further in silico analyses revealed that their genetic organization and gene products resemble the Bacteroides integrative and conjugative element CTnDOT. These results highlight the pivotal role of genomic islands in the acquisition and dissemination of adaptive traits, allowing for rapid adaption of bacteria and colonization of hostile environments.

Metal additive manufacturing (AM) has gained much attentions in recent years due to its advantages including geometric freedom and design complexity, appropriate to a wide range of potential industrial applications. However, conventional metal AM methods have high-cost barriers due to the initial cost of the capital equipment, support and maintenance, etc. This study presents a unique low-cost metal material extrusion (MME) technology. The filaments used have polylactic acid (PLA) as the matrix and metal powders (copper, bronze, stainless steel, high carbon iron, and aluminum) as reinforcements. Using the proposed fabrication technology, test specimens were built by extruding polymer/metal composite filaments, which were then sintered in an open-air furnace to produce solid metallic parts. In this research, the mechanical and thermal properties of the built parts are examined using tensile tests, thermogravimetric-, thermomechanical- and microstructural analysis.

Heavy metal contaminants have serious consequences for the environment and human health. Consequently, effective methods for detecting their presence, particularly in water and food, are urgently required. Accordingly, the present study proposes a sensor for the detection of mercury Hg(II) and lead Pb(II) ions using graphene oxide (GO) as a quenching agent and aptamer solu-tion as a reagent. In the proposed device, the aptamer sequences are labeled by FAM and HEX fluorescent dyes, respectively, and are mixed with 500 ppm GO solution in a microfluidic device. The presence of Hg(II) and Pb(II) ions is then detected by measuring the change in the fluores-cence intensity of the GO/aptamer suspension as the aptamer molecules undergo fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET). The experimental results show that the aptamer sensors have a linear range of 10~250 nM (i.e., 2.0~50 ppb) for Hg(II) ions and 10~100 nM (i.e., 2.1~20.7 ppb) for Pb(II) ions. Furthermore, the limit of detection is around 2 ppb for both metals, which is signifi-cantly lower than the maximum limits of 6 ppb and 10 ppb prescribed by the World Health Or-ganization (WHO) for Hg(II) and Pb(II) in drinking water, respectively.

Serum transferrin (sTf) plays a pivotal role in regulating iron biodistribution and homeostasis within the body. The molecular details of sTf Fe(III) binding, blood transport, and cellular delivery through transferrin receptor-mediated endocytosis are generally well-understood. Emerging interest exists in exploring sTf complexation of nonferric metals as it facilitates the therapeutic potential and toxicity of several of them. This review explores recent X-ray structural and physiologically relevant metal speciation studies to understand how sTf partakes in the bioactivity of key non-redox active hard Lewis acidic metals. It challenges preconceived notions of sTf structure function correlations that were based exclusively on the Fe(III) model by revealing distinct coordination modalities that nonferric metal ions can adopt and different modes of binding to metal-free and Fe(III)-bound sTf that can directly influence how they enter into cells and, ultimately, how they may impact human health. This knowledge informs on biomedical strategies to engineer sTf as a delivery vehicle for metal-based diagnostic and therapeutic agents in the cancer field. It is the intention of this work to open new avenues for characterizing the functionality and medical utility of nonferric-bound sTf and to expand the significance of this protein in the context of bioinorganic chemistry.