Using station rainfall observations and the ERA‐40 reanalysis, this study investigates respective impacts of the East Asian winter monsoon (EAWM) and El Niño‐Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on winter ...(November–March) rainfall in China by removing the interdependence between the EAWM and ENSO using a linear regression. It is found that circulation and temperature anomalies over the tropics and midlatitude North Pacific are mainly induced by ENSO, and those over the midlatitude Asia are closely linked to the EAWM. The warm ENSO induced lower‐level southwesterly winds deflect from the southeast coast of China, and thus, the influence of ENSO on winter rainfall is mainly in southern China. The lower‐level southerly winds associated with a weak EAWM penetrate northward over eastern China, and thus, the EAWM influences winter rainfall in eastern China.
Electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution in alkaline and neutral media offers the possibility of adopting platinum‐free electrocatalysts for large‐scale electrochemical production of pure hydrogen fuel, ...but most state‐of‐the‐art electrocatalytic materials based on nonprecious transition metals operate at high overpotentials. Here, a monolithic nanoporous multielemental CuAlNiMoFe electrode with electroactive high‐entropy CuNiMoFe surface is reported to hold great promise as cost‐effective electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in alkaline and neutral media. By virtue of a surface high‐entropy alloy composed of dissimilar Cu, Ni, Mo, and Fe metals offering bifunctional electrocatalytic sites with enhanced kinetics for water dissociation and adsorption/desorption of reactive hydrogen intermediates, and hierarchical nanoporous Cu scaffold facilitating electron transfer/mass transport, the nanoporous CuAlNiMoFe electrode exhibits superior nonacidic HER electrocatalysis. It only takes overpotentials as low as ≈240 and ≈183 mV to reach current densities of ≈1840 and ≈100 mA cm−2 in 1 m KOH and pH 7 buffer electrolytes, respectively; ≈46‐ and ≈14‐fold higher than those of ternary CuAlNi electrode with bimetallic Cu–Ni surface alloy. The outstanding electrocatalytic properties make nonprecious multielemental alloys attractive candidates as high‐performance nonacidic HER electrocatalytic electrodes in water electrolysis.
Nonprecious nanoporous multielemental alloy electrodes composed of electroactive surface high‐entropy CuNiMoFe alloy hold great promise as cost‐effective electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in nonacidic media. Associated with hierarchical nanoporous architecture to facilitate electron transfer and offer abundant high‐entropy CuNiMoFe active sites, the nanoporous CuAlNiMoFe hybrid electrode exhibits remarkably enhanced HER activity and durability.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
It is knotty for current routing protocols to meet the needs of reliable data diffusion during the Internet of Things (IoT) deployments. Due to the random placement, limited resources and unattended ...features of existing sensor nodes, the wireless transmissions are easily exposed to unauthorized users, which becomes a vulnerable area for various malicious attacks, such as wormhole and Sybil attacks. However, the scheme based on geographic location is a suitable candidate to defend against them. This paper is inspired to propose a smart collaborative routing protocol, Geographic energy aware routing and Inspecting Node (GIN), for guaranteeing the reliability of data exchanging. The proposed protocol integrates the directed diffusion routing, Greedy Perimeter Stateless Routing (GPSR), and the inspecting node mechanism. We first discuss current wireless routing protocols from three diverse perspectives (improving transmission rate, shortening transmission range and reducing transmission consumption). Then, the details of GIN, including the model establishment and implementation processes, are presented by means of the theoretical analysis. Through leveraging the game theory, the inspecting node is elected to monitor the network behaviors. Thirdly, we evaluate the network performances, in terms of transmission delay, packet loss ratio, and throughput, between GIN and three traditional schemes (i.e., Flooding, GPSR, and GEAR). The simulation results illustrate that the proposed protocol is able to outperform the others.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
An outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)
, has spread globally. Countermeasures are needed to treat and prevent ...further dissemination of the virus. Here we report the isolation of two specific human monoclonal antibodies (termed CA1 and CB6) from a patient convalescing from COVID-19. CA1 and CB6 demonstrated potent SARS-CoV-2-specific neutralization activity in vitro. In addition, CB6 inhibited infection with SARS-CoV-2 in rhesus monkeys in both prophylactic and treatment settings. We also performed structural studies, which revealed that CB6 recognizes an epitope that overlaps with angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2)-binding sites in the SARS-CoV-2 receptor-binding domain, and thereby interferes with virus-receptor interactions by both steric hindrance and direct competition for interface residues. Our results suggest that CB6 deserves further study as a candidate for translation to the clinic.
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FZAB, GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
This technical note deals with robust state estimation when parametric uncertainties nonlinearly affect a plant state-space model, based on a simultaneous minimization of nominal estimation errors ...and their sensitivities. An analytic solution is derived for the optimal estimator which can be recursively realized. This estimator has a form similar to the robust estimator of , and its computational complexity is comparable to the Kalman filter. Under certain conditions, this robust estimator is proved to converge to a stable system, its estimation errors have a bounded covariance matrix, and the estimate is asymptotically unbiased. Numerical simulations show that the obtained estimator has nice estimation performances.
In this study, the interdecadal increase in winter precipitation in northwest China (NWC) since the late 1980s and the associated moisture flux transport are investigated. The results show that an ...interdecadal change in moisture flux transport also occurred in the late 1980s, resulting in anomalous moisture transport convergence over NWC. The examination of boundary moisture transport shows enhanced incoming net moisture flux transport over NWC after the late 1980s. The zonal and meridional components both play a key role in the net moisture flux transport, with increased incoming transport from the western boundary dominated and followed by increased incoming transport from the southern boundary. The circulation responsible for the moisture flux transport anomalies is a Eurasian (EU)‐like teleconnection over mid‐to‐high latitudes of the Eurasian continent. The EU teleconnection pattern transformed from a positive phase to a negative phase in the late 1980s. The related anomalous cyclone over central Asia and the anomalous anticyclone over Japan result in westerly anomalies to the west of NWC and southeasterly anomalies to the east, respectively. Together, these anomalies enable an enhanced net gain of moisture transport and the anomalous moisture transport convergence over NWC. The enhanced moisture supply, strengthened upward movement and anomalous convergence result in an interdecadal increase in winter precipitation in NWC. In addition, the transition of the EU teleconnection is likely attributed to changes in the zonal mean wind. Sea surface temperature warming in the North Atlantic and northwestern Pacific regions also play a role in the change in the EU teleconnection pattern.
The interdecadal shift in the phase of EU teleconnection pattern, which was transformed from positive to negative in the late 1980s, contributes to the enhanced moisture flux transportation and winter precipitation in Northwest China (NWC). Changes in zonal mean wind and North Atlantic SST may give rise to the phase transition of the EU teleconnection pattern.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Convergence rate and stationary distribution approximation are investigated in this paper for both the covariance matrix of the Kalman filter and the pseudo-covariance matrix of a robust recursive ...state estimator developed by us. When the measurement dropping process is described by a Markov chain and an associated plant is both controllable and observable, it is proved that if the dropping probability is less than 1, these two matrices converge exponentially to a stationary distribution independent of its initial values. Moreover, when they are initialized with the stabilizing solution of an associated algebraic Riccati equation, both of them are shown to converge to an ergodic process. Based on these results, two approximations are derived for their stationary probability distributions, as well as a bound of approximation errors. It has been made clear that rather than the delta function suggested by Kar and Moura, a series of delta functions give a more accurate approximation, and replacement of these estimators' update gain by a constant matrix usually deteriorates their steady estimation accuracy. A numerical example is provided to illustrate the obtained theoretical results.
Aqueous rechargeable microbatteries are promising on-chip micropower sources for a wide variety of miniaturized electronics. However, their development is plagued by state-of-the-art electrode ...materials due to low capacity and poor rate capability. Here we show that layered potassium vanadium oxides, K
V
O
·nH
O, have an amorphous/crystalline dual-phase nanostructure to show genuine potential as high-performance anode materials of aqueous rechargeable potassium-ion microbatteries. The dual-phase nanostructured K
V
O
·nH
O keeps large interlayer spacing while removing secondary-bound interlayer water to create sufficient channels and accommodation sites for hydrated potassium cations. This unique nanostructure facilitates accessibility/transport of guest hydrated potassium cations to significantly improve practical capacity and rate performance of the constituent K
V
O
·nH
O. The potassium-ion microbatteries with K
V
O
·nH
O anode and K
MnO
·nH
O cathode constructed on interdigital-patterned nanoporous metal current microcollectors exhibit ultrahigh energy density of 103 mWh cm
at electrical power comparable to carbon-based microsupercapacitors.
Efficient and selective dehydrogenation of formic acid is a key challenge for a fuel‐cell‐based hydrogen economy. Though the development of heterogeneous catalysts has received much progress, their ...catalytic activity remains insufficient. Moreover, the design principle of such catalysts are still unclear. Here, experimental and theoretical studies on a series of mono‐/bi‐metallic nanoparticles supported on a NH2‐N‐rGO substrate are combined for formic acid dehydrogenation where the surface energy of a metal is taken as a relevant indicator for the adsorption ability of the catalyst for guiding catalyst design. The AuPd/NH2‐N‐rGO catalyst shows record catalytic activity by reducing the energy barrier of rate controlling steps of formate adsorption and hydrogen desorption. The obtained excellent results both in experiments and simulations could be extended to other important systems, providing a general guideline to design more efficient catalysts.
A AuPd/NH2‐N‐rGO catalyst shows supreme catalytic performance for the decomposition of formic acid at room temperature, with a turnover frequency (TOF) of 4445.6 h−1. Developments in the experiments and simulations of high‐performance catalysts may promote the practical application of formic acid as a promising hydrogen storage material.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
The objective of this study was to evaluate the antibacterial effect of Chinese wild blueberry extract and its fractions against Listeria monocytogenes, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella Enteritidis, ...and Vibrio parahaemolyticus. Chinese wild blueberry (Vaccinium uliginosum) crude extract (BBE) was obtained using methanol extraction, and sugars plus organic acids (F1), phenolics fraction (F2), and anthocyanins plus proanthocyanidins (F3) fractions were separated using C‐18 Sep‐Pak columns. The minimal inhibitory concentration and minimal bactericidal concentration of each fractional component were determined using a two‐fold‐serial dilution method. Nucleic acid leakage (OD260 nm) and protein release (Bradford protein assay) were determined by spectrophotometry, to evaluate the permeability of the cell membrane. F3 was found to exhibit the greatest antimicrobial activity against the four tested strains, followed by F2, F1, and BBE. V. parahaemolyticus was the most sensitive to the all fractions, followed by S. Enteritidis, L. monocytogenes, and S. aureus. Survival curve analysis showed that the number of bacteria decreased from six log colony‐forming units (CFU) to less than 10 CFU after bacteria were treated with fractions for 12 hr, which demonstrated the bactericidal effect of blueberry fractions. Furthermore, when the pathogens were treated with fractions for 2 hr, the OD260 nm and OD595 nm values increased significantly (P < 0.01), which indicated the significant release of nucleic acid and protein. The results from this study indicated that blueberry fractions, especially F3, inhibited the growth of foodborne pathogens by damaging their cell membrane, and may be developed as a natural preservative to prevent and control foodborne pathogens.
Practical Application
A blueberry crude extract and its sugars plus organic acids, phenolics, and anthocyanins plus proanthocyanidins fractions, inhibited the growth of foodborne pathogens by destroying their cell membrane. Therefore, Chinese wild blueberries have potential as a natural preservative to prevent and control foodborne pathogens.
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