Tuning the metal insulator transition (MIT) behavior of VO2 film through the interfacial strain is effective for practical applications. However, the mechanism for strain-modulated MIT is still under ...debate. Here we directly record the strain dynamics of ultrathin VO2 film on TiO2 substrate and reveal the intrinsic modulation process by means of synchrotron radiation and first-principles calculations. It is observed that the MIT process of the obtained VO2 films can be modulated continuously via the interfacial strain. The relationship between the phase transition temperature and the strain evolution is established from the initial film growth. From the interfacial strain dynamics and theoretical calculations, we claim that the electronic orbital occupancy is strongly affected by the interfacial strain, which changes also the electron–electron correlation and controls the phase transition temperature. These findings open the possibility of an active tuning of phase transition for the thin VO2 film through the interfacial lattice engineering.
Double neutron star (DNS) merger events are promising candidates of short gamma-ray burst (sGRB) progenitors as well as high-frequency gravitational wave (GW) emitters. On August 17, 2017, such a ...coinciding event was detected by both the LIGO-Virgo gravitational wave detector network as GW170817 and Gamma-Ray Monitor on board NASA's Fermi Space Telescope as GRB 170817A. Here, we show that the fluence and spectral peak energy of this sGRB fall into the lower portion of the distributions of known sGRBs. Its peak isotropic luminosity is abnormally low. The estimated event rate density above this luminosity is at least Formula: see text Gpc
yr
, which is close to but still below the DNS merger event rate density. This event likely originates from a structured jet viewed from a large viewing angle. There are similar faint soft GRBs in the Fermi archival data, a small fraction of which might belong to this new population of nearby, low-luminosity sGRBs.
Highlights • Intranasal insulin treatment significantly ameliorated 6-OHDA-induced sensorimotor dysfunction in rats. • Intranasal insulin treatment significantly reduced methamphetamine-induced ...rotation in 6-OHDA-lesion rats. • Intranasal insulin treatment significantly increased DA neuron survival in the SN in 6-OHDA-lesion rats. • Intranasal insulin treatment did not cause hypoglycemia in rats.
Global awareness on energy security and climate change has created much interest in assessing economy-wide energy efficiency performance. A number of previous studies have contributed to evaluate ...energy efficiency performance using different analytical techniques among which data envelopment analysis (DEA) has recently received increasing attention. Most of DEA-related energy efficiency studies do not consider undesirable outputs such as CO2 emissions in their modeling framework, which may lead to biased energy efficiency values. Within a joint production framework of desirable and undesirable outputs, in this paper we construct both static and dynamic energy efficiency performance indexes for measuring industrial energy efficiency performance by using several environmental DEA models with CO2 emissions. The dynamic energy efficiency performance indexes have further been decomposed into two contributing components. We finally apply the indexes proposed to assess the industrial energy efficiency performance of different provinces in China over time. Our empirical study shows that the energy efficiency improvement in China's industrial sector was mainly driven by technological improvement.
► China's industrial energy efficiency is evaluated by DEA models with CO2 emissions. ► China's industrial energy efficiency improved by 5.6% annually since 1997. ► Industrial energy efficiency improvement in China was mainly driven by technological improvement.
The development of high-performance ultraelastic metals with superb strength, a large elastic strain limit and temperature-insensitive elastic modulus (Elinvar effect) are important for various ...industrial applications, from actuators and medical devices to high-precision instruments
. The elastic strain limit of bulk crystalline metals is usually less than 1 per cent, owing to dislocation easy gliding. Shape memory alloys
-including gum metals
and strain glass alloys
-may attain an elastic strain limit up to several per cent, although this is the result of pseudo-elasticity and is accompanied by large energy dissipation
. Recently, chemically complex alloys, such as 'high-entropy' alloys
, have attracted tremendous research interest owing to their promising properties
. In this work we report on a chemically complex alloy with a large atomic size misfit usually unaffordable in conventional alloys. The alloy exhibits a high elastic strain limit (approximately 2 per cent) and a very low internal friction (less than 2 × 10
) at room temperature. More interestingly, this alloy exhibits an extraordinary Elinvar effect, maintaining near-constant elastic modulus between room temperature and 627 degrees Celsius (900 kelvin), which is, to our knowledge, unmatched by the existing alloys hitherto reported.
As a chronic infectious disease, tuberculosis (TB) is closely related to immune regulation and immune effect. Immunotherapy which can improve the curative effect of tuberculosis and control the ...spread of tuberculosis, is one of the important means for the comprehensive treatment of tuberculosis. From October 2022 to September 2023, research on the immunotherapy of tuberculosis at home and abroad continues to increase, providing new opportunities for the treatment of multidrug-resistant and extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis. Host-targeted therapy and therapeutic vaccines are new directions for research into TB adjuvant therapy.
The syngas chemical looping (SCL) process coproduces hydrogen and electricity. The process involves reducing metal oxides with syngas followed by regeneration of reduced metal oxides with steam and ...air in a cyclic manner. Iron oxide is determined to be a desired oxygen carrier for hydrogen production considering overall properties including oxygen carrying capacity, thermodynamic properties, reaction kinetics, physical strength, melting points, and environmental effects. An iron oxide based particle can maintain good reactivity for more than 100 reduction−oxidation (redox) cycles in a thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA). The particle exhibits a good crushing strength (>20 MPa) and low attrition rate. Fixed bed experiments are carried out which reaffirm its reactivity. More than 99.75% of syngas is converted during the reduction stage. During the regeneration stage, hydrogen with an average purity of 99.8% is produced.
Summary
Background
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is increasingly recognized as a chronic, progressive and fatal lung disease with an unknown etiology. Current studies focus on revealing the ...genetic factors in the risk of IPF, making the integrative analysis of genetic variations and transcriptomic alterations of substantial value.
Aim
This study aimed to improve the understanding of the molecular basis of IPF through an integrative analysis of whole-exome sequencing (WES), bulk RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) and single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) data.
Methods
WES is a powerful tool for studying the genetic basis of IPF, allowing for the identification of genetic variants that may be associated with the development of the disease. RNA-seq data provide a comprehensive view of the transcriptional changes in IPF patients, while scRNA-seq data offer a more granule view of cell-type-specific alterations.
Results
In this study, we identified a comprehensive mutational landscape of recurrent genomic and transcriptomic variations, including single-nucleotide polymorphisms, CNVs and differentially expressed genes, in IPF populations, which may play a significant role in the development and progression of IPF.
Conclusions
Our study provided valuable insights into the genetic and transcriptomic variations associated with IPF, revealing changes in gene expression that may contribute to disease development and progression. These findings highlight the importance of an integrative approach to understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying IPF and may pave the way for identifying potential therapeutic targets.
Fossil fuel power plants often generate sulfur species such as hydrogen sulfide or sulfur dioxide due to the sulfur content of the raw feedstocks. To combat the associated environmental, processing, ...and corrosion issues, facilities commonly utilize a Claus process to convert hydrogen sulfide (H2S) to elemental sulfur. Unfortunately, the potential for H2 production from H2S is lost in the Claus process. In this study, two chemical looping process configurations utilizing metal sulfides as chemical intermediates for sulfur recovery are investigated: (1) sulfur recovery (SR) system for sulfur production; (2) sulfur and hydrogen (H2) recovery (SHR) system for sulfur and H2 and production utilizing staged H2 separation. Since, H2 yield and sulfur recovery in a single thermal decomposition reactor is limited by low H2S equilibrium conversion, a staged H2 separation approach is used to increase H2S conversion to H2 using the SHR system. Steady-state simulations and optimization of process conditions are conducted in Aspen Plus (v10) simulation software for the chemical looping process configurations and the Claus process. An energy and exergy analysis are done for the Claus and chemical looping processes to demonstrate the relative contribution to exergy destruction from different unit operations as well as overall exergy and energy efficiency. The two chemical looping process configurations are compared against the conventional Claus process for similar sulfur recovery in a 629 MWe integrated gasification combined cycle power plant. The SHR system is found to be the most efficient option due to a 97.11% exergy efficiency with 99.31% H2 recovery. The overall energy and exergy efficiencies of this chemical looping system are 14.74% and 21.54% points higher than the Claus process, respectively, suggesting more efficient use of total input energy.
•SR and SHR chemical looping systems proposed as alternatives to Claus process.•Metal sulfide intermediate used in chemical looping system for H2S conversion.•Sulfur recovery and H2 production demonstrated in SHR system.•SHR system has 14.74% points higher energy efficiency than Claus process.•SHR system has 21.54% points higher exergy efficiency than Claus process.
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