The corrosion, passivation, and dendritic growth of Zn anodes and the dissolution of cathodes hinder rechargeable aqueous zinc ion battery (AZIB) rejuvenation. In this work, a versatile Zn‐based ...montmorillonite (MMT) interlayer is constructed to achieve a stable rechargeable AZIB. The Zn‐based MMT coating Zn foil (MMT‐Zn) is designed to enable a high transference number for Zn2+ (t+ ≈ 0.82) and a freeway for Zn2+ migration to alleviate corrosion and passivation and suppress Zn dendrites. The results show the MMT‐Zn symmetrical batteries render dendrite‐free plating/stripping with an ultra‐stable and small overpotential (50 mV) and a long‐life span (1000 cycles) at 1 mA cm−2/0.25 mAh cm−2 and with 100 mV overpotential at ultrahigh current and capacity of 10 mA cm−2/45 mAh cm−2 (over 1000 h, 77% depth of discharge). The MMT interlayer is applied to the MnO2 cathode to inhibit the discharge product dissolving and diffusing into the electrolyte, so that the stability of the capacity is maintained. Thus, MMT‐Zn||MMT‐MnO2 delivers an ultra‐long cycle life and ultra‐high capacity (1100 cycles with 191.5 mAh g−1 at 2 C). Hopefully, Zn‐based MMT interlayer can be considered to improve the electrochemical performance of the metal anodes and soluble cathodes.
2D Zn‐based montmorillonite is developed as a zinc–ion–conductor interface for Zn metal anode based on its unique interlamellar structure and strong Zn2+ adsorption ability. Such a fast zinc–ion–conductor interface not only alleviates passivation and corrosion of Zn metal but also suppress dendrite growth, thus, achieving high‐rate, long‐cycle stability zinc metal batteries.
Teachers' work engagement is regarded as a critical issue in educational contexts, so the emotional factors and personality traits, and their effects on teacher engagement have drawn the attention of ...investigators. This study seeks to investigate the relationship between teachers' emotional intelligence, ambiguity tolerance, and work engagement. Moreover, this study tries to investigate the contribution of emotional intelligence and ambiguity tolerance to teachers' work engagement. To do so, 322 teachers (96 males and 226 females) participated in this study. Schutte's Self Report Emotional Intelligence Test (SSEIT), Multiple Stimulus Types Ambiguity Tolerance Scale-II (MSTAT-II), and Self-report engagement Questionnaire were used in this study. The statistical techniques used in this study are the Spearman Rho test and ANOVA. The findings showed that there are significant correlations between work engagement, emotional intelligence, and ambiguity tolerance. Comparing the predictability power, teachers' emotional intelligence (
B
= 0.611) proved to have a higher index compared to their index of ambiguity tolerance (
B
= 0.2). This study concluded that emotionally intelligent teachers and teachers with higher levels of ambiguity tolerance are more engaged in the EFL contexts. Moreover, the study has some pedagogical implications and suggestions for different teacher educators, policy-makers, and advisors. The ideas can improve their awareness of teachers' emotional intelligence, ambiguity tolerance, and work engagement in educational environments.
Carbon dots (CDs) are photoluminescent nanomaterials with wide-ranging applications. Despite their photoactivity, it remains unknown whether CDs degrade under illumination and whether such ...photodegradation poses any cytotoxic effects. Here, we show laboratory-synthesized CDs irradiated with light degrade into molecules that are toxic to both normal (HEK-293) and cancerous (HeLa and HepG2) human cells. Eight days of irradiation photolyzes 28.6-59.8% of the CDs to <3 kilo Dalton molecules, 1431 of which are detected by high-throughput, non-target high-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Molecular network and community analysis further reveal 499 cytotoxicity-related molecules, 212 of which contain polyethylene glycol, glucose, or benzene-related structures. Photo-induced production of hydroxyl and alkyl radicals play important roles in CD degradation as affected by temperature, pH, light intensity and wavelength. Commercial CDs show similar photodegraded products and cytotoxicity profiles, demonstrating that photodegradation-induced cytotoxicity is likely common to CDs regardless of their chemical composition. Our results highlight the importance of light in cytocompatibility studies of CDs.
A room‐temperature, visible‐light‐driven N‐centered iminyl radical‐mediated and redox‐neutral C−C single bond cleavage/radical addition cascade reaction of oxime esters and unsaturated systems has ...been accomplished. The strategy tolerates a wide range of O‐acyl oximes and unsaturated systems, such as alkenes, silyl enol ethers, alkynes, and isonitrile, enabling highly selective formation of various chemical bonds. This method thus provides an efficient approach to various diversely substituted cyano‐containing alkenes, ketones, carbocycles, and heterocycles.
A visible‐light‐driven room‐temperature N‐centered iminyl radical‐mediated and redox‐neutral C−C single bond cleavage/radical addition cascade reaction of oxime esters and unsaturated systems has been accomplished. The strategy tolerates a wide range of O‐acyl oximes and alkenes, silyl enol ethers, alkynes, and isonitrile. This method allows access to various cyano‐containing alkenes, ketones, carbocycles, and heterocycles.
The quality control of plastic products is an essential aspect of the plastic injection molding (PIM) process. However, the warpage and shrinkage deformations continue to exist because the PIM ...process is easily interfered with by several related or independent process parameters. Thus, great efforts have been devoted to optimizing process parameters to minimize the warpage and shrinkage deformations of products during the last decades. In this review, we begin by introducing the manufacturing process in PIM and the cause of warpage and shrinkage deformations, followed by the mechanism about how process parameters, like mold temperature, melt temperature, injection rate, injection pressure, holding pressure, holding and cooling duration, affect those defects. Then, we summarize the recent progress of the design of experiments and four advanced methods (artificial neural networks, genetic algorithm, response surface methodology, and Kriging model) on optimizing process parameters to minimize the warpage and shrinkage deformations. In the end, future perspectives of quality control in injection molding machines are discussed.
Much attention is paid to metal lithium as a hopeful negative material for reversible batteries with a high specific capacity. Although applying 3D hosts can relieve the dendrite growth to some ...extent, gradient‐distributed lithium ion in 3D uniform hosts still induces uncontrolled lithium dendrites growth, especially at high lithium capacity and high current density. Herein, a 3D conductive carbon nanofiber framework with gradient‐distributed ZnO particles as nucleation seeds (G‐CNF) to regulate lithium deposition is proposed. Based on such a unique structure, the G‐CNF electrode exhibits a high average Coulombic efficiency (CE) of 98.1% for 700 cycles at 0.5 mA cm−2. Even at 5 mA cm−2, the G‐CNF electrode performs a stable cycling process and high CE of 96.0% for over 200 cycles. When the lithium‐deposited G‐CNF (G‐CNF‐Li) anode is applied in a full cell with a commercial LiFePO4 cathode, it exhibits a stable capacity of 115 mAh g−1 and high retention of 95.7% after 300 cycles. Through inducing the gradient‐distributed nucleation seeds to counter the existing Li‐ion concentration polarization, a uniform and stable lithium deposition process in the 3D host is achieved even under the condition of high current density.
A 3D carbon nanofiber framework with gradient‐distributed ZnO particles is proposed for a dendrite‐free and high‐rate lithium metal anode. By introducing ZnO particles as lithium nucleation seeds to reduce the lithium nucleation energy and address the Li‐ion concentrate gradient in the 3D host, a uniform and safe lithium deposition process is achieved.
Tapetum development and pollen production are regulated by a complex transcriptional network that consists of a group of tapetum-specific Arabidopsis transcription factors (TFs). Among these TFs, ...DEFECTIVE IN TAPETAL DEVELOPMENT AND FUNCTION 1 (TDF1) encodes an R2R3 MYB factor, and ABORTED MICROSPORE (AMS) encodes a basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) factor. However, knowledge regarding the regulatory role of TDF1 in anther development remains limited.
Here, we discovered that TDF1 directly regulates AMS via an AACCT cis-element. We found the precocious AMS transcript and absence of AMS protein in ams
_/_
gpTDF1:AMS-FLAG lines, suggesting the timing of the TDF1-regulated AMS expression is a prerequisite for AMS functioning.
We found that TDF1 interacts with AMS. Additionally, the TDF1–AMS complex additively promotes the expression of AMS-regulated genes, suggesting that TDF1 and AMS regulate the downstream genes through a feed-forward loop.
EPXB5, encoding a beta-expansin family protein, is another direct target of TDF1, and it is highly expressed in the tapetum and pollen grains. The TDF1–AMS complex acts in concert to activate EXPB5 expression through a feed-forward loop. The identification of the regulatory pathway between TDF1 and AMS provides an interlocked feed-forward loop circuit that precisely regulates the transcriptional cascades that support anther development.
Fabricating an artificial solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) layer on a lithium metal surface has become an available strategy to prevent highly active lithium directly contacting the organic ...electrolyte, which could avoid the spontaneous formation of an inhomogeneous and unstable SEI film on the lithium surface. However, the poor Li-ion transport capability of the traditional SEI films greatly limited the application of the artificial SEI for lithium metal anodes. In this work, we proposed an artificial TiO2/lithium n-butoxide hybrid SEI layer with facilitated Li-ion transport ability to enhance the cycling stability of lithium metal anodes. The artificial SEI film is mainly composed of amorphous titanium dioxide and lithium n-butoxide (ROLi, R = C4H9) which were in situ formed on the lithium metal surface via the hydrolytic process of tetrabutyl titanate. The obtained SEI exhibited not only efficient mechanical strength but also facilitated Li-ion transport ability, ensuring the long cycling stability of the lithium metal anode. As a consequence, the symmetrical battery with a TiO2/ROLi–Li electrode showed outstanding electrochemical performance in terms of a low potential hysteresis of 50 mV and long cycling stability over 600 hours with a flat voltage plateau. Li–LiFePO4 full cells also show greatly improved electrochemical performance with a high capacity retention of ∼100% for 200 cycles and a high capacity of 140 mA h g−1 at 0.5C.
Summary
The sexine layer of pollen grain is mainly composed of sporopollenins. The sporophytic secretory tapetum is required for the biosynthesis of sporopollenin. Although several enzymes involved ...in sporopollenin biosynthesis have been reported, the regulatory mechanism of these enzymes in tapetal layer remains elusive. ABORTED MICROSPORES (AMS) and MALE STERILE 188/MYB103/MYB80 (MS188/MYB103/MYB80) are two tapetal cell‐specific transcription factors required for pollen wall formation. AMS functions upstream of MS188. Here we report that AMS and MS188 target the CYP703A2 gene, which is involved in sporopollenin biosynthesis. We found that AMS and MS188 were localized in tapetum while CYP703A2 was localized in both tapetum and locule. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) showed that MS188 directly bound to the promoter of CYP703A2 and luciferase‐inducible assay showed that MS188 activated the expression of CYP703A2. Yeast two‐hybrid and electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSAs) further demonstrated that MS188 complexed with AMS. The expression of CYP703A2 could be partially restored by the elevated levels of MS188 in the ams mutant. Therefore, our data reveal that MS188 coordinates with AMS to activate CYP703A2 in sporopollenin biosynthesis of plant tapetum.
Significance Statement
Sporopollenin in the pollen wall is produced by the tapetum, but how genes encoding the required biosynthetic enzymes are regulated is unclear. Here we show that two transcription factors, MS188 and AMS, positively regulate the gene encoding CYP703A2, a cytochrome P450 required for sporopollenin biosynthesis.
•Most comprehensive analysis of circular economy definitions in scholarly discourse.•221 definitions examined, many mentioning that a fundamental shift is needed for CE.•Questions linger regarding ...compatibility of sustainability and economic growth.•Varied understandings about CE can result in concept collapsing or being deadlocked.
In the past decade, use of the circular economy (CE) concept by scholars and practitioners has grown steadily. In a 2017 article, Kirchherr et al. found that the CE concept is interpreted and implemented in a variety of ways. While multiple interpretations of CE can enrich scholarly perspectives, differentiation and fragmentation can also impede consolidation of the concept. Some scholarship has discussed these trends in context-specific cases, but no large-scale, systematic study has analysed whether such consolidation has taken place across the field. This article fills this gap by analysing 221 recent CE definitions, making several notable findings. First, the concept has seen both consolidation and differentiation in the past five years. Second, definitional trends are emerging that potentially have more meaning for scholarship than for practice. Third, scholars increasingly recommend a fundamental systemic shift to enable CE, particularly within supply chains. Fourth, sustainable development is frequently considered the principal aim of CE, but questions linger about whether CE can mutually support environmental sustainability and economic development. Finally, recent studies argue that CE transition relies on a broad alliance of stakeholders, including producers, consumers, policymakers, and scholars. This study contributes an updated systematic analysis of CE definitions and conceptualizations that serves as an empirical snapshot of current scholarly thinking. It thereby provides a basis for further research on whether conceptual consolidation is needed and how it can be facilitated for practical purposes.
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