Face-centered-cubic (fcc) type high entropy alloys (HEAs) exhibit outstanding ductility even at the liquid nitrogen temperature, but they are relatively weak in strength which is far from the ...requirements for practical structural applications. One of the general concepts employed previously in alloy design is the suppression of ‘brittle’ intermetallic compound formation which usually leads to a serious embrittlement. Surprisingly, we reveal in this study that the precipitation of hard σ and μ intermetallic compounds tremendously strengthened the CoCrFeNiMo0.3 HEA but without causing a serious embrittlement. It exhibits a tensile strength as high as 1.2 GPa and a good ductility of ∼19%. A careful study of the deformation behavior reveals that the fcc matrix exhibits an extremely high work hardening exponent of 0.75, which suppresses the propagation of microcracks originated at these brittle particles. Our work presents a very successful demonstration of using complex hard intermetallic particles to manipulate the properties of fcc-type HEA systems. Furthermore, lattice distortion has been carefully measured in powder-metallurgy materials by line broadening from X-ray diffraction (XRD). It is interesting to discover that lattice planes are highly distorted in HEAs and this distortion also contributes to solid solution hardening.
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Exploring the evolutionary process of the concept of science and technology in modern Chinese society is conducive to the innovation of the current path of science education popularization and ...scientific and technological literacy enhancement. In this paper, we construct a sampling selection algorithm using Bayesian and MCMC and then design a parameter derivation model. Assuming the model prior distribution hyperparameters and using the likelihood function to derive the specific form of the posterior probability distribution, an approximate integral calculation is carried out in order to directly derive the parameters to be estimated, and the BVAR-MCMC model is constructed. Using the model to analyze the temporal changes in the evolution of scientific and technological concepts in modern China, it is finally found that the changes in social and technological concepts during the Republican period were even stronger than those in the late Qing period. Influenced by the increasing scale of cross-cultural exchanges due to the gradual opening up of the gateway, cross-cultural open exchanges have the highest impulse value and the longest duration on the evolution of scientific and technological concepts, with the impulse of the Late Qing and the Republic of China phases above 1, and the duration of the positive influence covers the whole time series. The impulse values of the late Qing and the Republic of China are 2.68 and 3.59, respectively, and the education popularization rate, economic development level, the speed of technological life progress, and the degree of civilization and freedom of the social atmosphere have different degrees of influence on the evolution of scientific and technological concepts in the time series of modern history. This study innovates the statistical research method for modern history and conducts a pioneering exploratory study on the evolutionary process of modern social ideas change.
During the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, the development of communication technology was closely correlated with societal progress. The social turmoil in the ...late Qing and early Republican periods, the social situation of “internal and external problems,” and the trend of “coming in” and “going out” of technological exchanges contributed to the introduction of modern communication technology, newspapers and magazines, and the establishment of the telegraph and the telephone. This led to the introduction of modern communication technology, represented by the telegraph and telephone, as well as the rise and establishment of newspapers and magazines. The national telegraph and the May Fourth Movement further enhanced the influence of the telegraph and communication technology on social development. The study analyzes the sources of funds, the number of subscribers, the number of telephone offices, the mileage of lines, the development of governmental telegraphs in each province, and the development of telegraphs in each country. It explores the development trend of communication technology in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, taking into account the interactions between the social conditions of the late Qing Dynasty and the development of telegraphs. Based on the monthly revenue of the telephone bureau, the Beijing Telephone Bureau’s installation fee in 1909 was approximately 1,799 yuan, with the telephone fee and the Electricity Bureau’s appropriation primarily financing its construction. Towards the end of the Qing Dynasty, the Beijing Telephone Bureau extended its telegraph lines and increased the number of users. By 1911, the telegraph lines’ mileage had reached about 99,979 miles, indicating a relatively rapid development. However, the telegraph business remained significantly behind that of other countries.
The network analysis has attracted increasing attention and interest from ecological academics, thus it is of great necessity to develop more convenient and powerful tools. For that reason, we have ...developed an R package, named “ggClusterNet,” to complete and display the network analysis in an easier manner. In that package, ten network layout algorithms are designed to better display the modules of microbiome network (randomClusterG, PolygonClusterG, PolygonRrClusterG, ArtifCluster, randSNEClusterG, PolygonModsquareG, PolyRdmNotdCirG, model_Gephi.2, model_igraph, and model_maptree). For the convenience of the users, many functions related to microbial network analysis, such as corMicor(), net_properties(), node_properties(), ZiPiPlot(), random_Net_compate(), are integrated to complete the network mining. Furthermore, the pipeline function named network.2() and corBionetwork() are also added for the quick achievement of the network or bipartite network analysis as well as their in‐depth mining. The ggClusterNet is publicly available via GitHub (https://github.com/taowenmicro/ggClusterNet/) or Gitee (https://gitee.com/wentaomicro/ggClusterNet) for users' access. A complete description of the usages can be found on the manuscript's GitHub page (https://github.com/taowenmicro/ggClusterNet/wiki).
Highlights
ggClusterNet is an R package for microbial networks.
Analysis functions could help the user to easily complete network analysis and interpretation.
Ten network layout algorithms allow users more alternatives to plot the network and generate published‐ready figures.
It is free to access on GitHub and Gitee.
ggClusterNet is an R package for microbial networks analysis and interpretation. Ten network layout algorithms allow users more alternatives to plot the network and generate published‐ready figures. It is free to access on GitHub and Gitee.
Developing new efficient catalytic systems to convert abundant and renewable feedstocks into valuable products in a compact, flexible, and target‐specific manner is of high importance in modern ...synthetic chemistry. Here, we describe a versatile set of mild catalytic conditions utilizing a single gold‐based solid catalyst that enables the direct and additive‐free preparation of four distinct and important amine derivatives (amines, formamides, benzimidazoles, and dimethlyated amines) from readily available formic acid (FA) and nitro starting materials with high level of chemoselectivity. By controlling the stoichiometry of the employed FA, which has attracted considerable interest in the area of sustainable chemistry because of its potential as an entirely renewable hydrogen carrier and as a versatile C1 source, a facile atom‐ and step‐efficient transformation of nitro compounds can be realized in a modular fashion.
Renewable formic acid as a flexible feedstock: A versatile heterogeneous gold‐based catalytic system has been developed for the controlled, flexible, and target‐specific reductive transformation of nitro compounds using stoichiometric equivalents of formic acid as a key starting material under mild and convenient conditions. The overall operational simplicity, high chemoselectivity, functional‐group tolerance, and reusability of the catalyst make this approach an attractive and reliable tool for organic and process chemists.
Nitrogen-use efficiency of indica varieties of rice is superior to that of japonica varieties. We apply 16S ribosomal RNA gene profiling to characterize root microbiota of 68 indica and 27 japonica ...varieties grown in the field. We find that indica and japonica recruit distinct root microbiota. Notably, indica-enriched bacterial taxa are more diverse, and contain more genera with nitrogen metabolism functions, than japonica-enriched taxa. Using genetic approaches, we provide evidence that NRT1.1B, a rice nitrate transporter and sensor, is associated with the recruitment of a large proportion of indica-enriched bacteria. Metagenomic sequencing reveals that the ammonification process is less abundant in the root microbiome of the nrt1.1b mutant. We isolated 1,079 pure bacterial isolates from indica and japonica roots and derived synthetic communities (SynComs). Inoculation of IR24, an indica variety, with an indica-enriched SynCom improved rice growth in organic nitrogen conditions compared with a japonica-enriched SynCom. The links between plant genotype and root microbiota membership established in this study will inform breeding strategies to improve nitrogen use in crops.
Ammonium permeation to draw solution (DS) is very common in forward osmosis (FO) treatment due to the negative charge nature of the membrane, which restricts the application of FO for wastewater ...treatment particularly with a purpose of ammonium recovery and water reuse. Membrane modification by reducing the negative charge of membrane surface could improve ammonium rejection. This study investigated ammonium rejection in the FO process by selecting DSs with different physicochemical properties. Results show an increased ammonium rejection rate with divalent cation-based DS (i.e. Mg2+) due to larger hydrated cation radius compared with monovalent cations such as Na+ under the same osmotic pressure. Non-ionic DSs such as glucose, glycine and ethanol are able to minimize ion exchange across the membrane, leading to a 98.5–100% ammonium rejection. This indicates that cation exchange is the critical factor for ammonium permeation. Real wastewater treatment such as municipal wastewater and sludge digestate liquor by FO with NaCl and glucose as DS, respectively, further confirms that minimizing cation exchange by selecting appropriate DS could significantly improve ammonium rejection, which is not negatively affected by the more complex nature of real wastewater. This study developed an alternative method by selecting appropriate DS to increase ammonium rejection. Furthermore, it shed light on the mechanism of enhanced ammonium rejection with different types of DSs, which could provide general guidance on the selection of DS from the perspective of wastewater treatment with ammonium considered.
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•Lower reverse cation flux resulted in higher NH4+ rejection.•Forward NH4+ permeation in FO is due to cation exchange with draw solution.•High NH4+ concentration led to more forward ammonium permeation for ionic DS.•Non-ionic DS rejected NH4+ almost completely at low or high NH4+ concentrations.•Non-ionic DS rejected NH4+ in simple or complex wastewater almost completely.
The recognition of pathogenic DNA is important to the initiation of antiviral responses. Here we report the identification of DDX41, a member of the DEXDc family of helicases, as an intracellular DNA ...sensor in myeloid dendritic cells (mDCs). Knockdown of DDX41 expression by short hairpin RNA blocked the ability of mDCs to mount type I interferon and cytokine responses to DNA and DNA viruses. Overexpression of both DDX41 and the membrane-associated adaptor STING together had a synergistic effect in promoting Ifnb promoter activity. DDX41 bound both DNA and STING and localized together with STING in the cytosol. Knockdown of DDX41 expression blocked activation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase TBK1 and the transcription factors NF-κB and IRF3 by B-form DNA. Our results suggest that DDX41 is an additional DNA sensor that depends on STING to sense pathogenic DNA.
•We investigated causes of urban sprawl in China from land financial incentives.•Urban sprawl in Chongqing manifests in the forms of industrial parks, residential communities and peri-urban informal ...development.•Chongqing underwent rapid urban sprawl toward the peri-urban areas.•The conflicts around land financial incentives have driven urban sprawl in Chongqing.
Uneven land reform and entangled land-use regulations are extensively regarded as the key to urban sprawl in large cities in China. Although the significance of land issues has been substantially recognized, conflicts regarding land finance seem to be a generally under-evaluated factor in explaining the phenomenon of urban sprawl. This study conducted an extensive literature research and proposed a conceptual framework to demonstrate the effects of land financial incentives on urban sprawl in China. Urban sprawl in China manifests in multiple forms, such as leapfrogged industrial parks, low-density residential communities that are discontinuous from existing urban centers, and chaotic peri-urban informal development. These forms of urban sprawl may be closely associated with failures in government and market forces under the land financial incentives. We used this framework to analyze the experiences of Chongqing and found that local governments have heavily relied on land finance through the proactive approach of land leasing. Stimulated by the incentives, Chongqing has accelerated its urban development beyond the existing restrictions of natural barriers and sprawled toward the peri-urban areas. The causes of urban sprawl were highlighted from the inherent impulses and conflicts of land finance, such as the oversupply of underpriced industrial land at the current loss of land finance, overreliance on the continuously increasing land finance from residential land, and fierce competition on slicing the pie of land finance through formal and informal means. The proposed framework and the challenges of anti-sprawl policies were also discussed.
Innate immune cells are critical in protective immunity against viral infections, involved in sensing foreign viral nucleic acids. Here we report that the poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase 9 (PARP9), a ...member of PARP family, serves as a non-canonical sensor for RNA virus to initiate and amplify type I interferon (IFN) production. We find knockdown or deletion of PARP9 in human or mouse dendritic cells and macrophages inhibits type I IFN production in response to double strand RNA stimulation or RNA virus infection. Furthermore, mice deficient for PARP9 show enhanced susceptibility to infections with RNA viruses because of the impaired type I IFN production. Mechanistically, we show that PARP9 recognizes and binds viral RNA, with resultant recruitment and activation of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) and AKT3 pathway, independent of mitochondrial antiviral-signaling (MAVS). PI3K/AKT3 then activates the IRF3 and IRF7 by phosphorylating IRF3 at Ser385 and IRF7 at Ser437/438 mediating type I IFN production. Together, we reveal a critical role for PARP9 as a non-canonical RNA sensor that depends on the PI3K/AKT3 pathway to produce type I IFN. These findings may have important clinical implications in controlling viral infections and viral-induced diseases by targeting PARP9.
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