Till now, there are no systematic reports on the effect of the quality of thermally reduced graphene oxide (TRG) on lithium storage properties, as the reported methods to fabricate graphene‐based ...electrodes are usually not effective enough to reduce graphene oxides to graphene. Herein, graphite oxide is thermally exfoliated and annealed with a high‐temperature graphitization oven at different temperatures (800–2000 °C). A series of Fe3O4/TRG hybrids are synthesized as anode materials for lithium‐ion batteries with TRGs acting as substrates of in‐situ formed Fe3O4 nanoparticles. Both, the electroconductivity of the TRGs and their interfacial interaction with Fe3O4 influence the lithium storage performances of the hybrids. However, the electroconductivity of the TRGs and the formation of interfacial bonds are conflicting. Because the oxygen‐containing groups and defects of TRG are greatly removed leading to enhanced electrical conductivity with the increase of thermal annealing temperature. Hence, the resulting Fe3O4/TRG hybrids show first decreased then increased electrochemical performances with increasing annealed temperatures. In a word, the effect of interfacial interaction is dominant at a relatively low annealing temperature, while the effect of conductivity is dominant at a relatively high annealing temperature. The optimized hybrids exhibit excellent cycling and rate performances. This work should provide useful information for the rational design and construction of high‐performance electrodes for energy storage applications.
Functional groups vs. conductivity: both the electroconductivity of thermally reduced graphene oxide (TRG) sheets and their interfacial interaction with Fe3O4 nanoparticles influence the lithium storage performances of the synthesized hybrid material. However, the two key factors are conflicting. The effect of interfacial interaction is dominant at a relative low annealing temperature, while the effect of conductivity is dominant at a relative high annealing temperature.
A rapid and highly efficient 1,3‐dipolar 3 + 2 cycloaddition of nonstabilized azomethine ylides generated in situ with benzobthiophene 1,1‐dioxides as the dipolarophiles has been developed. The ...efficient method affords tricyclic pyrrolidine‐fused benzobthiophene 1,1‐dioxide derivatives in high to excellent yields (up to 99%) with excellent diastereoselectivities (up to >25:1 dr) under mild reaction conditions. The structure of a typical product was confirmed by X‐ray crystallography.
Reproducing the spatial cognition of animals using computational models that make agents navigate autonomously has attracted much attention. Many biologically inspired models for spatial cognition ...focus mainly on the simulation of the hippocampus and only consider the effect of external environmental information (i.e., exogenous information) on the hippocampal coding. However, neurophysiological studies have shown that the striatum, which is closely related to the hippocampus, also plays an important role in spatial cognition and that information inside animals (i.e., endogenous information) also affects the encoding of the hippocampus. Inspired by the progress made in neurophysiological studies, we propose a new spatial cognitive model that consists of analogies between the hippocampus and striatum. This model takes into consideration how both exogenous and endogenous information affects coding by the environment. We carried out a series of navigation experiments that simulated a water maze and compared our model with other models. Our model is self-adaptable and robust and has better performance in navigation path length. We also discuss the possible reasons for the results and how our findings may help us understand real mechanisms in the spatial cognition of animals.
Extensive research has emerged focusing on landscape preference, motivations, and landscape values, however, literature linking the three is limited. In this article, a conceptual framework is ...developed to explain their relationship. Tourists' landscape preferences and activity choices in the study area are assessed by applying factor analysis, and tourism motivations are examined by description analysis. A correlation analysis is employed to understand the relationship between the derived landscape factors and motivations, and then how landscape values relate to them is discussed. The effect of individual characteristics on preference is examined by variance analysis. The article concludes that tourists' stated motivations provide evidence of associations between landscape values and landscape characters. The study has a perspective favoring the awareness of multiple landscape values linked to landscape preferences, which are relevant to public's needs and the resulting perceived benefits.
The Chinese lignite upgrading process with high temperature nitrogen as a drying agent using a horizontal fixed-bed reactor was addressed and a kinetic model for the single particle lignite drying ...process was developed based on the experimental results. The results show that the lignite drying process consists of two stages, one is drying rate increasing stage and the other is drying rate decreasing stage. The lignite drying process can be promoted by initial nitrogen temperature increasing and lignite particle size decreasing. The effective diffusivity coefficient (De) of the moisture from the lignite particle during the drying process with different initial temperature was obtained theoretically by calculation. The activated energy of the moisture emission from the lignite with different particle size (10–25mm) was also obtained.
•The constant drying rate period is very short and can be neglected.•The lignite drying process is characterized by a long drying rate decreasing stage.•The mathematical model based on the shrinking core theory was developed.
Heterogeneous multicores like GPGPUs are now commonplace in modern computing systems. Although heterogeneous multicores offer the potential for high performance, programmers are struggling to program ...such systems. This paper presents OAO, a compiler-based approach to automatically translate shared-memory OpenMP data-parallel programs to run on heterogeneous multicores through OpenMP offloading directives. Given the large user base of shared memory OpenMP programs, our approach allows programmers to continue using a single-source-based programming language that they are familiar with while benefiting from the heterogeneous performance. OAO introduces a novel runtime optimization scheme to automatically eliminate unnecessary host–device communication to minimize the communication overhead between the host and the accelerator device. We evaluate OAO by applying it to 23 benchmarks from the PolyBench and Rodinia suites on two distinct GPU platforms. Experimental results show that OAO achieves up to 32
×
speedup over the original OpenMP version, and can reduce the host–device communication overhead by up to 99% over the hand-translated version.
X-chromosomal short tandem repeats (X-STRs) have been widely used in forensic practices involving complicated ties of kinship over the past years, and also play an increasingly important role in ...population genetics. To study the genetic polymorphisms of 19 STR loci on X chromosome in Chinese Kazak ethnic group, we investigated the allelic and haplotypic frequencies of the 19 loci in 300 (149 males and 151 females) unrelated healthy individuals from Ili Kazak Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang Uigur Autonomous Region of China after having evaluated the forensic application value of these loci in forensic sciences, and then compared the population distinctions between the Kazak group and other reference groups. We observed a total of 240 alleles at these X-STR loci with the corresponding allelic frequencies ranging from 0.0017 to 0.5917. In the study, the highest polymorphism was found at DXS10135 locus. The combined power of discrimination in females was 0.999999999999999999999985 and in males 0.999999999999968. The present study indicates that the 19 X-STR loci are very useful for both forensic identification cases and kinship analyses involving a female offspring.
•We firstly investigated the distributions of the allele frequencies and forensic parameters of these 19 X-STR loci.•The 19 X-STR loci were proved to be polymorphic and presented high power of discrimination in the Kazak ethnic group.•We obtained the haplotypic structure of 7 X-linkage groups at 19 STR loci of Chinese Kazak group.
The SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant shows substantial resistance to neutralization by infection- and vaccination-induced antibodies, highlighting the demands for research on the continuing discovery of ...broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs). Here, we developed a panel of bnAbs against Omicron and other variants of concern (VOCs) elicited by vaccination of adenovirus-vectored COVID-19 vaccine (Ad5-nCoV). We also investigated the human longitudinal antibody responses following vaccination and demonstrated how the bnAbs evolved over time. A monoclonal antibody (mAb), named ZWD12, exhibited potent and broad neutralization against SARS-CoV-2 variants Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Kappa, Delta, and Omicron by blocking the spike protein binding to the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and provided complete protection in the challenged prophylactic and therapeutic K18-hACE2 transgenic mouse model. We defined the ZWD12 epitope by determining its structure in complex with the spike (S) protein via cryo-electron microscopy. This study affords the potential to develop broadly therapeutic mAb drugs and suggests that the RBD epitope bound by ZWD12 is a rational target for the design of a broad spectrum of vaccines.
To investigate the penetrance of
gene mutation in primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) through systematic review and meta-analysis. To explore the factors affecting the penetrance of
and provide ...evidence-based medical evidence for clinical work.
We searched all studies that reported the penetrance of
mutation in PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Chinese databases including Wanfang, CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure), and CBM (China Bio-Med). Random effects meta-analysis was conducted to estimate the penetrance of
mutation in POAG.
Fifty-two studies were included in this analysis after screening. Meta-analysis of the penetrance of
mutation showed that the penetrance of
mutation in POAG was 60% (95% CI: 51.0% to 68.0%) and the penetrance of
mutation in POAG and suspected POAG was 68% (95% CI: 60.0% to 75.0%). The penetrance of
mutation increases with age. Among Caucasians, Asians, and Africans, the penetrance of
mutation in POAG was 55%, 71%, 54%, respectively, and the penetrance of
mutation in POAG and suspected POAG was 64%, 83%, and 57%, respectively. Besides, the penetrance of different
mutation sites was significantly discrepant. The penetrance of
mutation in POAG ranged from 10.3% to 100% depending on the mutation sites. Some
mutation sites have a certain population specificity, which is only pathogenic in Caucasians or Asians.
The penetrance of
mutation in POAG showed significant differences due to different mutation sites. The penetrance increased with the accrescent of age. Ethnic difference was an important factor affecting the penetrance of
mutation. Knowing the rules and influencing factors of the penetrance of
mutations is significant for the assessment of the risk of POAG in carriers with the
mutation.
Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) has been widely employed as one tool for the studies of human migration and phylogenetic evolution owing to the characteristics of its lack of recombination and matrilineal ...inheritance. In this study, we analyze genetic distributions of 60 mtDNA markers in 126 unrelated individuals of Southern Shaanxi Han population and classify their haplogroups. Genetic distribution comparisons between Southern Shaanxi Han and other populations from different continents are conducted based on the same mtDNA markers. The majority of 60 mtDNA markers are polymorphic in Southern Shaanxi Han population. The most common haplogroups observed in Southern Shaanxi Han population are B5, followed by D5, A, D4e, and N9a1′3. Obtained matching probability for these 60 mtDNA markers indicates that the panel could be used as a valuable tool in forensic caseworks. Results of genetic distances (
Fst
) and multidimensional scaling analysis show that Southern Shaanxi Han population has relatively close genetic relationships with other Han populations in different regions. In conclusion, the panel comprising 60 mtDNA markers could be utilized for forensic applications in Southern Shaanxi Han population.
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