The degradation of Ester-105 by potassium persulfate activation in three ways (light, heat and microwave) was studied by simulating organic pollutants in wastewater. The removal effects of different ...factors including concentrations of persulfate and pollutant, pH of the reaction solution, light intensity/heat temperature/microwave power, typical inorganic cations and anions on the three systems were investigated, and the dynamic simulation was also carried out to compare and analyze the influence mechanism of each factor. As the result, under the conditions of 20 mg/L Ester-105 and 1.5 mmol/L potassium persulfate, the optimum reaction conditions were 100 W mercury lamp, 60 ℃, and 260 W of microwave power for light, heat, and microwave system respectively. The strong alkali inhibited the photoactivation and reduced the reaction rate about 30%; both of the strong acid and strong alkali in the thermal activation system promoted the reaction, and their reaction rate constants are almost twice of the unregrulated pH (6.0); pH had little effect on the microwave activation. The addition of Fe
2+
showed a very strong promoting effect on three reaction systems, especially in the photoactivation that higher than 90% of Ester-105 was removed in 1 min. SiO
3
2−
was beneficial to the degradation of Ester-105 in the photoactivation system while other ainions almost played an inhibitory role in all systems. The main active free radicals involved in the reaction were SO
4
−●
and
●
OH through the free radical trapping experiment. The TOC removal efficiency and the activated rate of persulfate were also in agreement with degradation effect of Ester-105. Varieties of intermediates such as carbonyl sulfide and 3-ethoxyacrylonitrile were detected by GC–MS.
Graphical Abstract
Hierarchical TiO2 submicroflowers (HTFs) were mixed with anatase TiO2 nanoparticles (TNPs) to fabricate efficient photoanodes for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). HTFs with high specific surface ...area (98 m2 g−1) and favorable dimension (∼660 nm) facilitate dye loading and light scattering of photoanodes, boosting the light harvesting capability of DSSCs. Moreover, due to the high crystallinity and reduced defects or grain boundaries, the HTFs embedded in the photoanodes act as efficient conductive pathways for charges. With excessive incorporation of HTFs, on the other hand, inevitable shrink of HTFs after calcination causes poor connectivity of TiO2 network and even cracks in the photoanodes, deteriorating the charge collection capability of DSSCs. As a result, a balance should be made between optical and photoelectrochemical characteristics of photoanodes via HTF introduction. The DSSC based on 10 wt% HTFs embedded photoanode exhibits the highest power conversion efficiency of 6.4%, which is 52.4% higher than that of DSSCs with TNP-based photoanodes.
•HTFs self-assembled from ultrathin anatase TiO2 nanosheets were synthesized.•Incorporation of HTFs into photoanodes boosts the light harvesting capability.•The dual effects of HTF incorporation on charge extraction are clarified.
Display omitted
•A cost-effective, open-source colorimetric detection platform was developed.•The platform necessitates an easy-to-make color card and a smartphone.•The platform can reduce the impact ...of external lighting conditions.•The platform is not restricted by phone models.•The platform was applied for detecting urine pH, glucose, and protein.
Smartphone-based digital image colorimetry is a powerful, fast, low-cost approach to detecting target analytes. However, lighting conditions and camera parameters easily affect the detection results, significantly curtailing its applicability in multiple scenarios. In this study, an Android-based mobile application (SMP-CC) is developed, which offers a comprehensive package that includes image acquisition, color correction, and colorimetric analysis functions. Using a custom color card, a built-in algorithm in SMP-CC can minimize the color difference between the standard color block image captured by different smartphones under different lighting conditions and the standard value by an LS171 colorimeter less than 4.36. The algorithm significantly eliminates the impacts of external lighting conditions and differences in cell phone models. Furthermore, the feasibility of SMP-CC was verified by successful colorimetric detection of urine pH, glucose, and protein, demonstrating its potential in smartphone-based digital image colorimetry.
We have identified a variant on the β-globin gene in a Chinese female. Sequencing of the HBB gene revealed a Phe→Leu substitution at codon 42β42(CD1) Phe→Leu, HBB:c.129T > A which has been named Hb ...Suqian for where the proband was born.
Acute pancreatitis (AP) is a common inflammatory disorder that may develop into severe AP (SAP), resulting in life-threatening complications and even death. The purpose of this study was to explore ...two different machine learning models of multilayer perception-artificial neural network (MPL-ANN) and partial least squares-discrimination (PLS-DA) to diagnose and predict AP patients' severity.
The MPL-ANN and PLS-DA models were established using candidate markers from 15 blood routine parameters and five serum biochemical indexes of 133 mild acute pancreatitis (MAP) patients, 167 SAP (including 88 moderately SAP) patients, and 69 healthy controls (HCs). The independent parameters and combined model's diagnostic efficiency in AP severity differentiation were analyzed using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC).
The neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is the most useful marker in 20 parameters for screening AP patients AUC = 0.990, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.984–0.997, sensitivity 94.3%, specificity 98.6%. The MPL-ANN model based on six optimal parameters exhibited better diagnostic and predict performance (AUC = 0.984, 95% CI: 0.960–1.00, sensitivity 92.7%, specificity 93.3%, accuracy 93.0%) than the PLS-DA model based on five optimal parameters (AUC = 0.912, 95% CI: 0.853–0.971, sensitivity 87.8%, specificity 84.4%, accuracy 84.8%) in discriminating MAP patients from SAP patients.
The results demonstrated that the MPL-ANN model based on routine blood and serum biochemical indexes provides a reliable and straightforward daily clinical practice tool to predict AP patients' severity.
With the emergence of intelligent transportation and the widespread use of vehicle network equipment, the vehicle ad hoc network (VANET) is widely used in the communication among participating ...entities to obtain traffic information, such as speed, traffic congestion, road conditions, and accident. In VANET, the secure and efficient message broadcasting protocol can effectively reduce the message transmission delay, to meet the requirements of openness, real-time, and high-speed mobility in the VANET environment. However, most related researches mainly rely on third parties, such as TA and RSU, to ensure the identity authentication of vehicles and the security of message transmission, which are not suitable for infrastructure-less scenario. Therefore, designing a protocol for decentralized message broadcasting, identity authentication without a third party, and the safe message transmission is meaningful. In this study, we propose a lightweight vehicle message broadcasting authentication protocol, which realizes the identity authentication of the message broadcasting vehicle and vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) key agreement without the need of a trusted third party. In our protocol, the vehicle can verify the identity of the sending vehicle to identify the reliability of the message source and prevent malicious messages. Meanwhile, the vehicle can update its pseudonym identity to resist tracking attacks, but the trusted authority can always track the real identity of the malicious message sending vehicle according to the sent messages. The proposed protocol is proved secure by formal security proof. In addition, our scheme provides better security and computational efficiency over others by comparing with related schemes.
Salt stress severely limits the growth and yield of wheat in saline-alkali soil. While nanozymes have shown promise in mitigating abiotic stress by scavenging reactive oxygen species (ROS) in plants, ...their application in alleviating salt stress for wheat is still limited. This study synthesized a highly active nanozyme catalyst known as ZnPB (Zn-modified Prussian blue) to improve the yield and quality of wheat in saline soil. According to the Michaelis-Menten equation, ZnPB demonstrates exceptional peroxidase-like enzymatic activity, thereby mitigating oxidative damage caused by salt stress. Additionally, studies have shown that the ZnPB nanozyme is capable of regulating intracellular Na+ efflux and K+ retention in wheat, resulting in a decrease in proline and soluble protein levels while maintaining the integrity of macromolecules within the cell. Consequently, field experiments demonstrated that the ZnPB nanozyme increased winter wheat yield by 12.15 %, while also significantly enhancing its nutritional quality. This research offers a promising approach to improving the salinity tolerance of wheat, while also providing insights into its practical application.
•Efficient peroxidase like Prussian Blue analogue ZnPB is synthesized via doping.•ZnPB is applied as seed dressing agent to improve wheat salinity tolerance.•The effect of anti-salinity stress is determined by nanozyme's POD like activity.•ZnPB could reduce intracellular osmotic stress and protect macromolecules in cell.
Salt stress severely limits the growth and yield of wheat in saline-alkali soil. While nanozymes have shown promise in mitigating abiotic stress by scavenging reactive oxygen species (ROS) in plants, ...their application in alleviating salt stress for wheat is still limited. This study synthesized a highly active nanozyme catalyst known as ZnPB (Zn-modified Prussian blue) to improve the yield and quality of wheat in saline soil. According to the Michaelis-Menten equation, ZnPB demonstrates exceptional peroxidase-like enzymatic activity, thereby mitigating oxidative damage caused by salt stress. Additionally, studies have shown that the ZnPB nanozyme is capable of regulating intracellular Na
efflux and K
retention in wheat, resulting in a decrease in proline and soluble protein levels while maintaining the integrity of macromolecules within the cell. Consequently, field experiments demonstrated that the ZnPB nanozyme increased winter wheat yield by 12.15 %, while also significantly enhancing its nutritional quality. This research offers a promising approach to improving the salinity tolerance of wheat, while also providing insights into its practical application.
The feeding relationship between copepods and phytoplankton has immense ecological significance. The feeding behavior of copepods may be affected by the ingestion of toxic algae. This study ...investigated the feeding behavior of copepods via study of the feeding selectivity of Paracalanus parvus, a key small copepod species, using a high-speed camera. The study demonstrates that toxic dinoflagellates alter the feeding behavior of copepods and describes the variations in their feeding response to different algal species and concentrations. The findings provide crucial insights for further studies on the feeding relationship between copepods and phytoplankton and the functional assessment of plankton ecosystems. The feeding relationship between copepods and phytoplankton has immense ecological significance. This study investigated the feeding behavior of copepods by studying the feeding selectivity of Paracalanus parvus, a key small copepod species, using a high-speed camera. The feeding behavior of P. parvus separately fed on three algae, Prorocentrum minimum, Alexandrium minutum, and Thalassiosira weissflogii, was studied at five different concentrations. The factors characterizing feeding behavior, including the beating frequency (BF), beating time (BT), and rejection behavior, were analyzed. The average BT and BF of P. parvus fed on toxic algae were significantly lower than those of copepods fed on nontoxic algae, indicating that the toxic algae negatively affected their feeding behavior. There were no significant differences in feed rejection among the three algae during the short period of experimentation, indicating that the rejection behavior was insignificant in the early period (within 20 min) of feeding on toxic algae. The feeding behavior was inhibited when the concentration reached 250 cells/mL. The BT was initially affected at increasing concentrations followed by the BF, and P. minimum and A. minutum reduced the BF at concentrations of 250 and 1000 cells/mL, respectively. Analysis of the average BFs revealed that P. parvus was more significantly affected by P. minimum containing diarrheal shellfish poison than by A. minutum containing paralytic shellfish poison. The BF of copepods fed on P. minimum was significantly lower than that of copepods fed on A. minutum at 250–500 cells/mL but was not significantly different from that at 1000 cells/mL. This indicated that the inhibitory effect of P. minimum on the feeding behavior was more significant at concentrations observed at the onset of red tide blooms (0.25–0.5 × 10sup.2 cells/mL), but insignificant at concentrations reaching those in advanced red tides (>10sup.3 cells/mL). This study demonstrates that toxic dinoflagellates alter the feeding behavior of copepods and describes the variations in their feeding response to different algal species and concentrations. The findings provide crucial insights for further studies on the feeding relationship between copepods and phytoplankton and on functional assessment of plankton ecosystems.
