Search Results (1,972)

Submerged macrophytes play a pivotal role in the restoration of shallow lakes. Compared to meadow-forming Vallisneria, canopy-forming Myriophyllum spicatum exhibits characteristics that may render it the dominant species. However, M. spicatum may hamper recreational and commercial activities. Herbivorous fish may potentially regulate the biomass and interspecific competition between the two plant species. We conducted an enclosure experiment to elucidate the effects of grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) and Wuchang bream (Megalobrama amblycephala) on the biomass ratio and morphological traits of M. spicatum and V. denseserrulata. Grass carp significantly reduced the biomass, density, and relative growth rate of both plant species, while Wuchang bream had no significant effect on any of these variables. Accordingly, the biomass ratio of M. spicatum to V. denseserrulata was significantly lower in the grass carp treatment than in both the fish-free controls and the Wuchang bream treatment. Wuchang bream significantly decreased the individual height of V. denseserrulata, whereas grass carp substantially reduced the height of both plant species. Our findings suggest that Wuchang bream may be more appropriate for maintaining meadow-forming species such as Vallisneria than grass carp, though it faces challenges in controlling both the biomass and height of canopy-forming species like M. spicatum. Full article

China is the world’s largest producer of acrylic fiber, and the wastewater generated from its production contains a significant amount of biologically refractory organic pollutants. However, comprehensive screening studies on organic compounds in such wastewater remain limited, which hampers effective wastewater treatment and ecological risk management to some extent. In this study, high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) was combined with comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GC×GC) and ultra-performance liquid chromatography, along with multiple characterization techniques—including proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, infrared spectroscopy, and fluorescence spectroscopy—to qualitatively analyze organic compounds present in wastewater from four stages of wet-spun acrylic fiber production: acrylonitrile mixed wastewater, polymerization wastewater, spinning wastewater, and final mixed wastewater. The results indicated that sulfonate esters, various other esters, alkanes, heterocyclic compounds, aromatic compounds, and substances containing multiple conjugated systems were commonly present across all four sample types, potentially contributing to the poor biodegradability of the wastewater. Additionally, a higher abundance of volatile organic compounds was detected in the mixed wastewater, while acrylonitrile appeared to be more concentrated in the spinning wastewater. The complementary use of spectral analysis, proton nuclear magnetic resonance, and HRMS provided a robust analytical foundation for identifying organic pollutants in acrylic fiber production wastewater. Full article

Traditional methods for grapevine (Vitis spp.) breeding are marked by lengthy breeding cycles with usually low efficiency, rendering them inadequate for the demands of the rapidly evolving grapevine industry. While grapevine genetic transformation holds significant potential for improvement, its application is hampered by bottlenecks in efficiency, speed, and genotype dependence. In this context, this review systematically examines the factors influencing and challenges associated with key steps in grapevine genetic transformation—specifically, gene delivery and plant regeneration. It posits that the development and application of marker genes, the exploration and utilization of developmental regulators, and the establishment of novel genetic transformation systems are effective strategies to overcome current limitations. In this paper, we present a foundation and methodological guidance for creating efficient and stable genetic transformation systems for grapevine, with significant theoretical and practical implications. Full article

Silicon-graphite anodes offer a practical route to increase the energy density of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), but their widespread adoption is hampered by cyclic instability due to huge volume changes of silicon during lithiation/delithiation process. Another fallout of LIBs capacity gain is growing safety concerns due to fire risks, associated with the uncontrolled release of chemical energy. Herein, we test a hexakis(fluoroethoxy)phosphazene (HFEPN) as a multifunctional electrolyte additive designed to mitigate both issues. The flammability of HFEPN-containing electrolytes was evaluated using a self-extinguishing time test, while the electrochemical performance was assessed in Si/C composite||NMC pouch cells under a progressively accelerated cycling protocol. It is shown that the additive fully imparts flame-retardant properties to the electrolyte at a 15 wt% loading. Despite forming a more stable solid–electrolyte interphase (SEI) with enhanced interfacial kinetics the additive did not improve the cycling stability of the Si/C-based cells. The cells with 15 wt% HFEPN retained 43% of capacity after 70 cycles, comparable to 46.5% for the reference electrolyte. The diffusion limitations imposed by the increased electrolyte viscosity are assumed to offset the interfacial benefits of the additive. Thus, alongside the improved synthetic route, this study demonstrates that while HFEPN functions as an effective flame retardant and SEI modifier, its practical benefits for silicon anodes are limited at high concentrations by detrimental effects on electrolyte transport properties and should be improved in future molecular design efforts. Full article

Insect parasitoids are key biological agents within terrestrial ecosystems, offering a promising avenue for controlling insect pests. Hyperparasitoids are a group of insects that lay their eggs in or on the body of parasitoid hosts, which can greatly hamper the effectiveness of parasitoids. To optimize their reproductive success, adult parasitoids/hyperparasitoids must find sufficient food sources and mate partners (when they do not reproduce parthenogenetically) and locate suitable hosts for their offspring. To complete these tasks, parasitoids largely rely on their ability to detect relevant chemical cues (semiochemicals or infochemicals). In the last three decades, the identities of semiochemicals and their ethological significance have been widely characterized, and the possibility of using these chemical cues in insect pest management has received a lot of attention. Insects have evolved a highly sensitive and sophisticated chemosensory system adept at navigating complex and dynamic chemical environments. In this review, we first summarize the semiochemicals used by insect parasitoids, primarily including semiochemicals involved in food location, host foraging, and mate finding, while also addressing semiochemicals employed by hyperparasitoids. Next, we discuss recent progress in elucidating the chemosensory mechanisms underlying parasitoid responses to semiochemicals, with a focus on olfactory and gustatory pathways. Finally, we evaluate the potential applications of semiochemicals in pest management, highlighting the roles of parasitoids and hyperparasitoids. This paper aims to establish a theoretical framework for the effective employment of parasitoids in biological control of insect pests. Full article

The extraction of rare earth elements is becoming increasingly essential due to their many applications in current and emerging advanced material technologies. However, in many rare earth deposits, rare earth minerals are associated with radionuclides; specifically, thorium and uranium. The radioactive nature of these elements is a major concern during processing. Techniques such as solvent extraction and precipitation have been employed in this regard to minimize the radioactivity levels and address any related processing or environmental concerns. However, they face various challenges such as high chemical reagent consumption, secondary waste generation, and limited selectivity, which hinder either their scalability or sustainability. The current study provides a literature review about these technologies to provide critical insights on their applications and discuss the challenges hampering their extensive use in the mining industry. Biotechnology is also evaluated and highlighted as a promising, cost-effective, and low-environmental-impact option for the selective recovery of radionuclides from rare earth elements. Specifically, pyoverdine siderophores were discussed due to their catecholates and hydroxamate moieties which have high affinity for radionuclides to enhance selective recovery during rare earth processing. Conversely, integration of this approach into existing mineral processing flowsheets is a constraint. Hence, future studies should focus on optimizing the kinetics of siderophore synthesis and explore a hybrid approach to combine the biotechnological and conventional techniques. Full article

Tight sandstone gas constitutes a strategically significant resource in the exploration of unconventional hydrocarbon systems. Current understanding of the geochemical composition and genesis of tight sandstone gas in the Daning–Jixian Block, southeastern Ordos Basin, is insufficient, which hampers a comprehensive assessment of its resource potential. This study is the first to systematically investigate the geochemical characteristics and genetic origin of high-maturity tight sandstone gas in the southeastern Ordos Basin’s Daning–Jixian Block. Gas specimens were systematically acquired from multiple stratigraphic units within the reservoir interval and subjected to compositional and carbon–hydrogen isotope analysis. Compared with other gas fields in the Ordos Basin, the Daning–Jixian Block has higher average methane concentration, and notably lower ethane and propane concentrations; its average δ¹³C₁ and δ²H-CH₄ is heavier, while δ¹³C₂ and δ¹³C₃ are lighter. Based on the δ¹³C₁-δ²H-CH₄ diagram, all gas samples from the block and other basin gas fields fall into the geothermal, hydrothermal and crystalline gas domain, indicating gas genesis associated with over-mature organic matter interacting with external hydrogen. Milkov genetic diagram analysis reveals that the natural gas consists of primarily early-stage kerogen-cracking gas, with a minor contribution from crude oil-derived gas originating from Carboniferous–Permian source rocks. Notably, samples from Daning–Jixian exhibit a unique δ¹³C₁ > δ¹³C₂ reversal, attributed to mixing effects between gas from highly mature kerogen and gas from secondary cracking of crude oil. Consequently, ethane carbon isotopes alone are insufficient for definitive genetic classification. These findings provide a new geochemical interpretation framework for analogous high-maturity tight gas reservoirs. Full article

Many countries around the world repeatedly suffer from natural disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, and hurricanes due to geographical factors, including plate boundaries, tropical cyclone zones, and coastal regions. Representative examples include Hurricane Katrina, which struck the United States in 2005, and the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011. Both were large-scale disasters that occurred in developed countries and caused enormous human and economic losses regardless of disaster type or location. As the occurrence of such catastrophic events remains inevitable, establishing effective preparedness and rapid response systems for large-scale disasters has become an urgent global challenge. One of the critical issues in disaster response is the rapid estimation of the number of affected individuals required for effective rescue operations. During large-scale disasters, terrestrial communication infrastructure is often rendered unusable, which severely hampers the collection of situational information. If the population within a disaster-affected area can be estimated without relying on ground-based communication networks, rescue resources can be more appropriately allocated based on the estimated number of people in need, thereby accelerating rescue operations and potentially reducing casualties. In this study, we propose a population-estimation system that remotely senses radio signals emitted from smartphones in disaster areas using Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites. Through numerical analysis conducted in MATLAB R2023b, the feasibility of the proposed system is examined. The numerical results demonstrate that, under ideal conditions, the proposed system can estimate the number of smartphones within the observation area with an average error of 2.254 devices. Furthermore, an additional evaluation incorporating a 3D urban model demonstrates that the proposed system can estimate the number of smartphones with an average error of 19.03 devices. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt to estimate post-disaster population using wireless LAN signals sensed by LEO satellites, offering a novel remote-sensing-based approach for rapid disaster response. Full article

Background: Patient-derived advanced prostate cancer organoids have been developed to mimic tumor heterogeneity and beneficially predict optimized drugs for specific patients. The organoids are promising functional drug screening models which can capture patient outcomes. However, organoid development from transurethral resection of the prostate (TUR-P) has been hampered by a low success rate, and the cost of culture should be reduced for realistically clinical settings. In our study, we aimed to improve the success rate and reduce the cost of establishing advanced prostate cancer organoids from TUR-P specimens. Methods: We optimized and improved both the organoid culture protocol and the fetal bovine serum (FBS) based-organoid culture medium, which is suitable for performing drug testing in a short turnaround time. To confirm that the generated organoids could recapitulate the tumor heterogeneity of original tissues, the organoids were validated with histological, immunohistochemical, and genomic analyses. Results: Following the optimized protocol, we successfully generated organoids in approximately 18 out of 29 cases (or 62.07%), which exhibited effective growth and survival. In addition, we found that the established organoids efficiently identified and captured tumor characteristics present in their matched original tissues, as indicated by histological, immunohistochemical, and comprehensive genomic analysis. As a proof of concept for personalized medicine, the generated organoids were treated with anti-cancer drugs, including docetaxel and enzalutamide in parallel with the clinical treatments. Interestingly, the in vitro drug screening results were positively correlated with the patient outcomes at the clinical level. Conclusions: Taken together, the established APC organoids were able to precisely predict patients’ outcomes for treatment decision-making within a month in a cost-effective manner. Full article

The escalating production and use of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have led to a pressing need for efficient and sustainable methods for recycling valuable metals such as cobalt, nickel, manganese, and lithium from spent cathode materials. Traditional hydrometallurgical leaching approaches, based on mineral acids, face significant limitations, including high reagent consumption, secondary pollution, and poor selectivity. In recent years, deep eutectic solvents (DESs) and ionic liquids (ILs) have emerged as innovative, environmentally benign alternatives, offering tunable physicochemical properties, enhanced metal selectivity, and potential for reagent recycling. This review provides a comprehensive analysis of the current state and prospects of leaching LIB cathode materials using DES and ILs. We summarize the structural diversity and composition of common LIB cathodes, highlighting their implications for leaching strategies. The mechanisms, efficiency, and selectivity of metal dissolution in various DES- and IL-based systems are critically discussed, drawing on recent advances in both laboratory and real-sample studies. Special attention is given to the unique extraction mechanisms facilitated by complexation, acid–base, and redox interactions in DES and ILs, as well as to the effects of key operational parameters. A comparative analysis of DES- and IL-based leaching is presented, with discussion of their advantages, challenges, and industrial potential. While DES offers low toxicity, biodegradability, and cost-effectiveness, it may suffer from limited solubility or viscosity issues. Conversely, ILs provide remarkable tunability and metal selectivity but are often hampered by higher costs, viscosity, and environmental concerns. Finally, the review identifies critical bottlenecks in upscaling DES and IL leaching technologies, including long-term solvent stability, metal recovery purity, and economic viability. We also highlight research priorities that emphasize applying circular hydrometallurgy and life-cycle assessment to improve the sustainability of battery recycling. Full article

This study investigates whether information and communication technology (ICT) constitutes a sustained driver of economic growth in four Central Asian economies—Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan—over the period 2000–2022. Using an extended endogenous growth framework, this study employs the following long-run growth model: economic growth is specified as a function of ICT development, gross capital formation, trade openness, human capital, government effectiveness, and inflation. A composite ICT index is constructed using Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Long-run relationships are examined using a panel cointegration approach, and long-run elasticities are estimated using FMOLS, DOLS, and CCR techniques. The results reveal that ICT development exerts a negative and statistically significant effect on economic growth in the long run, indicating limited technological absorptive capacity and insufficient institutional readiness in the region. In contrast, capital formation, trade openness, human capital, and government effectiveness positively and significantly promote growth, while inflation hampers economic performance. The findings suggest that ICT investment alone is insufficient for sustainable growth without complementary institutional strengthening, human capital development, digital skills enhancement, improved broadband quality, and governance reforms to increase the productive use of ICT. Full article

Accurate identification and monitoring of rice cultivation areas are essential for food security and sustainable agricultural development. However, regions with frequent cloud cover, high rainfall, and fragmented fields often face challenges due to the absence of temporal features caused by cloud and rain interference, as well as spectral confusion from scattered plots, which hampers rice recognition accuracy. To address these issues, this study employs a Satellite Image Time Series Transformer (SITS-Former) model, enhanced with the integration of diverse phenological features to improve rice phenology representation and enable precise rice identification. The methodology constructs a rice phenological feature set that combines temporal, spatial, and spectral information. Through its self-attention mechanism, the model effectively captures growth dynamics, while multi-scale convolutional modules help suppress interference from non-rice land covers. The study utilized Sentinel-2 satellite data to analyze rice distribution in Wuxi City. The results demonstrated an overall classification accuracy of 0.967, with the estimated planting area matching 91.74% of official statistics. Compared to traditional rice distribution analysis methods, such as Random Forest, this approach outperforms in both accuracy and detailed presentation. It effectively addresses the challenge of identifying fragmented rice fields in regions with persistent cloud cover and heavy rainfall, providing accurate mapping of cultivated areas in difficult climatic conditions while offering valuable baseline data for yield assessments. Full article

The steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP), a non-invasive EEG modality, is a prominent approach for brain–computer interfaces (BCIs) due to its high signal-to-noise ratio and minimal user training. However, its practical utility is often hampered by susceptibility to noise, artifacts, and concurrent brain activities, complicating signal decoding. To address this, we propose a novel hybrid deep learning model that integrates a multi-channel restricted Boltzmann machine (RBM) with a convolutional neural network (CNN). The framework comprises two main modules: a feature extraction module and a classification module. The former employs a multi-channel RBM to unsupervisedly learn latent feature representations from multi-channel EEG data, effectively capturing inter-channel correlations to enhance feature discriminability. The latter leverages convolutional operations to further extract spatiotemporal features, constructing a deep discriminative model for the automatic recognition of SSVEP signals. Comprehensive evaluations on multiple public datasets demonstrate that our proposed method achieves competitive performance compared to various benchmarks, particularly exhibiting superior effectiveness and robustness in short-time window scenarios. Full article

The fluorescent dyes 9-aminoacridine (9-AA) and acridine orange (AO) are known mutagens that induce frameshift mutations in cells by intercalating between DNA bases. However, these chemicals can also affect other cellular components, such as proteins. In this study, we tested the ability of 9-AA and AO to induce heat shock in bacteria using the following methods: lux-biosensors based on Escherichia coli cells with the luxCDABE genes transcriptionally fused to heat shock-specific inducible promoters, RT-qPCR, and nanoDSF. We demonstrated that acridine dyes not only induce mutagenesis but also cause heat shock in bacterial cells. AO significantly reduced the melting temperature of proteins and strongly activated σ^E- and σ³²-dependent promoters, but not PluxC, which is activated by elevated temperatures via a different mechanism. In contrast, 9-AA weakly denatured the proteins and induced the σ^E-dependent promoter; however, it activated the σ³²-dependent promoters and PluxC, supporting the hypothesis that the σ³² heat shock response system is activated via hairpin RNA denaturation by 9-AA. The study on the application of lux-biosensors was hampered by the high general toxicity and luminescence shielding effect of AO, and RT-qPCR’s sensitivity was insufficient for detection of the response to 9-AA. Thus, methodologically, it is justified to conduct a comprehensive study of substances that cause heat shock or affect bioluminescence by both RT-qPCR and lux-biosensors. Full article

Coated fabrics featuring plasticised poly(vinyl chloride) (p-PVC) and thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) coatings are widespread in fashion collections. These materials pose significant conservation challenges due to their production and chemical variability, coupled with issues of rapid deterioration. Despite their prevalence and instability, systematic research on their composition and ageing behaviour remains limited, as most studies rely mainly on infrared spectroscopy and cover a small number of cases, which cannot fully capture their chemical complexity. This knowledge gap represents a pressing issue, as it hampers the development of well-informed conservation strategies. This research addresses this gap by investigating a representative set of twenty-five historical and contemporary fabrics from the 1990s onwards, coated with aromatic and aliphatic polyester-based TPUs, as well as phthalate- and terephthalate-plasticised PVCs. Samples were characterised using a multi-analytical approach combining optical microscopy, infrared spectroscopy, pyrolysis–gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, and X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy. This integrated strategy provided unprecedented detail on the chemical variability of p-PVC and TPU-coated fabrics, enabling the identification of primary components, additives, degradation products, and mixed compositions. This study underscores the value of multi-technique analysis to capture the complexity of such coated fabrics, providing essential knowledge for further research and development of effective conservation strategies for fashion collections. Full article