Controlled growth of nanostructures plays a vital role in tuning the physical and chemical properties of functional materials for advanced energy and memory storage devices. Herein, we synthesized hierarchical micro-sized flowers, built by the self-assembly of highly crystalline, two-dimensional nanoplates of Co- and Ni-doped BiFeO3, using a simple ethylene glycol-mediated solvothermal method. Pure

In this study, determination of terbinafine and itraconazole down to biological concentration level has been carried out. The determination is based on increasing the selectivity of the spectrofluorimetric technique by combining both derivative and synchronous spectrofluorometric approaches, which permits successful estimation of terbinafine at 257 nm and itraconazole at 319 nm in the presence of each

MXene, the new family of two-dimensional materials having numerous nanoscale layers, is being considered as a novel microwave absorption material. However, MXene/functionalized MXene-loaded polymer nanocomposites exhibit narrow reflection loss (RL) bandwidth (RL less than or equal to −10 dB). In order to enhance the microwave absorption bandwidth of MXene hybrid-matrix materials, for the first time

The effects of particle morphology on the structure and swelling/dissolution and rheological properties of nascent ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) in liquid paraffin (LP) were elaborately explored in this article. Nascent UHMWPE with different particle morphologies was prepared via pre-polymerization technique and direct polymerization. The melting temperature and crystallinity of

Food waste contains numerous easily degradable components, and anaerobic digestion is prone to acidification and instability. This work aimed to investigate the effect of adding yeast on biogas production performance, when substrate is added after biogas production is reduced. The results showed that the daily biogas production increased 520 and 550 ml by adding 2.0% (volatile solids; VS) of activated

Sea snakes propel themselves by lateral deformation waves moving backwards along their bodies faster than they swim. In contrast to typical anguilliform swimmers, however, their swimming is characterized by exaggerated torsional waves that lead the lateral ones. The effect of torsional waves on hydrodynamic forces generated by an anguilliform swimmer is the subject matter of this study. The forces

Analysis of spatial patterns of disease is a significant field of research. However, access to unit-level disease data can be difficult for privacy and other reasons. As a consequence, estimates of interest are often published at the small area level as disease maps. This motivates the development of methods for analysis of these ecological estimates directly. Such analyses can widen the scope of research

Game theory has been extensively applied to elucidate the evolutionary mechanism of cooperative behaviour. Dilemmas in game theory are important elements that disturb the promotion of cooperation. An important question is how to escape from dilemmas. Recently, a dynamic utility function (DUF) that considers an individual's current status (wealth) and that can be applied to game theory was developed

Teiid lizards are well represented in the fossil record and are common components of modern ecosystems in North and South America. Many fossils were referred to the cnemidophorine teiid group (whiptails, racerunners and relatives), particularly from North America. However, systematic interpretations of morphological features in cnemidophorines were hampered by the historically problematic taxonomy

Entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) can control pests due to mutualistic association with bacteria that reproduce and kill the host from septicemia, making the environment favourable for nematode development and reproduction. The objective of this study was to identify an EPN isolate collected in eucalyptus cultivation and to determine its pathogenicity with regard to Gonipterus platensis Marelli (Coleoptera:

Molecular motors are responsible for intracellular transport of a variety of biological cargo. We consider the collective behaviour of a finite number of motors attached on a cargo. We extend previous analytical work on processive motors to the case of non-processive motors, which stochastically bind on and off cytoskeletal filaments with a limited number of binding sites available. Physically, motors

How does the neural representation of visual working memory content vary with behavioural priority? To address this, we recorded electroencephalography (EEG) while subjects performed a continuous-performance 2-back working memory task with oriented-grating stimuli. We tracked the transition of the neural representation of an item (n) from its initial encoding, to the status of ‘unprioritized memory

Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) has seen an increase in popularity as a method for studying the human brain. This approach is dependent on voxel localization and spectral quality, knowledge of which are essential for judging the validity and robustness of any analysis. As such, visualization plays a central role in appropriately communicating MRS studies. The quality of data visualization has

Mindfulness involves an intentional and non-judgemental attention or awareness of present-moment experiences. It can be cultivated by meditation practice or present as an inherent disposition or trait. Higher trait mindfulness has been associated with improved emotional skills, but evidence comes primarily from studies on emotion regulation. It remains unclear whether improvements extend to other aspects

Successful computer use requires the operator to link the movement of the cursor to that of his or her hand. Previous studies suggest that the brain establishes this perceptual link through multisensory integration, whereby the causality evidence that drives the integration is provided by the correlated hand and cursor movement trajectories. Here, we explored the temporal window during which this causality

Microwave absorption (MA) materials with high heat resistance have a wide range of applications in many fields. In this work, a C,N-codoped MoSi2 ceramic was prepared via a facile solid-phase reaction method and its MA properties was investigated. On the one hand, the results indicate that this ceramic possesses excellent heat resistance and the weight of the MoSi2 is almost constant when the temperature

In our study, three gemini dicationic surfactants with different methylene group spacer (16-6-16, 16-5-16 and 16-4-16) have been synthesized and characterized in solution by 1H NMR spectroscopic technique. The implications of gemini micellar solution on ninhydrin and metal amino acid complex ([Cu(II)-Trp]+) were performed by the means of single-beam UV–visible spectroscopy. The absorbance was noted

Two-dimensional finite difference time domain (FDTD) simulations were performed for evaluating optical absorption enhancement and loss effects of triangular silver (Ag) nanowires embedded in silicon (Si) thin-film photovoltaic device structures. Near-bandgap absorption enhancement in Si was much larger than the reported values of other nanostructures from similar simulations. A nanowire with equal

Archosauria (birds, crocodilians and their extinct relatives) form a major part of terrestrial ecosystems today, with over 10 000 living species, and came to dominate the land for most of the Mesozoic (over 150 Myr) after radiating following the Permian–Triassic extinction. The archosaur skull has been essential to this diversification, itself diversified into myriad forms. The archosauriform Euparkeria

As pressures on biodiversity increase, a better understanding of how assemblages are responding is needed. Because rare species, defined here as those that have locally low abundances, make up a high proportion of assemblage species lists, understanding how the number of rare species within assemblages is changing will help elucidate patterns of recent biodiversity change. Here, we show that the number

Common-pool resources require a dose of self-restraint to ensure sustainable exploitation, but this has often proven elusive in practice. To understand why, and characterize behaviours towards ecological systems in general, we devised a social dilemma experiment in which participants gain profit from harvesting a virtual forest vulnerable to overexploitation. Out of 16 Chinese and 15 Spanish player

How do people decide which action to take? This question is best answered using Game Theory, which has proposed a series of decision-making mechanisms that people potentially use. In network simulations, wherein games are repeated and pay-off differences can be observed, those mechanisms often rely on imitation of successful behaviour. Surprisingly, little to no evidence has been provided about whether

The ionospheric sporadic E (Es) layer has a significant impact on the global positioning system (GPS)/global navigation satellite system (GNSS) signals. These influences on the GPS/GNSS signals can also be used to study the occurrence and characteristics of the Es layer on a global scale. In this paper, 5.8 million radio occultation (RO) profiles from the FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC satellite mission and ground-based

In the field of public health, treatment of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacterial infection is a great challenge. Herein, we provide a solution to this problem with the use of graphene oxide-silver (GO-Ag) nanocomposites as antibacterial agent. Following established protocols, silver nanoparticles were grown on graphene oxide sheets. Then, a series of in vitro studies were conducted to validate the antibacterial

A series of carbohydrate-linked 1,2,3-triazole derivatives were synthesized in good yields from glucofuranose and allofuranose diacetonides using as key step a three-component 1,3-dipolar azide–alkyne cycloaddition catalysed by a Cu–Al mixed oxide. In this multi-component reaction, Cu–Al mixed oxide/sodium ascorbate system serves as a highly reactive, recyclable and efficient heterogeneous catalyst

In this study, a novel ratiometric fluorescent nanoprobe for pH monitoring has been developed by synthesizing red fluorescent Ag2S quantum dots (Ag2S QDs) and green fluorescent carbon dots (CDs) nanohybrids (Ag2S CDs) in one pot using CDs as templates. The nanoprobe exhibits dual-emission peaks at 500 and 670 nm under a single-excitation wavelength of 450 nm. The red fluorescence can be selectively

Schwertmannite (sch), an iron oxyhydrosulfate mineral, can catalyse a Fenton-like reaction to degrade organic contaminants, but the reduction of Fe(III) to Fe(II) on the surface of schwertmannite is a limiting step for the Fenton-like process. In the present study, the sch/few-layer graphene (sch–FLG) composite was synthesized to promote the catalytic activity of sch in a Fenton-like reaction. It was

In this paper, topological resonance energy (TRE) methods were used to describe the global aromaticity of nitrogen confused porphyrin (NCP) isomers. The TRE results show that all NCP isomers exhibit lower aromaticity than the normal porphyrins, and their aromaticity decreases as the number of confused pyrrole rings in the molecule increases. In the NCPs, global aromaticity decreases as the distance

Background: Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are widely used in food industries, biomedical, dentistry, catalysis, diagnostic biological probes and sensors. The use of plant extract for AgNPs synthesis eliminates the process of maintaining cell culture and the process could be scaled up under a non-aseptic environment. The purpose of this study is to determine the classes of phytochemicals, to biosynthesize

Alkylated waste vegetable oil is a versatile intermediate product in the synthesis of bio-based materials. Heterogeneous catalytic condition with high conversion rate in the direct alkylation of waste vegetable oil was reported and the deactivation mechanism of catalyst was revealed. The total exchange capacity, elemental composition and pyrolysis product of catalyst before and after the alkylation

Strength and toughness are both of great importance for the application of polylactic acid (PLA). Unfortunately, these two properties are often contradictory. In this work, an effective and practical strategy is proposed by using carboxylated graphene oxide (GC) grafted with polyethylene glycol (PEG), i.e. GC-g-PEG. The synthesis procedure of GC-g-PEG is firstly optimized. Then, a series of PLA nanocomposites

The accuracy and believability of crowd simulations underpins computational studies of human collective behaviour, with implications for urban design, policing, security and many other areas. Accuracy concerns the closeness of the fit between a simulation and observed data, and believability concerns the human perception of plausibility. In this paper, we address both issues via a so-called ‘Turing

Pseudoplanktonic crinoid raft colonies are an enigma of the Jurassic. These raft colonies are thought to have developed as floating filter-feeding communities due to an exceptionally rich oceanic niche, high in the water column enabling them to reach large densities on these log rafts. However, this pseudoplanktonic hypothesis has not been quantitatively tested, and there remains some doubt that this

Cooperation is generally the most advantageous strategy for the group; however, on an individual level, cheating is frequently more attractive. In a fishery, one can choose to cooperate by fishing only the regulated amount or not to cooperate, by fishing to maximize profits. Top-down management can help to emulate a cooperative result in fisheries, but it is costly and not always a viable alternative

Studying the pollen preferences of introduced bees allows us to investigate how species use host-plants when establishing in new environments. Osmia cornifrons is a solitary bee introduced into North America from East Asia for pollination of Rosaceae crops such as apples and cherries. We investigated whether O. cornifrons (i) more frequently collected pollen from host-plant species they coevolved with

Small-scale mining usually operates under high geological uncertainty conditions. This turns mine planning into a complex and sometimes inaccurate task, resulting in low productivity and substantial variability in the quantity and quality of the mineral products. This research demonstrates how the application of a novel methodology that relies on traditional and low-cost geophysical methods can contribute

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) programme ‘Systematizing Confidence in Open Research and Evidence' (SCORE) aims to generate confidence scores for a large number of research claims from empirical studies in the social and behavioural sciences. The confidence scores will provide a quantitative assessment of how likely a claim will hold up in an independent replication. To create

We describe the early spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) and the first human-to-human transmission networks, in Romania. We profiled the first 147 cases referring to sex, age, place of residence, probable country of infection, return day to Romania, COVID-19 confirmation date and the probable modes of COVID-19 transmissions. Also, we analysed human-to-human transmission networks and explored

Cerebral arteriovenous malformation (AVM) is a congenital brain vessels pathology, in which the arterial and venous blood channels are connected by tangles of abnormal blood vessels. It is a dangerous disease that affects brain functioning causing the high risk of intracerebral haemorrhage. One of AVM treatment methods is embolization—the endovascular filling of the AVM vessel bundle with a special

Computer-aided design software and additive manufacturing provide flexibility for the direct fabrication of multi-material devices. This design and fabrication versatility has been investigated for the manufacture of dielectric spiral phase plates (SPP) that generate electromagnetic waves with helical wavefronts. Three types of SPPs designed to produce an orbital angular momentum (OAM) mode number

Non-equilibrium phase transitions from survival to extinction have recently been observed in computational models of evolutionary dynamics. Dynamical signatures predictive of population collapse have been observed in yeast populations under stress. We experimentally investigate the population response of the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae to biological stressors (temperature and salt concentration)

Whether video games with aggressive content contribute to aggressive behaviour in youth has been a matter of contention for decades. Recent re-evaluation of experimental evidence suggests that the literature suffers from publication bias, and that experimental studies are unable to demonstrate compelling short-term effects of aggressive game content on aggression. Long-term effects may still be plausible

Communication plays an important role in consensus decision-making which pervades our daily life. However, the exact role of communication in consensus formation is not clear. Here, to study the effects of communication on consensus formation, we designed a dyadic colour estimation task, where a pair of isolated participants repeatedly estimated the colours of discs until they reached a consensus or

It is 30 years since the characteristic signatures of interaction with circumstellar material (CSM) were first observed in a core-collapse supernova. Since then, CSM interaction has been observed and inferred across a range of transients, from the low-energy explosions of low-mass stars as likely electron-capture supernovae, through to the brightest superluminous supernovae. In this review, I present

Derived from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), oxygenated-PAHs (oxy-PAHs) may pose hazards to aquatic organisms, which remain largely unknown. Takifugu obscurus is an important anadromous fish species of high economic and ecological values. In the present study, T. obscurus was acutely exposed to 44.29 µg l−1 9,10-phenanthrenequione (9,10-PQ) for 96 h. Changes of antioxidant indices and metabolite

The fight against a multifaceted incurable disease such as cancer requires a multidisciplinary approach to overcome the multitude of molecular defects at its origin. Here, a new thermophysical biochemical approach has been suggested and associated with the use of electromagnetic fields to control the growth of cancer cells. In particular, thermodynamic analysis of the heat transfer is developed in

Graphene oxide (GO) is a derivative of graphene nanosheet which is the most promising material of the decade in biomedical research. In particular, it has been known as an antimicrobial nanomaterial with good biocompatibility. In this study, we have synthesized and characterize GO and checked its antimicrobial property against different Gram-negative and Gram-positive multidrug drug resistant (MDR)

A polycarboxylic/ether composite polymer electrolyte derived from two-arm monomer and polyethylene oxide (PEO) was in situ synthesized on the cathode. The composite electrolyte exhibits a high ionic conductivity of 3.6 × 10−5 S cm–1, high oxidation stability, excellent stability towards Li metal and makes Li/LiFePO4 present good cyclic and rate performance at 25°C.

A parenteral medical combination containing vaborbactam and meropenem is used mainly to treat complicated urinary tract infections. A novel ultra-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometric method was developed for the sensitive determination of both compounds in human plasma. Sample preparation was performed by precipitation technique. The chromatographic separation was accomplished

A new elastic polyurethane (PU) adhesive was reported in this study to improve the stability and durability of the dental adhesion interface. A polyurethane oligomer was synthesized by the solution polymerization method, and a diluent and solvent were added to prepare PU adhesives. The water sorption, water solubility, contact angle, thermal stability, degree of conversion and mechanical properties

In this work, we have determined the structures of lithium methanesulfonate, Li(CH3SO3), and potassium methanesulfonate, K(CH3SO3), and analysed their vibrational spectra. The lithium salt crystallizes in the monoclinic space group C2/m with two formula units in the primitive cell. The potassium salt is more complex, crystallizing in I4/m with 12 formula units in the primitive cell. The lithium ion

The need for an excellent antibacterial material that is sufficiently powerful to never develop bacterial resistance is urgent. In this study, a series of novel polyacrylonitrile-based fibres with chelated Ag ions (referred to as Ag-SH-PANF) were prepared by a two-step chemical modification process: grafting and chelating. The properties of the as-prepared Ag-SH-PANF were characterized by Fourier transform

A novel fabrication method of uniform porous structures on the glass surface is proposed. The hydrofluoric acid fog formed by air-jet atomization etches the glass surface to fabricate nanoporous structure (NPS) on glass surface. This NPS shows the enhanced average light transmittance of approximately 92.9% and the superhydrophilic property with a contact angle less than 1° which presents an excellent

Density functional theory was employed to investigate the (111), (200), (210), (211) and (220) surfaces of CoS2. The surface energies were calculated with a sulfur environment using first-principle-based thermodynamics. It is founded that surfaces with metal atoms at their outermost layer have higher energy. The stoichiometric (220) surface terminated by two layer of sulfur atoms is most stable under

Benzothiazole based cyanine dyes with bridged groups in the pentamethine chain were studied as potential far-red fluorescent probes for protein detection. Spectral-luminescent properties were characterized for unbound dyes and in the presence of serum albumins (bovine (BSA), human (HSA), equine (ESA)), and globular proteins (β-lactoglobulin, ovalbumin). We have observed that the addition of albumins

Corrosion is clearly one of the more common causes of materials failure in stainless steel. To manage corrosion, chemical inhibitors are often used for prevention and control. Ionic liquids due to their hydrophobic and corrosion-resistant property are being explored as alternative protective coatings and anti-corrosion materials. In this particular study, ionic liquids containing functionalized imidazolium

New azobenzene derivatives with dihydropyrazole heterocycle have been prepared and characterized. According to thermal polarizing microscopy and differential scanning calorimetry studies, the compounds consisting of four linearly linked rings and a long alkoxy chain on the azobenzene side (3a-8 and 3a-14) displayed no liquid crystal properties. When the length of mesogenic unit increased to five rings

Improving the electrochemical activity of electrodes is essential to the development of vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB). In this work, we prepared a novel electrode with the modification of nitrogen-doped carboxyl multiwalled carbon nanotubes using dopamine as an eco-friendly nitrogen source (carboxyl [email protected]). Characterization and electrochemical measurements reveal that the synthesized

The development of simple, practical and inexpensive catalysis systems using natural materials is one of the main goals of pharmaceutical chemistry as well as green chemistry. Owing to the ability of easy separation of nanocatalyst, those goals could be approached by applying heterogeneous bionanocatalyst in combination with magnetic nanoparticles. Starch is one of the most abundant natural polymers;

Inside living organisms, concentration gradients dynamically change over time as biological processes progress. Therefore, methods to construct dynamic microscale concentration gradients in a spatially controlled manner are needed to provide more realistic research environments. Here, we report a novel method for the construction of dynamic microscale concentration gradients in a stepwise manner around