Amundsen Sea Ice Loss Contributes to Australian Wildfires

Wildfires in Australia have attracted extensive attention in recent years, especially for the devastating 2019–2020 fire season. Remote forcing, such as those from tropical oceans, plays an important role in driving the abnormal weather conditions associated with wildfires. However, whether high latitude climate change can impact Australian fires is largely unclear. In this study, we reveal a robust relationship between Antarctic sea ice concentration (SIC), primarily over the Amundsen Sea region, with Australian springtime fire activity, by using reanalysis data sets, AMIP simulation results, and a state-of-the-art climate model simulation. Specifically, a diminished Amundsen SIC leads to the formation of a high-pressure system above Australia as a result of the eastward propagation of Rossby waves. Meanwhile, two strengthened meridional cells originating from the tropic and polar regions also enhance subsiding airflow in Australia, resulting in prolonged arid and high-temperature conditions. This mechanism explains about 28% of the variability of Australian fire weather and contributed more than 40% to the 2019 extreme burning event, especially in the eastern hotspots. These findings contribute to our understanding of polar-low latitude climate teleconnection and have important implications for projecting Australian fires as well as the global environment

Pioneering Piezoelectric-Driven Atomic Hydrogen for Efficient Dehalogenation of Halogenated Organic Pollutants

The electrocatalytic hydrodehalogenation (EHDH) process mediated by atomic hydrogen (H*) is recognized as an efficient method for degrading halogenated organic pollutants (HOPs). However, a significant challenge is the excessive energy consumption resulting from the recombination of H* to H2 production in the EHDH process. In this study, a promising strategy was proposed to generate piezo-induced atomic H*, without external energy input or chemical consumption, for the degradation and dehalogenation of HOPs. Specifically, sub-5 nm Ni nanoparticles were subtly dotted on an N-doped carbon layer coating on BaTiO3 cube, and the resulted hybrid nanocomposite (Ni-NC@BTO) can effectively break C-X (X = Cl and F) bonds under ultrasonic vibration or mechanical stirring, demonstrating high piezoelectric driven dehalogenation efficiencies toward various HOPs. Mechanistic studies revealed that the dotted Ni nanoparticles can efficiently capture H* to form Ni–H* (Habs) and drive the dehalogenation process to lower the toxicity of intermediates. COMSOL simulations confirmed a “chimney effect” on the interface of Ni nanoparticle, which facilitated the accumulation of H+ and enhanced electron transfer for H* formation by improving the surface charge of the piezocatalyst and strengthening the interfacial electric field. Our work introduces an environmentally friendly dehalogenation method for HOPs using the piezoelectric process independent of the external energy input and chemical consumption

Overall performance in Experiment 1 and comparison to [18].

<p>A. Overall accuracy (d’). B. Overall RT variability (CV). In both measures, rewarded performance exceeds non-rewarded performance (higher d’ and lower CV).</p

Performance in Experiment 3 divided into 2-min quintiles.

<p>A. Accuracy (d’) and B. RT variability (CV). <b>Vigilance decrements, or linear changes over time, in Experiment 3</b>. C. Accuracy (d’) and D. RT variability (CV). No significant decrements were observed in either the first or second Anticipate-large-loss task.</p

Direct Observation of Oxygen Evolution and Surface Restructuring on Mn₂O₃ Nanocatalysts Using <i>In</i> <i>Situ</i> and <i>Ex Situ</i> Transmission Electron Microscopy

Direct observation of oxygen evolution reaction (OER) on catalyst surface may significantly advance the mechanistic understanding of OER catalysis. Here, we report the first real-time nanoscale observation of chemical OER on Mn2O3 nanocatalyst surface using an in situ liquid holder in a transmission electron microscope (TEM). The oxygen evolution process can be directly visualized from the development of oxygen nanobubbles around nanocatalysts. The high spatial and temporal resolution further enables us to unravel the real-time formation of a surface layer on Mn2O3, whose thickness oscillation reflects a partially reversible surface restructuring relevant to OER catalysis. Ex situ atomic-resolution TEM on the residual surface layer after OER reveals its amorphous nature with reduced Mn valence and oxygen coordination. Besides shedding light on the dynamic OER catalysis, our results also demonstrate a powerful strategy combining in situ and ex situ TEM for investigating various chemical reaction mechanisms in liquid

Reframing the public sociology debate: Towards collaborative and decolonial praxis

This article presents a critical analysis of Michael Burawoy’s model of public sociology, discussing several of its epistemic and methodological limitations. First, the author focuses on the ambiguity of Burawoy’s proposal, problematizing the absence of a clear delimitation of the concept of ‘public sociology’. Second, the author links the academic success of the category of public sociology to the global division of sociological labour, emphasizing the ‘geopolitics of knowledge’ involved in Burawoy’s work and calling for the decolonization of social science. Then, the author expounds his concerns regarding the hierarchy of the different types of sociology proposed by Burawoy, who privileges professional sociology over other types of sociological praxis. Reflecting upon these elements will provide a good opportunity to observe how our discipline works, advancing also suggestions for its transformation. Along these lines, in the last section of the article the author elaborates on the need to go beyond a dissemination model of public sociology – the unidirectional diffusion of ‘expert knowledge’ to extra-academic audiences – and towards a more collaborative understanding of knowledge production

Performance in Experiment 2 divided into 2-min quintiles.

A. Accuracy (d’) and B. RT variability (CV). Vigilance decrements, or linear changes over time, in Experiment 2. C. Accuracy (d’) and D. RT variability (CV). Significant decrements were observed in the No-reward task, but not for the Anticipate-large-loss task.</p

Direct Observation of Oxygen Evolution and Surface Restructuring on Mn₂O₃ Nanocatalysts Using <i>In</i> <i>Situ</i> and <i>Ex Situ</i> Transmission Electron Microscopy

Direct observation of oxygen evolution reaction (OER) on catalyst surface may significantly advance the mechanistic understanding of OER catalysis. Here, we report the first real-time nanoscale observation of chemical OER on Mn2O3 nanocatalyst surface using an in situ liquid holder in a transmission electron microscope (TEM). The oxygen evolution process can be directly visualized from the development of oxygen nanobubbles around nanocatalysts. The high spatial and temporal resolution further enables us to unravel the real-time formation of a surface layer on Mn2O3, whose thickness oscillation reflects a partially reversible surface restructuring relevant to OER catalysis. Ex situ atomic-resolution TEM on the residual surface layer after OER reveals its amorphous nature with reduced Mn valence and oxygen coordination. Besides shedding light on the dynamic OER catalysis, our results also demonstrate a powerful strategy combining in situ and ex situ TEM for investigating various chemical reaction mechanisms in liquid

Vigilance decrements, or linear changes over time, in Experiment 1.

<p>Linear slopes were computed from quintile data (<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0159741#pone.0159741.g002" target="_blank">Fig 2</a>) for A. Accuracy (d’) and B. RT variability (CV). Decrements/slopes from [<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0159741#pone.0159741.ref018" target="_blank">18</a>] are displayed for comparison. All versions exhibited comparable performance decrements over time (lower d’ and higher CV) with the exception of the Anticipate-large-loss task in Experiment 1a.</p

Direct Observation of Oxygen Evolution and Surface Restructuring on Mn₂O₃ Nanocatalysts Using <i>In</i> <i>Situ</i> and <i>Ex Situ</i> Transmission Electron Microscopy

Direct observation of oxygen evolution reaction (OER) on catalyst surface may significantly advance the mechanistic understanding of OER catalysis. Here, we report the first real-time nanoscale observation of chemical OER on Mn2O3 nanocatalyst surface using an in situ liquid holder in a transmission electron microscope (TEM). The oxygen evolution process can be directly visualized from the development of oxygen nanobubbles around nanocatalysts. The high spatial and temporal resolution further enables us to unravel the real-time formation of a surface layer on Mn2O3, whose thickness oscillation reflects a partially reversible surface restructuring relevant to OER catalysis. Ex situ atomic-resolution TEM on the residual surface layer after OER reveals its amorphous nature with reduced Mn valence and oxygen coordination. Besides shedding light on the dynamic OER catalysis, our results also demonstrate a powerful strategy combining in situ and ex situ TEM for investigating various chemical reaction mechanisms in liquid