Additional file 2: of Differentially expressed genes between systemic sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis

Table S2. The modules of the PPI network. Four modules from the protein-protein interaction network satisfied the criteria of MCODE scores >6 and number of nodes >6. (DOCX 14 kb

Additional file 1: of Differentially expressed genes between systemic sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis

Table S1. Degree of top 10 genes. (DOCX 14 kb

Data_Sheet_1_Poleward Propagation of Typhoon-Induced Near-Inertial Waves in the Northern South China Sea.docx

One of the main responses of the ocean to typhoons is the generation of near-inertial waves (NIWs), whose intrinsic frequency is close to the local inertial frequency. Based on the mooring observations, we carefully investigated the spatial–temporal variations in NIWs in the northern South China Sea (SCS) after Typhoon “Haima,” which passed through the northern SCS from October 20 to 21, 2016, with its track parallel to the mooring array on its northeast side. Moorings in different locations responded differently to this typhoon, with stronger NIWs found on the continental slope to the shelf break and relatively weak NIWs found on the shallow continental shelf. Strong NIWs appeared twice within a short period and showed different characteristics and frequencies. The first NIWs were generated locally with blue-shifted (super-inertial) frequencies. These initial NIWs were dominated by the first three baroclinic modes and rapidly weakened due to their propagation away and local dissipation. However, the second NIWs mainly consisted of higher baroclinic modes with red-shifted (sub-inertial) frequencies. The analysis of the mean background flow revealed that these red-shifted NIWs were excited at low latitudes, and subsequently advected by the poleward background flow to moorings whose latitudes were higher than their critical latitudes. Higher-mode (n > 3) NIWs were more easily carried away by mean background flow, and, at the same time, high-mode NIWs propagated downward to the subsurface layer, leading to the significant elevation of velocity shear therein. Given these findings, the mean background flow may provide an important route to redistributing the energy of the upper ocean imported from typhoons.</p

Effects of Ambient Conditions on Solvent−Nanotube Dispersions: Exposure to Water and Temperature Variation

Dispersions of single walled nanotubes in N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) have been exposed to water and variations in storage temperature. The subsequent degradation of dispersion quality has been monitored using sedimentation, UV−vis−NIR, and atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements. Four parameters derived from AFM; the root-mean-square bundle diameter, the total number of dispersed objects (individuals and bundles) per unit volume of dispersion, the number fraction of individual nanotubes, and the number of individual nanotubes per unit volume of dispersion were used to quantitatively characterize the dispersion quality as a function of water content and storage temperature. In addition the positions of the nanotube absorption peaks were used to track dispersion quality, with redshifts taken as an indication of aggregation. It was found that water can rapidly shift the dispersion to a new but more aggregated equilibrium state. In particular the population of individual nanotubes falls to zero for relatively low amounts of added water. The dispersion quality decreases with increasing water content, reaching a plateau for all metrics by 20 vol % added water. In addition, it was also identified that low temperature treatment, i.e. −16, −18, −20, and −22 °C (all above the freezing point of NMP) does not influence the dispersion quality and stability regardless of the treatment time. However, freezing (−80 °C) or heating (80 °C) the dispersion leads to a substantial degradation of the dispersion quality and stability

Control of Optical Limiting of Carbon Nanotube Dispersions by Changing Solvent Parameters

Nonlinear optical and optical limiting properties of a range of single-walled carbon nanotube dispersions prepared in N-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone (NMP) were studied using the open aperture Z-scan technique at 532 nm. As the appropriate thermodynamic properties of the solvents are much more important than the bundle size of nanotubes for improving the optical limiting performance, the solvent parameters were controlled by either changing the temperature of the dispersions or blending a secondary solvent. While the optical limiting performance can be varied freely by increasing or decreasing the temperature from room temperature to 100 °C, the reduction of temperature below the freezing point of NMP and then down as far as −80 °C has little influence on the limiting performance. As a result of adding a small amount of organic solvent into the NMP dispersions, the nonlinear optical responses were enhanced significantly due to the reduction of surface tension and other parameters. By contrast, the addition of water leads to a decrease in the optical limiting response. Nanotube dispersions in water/surfactant exhibit a similar limiting performance to the nanotubes in NMP. Our results reveal that the optical limiting performance of the nanotube dispersions can be engineered by adjusting the solvent properties. Because the carbon nanotube dispersions are typical of the thermally induced light scattering dominated optical limiting materials, we believe the conclusions fit not only the nanotubes but also other nanomaterials with the similar limiting mechanism

New Solvents for Nanotubes: Approaching the Dispersibility of Surfactants

We demonstrate dispersion and exfoliation of nanotubes in two new solvents for nanotubes, cyclohexyl-pyrrolidone (CHP) and 1-benzyl-2-pyrrolidinone (NBenP). Both solvents are structural analogues of the well-known nanotube solvent N-methyl-pyrrolidone. Each solvent can disperse nanotubes at high concentrations, up to 3.5 mg/mL for CHP. The nanotubes in these dispersions are highly exfoliated, even at high concentration. In cyclohexyl-pyrrolidone dispersions, the root-mean-square bundle diameter was ∼3 nm for a concentration of 2 mg/mL. The bundle diameter fell as the concentration was reduced, reaching 1.5 nm at concentrations below 10−3 mg/mL. These dispersions have very large populations of individual nanotubes and small bundles. For CHP the total population of one-dimensional dispersed objects exceeded 100 μm−3 for concentrations >2 mg/mL. Of these ∼10% were individual SWNTs. However, as the concentration was reduced, the fraction of individual SWNTs increased to ∼80% for a nanotube concentration of 10−4 mg/mL. Like other successful nanotube dispersing solvents, both of these new solvents are characterized by surface tensions close to 40 mJ/m2. We believe their ability to disperse and exfoliate nanotubes is due to the low energetic cost of exfoliation in such solvents. Finally, their relative lack of toxicity makes these solvents much more user-friendly than traditional nanotube solvents such as N-methyl-pyrrolidone or dimethyl-formamide

Design of Porous Core–Shell Manganese Oxides to Boost Electrocatalytic Dinitrogen Reduction

Harnessing the electrochemical nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR), where renewable electricity and H2O are used for NH3 production, is regarded as an effective and clean protocol for N2 fixation. The design and development of new active, selective, and durable NRR electrocatalysts are expected to achieve this. Here, we design a well-defined porous core–shell heterostructure comprising Mn2O3–MnO (as the core) and Mn3O4 (as the shell). The unique composite is shown to efficiently facilitate N2 adsorption and reduction in a neutral electrolyte, delivering an impressive NH3 FE (∼23.8%) with a reasonable NH3 formation rate (22.4 μgNH3 h–1 mgcat–1) at a cathodic voltage of −0.3 V (versus reversible hydrogen electrode). The electrocatalytic properties can be readily modulated by tuning the shell thickness. Our measured performance surpasses those of most nonmetallic, transition-metal-, and noble-metal-based catalysts reported in the prior literature. Equally importantly, the electrocatalytic activity maintains good stability up to 60 h. The outstanding electrochemical performance is attributed to the combined advantages of a large interface between the metal oxides and a unique core–shell structure with a high density of surface-exposed sites, pores, and oxygen vacancies

Study of the Hydrogen Passivation Effect of Low-Temperature-Deposited Amorphous Silicon Layers on SiGe Solar Cells Grown on a Silicon Substrate

In this study, we explored the use of low-temperature deposited a-Si:H(i) as a hydrogen source for the hydrogenation of SiGe solar cells on Si substrates. Cells integrated with a-Si:H(i) layers exhibited significant performance improvements after thermal annealing, with a maximum enhancement of 50 mV (20.2%rel), 8%abs (15%rel), and 1%abs (44%rel) in VOC, FF, and efficiency, respectively. These results, along with Raman spectroscopy measurements, confirm that hydrogen was released from a-Si:H(i) during thermal treatment and likely diffused into the SiGe/Si cells, providing defect passivation. External quantum efficiency measurements further revealed that the passivation enhancement occurred mainly on the front surface and nearby, indicating that hydrogen primarily diffused into the near-surface region and passivated defects in that area. The correlation between the changes in the hydrogen content from a-Si:H(i) and variations in VOC after thermal annealing was also examined to further understand the hydrogen passivation effect. Overall, this study demonstrates the successful implementation of hydrogenation using a-Si:H(i) as a hydrogen source with significant improvements in cell performance, providing potential pathways for developing efficient SiGe/Si solar cells

Study on the Anatase to Rutile Phase Transformation and Controlled Synthesis of Rutile Nanocrystals with the Assistance of Ionic Liquid

We developed a route to synthesize rutile TiO2 nanocrystals (NCs) with the assistance of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (bmim+Cl−). The phase transformation from anatase to rutile phase was investigated, and a simple model to describe the phase transformation process was proposed considering that the nucleation and growth of rutile phase were determined by the aggregation manner of anatase NCs and Ostwald ripening process, respectively. It was demonstrated that the surfactant-like nature of the IL used was crucial for controlling the crystallization process via controlling the aggregation manner of the NCs. The phase, shape, and size of TiO2 NCs could be tuned by the controlling the operating conditions, such as temperature, solution acidity, and reactant concentration of the bmim+Cl−/TiCl4/H2O reaction system. Phase-pure rutile multipods and 1D nanorods with different sizes were controllably obtained

Modulation of Photogenerated Carrier Transport by Integration of Sb₂O₃ with Fe₂O₃ for Improved Photoelectrochemical Water Oxidation

Optimization of photogenerated carrier transport by heterojunction engineering has been realized as an effective strategy to improve the electrode performance in photoelectrochemical (PEC) systems. We report for the first time a type II heterostructure consisting of Sb2O3 and Fe2O3 for significantly enhanced PEC water oxidation. The as-fabricated photoanode exhibits prominent performance with a photocurrent density as high as 1.31 mA cm–2 at 1.23 V (vs. reversible hydrogen electrode), 14.5 times that of bare Fe2O3, as well as remarkable applied bias photon-to-current efficiency (10.7 times that of Fe2O3) and long-term stability (over 20 h). Notably, it outperforms all the Sb2O3-based photoanodes reported to date. The excellent PEC performance is ascribed to the rational integration of the matched merits of different components, i.e., interleaved step energy bands and complementary band gaps of Sb2O3 and Fe2O3. Along with the enhanced electrical conductivity, the photogenerated carriers are capable of flowing to the desired direction at a fast migration rate for participating in redox reactions on the electrode surface, and the electron–hole recombination is simultaneously efficiently inhibited