(5-Bromo-2-chloro­phen­yl)(4-ethoxy­phen­yl)methanone

In the title mol­ecule, C15H12BrClO2, the two benzene rings form a dihedral angle of 69.30 (3)°. In the crystal structure, weak inter­molecular C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds link mol­ecules into chains propagating along the b axis

Strongly anisotropic vortices in dipolar quantum droplets

We construct strongly anisotropic quantum droplets with embedded vorticity in the 3D space, with mutually perpendicular vortex axis and polarization of the atomic magnetic moments. Stability of these anisotropic vortex quantum droplets (AVQDs) is verified by means of systematic simulations. Their stability area is identified in the parametric plane of the total atom number and scattering length of contact interactions. The application of torque perpendicular to the vorticity axis gives rise to robust intrinsic oscillations or rotation of the AVQDs. Collisions between slowly and fast moving AVQDs give rise, respectively, to the elastic outcome or merger. Finally, we construct stable vortex-antivortex-vortex bound states and find their stability regions in the parameter space.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, and 66 Reference

N,N′-Diacetyl-N′-[(4-nitro­phen­oxy)acetyl]acetohydrazide

The asymmetric unit of the title compound, C14H15N3O7, contains two independent mol­ecules which are linked into a pseudocentrosymmetric dimer by a π–π inter­action, as shown by the short distance of 3.722 (5) Å between the centroids of the benzene rings. An extensive network of weak inter­molecular C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds helps to stabilize the crystal packing

Sugarcane breeding: a fantastic past and promising future driven by technology and methods

Sugarcane is the most important sugar and energy crop in the world. During sugarcane breeding, technology is the requirement and methods are the means. As we know, seed is the cornerstone of the development of the sugarcane industry. Over the past century, with the advancement of technology and the expansion of methods, sugarcane breeding has continued to improve, and sugarcane production has realized a leaping growth, providing a large amount of essential sugar and clean energy for the long-term mankind development, especially in the face of the future threats of world population explosion, reduction of available arable land, and various biotic and abiotic stresses. Moreover, due to narrow genetic foundation, serious varietal degradation, lack of breakthrough varieties, as well as long breeding cycle and low probability of gene polymerization, it is particularly important to realize the leapfrog development of sugarcane breeding by seizing the opportunity for the emerging Breeding 4.0, and making full use of modern biotechnology including but not limited to whole genome selection, transgene, gene editing, and synthetic biology, combined with information technology such as remote sensing and deep learning. In view of this, we focus on sugarcane breeding from the perspective of technology and methods, reviewing the main history, pointing out the current status and challenges, and providing a reasonable outlook on the prospects of smart breeding

Fertilization drives distinct biotic and abiotic factors in regulating functional groups of protists in a 5-year fertilization system

IntroductionProtists play an important role in nutrient cycling, microbiome stability and soil fertility maintenance. However, the driving force of protistan functional groups remains poorly understood in agricultural ecosystems.MethodsWe investigated the impacts of fertilization regimes on the diversity, composition and functional groups of protists and further disentangled the effects of multiple factors shaping the community composition of functional groups in a 5-year fertilization regime (CK, no fertilization; M, organic fertilization; MNPK, combined inorganic and organic fertilization; NPK, inorganic fertilization).ResultsFertilization significantly changed the community composition of protists rather than diversity. The MNPK treatment significantly increased the relative abundance of phototrophs and decreased that of the parasites and consumers. Partial least squares path modeling indicated that fertilization indirectly regulated protistan consumers via changes in the P content, which affected the composition of consumers mainly by regulating fungal community composition. Soil moisture (SM) and available phosphorus (AP) were identified as the top predictors for the composition of parasites, and the composition of phototrophs was mainly affected by SM, indicating that parasites and phototrophs were more sensitive to abiotic factors in the fertilization system.DiscussionTaken together, our findings highlight that fertilization significantly affects the composition of functional groups of protists and their biotic or abiotic regulatory processes, which have implications for the potential changes in their ecosystem functions for soil management systems

Innovating through services, co-creation and supplier integration: Cases from China

To develop and gain competitive advantage, Chinese manufacturers are innovating by developing solutions that include both tangible and intangible components. Service-dominant logic, which views supply chains as co-creation and resource integration networks, provides a useful perspective for investigating the roles of services, suppliers and customers in innovation. This study empirically explores how innovations are developed through services, co-creation with customers and supplier integration in China. This study uses an exploratory multiple-case-study approach. The data collection involves six manufacturing firms from the Pearl River Delta in China. We empirically identify two types of services (support services and solution services), two methods of co-creation (information acquisition and co-production) and two types of integration (internal integration and supplier integration). This study finds that support services and internal integration positively associate with information acquisition from customers. Solution services require both supplier integration and co-production with customers. This study contributes to the literature by providing empirical evidence on the roles of services in innovation and how to acquire resources and knowledge that is critical for innovation through collaboration with supply chain partners. The findings also provide guidelines to managers on how to use services, co-creation and integration to innovate efficiently and effectively

1-(4-Methoxyphenyl)-3-methyl-1H-1,2,4-triazol-5(4H)-one

In the title compound, C10H11N3O2, the triazole ring has a dihedral angle of 11.55 (2)° relative to the benzene ring. The crystal packing is stabilized by intermolecular N—H...O and C—H...O hydrogen bonds, and by weak π–π stacking interactions [centroid-to-centroid distance = 3.545 (3) Å]

Mechanical and EMI shielding properties of solid and microcellular TPU/nanographite composite membranes

Tough, flexible, and conductive polymer composites show numerous advantages over conventional metal-based materials for EMI shielding applications, for example, in enclosures and packages of electronic devices, due to their low density, high flexibility, excellent corrosion resistance, and easy processing. Herein, thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) was compounded with flake-shaped nanographite to prepare flexible polymer composite membranes with enhanced mechanical and EMI shielding properties. To regulate TPU/graphite composite's properties, microcellular foaming with carbon dioxide was used to prepare microcellular TPU/graphite composite membranes. Nanographite can significantly promote cell nucleation and hence lead to a refined cellular structure. With 20 wt% nanographite, cell density can be increased by two orders of magnitude. By adding the optimal amount of nanographite, the tensile strength and modulus can be increased up to 28% and 39%, compared to TPU. Although microcellular foaming compromises the tensile properties of the composites, it can significantly enhance their elasticity with more than a 20% decrease in hysteresis loss in comparison to solid ones. Moreover, it is also found that TPU composites with high graphite contents significantly enhanced EMI shielding properties, and microcellular foaming leads to relatively worse EMI shielding performance. Both solid and foamed TPU/graphite composites show promising prospects in EMI shielding applications