Enhanced superconductivity in TiO epitaxial thin films

Titanium oxides have many fascinating optical and electrical properties, such as the superconductivity at 2 K in cubic titanium monoxide (TiO) polycrystalline bulk. However, the lack of TiO single crystals or epitaxial films has prevented systematic investigations on its superconductivity. Here, we report the basic superconductivity characterizations of cubic TiO films epitaxially grown on (0001)-oriented α-Al2O3 substrates. The magnetic and electronic transport measurements confirmed that TiO is a type-II superconductor and the recorded high Tc is about 7.4 K. The lower critical field (Hc1) at 1.9 K, the extrapolated upper critical field Hc2(0), and coherence length are about 18 Oe, 13.7 T, and 4.9 nm, respectively. With increasing pressure, the value of Tc shifts to lower temperature while the normal state resistivity increases. Our results on the superconducting TiO films confirm the strategy to achieve higher Tc in the epitaxial films, which may be helpful for finding more superconducting materials in various related systems

Isoflurane Preconditioning at Clinically Relevant Doses Induce Protective Effects of Heme Oxygenase-1 on Hepatic Ischemia Reperfusion in Rats

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Activation of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) has been proved to reduce damages to the liver in ischemia reperfusion injury. The objective of present study was to determine whether clinic relevant doses of isoflurane treatment could be sufficient to activate HO-1 inducing, which confers protective effect against hepatic ischemia-reperfusion injury.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The hepatic artery and portal vein to the left and the median liver lobes of forty male Sprague-Dawley rats were occluded for 60 minutes. Reperfusion was allowed for 4 hours before the animal subjects were sacrificed. Six groups (n = 12) were included in the study. A negative control group received sham operation and positive control group a standard ischemia-reperfusion regimen. The third group was pretreated with isoflurane prior to the ischemia-reperfusion. The fourth group received an HO-1 inhibitor zinc protoporphyrin (Znpp) prior to the isoflurane pretreatment and the ischemia-reperfusion. The fifth group received Znpp alone before ischemia-reperfusion procedure, and the sixth group was administrated with a HO-1 inducer hemin prior to IR. HO-1 in the liver was measured using an enzymatic activity assay, a Western blot analysis, as well as immunohistochemical method. Extent of liver damage was estimated by determination of the serum transaminases, liver lipid peroxidation and hepatic histology. Infiltration of the liver by neutrophils was measured using a myeloperoxidase activity assay. TNFα mRNA in the liver was measured using RT-PCR.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Isoflurane pretreatment significantly attenuated the hepatic injuries and inflammatory responses caused by the ischemia reperfusion. Selectively inhibiting HO-1 with ZnPP completed blocked the protective effects of isoflurane. Inducing HO-1 with hemin alone produced protective effects similar in magnitude to that of isoflurane.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Clinic relevant doses of isoflurane attenuate ischemia reperfusion injury in rats by increasing the HO-1 expression and activity.</p

Enhanced superconductivity in TiO epitaxial thin films

Titanium oxides have many fascinating optical and electrical properties, such as the superconductivity at 2 K in cubic titanium monoxide (TiO) polycrystalline bulk. However, the lack of TiO single crystals or epitaxial films has prevented systematic investigations on its superconductivity. Here, we report the basic superconductivity characterizations of cubic TiO films epitaxially grown on (0001)-oriented α-Al2O3 substrates. The magnetic and electronic transport measurements confirmed that TiO is a type-II superconductor and the recorded high Tc is about 7.4 K. The lower critical field (Hc1) at 1.9 K, the extrapolated upper critical field Hc2(0), and coherence length are about 18 Oe, 13.7 T, and 4.9 nm, respectively. With increasing pressure, the value of Tc shifts to lower temperature while the normal state resistivity increases. Our results on the superconducting TiO films confirm the strategy to achieve higher Tc in the epitaxial films, which may be helpful for finding more superconducting materials in various related systems

Segmenting Individual Tree from TLS Point Clouds Using Improved DBSCAN

Terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) can provide accurate and detailed three-dimensional (3D) structure information of the forest understory. Segmenting individual trees from disordered, discrete, and high-density TLS point clouds is the premise for obtaining accurate individual tree structure parameters of forest understory, pest control and fine modeling. In this study, we propose a bottom-up method to segment individual trees from TLS forest data based on density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise (DBSCAN). In addition, we also improve the DBSCAN based on the distance distribution matrix (DDM) to automatically and adaptively determine the optimal cluster number and the corresponding input parameters. Firstly, the proposed method is based on the improved DBSCAN to detect the trunks and obtain the initial clustering results. Then, the Hough circle fitting method is used to modify the trunk detection results. Finally, individual tree segmentation is realized based on regional growth layer-by-layer clustering. In this paper, we use TLS multi-station scanning data from Chinese artificial forest and German mixed forest, and then evaluate the efficiency of the method from three aspects: overall segmentation, trunk detection and small tree segmentation. Furthermore, the proposed method is compared with three existing individual tree segmentation methods. The results show that the total recall, precision, and F1-score of the proposed method are 90.84%, 95.38% and 0.93, respectively. Compared with traditional DBSCAN, recall, accuracy and F1-score are increased by 6.96%, 4.14% and 0.06, respectively. The individual tree segmentation result of the proposed method is comparable to those of the existing methods, and the optimal parameters can be automatically extracted and the small trees under tall trees can be accurately segmented

Segmenting Individual Tree from TLS Point Clouds Using Improved DBSCAN

Terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) can provide accurate and detailed three-dimensional (3D) structure information of the forest understory. Segmenting individual trees from disordered, discrete, and high-density TLS point clouds is the premise for obtaining accurate individual tree structure parameters of forest understory, pest control and fine modeling. In this study, we propose a bottom-up method to segment individual trees from TLS forest data based on density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise (DBSCAN). In addition, we also improve the DBSCAN based on the distance distribution matrix (DDM) to automatically and adaptively determine the optimal cluster number and the corresponding input parameters. Firstly, the proposed method is based on the improved DBSCAN to detect the trunks and obtain the initial clustering results. Then, the Hough circle fitting method is used to modify the trunk detection results. Finally, individual tree segmentation is realized based on regional growth layer-by-layer clustering. In this paper, we use TLS multi-station scanning data from Chinese artificial forest and German mixed forest, and then evaluate the efficiency of the method from three aspects: overall segmentation, trunk detection and small tree segmentation. Furthermore, the proposed method is compared with three existing individual tree segmentation methods. The results show that the total recall, precision, and F1-score of the proposed method are 90.84%, 95.38% and 0.93, respectively. Compared with traditional DBSCAN, recall, accuracy and F1-score are increased by 6.96%, 4.14% and 0.06, respectively. The individual tree segmentation result of the proposed method is comparable to those of the existing methods, and the optimal parameters can be automatically extracted and the small trees under tall trees can be accurately segmented

In situ coagulation-electrochemical oxidation of leachate concentrate: A key role of cathodes

To efficiently remove organic and inorganic pollutants from leachate concentrate, an in situ coagulation-electrochemical oxidation (CO-EO) system was proposed using Ti/Ti4O7 anode and Al cathode, coupling the “super-Faradaic” dissolution of Al. The system was evaluated in terms of the removal efficiencies of organics, nutrients, and metals, and the underlying cathodic mechanisms were investigated compared with the Ti/RuO2–IrO2 and graphite cathode systems. After a 3-h treatment, the Al-cathode system removed 89.0% of COD and 36.3% of total nitrogen (TN). The TN removal was primarily ascribed to the oxidation of both ammonia and organic-N to N2. In comparison, the Al-cathode system achieved 3–10-fold total phosphorus (TP) (62.6%) and metal removals (>80%) than Ti/RuO2–IrO2 and graphite systems. The increased removals of TP and metals were ascribed to the in situ coagulation of Al(OH)3, hydroxide precipitation, and electrodeposition. With the reduced scaling on the Al cathode surface, the formation of Al3+ and electrified Al(OH)3 lessened the requirement for cathode cleaning and increased the bulk conductivity, resulting in increased instantaneous current production (38.9%) and operating cost efficiencies (48.3 kWh kgCOD−1). The present study indicated that the in situ CO-EO process could be potentially used for treating persistent wastewater containing high levels of organic and inorganic ions

A NEW SPECIES OF THE GENUS COLOBODUS AGASSIZ, 1844 (OSTEICHTHYES, ACTINOPTERYGII) FROM THE PELSONIAN (ANISIAN, MIDDLE TRIASSIC)OF GUIZHOU, SOUTH CHINA

Eight almost complete medium-large sized (about 33 cm in s.l.) fossil fishes, belonging to the family Colobodontidae, are described from the Pelsonian (Anisian, Middle Triassic) of South China. Their cranial and postcranial features fit those of the genus Colobodus Agassiz, 1844 from the western Tethys. However, they are older than the previously known Colobodus species and, furthermore, they come far from the western Tethys, where most colobodontids have been found so far. The significance of our new findings, beyond the erection of a new species, lies in the fact that they are the first definite record of Colobodus outside the western Tethyan faunal province, and represent the oldest unequivocal colobodontids worldwide, as well as suggest that they could have originated in the East rather than the western Tethys, as previously thought.

Rattle-type magnetic mesoporous hollow carbon as a high-performance and reusable adsorbent for water treatment

Rattle-type magnetic mesoporous hollow carbon (RMMHC) materials have shown great promise as adsorbents for water treatment. In this work, we report a surfactant-free synthesis of RMMHC nanoparticles (NPs) using magnetite NPs as the core, tetrapropyl orthosilicate, resorcinol and formaldehyde to form the shell followed by carbonization and selective silica etching. The pore size, specific surface area and pore volume of RMMHC NPs can be tuned by varying the carbonization temperature (500, 700 and 900 °C). At the optimized temperature of 700 °C, the RMMHC NPs possess the highest specific surface area of 579 m2 g−1, the largest pore volume of 0.795 cm3 g−1, and the largest pore size of 7.6 nm among all three samples. The adsorption capacity of optimized RMMHC NPs towards di (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (a model organic pollutant) reaches as high as 783.1 mg g−1. Taking advantage of the magnetic property, the adsorbents retain more than 87% of their initial adsorption capacity over five times\u27 reuse