Partially bonded aluminum site on the external surface of post-treated Au/ZSM-5 enhances methane oxidation to oxygenates

Au nanoparticles supported on the exterior surface of the ZSM-5 zeolite (Au/ZSM-5) have shown the ability to partially oxidize methane to methanol and acetic acid. However, further improvements to the catalyst activity are required. This study investigates the effect of modifying the acidic properties of the ZSM-5 support through a desilication–recrystallization (DR) process on the activity of Au/ZSM-5 catalysts toward methane oxidation. A DR treatment of 24 h leads to a 50% higher oxygenate yield compared to the analogous catalyst prepared using the untreated support. Characterization using solid-state 27Al NMR and FTIR adsorption of pyridine and 2,4,6-trimethylpyridine reveals that DR induces framework dealumination and redistribution of Brønsted acid sites to the zeolite external surface. Two-dimensional 27Al MQMAS NMR further identifies partially coordinated framework Al sites on the zeolite surface, correlating with a higher oxygenate yield. These external acid sites help stabilize the Au nanoparticles, enhancing catalyst stability for methane partial oxidation

HNRNPM controls circRNA biogenesis and splicing fidelity to sustain cancer cell fitness

High spliceosome activity is a dependency for cancer cells, making them more vulnerable to perturbation of the splicing machinery compared to normal cells. To identify splicing factors important for prostate cancer (PCa) fitness, we performed pooled shRNA screens in vitro and in vivo. Our screens identified HNRNPM as a regulator of PCa cell growth. RNA- and eCLIP-sequencing identified HNRNPM binding to transcripts of key homeostatic genes. HNRNPM binding to its targets prevents aberrant exon inclusion and back-splicing events. In both linear and circular mis-spliced transcripts, HNRNPM preferentially binds to GU-rich elements in long flanking proximal introns. Mimicry of HNRNPM dependent linear splicing events using splice-switching-antisense-oligonucleotides (SSOs) was sufficient to inhibit PCa cell growth. This suggests that PCa dependence on HNRNPM is likely a result of mis-splicing of key homeostatic coding and non-coding genes. Our results have further been confirmed in other solid tumors. Taken together, our data reveal a role for HNRNPM in supporting cancer cell fitness. Inhibition of HNRNPM activity is therefore a potential therapeutic strategy in suppressing growth of PCa and other solid tumors

Methane conversion to methanol using Au/ZSM-5 is promoted by carbon

The oxidation of methane using molecular oxygen as the terminal oxidant, over a Au/ZSM-5 catalyst, has been previously shown to produce methanol and acetic acid as products. We now show that this reaction is significantly enhanced by the addition of a range of carbon additives. Isotopic 13C-labeled studies and corresponding investigation into the activity of the carbon materials alone reveal that nearly all the methanol produced is derived from methane oxidation, with a negligible contribution attributed to the carbon additives, while further study identified carbon as the primary source of acetic acid, which was observed as a minor product. Gas phase CO is not observed as a product in the reaction of Au/ZSM-5 with CH4 + O2, and in reactions with added CO, not all the CO is converted. We, therefore, conclude that the effect observed with the carbon additive is not due to the in situ production of gas phase CO as a reaction intermediate. Rather, we postulate that the effect derives from the oxidation of the surface of the carbon in the aqueous reaction mixture and the interaction of the oxidized carbon surface with Au/ZSM-5. The reactivity of carbon in this reaction at 240 °C is unexpected, and the presence of water is required to observe the effect

A new tree structure code for equivalent circuit and evolutionary estimation of parameters

Copyright © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.To optimize the parameters of electrical elements contained in an equivalent circuit for electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, we proposed a simple, intuitive and universal tree structure code (TSC) to encode an arbitrary complex circuit, then designed a genetic algorithm for parameter optimization (GAPO) to work with the TSC and estimate the parameter values of electrical elements. The GAPO uses a novel crossover operator that performs by the non-convex linear combination of multiple parents and sets up a crossover subspace to enhance the global search. We first examined the effects of some key control parameters in the GAPO on the optimization process by selecting a relatively complex equivalent circuit to generate simulated data and comparing the parameters obtained by GAPO with the original values. Secondly, to examine the effectiveness and robustness of GAPO, we chose a set of simulated data generated by a relatively simple circuit, three sets of real impedance data on modified gold electrodes and a set of real impedance data on the anode of lithium-ion battery to run the GAPO and compared their calculated results with those obtained by complex nonlinear least square method (CNLS) supported by LEVM software. Finally, we compared the effects of five representative weighting strategies on the GAPO based on a set of simulated data generated by a relatively complicated circuit but with up to 10% Gaussian noise and the set of real impedance data on the anode of lithium-ion battery. All of these experimental results show that the GAPO works more quickly, efficiently and stably than CNLS when optimizing the element parameters. We also found that appropriate weighting strategies can help reduce the effects of experimental errors on GAPO, but the effects really depend on the nature of the specific impedance data. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Jingxian Yu, Hongqing Cao and Yanbin Hehttp://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/502682/description#descriptionhttp://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/505730/description#descriptio

Exallonyx

Key to the Chinese species of formicarius ­group of Exallonyx 1. Flagellum with tyloids ......................................................... E. laevigatus Fan and He ­ Flagellum without tyloids.......................................................................................... 2 2 (1). Abdominal petiole contracted at base........................................................................ 3 ­ Abdominal petiole not contracted at base.................................................................. 4 3 (2). Second flagellar segment 2.7 × as long as wide; abdominal petiole 1.0× as long as deep in lateral view with six diagonal longitudinal ridges .............. E. strictus sp. nov. ­ Second flagellar segment 3.4 × as long as wide; abdominal petiole 2.0× as long as deep in lateral view with four diagonal longitudinal ridges E. pingbianensis sp. nov. 4 (2). First thyridium 1.8 –2.0× as wide as long................................................................... 5 ­ First thyridium 2.5–3.5 × as wide as long................................................................... 6 5 (4). Clypeus 3.1 × as wide as long; median groove on syntergite reaching 0.5 to space between tyridia, with two lateral grooves 0.67 × as long as median groove............... .............................................................................................. E. ejunicidus He and Fan ­ Clypeus 2.5 × as wide as long; median groove on syntergite reaching 0.7 to space between thyridia, with two lateral grooves 0.2 × as long as median groove................ ............................................................................................. E. fujianensis Fan and He 6 (4). First thyridium 2.5 × as wide as long ........................... E. chiuae Townes and Townes ­ First thyridium 3.1–3.5 × as wide as long................................................................... 7 7 (6). Upper margin of pronotum with 2 rows of setae.................... E. fuliginis He and Fan ­ Upper margin of pronotum with single row of setae ......... E. nigricornis He and FanPublished as part of Liu, Jingxian, He, Junhua & Xu, Zaifu, 2006, Two new species of Exallonyx Kieffer (Hymenoptera: Proctotrupidae) from China, with a key to the Chinese species, pp. 35-41 in Zootaxa 1142 on pages 40-41, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.27340

Exallonyx pingbianensis Liu, He & Xu, new species

Exallonyx pingbianensis Liu, He & Xu, new species (Figs. 7–11) Diagnosis of Male Temple 0.83 as long as eye in dorsal view; the second and tenth flagellar segments each 3.4, 2.6 as long as wide; tyloids absent; abdominal petiole 2.0 as long as deep in lateral view, upper margin straight, distinctly contracted at base, with four weak transverse wrinkles at under side, its posterior half with four diagonal longitudinal ridges in lateral view. Description of Male (holotype) Front wing 2.3 mm long. Body black. Antenna black brown. Labrum, apical half of mandible and tegula reddish brown. Palpus pale brown. Fore leg light brown, except upper side of femur greyish yellow. Mid leg light brown, except coxa and trochanter black and upper side of femur grayish yellow. Hind leg black, except base and apex of femur redish brown. Wing hyaline, stigma and strong veins black brown, weak veins colorless. Temple 0.83 × as long as eye in dorsal view. Gena 0.4 × as long as long diameter of eye. Clypeus 2.5 × as wide as long, weakly convex; its apex truncate with distinct transverse ridges on subapical declivity. Second flagellar segment 3.4 × as long as wide. Tenth flagellar segment 2.6 × as long as wide. Last segment of antenna 1.6 × as long as penultimate segment. Tyloids absent. Area between antennal sockets with weak ridge. Occipital carina distinct. Pronotum with 4–5 transverse wrinkles on collar. Epomia strong. Pronotum smooth laterally, without setae behind epomia; setae present behind carina on collar. Upper margin of pronotum with single row of setae. Lower corner of pronotum with two pits. Front edge of mesopleuron with patch of setae at upper corner and another just above horizontal groove; bare area between these two patches 1.3 × as long as tegula; speculum with sparse setae on upper 0.47. Lower half of mesopleuron mostly with sparse setae except for median area asetose; anterior portion and lower corner of horizontal groove with parallel fine wrinkles. Smooth area of metapleuron 0.55 × as long as metapleuron and 0.8 × as deep as metapleuron. Remainder of metapleuron with irregular fine wrinkles. Upper margin of propodeum arcuate in lateral view. Upper face of propodeum smooth with weak wrinkles on posterolateral margin. Median ridge incomplete and reaching to middle of posterior face. Posterior face of propodeum weakly rugose with strong transverse ridge medially. Lateral areas of propodeum with irregular reticulate wrinkles. Hind femur 4.5 × as long as deep. Longer spur of hind tibia 0.6 × as long as hind basitarsus. Stigma 2.0× as long as deep receiving radius nearly at middle. Anterior side of radial cell 0.5 × as long as depth of stigma; posterodistal margin of stigma weakly convex. First radial vein oblique, 1.5 × as long as wide. Second radial vein straight, meeting first radial vein with projection. Posterior margin of hind wing with shallow notch at basal 0.35. Abdominal petiole 1.5 × as long as wide in dorsal view with five strong parallel longitudinal carinae and four longitudinal grooves. Abdominal petiole 2.0× as long as deep in lateral view; upper margin straight, contracted at base; anterior half with four weak transverse ridges, behind that with four strong diagonal longitudinal ridges. Base of syntergite with median groove reaching 0.8 to space between thyridia, each side with one short lateral groove, 0.3 × as long as median groove. First thyridium 2.0× as wide as long, separated from each by 0.35 width of one thyridium. Setae on syntergite short and sparse, far from lower margin. Paramere triangular, not decurved, sharp at tip. Female. Unknown. Type material Holotype, male, China, Yunnan Province: Pingbian County (22.58 °N, 103.41 °E), Dawei Mountain, 18.VII. 2003, coll. Tingjing LI, No. 20045268. Dirtibution China (Yunnan Province). Etymology The specific epithet is derived from the Latin adjective pingbianensis (inhabiting Pingbian), in reference to the collecting locality. Remarks This new species is very similar to E. strictus sp. nov., because both have the abdominal petiole contracted basally, and due to the strong transverse ridge at middle of posterior face of propodeum. These two features are unique to these two new species of Exallonyx. Exallonyx pingbianensis differs from E. strictus by having the second flagellar segment 3.4 × as long as wide, the tenth flagellar segment 2.6 × as long as wide, the abdominal petiole 1.5 × as long as wide in the dorsal view, but 2.0× as long as deep in lateral view, and with four diagonal longitudinal ridges on its posterior half in lateral view.Published as part of Liu, Jingxian, He, Junhua & Xu, Zaifu, 2006, Two new species of Exallonyx Kieffer (Hymenoptera: Proctotrupidae) from China, with a key to the Chinese species, pp. 35-41 in Zootaxa 1142 on pages 37-40, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.27340

Two new species of the dictyotus group of the genus exallonyx (Hymenoptera: Proctotrupidae) from China, with a key to the world species

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FIGURES 1 – 11. 1 – 6 in Two new species of Exallonyx Kieffer (Hymenoptera: Proctotrupidae) from China, with a key to the Chinese species

FIGURES 1 – 11. 1 – 6. Exallonyx strictus, new species; 1. antenna; 2. fore wing; 3. thorax in lateral view; 4. hind leg; 5. abdominal petiole in dorsal view; and 6. abdominal petiole in lateral view. 7 – 11. Exallonyx pingbianensis, new species; 7. antenna; 8. fore wing; 9. thorax in lateral view; 10. abdominal petiole in dorsal view; and 11. abdominal petiole in lateral view