PHIDIAS: a pathogen-host interaction data integration and analysis system

PHIDIAS is a web-based database system serving as a centralized source to search, compare and analyse integrated genome sequences, conserved domains and transcriptional data related to pathogen-host interactions

Magnetically-accelerated photo-thermal conversion and energy storage based on bionic porous nanoparticles

Recently, the technology of mixing phase change materials with high thermal conductivity fillers was developed, which has allowed thermal energy storage to be implemented in a wide range of industrial technologies and processes. In the present study, a hierarchical bionic porous nano-composite was prepared, which efficiently merged the nanomaterial characteristics of magnetism and high thermal conductivity in order to form a magnetically-accelerated solar-thermal energy storage method. The morphology and thermo-physical properties of materials were analysed. The experimental outcomes of phase change heat transfer demonstrated that the maximum storage efficiency increases by 102.7% when the hierarchical bionic porous structure is used, and a further 27.1% improvement can be achieved with the magnetic field. At the same time, the heat transfer process of energy storage in hierarchical porous composites under external physical fields is explained by simulation. Therefore, this magnetically-accelerated method demonstrated the superior solar-thermal energy storage characteristics within a hierarchical bionic porous structure which is particularly beneficial for the utilisation of solar direct absorption collectors and energy storage technology

Interactive influence of self and other language behaviors: Evidence from switching between bilingual production and comprehension

The neural mechanisms underlying one's own language production and the comprehension of language produced by other speakers in daily communication remain elusive. Here, we assessed how self-language production and other-language comprehension interact within a language switching context using event-related functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (er-fMRI) in 32 unbalanced Chinese-English bilinguals. We assessed within-modality language interference during language production and comprehension as well as cross-modality interference when switching from production to comprehension and vice versa. Results revealed that the overall effect of production (across switch and repeat trials) was larger in the cross-modality than within-modality condition in a series of attentional control areas, namely the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex and left precuneus. Furthermore, the left precuneus was recruited more strongly in switch trials compared to repeat trials (i.e., switching costs) in within-production conditions but not in the cross-modality condition. These findings suggest that switching from production to comprehension recruits cognitive control areas to successfully implement switches between modalities. However, cross-language interference (in the form of language switching costs) mainly stems from the self-language production system

Optical Curtain Effect: Extraordinary Optical Transmission Enhanced by Antireflection

In this paper, we employ an antireflective coating which comprises inverted π-shaped metallic grooves to manipulate the behaviour of a transverse-magnetic (TM)-polarised plane wave transmitted through a periodic nanoslit array. At normal incidence, such scheme cannot only retain the optical curtain effect in the output region but also generate the extraordinary transmission of light through the nanoslits with the total transmission efficiency as high as 90 %. Besides, we show that the spatially invariant field distribution in the output region as well as the field distribution of resonant modes around the inverted π-shaped grooves can be reproduced immaculately when the system is excited by an array of point sources beneath the inverted π-shaped grooves. Furthermore, we investigate the influence of centre groove and side-corners of the inverted π-shaped grooves on suppressing the reflection of light, respectively. Based on our work, it shows promising potential in applications of enhancing the extraction efficiency as well as controlling the beaming pattern of light emitting diodes.National Natural Science Foundation (China) (Grants 11204205, 60976018, 61274056 and 60990320)Natural Foundation of Shanxi (Grant 2012011020-4)Taiyuan University of Technology (Special Foundation and Starting Research Fund

Self-assembled carbon nanoribbons with the heteroatom doping used as ultrafast charging cathodes in zinc-ion hybrid supercapacitors

Zinc-ion hybrid supercapacitors (ZHSs) are highly desirable for large-scale energy storage applications owing to the merits of high safety, low cost and ultra-long cycle life. The poor rate performance of cathodes, however, severely hinders their application. Herein, aqueous ZHSs with superior performance were fabricated by employing a series of ultrathin carbon nanobelts modified with B, N, O (CPTHB-Bx). The heteroatom doping can significantly modify the chemical behaviors of carbon frameworks, which could generate numerous active sites and accelerate the charge transport. The systematic investigation reveals that the B–N groups are active species for fast Zn-ion adsorption and desorption. As a result, the best-performed CPTHB-B2 exhibits an excellent electrochemical performance as cathodes in ZHSs, delivering a high specific capacitance of 415.3 F g−1 at 0.5 A g−1, a record high capacitance retention of 81% when increasing the current densities from 0.5 to 100 A g−1, an outstanding energy density of 131.9 W h kg−1 and an exceptionally high power density of 42.1 kW kg−1. Our work provides a new cathode design for ultrafast charging Zn-ion storage devices

Multilayered Molybdate Microflowers Fabricated by One-Pot Reaction for Efficient Water Splitting

The development of high-performance, low-cost and rapid-production bifunctional electrocatalysts towards overall water splitting still poses huge challenges. Herein, the authors utilize a facile hydrothermal method to synthesize a novel structure of Co-doped ammonium lanthanum molybdate on Ni foams (Co-ALMO@NF) as self-supported electrocatalysts. Owing to large active surfaces, lattice defect and conductive channel for rapid charge transport, Co-ALMO@NF exhibits good electrocatalytic performances which requires only 349/341 mV to achieve a high current density of 600 mA cm-2 for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER), respectively. Besides, a low cell voltage of 1.52 V is required to reach the current density of 10 mA cm-2 in alkaline medium along with an excellent long-term stability for two-electrode configurations. Density functional theory calculations are performed to reveal the reaction mechanism on Co-ALMO@NF, which shows that the Mo site is the most favorable ones for HER, while the introduction of Co is beneficial to reduce the adsorption intensity on the surface of Co-ALMO@NF, thus accelerating OER process. This work highlighted the importance of the structural design for self-supporting electrocatalysts

Water-Soluble N-Acetyl-L-cysteine-Capped CdTe Quantum Dots Application for Hg(II) Detection

A simple, rapid, and specific method for Hg(II) detection has been proposed based on the fluorescence change of N-acetyl-Lcysteine-capped CdTe quantum dots (QDs). The presence of Hg(II) ions could quench the fluorescence of QDs at 565 nm and meanwhile produce new peak in 700-860 nm wavelength range. The linear response range is 20-430 nM with the detection limit at 8.0 nM Hg(II). It was found that the position of the new peak was irrelevant to the size of QDs. Furthermore, the mechanism of the quenching of QDs fluorescence by Hg(II) and the appearance of new peak in near-infrared area were also discussed and deduced through ultraviolet absorption spectrum, fluorescence spectrum, and X-ray photoelectron spectrum