Enhancement of Cement Paste with Carboxylated Carbon Nanotubes and Poly(Vinyl Alcohol)

Cement has been a major consumable material for construction in the world since its invention, but its low flexural strength is the main defect affecting the service life of structures. To adapt cement-based materials to a more stringent environment, carboxylated carbon nanotubes (CNTs-COOH) and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) are proposed to enhance the mechanical properties of cement paste. This study systematically verifies the synergistic effect of CNTs-COOH/PVA on the performance of cement paste. First, UV-Vis spectroscopy and FTIR spectroscopy prove that CNTs-COOH can provide attachment sites for PVA and PVA can improve the dispersion and stability of CNTs-COOH in water, which demonstrates the feasibility of synergistically enhancing cement paste. When a 0.015% CNTs-COOH suspension with 0.1% PVA is added, the flexural strength of the cement paste increases by 73, 32, and 42% compared with control specimens at curing ages of 3, 7, and 28 days, respectively. The strength enhancement mechanism is revealed from the aspects of cement matrix enhancement and interface enhancement. Thermogravimetric (TG) analysis and mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) prove that CNTs-COOH can enhance the hydration degree of the cement matrix and fill the pores introduced by PVA. Based on the fact that PVA can improve the dispersibility and the nucleation site effect of CNTs-COOH in cement paste, molecular dynamics simulation confirms that PVA can bridge CNTs-COOH and C-S-H to enhance the interfacial bonding by 64.1%

Microbial signatures of neonatal bacterial meningitis from multiple body sites

As a common central nervous system infection in newborns, neonatal bacterial meningitis (NBM) can seriously affect their health and growth. However, although metagenomic approaches are being applied in clinical diagnostic practice, there are some limitations for whole metagenome sequencing and amplicon sequencing in handling low microbial biomass samples. Through a newly developed ultra-sensitive metagenomic sequencing method named 2bRAD-M, we investigated the microbial signatures of central nervous system infections in neonates admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit. Particularly, we recruited a total of 23 neonates suspected of having NBM and collected their blood, cerebrospinal fluid, and skin samples for 2bRAD-M sequencing. Then we developed a novel decontamination method (Reads Level Decontamination, RLD) for 2bRAD-M by which we efficiently denoised the sequencing data and found some potential biomarkers that have significantly different relative abundance between 12 patients that were diagnosed as NBM and 11 Non-NBM based on their cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) examination results. Specifically, we discovered 11 and 8 potential biomarkers for NBM in blood and CSF separately and further identified 16 and 35 microbial species that highly correlated with the physiological indicators in blood and CSF. Our study not only provide microbiological evidence to aid in the diagnosis of NBM but also demonstrated the application of an ultra-sensitive metagenomic sequencing method in pathogenesis study

Core-shell Co/CoO integrated on 3D nitrogen doped reduced graphene oxide aerogel as an enhanced electrocatalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction

Here, we demonstrate that Cobalt/cobalt oxide core-shell nanoparticles integrated on nitrogen-doped (N-doped) three-dimensional reduced graphene oxide aerogel-based architecture (Co/CoO-NGA) were synthesized through a facile hydrothermal method followed by annealing treatment. The unique endurable porous structure could provide sufficient mass transfer channels and ample active sites on Co/CoO-NGA to facilitate the catalytic reaction. The synthesized Co/CoO-NGA was explored as an electrocatalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction, showing comparable oxygen reduction performance with excellent methanol resistance and better durability compared with Pt/C

Core-shell Co/CoO integrated on 3D nitrogen doped reduced graphene oxide aerogel as an enhanced electrocatalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction

Here, we demonstrate that Cobalt/cobalt oxide core-shell nanoparticles integrated on nitrogen-doped (N-doped) three-dimensional reduced graphene oxide aerogel-based architecture (Co/CoO-NGA) were synthesized through a facile hydrothermal method followed by annealing treatment. The unique endurable porous structure could provide sufficient mass transfer channels and ample active sites on Co/CoO-NGA to facilitate the catalytic reaction. The synthesized Co/CoO-NGA was explored as an electrocatalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction, showing comparable oxygen reduction performance with excellent methanol resistance and better durability compared with Pt/C

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

Measurement of forward charged hadron flow harmonics in peripheral PbPb collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV with the LHCb detector

Flow harmonic coefficients, v n , which are the key to studying the hydrodynamics of the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) created in heavy-ion collisions, have been measured in various collision systems and kinematic regions and using various particle species. The study of flow harmonics in a wide pseudorapidity range is particularly valuable to understand the temperature dependence of the shear viscosity to entropy density ratio of the QGP. This paper presents the first LHCb results of the second- and the third-order flow harmonic coefficients of charged hadrons as a function of transverse momentum in the forward region, corresponding to pseudorapidities between 2.0 and 4.9, using the data collected from PbPb collisions in 2018 at a center-of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV . The coefficients measured using the two-particle angular correlation analysis method are smaller than the central-pseudorapidity measurements at ALICE and ATLAS from the same collision system but share similar features

Investigations on Reaction Chemistry of Aprotic Lithium-air Batteries

The rising importance of transport electrification has promoted the increasing need for large-scale energy storage with high energy density. Compared with conventional lithium ion batteries, lithium-air (Li-air) batteries have a much higher theoretical energy density, attracting increasing attention and research effort. The calculated mass-specific energy density of Li-air batteries is 3458 Wh kg-1, making itself a potential power source for electrical vehicle (EV). However, for the purpose of meeting the requirements for EV application, many issues for Li-air batteries need to be considered, such as exploring stable electrolytes, designing efficient catalysts, suppressing lithium dendrite formation, as well as preventing the contamination of CO2 and H2O in the ambient air, etc. These issues are derived from the reaction chemistry of Li-air batteries, which is different from the intercalation chemistry of Li-ion batteries. To bring Li-air batteries closer to practical reality, understanding reaction chemistry related to electrolyte, electrode and contaminant is of great importance. In this thesis, the catalytic reaction of molybdenum carbide which occur during both discharge and charge under pure CO2, pure O2, CO2/O2 mixture, and ambient air are studied in detail. A trend is identified between the observed overpotential during charge and the decomposition of different discharge products. Additionally, plausible mechanistic pathways under both CO2 and O2 for carbon-based and non-carbon-based electrodes are proposed, along with the potential catalyst design for practical Li-air batteries

Effect of Titanium Addition on As-Cast Structure and High-Temperature Tensile Property of 20Cr-8Ni Stainless Steel for Heavy Castings

20Cr-8Ni stainless steel is used to manufacture heavy castings in industrial practice. Owing to the slow solidification rate of heavy castings, the as-cast structure is usually coarse, which reduces the mechanical properties. To refine the solidification structure, the effect of titanium addition on the as-cast structure and high-temperature tensile property was investigated in the laboratory. The ingots with 0.0036, 0.2, and 0.45 mass percent titanium were produced in the laboratory. On the basis of experiment and thermodynamic calculation through Thermo-Calc software, the typical inclusions changed from dual phase Si-Mn-Ti oxides to pure TiN or complex Ti2O3 + TiN with titanium content increasing. The equiaxed grain ratio of ingot increased from 51 percent to nearly 100 percent, and the size of equiaxed grain decreased owing to heterogeneous nucleation of δ-Fe. Besides, the equilibrium solidification model changed from the FA model to the F model, and the mass fraction of ferritic phase in ingots increased from 24.8 to 42.6 percent. As a result, the yield strength and ultimate tensile strength of ingots increased gradually, but the tensile elongation changed little owing to the increase of ferritic phase mass fraction and decrease of equiaxed grain size