Structural Design of Ionic Liquids for Process Optimisation

Ionic liquids (ILs) are designer solvents with tuneable cationic and anionic structures. We propose structural factors that are key to realising the designer solvent promise of ILs. We highlight their potential for translation to new generations of low-cost and environmentally sustainable cation and anion motifs for large-scale applications. Starting from a comparison among primary and secondary ammonium ILs, the unusual liquid nanostructure of pyrrolidinium ILs explains its versatile solvent properties. In the context of biomass processing, we present a framework for the design of IL structure to minimize competition and to enhance driving forces for aromatic extraction. Choline amino-acid ILs and their water mixtures show great promise as low-cost biocompatible solvents. ILs as solvents have the rare ability to promote amphiphilic self-assembly of molecules, such as n-alkanols, that are not conventionally considered as amphiphilic surfactants in water. We investigate the structure of complex solutions using a combination of small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), small-angle neutron scattering (SANS), invariant analysis, and neutron diffraction combined with Empirical Potential Structural Refinement (EPSR) simulation technique. We rationalise how IL-supported self-assembly can be controlled over solute polarity, packing geometry and formulation. The design of ILs as solvents is not restricted to pure ionic species. We demonstrate new categories of ILs based on molecular complexation around metal cations. Non-ionic surfactants self-assemble in inorganic salts as they do in ILs or water, with predictable phase behaviours rationalised by the surfactant packing parameter. Further, we show mixtures of paramagnetic salts and low-volatile solvents as magnetic ionic liquids. Our structural understanding of ILs and their mixtures creates opportunities for formulating new types of nanomaterials and facilitates the design of future solvents for process optimisation

Directory of English/Chinese Names of Scholars in Chinese Studies - 海外中国研究学者名录（英中对照）

The Directory of English/Chinese Names of Scholars in Chinese Studies was a by-product of the "Chinese Studies in North America - Research and Resources" project. It provides both the English and the Chinese names of scholars involved in Chinese Studies mainly in North America. The Chinese names for western scholars resulted from an extensive in the relevant literature and on the internet at appropriate sites to find and authenticate the Chinese names used by these scholars. Where we could not find the Chinese name adopted by a scholar, we have transliterated their name into Chinese characters using the standard reference book 英语姓名译名手册. It is hoped that this directory will be useful for people needing to search for the Chinese names used by western scholars, or for the standard transliterations of their names into Chinese characters. Corrections of inaccurate information and addition of new names of Chinese Studies scholars worldwide are welcome. For corrections, comments and updates, please send emails to Haihui Zhang (Librarian for Chinese studies at East Asian Library, University Library System at University of Pittsburgh) at [email protected]

English/Chinese Comparison Table for Names of Chinese Studies Scholars [ 北美中国研究学者英中姓名对照 ]

English/Chinese Comparison Table for Names of Chinese Studies Scholars was a by-product of the "Chinese Studies in North America - Research and Resources" project. It provides both the English and the Chinese names of scholars involved in Chinese Studies mainly in North America. The Chinese names for western scholars resulted from an extensive in the relevant literature and on the internet at appropriate sites to find and authenticate the Chinese names used by these scholars. Where we could not find the Chinese name adopted by a scholar, we have transliterated their name into Chinese characters using the standard reference book 英语姓名译名手册. It is hoped that this directory will be useful for people needing to search for the Chinese names used by western scholars, or for the standard transliterations of their names into Chinese characters. Corrections of inaccurate information and addition of new names of Chinese Studies scholars world-wide are welcome. For corrections, comments and updates, please send emails to Haihui Zhang (Librarian for Chinese studies at East Asian Library, University Library System at University of Pittsburgh) at [email protected]

Feasibility and safety of one-stage sacral laminoplasty with autologous sacral laminar reimplantation fixed by absorbable fixation clamps in direct microsurgical treatment of symptomatic sacral extradural spinal meningeal cysts

IntroductionSacral laminoplasty with titanium mesh and titanium screws can reduce symptomatic sacral extradural spinal meningeal cysts (SESMCs) recurrence and operation complications. However, due to a defect or thinning of the sacrum, the screws cannot be securely anchored and there are also problems with permanent metal implantation for titanium mesh and screws. We propose that sacral laminoplasty with absorbable clamps can provide rigid fixation even for a thinned or defected sacrum without leaving permanent metal implants.MethodsIn the direct microsurgical treatment of symptomatic SESMCs, we performed one-stage sacral laminoplasty with autologous sacral lamina reimplantation fixed by absorbable fixation clamps. Retrospectively, we analyzed intraoperative handling, planarity of the sacral lamina, and stability of the fixation based on clinical and radiological data.ResultsBetween November 2021 to October 2022, we performed sacral laminoplasty with the absorbable craniofix system in 28 consecutive patients with SESMCs. The size of the sacral lamina flaps ranged from 756 to 1,052 mm2 (average 906.21 ± 84.04 mm2). We applied a minimum of two (in four cases) and up to four (in four cases) Craniofix clamps in the operation, with three (in 20 cases) being the most common (82.14%, 20/28) and convenient to handle. Excellent sacral canal reconstruction could be confirmed intraoperatively by the surgeons and postoperatively by CT scans. No intraoperative complications occurred.ConclusionsOne-stage sacral laminoplasty with absorbable fixation clamps is technically feasible, and applying 3 of these can achieve a stable fixation effect and are easy to operate. Restoring the normal structure of the sacral canal could reduce complications and improve surgical efficacy

Roadmap for Sustainable Mixed Ionic‐Electronic Conducting Membranes

Mixed ionic‐electronic conducting (MIEC) membranes have gained growing interest recently for various promising environmental and energy applications, such as H₂ and O₂ production, CO₂ reduction, O₂ and H₂ separation, CO₂ separation, membrane reactors for production of chemicals, cathode development for solid oxide fuel cells, solar‐driven evaporation and energy‐saving regeneration as well as electrolyzer cells for power‐to‐X technologies. The purpose of this roadmap, written by international specialists in their fields, is to present a snapshot of the state‐of‐the‐art, and provide opinions on the future challenges and opportunities in this complex multidisciplinary research field. As the fundamentals of using MIEC membranes for various applications become increasingly challenging tasks, particularly in view of the growing interdisciplinary nature of this field, a better understanding of the underlying physical and chemical processes is also crucial to enable the career advancement of the next generation of researchers. As an integrated and combined article, it is hoped that this roadmap, covering all these aspects, will be informative to support further progress in academics as well as in the industry‐oriented research toward commercialization of MIEC membranes for different applications

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Transcriptional Inhibition of Sp-IAG by Crustacean Female Sex Hormone in the Mud Crab, Scylla paramamosain

In crustaceans, the regulation of sex differentiation is mediated by insulin-like androgenic hormone (IAG) and crustacean female sex hormone (CFSH). CFSH is reported to inhibit IAG gene (Sp-IAG) expression in the mud crab Scylla paramamosain, but the regulatory mechanism is not well understood. A 2674 bp 5′ flanking Sp-IAG contains many potential transcription factor binding sites. In this study, analysis of serially deleted 5′ flanking Sp-IAG and site-directed mutation (SDM) of transcription factor binding sites of the same gene showed that the promoter activity of reporter vectors with Sox-5-binding site, signal transducers and activators of transcription (STAT)-binding site and activator protein 1 (AP-1)-binding site were significantly higher than that of vectors without these regions, suggesting that they were involved in transcriptional regulation of Sp-IAG expression. The expression analysis of these transcription factor showed that there was no difference in the level of mRNA in Sox-5 and AP-1 in androgenic gland treated with recombinant CFSH, but expression of Sp-STAT was significantly reduced, suggesting that CFSH regulates the expression of Sp-STAT, inhibiting its function to regulate Sp-IAG. Further experiment revealed that RNAi mediated Sp-STAT gene knockdown reduced the expression of Sp-IAG. These results suggested that Sp-CFSH regulates Sp-IAG by inhibiting STAT. This is a pioneering finding on the transcriptional mechanism of IAG gene in crustaceans

Environment-Benign Synthesis Of Rgo/MnoX Nanocomposites With Superior Electrochemical Performance For Supercapacitors

Chemical oxidation synthesis of graphene oxide (GO) through modified Hummers methods has been widely employed for producing graphene- or reduced GO (rGO)-based advanced functional materials such as rGO/MnOx nanocomposites. However, the manganese species in GO colloids are usually washed out during GO synthesis through modified Hummers methods, causing manganese waste and environmental risk. In this paper, we report preparation of rGO/MnOx nanocomposites, in which MnOx is composed of Mn2O3, Mn3O4, and MnO2 components, through anneal treatment of the precursor counterparts obtained by simple pH tuning of GO colloids. The rGO/MnOx nanocomposites exhibit superior electrochemical performance for supercapacitors. rGO/MnOx-5, derived from GO colloids with pH 5, exhibits a high gravimetric discharge capacitance (Cdis) of 191 F g−1 at 20 A g−1 and a high capacitance retention (82.9%) relative to Cdis at 1 A g−1. Furthermore, typical symmetric supercapacitor cells made from rGO/MnOx-5 show a high areal capacitance (172 mF cm−2) and excellent capacitance retention (96.6%) at 2 A g−1 (10 mA cm−2) for 20,000 cycles, holding great potential for practical applications. The superior electrochemical performance of rGO/MnOx nanocomposites is attributed to multiple charge storage mechanisms in association with the coexistence of mixed-valent manganese oxides

Tailorable Polypyrrole Nanofilms With Exceptional Electrochemical Performance For All-Solid-State Flexible Supercapacitors

Flexible supercapacitors exhibiting high specific energy (˃1 mW h cm−3) and high specific power are of major research interest in energy storage/conversion systems. In this paper, a strategy has been developed for controlled synthesis of polypyrrole (PPy) nanofilms at the ice/alcohol interface through a simple chemical oxidation polymerization method, yielding free-standing PPy nanofilms with decimeter scale. Evidence from molecular dynamics simulations shows monolayer deposition of pyrrole molecules on the ice surface through hydrogen bonding that supports the formation of PPy films at the ice/alcohol interface. Free-standing PPy films can be directly tailored into film electrodes for all-solid-state flexible planar supercapacitor cells (PSCs) and rolled supercapacitor cells (RSCs). Thickness-dependent electrochemical performance for PSCs and RSCs has been constructed in association with PPy nanofilms. The PSCs and RSCs are made from complete PPy films with thickness of 140 ± 5 nm that exhibit specific energy of 0.72 and 2.3 mW h cm−3 with corresponding specific power of 51.7 and 111.1 mW cm−3, respectively. After 10,000 cycles at a current density of 2 mA cm−2, typical RSCs retain a volumetric capacitance of 9.8 F cm−3 and a specific energy of 1.36 mW h cm−3, holding great potential in practical applications