The Impact of Meteorology and Emissions on Surface Ozone in Shandong Province, China, during Summer 2014–2019

China has been experiencing severe ozone pollution problems in recent years. While a number of studies have focused on the ozone-pollution-prone regions such as the North China Plain, Yangtze River Delta, and Pearl River Delta regions, few studies have investigated the mechanisms modulating the interannual variability of ozone concentrations in Shandong Province, where a large population is located and is often subject to ozone pollution. By utilizing both the reanalysis dataset and regional numerical model (WRF-CMAQ), we delve into the potential governing mechanisms of ozone pollution in Shandong Province—especially over the major port city of Qingdao—during summer 2014–2019. During this period, ozone pollution in Qingdao exceeded the tier II standard of the Chinese National Ambient Air Quality (GB 3095-2012) for 75 days. From the perspective of meteorology, the high-pressure ridge over Baikal Lake and to its northeast, which leads to a relatively low humidity and sufficient sunlight, is the most critical weather system inducing high-ozone events in Qingdao. In terms of emissions, biogenic emissions contribute to ozone enhancement close to 10 ppb in the west and north of Shandong Province. Numerical experiments show that the local impact of biogenic emissions on ozone production in Shandong Province is relatively small, whereas biogenic emissions on the southern flank of Shandong Province enhance ozone production and further transport northeastward, resulting in an increase in ozone concentrations over Shandong Province. For the port city of Qingdao, ship emissions increase ozone concentrations when sea breezes (easterlies) prevail over Qingdao, with the 95th percentile reaching 8.7 ppb. The findings in this study have important implications for future ozone pollution in Shandong Province, as well as the northern and coastal areas in China

Key Points of Breeding and Cultivation Techniques of Wushan Crisp Plum: a New Cultivar of Green Crisp Plum

Wushan crisp plum is a new cultivar of green crisp plum with dignified fruit shape, crisp and tender flesh, pit separability and sweet taste. It is bred from natural bud mutant of Jiang’an Dabaili, a local green crisp plum cultivar by Wushan County Fruit Industry Development Center, Southwest University and Chongqing Agricultural Technology Extension Station. Wushan crisp plum has won the gold award in the National High-quality Plum and Apricot Appraise and Elect and the tile of “the king of fruit” in the “Three-Gorge Cup” High-quality Crisp Plum Appraise and Elect. In the southwestern region of China, the planting area of Wushan crisp plum has been extended to 33 000 ha. The cultivar has strong robust and fast growth. In the area along the Yangtze River in the Three Gorges Reservoir area of ​​Chongqing, it ripens from early to middle July. The fruit is ovoid and of medium size, with average longitudinal diameter of 3.3 cm, average horizontal diameter of 4.0 cm, average single fruit mass of 37.2g, carpopodium length of 1.5 cm, and carpopodium diameter of 0.1 cm. The top of the fruit is slightly concave. The peel is green to green-yellow in background color and medium in thickness, with obvious fruit dots and thick white fruit wax. The flesh is light yellow, compact, short in fiber length, juicy, crisp, tender, pure and sweet, with soluble solids content of 12%-15%, titratable acid content of 0.43%-0.72% and vitamin C content of 6.12-8.99 mg/100 g. The pit is small, separable, and oblate. The percentage of edible flesh is up to 94.80% - 96.88%. There is no obvious pre-harvest cracking and intra-fruit pectin. The cultivar is mid-ripening and high in yield. In the firm ripe stage, the flesh is crunchy; and after entering the soft ripe stage, the flesh becomes powdery, and the hardness decreases. At room temperature, the fruit is not resistant to storage and transportation. Wushan crisp plum is tolerant to the climate with high temperature, high humidity and less sunshine, with good adaptability. It is suitable for promoting in the upper reaches of Yangtze River within 180-1 000 m elevation

Electrochemical Oxidation of Chlorine-Doped Co(OH)₂ Nanosheet Arrays on Carbon Cloth as a Bifunctional Oxygen Electrode

The primary challenge of developing clean energy conversion/storage systems is to exploit an efficient bifunctional electrocatalyst both for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) with low cost and good durability. Here, we synthesized chlorine-doped Co­(OH)₂ in situ grown on carbon cloth (Cl-doped Co­(OH)₂) as an integrated electrode by a facial electrodeposition method. The anodic potential was then applied to the Cl-doped Co­(OH)₂ in an alkaline solution to remove chlorine atoms (electro-oxidation (EO)/Cl-doped Co­(OH)₂), which can further enhance the electrocatalytic activity without any thermal treatment. EO/Cl-doped Co­(OH)₂ exhibits a better performance both for ORR and OER in terms of activity and durability because of the formation of a defective structure with a larger electrochemically active surface area after the electrochemical oxidation. This approach provides a new idea for introducing defects and developing active electrocatalyst

Manipulating electronic phase separation in strongly correlated oxides with an ordered array of antidots

The interesting transport and magnetic properties in manganites depend sensitively on the nucleation and growth of electronic phase-separated domains. By fabricating antidot arrays in La(0.325)Pr(0.3)Ca(0.375)MnO(3) (LPCMO) epitaxial thin films, we create ordered arrays of micrometer-sized ferromagnetic metallic (FMM) rings in the LPCMO films that lead to dramatically increased metal–insulator transition temperatures and reduced resistances. The FMM rings emerge from the edges of the antidots where the lattice symmetry is broken. Based on our Monte Carlo simulation, these FMM rings assist the nucleation and growth of FMM phase domains increasing the metal–insulator transition with decreasing temperature or increasing magnetic field. This study points to a way in which electronic phase separation in manganites can be artificially controlled without changing chemical composition or applying external field