Segregation by Race in Public Schools Retrospect and Prospect

Solar energy conversion has been intensively studied in past decades and has been shown to be greatly effective for solving the serious environmental pollution and energy shortage problems. Photoelectrocatalysis and photovoltaics have been considered as the two main approaches for solar energy conversion and utilization, which are generally involved with nanostructured materials and/or catalytic processes, greatly affecting the efficiencies for solar energy conversion. Then, it is necessary to understand the relationship between the physical and chemical properties of nanomaterials and their performances for solar energy conversion. It is also important to explore the fundamentals in catalytic processes for solar energy conversion and make breakthrough in design and synthesis of nanomaterials or nanostructures, characterization of material properties, and performance of novel devices and systems. The aim of this special issue is to present some recent progress in the field of advanced catalysis and nanostructure design for solar energy conversion. A brief summary of all accepted papers is provided below

A Clustering-guided Contrastive Fusion for Multi-view Representation Learning

The past two decades have seen increasingly rapid advances in the field of multi-view representation learning due to it extracting useful information from diverse domains to facilitate the development of multi-view applications. However, the community faces two challenges: i) how to learn robust representations from a large amount of unlabeled data to against noise or incomplete views setting, and ii) how to balance view consistency and complementary for various downstream tasks. To this end, we utilize a deep fusion network to fuse view-specific representations into the view-common representation, extracting high-level semantics for obtaining robust representation. In addition, we employ a clustering task to guide the fusion network to prevent it from leading to trivial solutions. For balancing consistency and complementary, then, we design an asymmetrical contrastive strategy that aligns the view-common representation and each view-specific representation. These modules are incorporated into a unified method known as CLustering-guided cOntrastiVE fusioN (CLOVEN). We quantitatively and qualitatively evaluate the proposed method on five datasets, demonstrating that CLOVEN outperforms 11 competitive multi-view learning methods in clustering and classification. In the incomplete view scenario, our proposed method resists noise interference better than those of our competitors. Furthermore, the visualization analysis shows that CLOVEN can preserve the intrinsic structure of view-specific representation while also improving the compactness of view-commom representation. Our source code will be available soon at https://github.com/guanzhou-ke/cloven.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figure

Influence of D-Amino Acids in Beer on Formation of Uric Acid

Prekomjerna konzumacija piva može dovesti do povećanja koncentracije mokraćne kiseline u serumu, čime se povećava rizik nastanka uričnog artritisa (gihta), što se prethodno dovodilo u vezu s velikim udjelom purina u pivu. Međutim, novija istraživanja pokazuju da konzumacija povrća bogatog purinima i grahorica ne povećava koncentraciju mokraćne kiseline, što opovrgava tu tvrdnju. Još uvijek nije objašnjeno zašto povećana konzumacija piva može povećati rizik nastanka gihta, pa su ispitani drugi uzročnici nakupljanja mokraćne kiseline u krvi. Pivo sadržava relativno velike koncentracije D-aminokiselina koje nastaju racemizacijom L-aminokiselina tijekom prerade hrane. Katalizom pomoću D-aminokiselinske oksidaze iz D-aminokiselina nastaje H2O2, čijom oksidacijom u prisutnosti Fe2+ nastaju hidroksilni radikali. Pritom dolazi do oštećenja DNA i nastanka purinskih baza u većoj količini, iz kojih djelovanjem različitih enzima nastaje mokraćna kiselina. Neki dodaci hrani, kao što su vitamini i ioni joda, potiču nastanak mokraćne kiseline iz D-aminokiselina. D-aminokiseline u pivu imaju ključnu ulogu u povećanju koncentracije mokraćne kiseline. Biološka uloga D-aminokiselina može objasniti pojavu gihta kod osoba koje učestalo konzumiraju pivo.Excessive intake of beer could increase serum uric acid levels, leading to high risk of gout, which was previously attributed to high purine content in beer. Recent reports that purine-rich vegetables and bean products do not cause higher uric acid levels do not support this theory. Why excessive intake of beer could increase a high risk of gout has been unclear. Other factors affecting the accumulation of uric acid in the blood have been explored. Beer contains relatively high levels of D-amino acids due to the racemization of l-amino acids induced by food processing. D-amino acid was catalyzed by D-amino acid oxidase to produce H2O2, which is further oxidized in the presence of Fe2+ to produce hydroxyl radicals, resulting in DNA damage and formation of a large amount of purine bases, which are oxidized to uric acid by a series of enzymes. Some food ingredients, such as vitamins and I–, prompt D-amino acids to form uric acid. D-amino acids in beer are one of the key factors responsible for the increase in uric acid levels. The biological response of D-amino acids could explain gout occurrence in beer drinkers

Risk Assessment of Water Resources Shortage in Sanjiang Plain

International audienceIn view of the problems existing in the development and utilization of water resources in Sanjiang Plain, this paper made a study on the risk assessment of water resources shortage in Sanjiang Plain. From the perspective of water resources shortage risk, analytic hierarchy process was applied to establish assessment index system and evaluation criteria, and then make a comprehensive assessment and regional difference analysis of water resources shortage risk in Sanjiang Plain. Research results showed that Shuangyashan City belonged to high degree of water resources shortage risk, while Jixi, Hegang, Jiamusi, Qitaihe, Muling and Yilan belonged to extremely high water resources shortage risk, which provided a theoretical principle for sustainable and efficient utilization of regional water resources

Dynamic distribution of gut microbiota in posthatching chicks and its relationship with average daily gain

ABSTRACT: The colonization and development of gut microbiota are essential for the health and growth of chicks after hatching. However, the colonization and prevalence of gut microbiota have not been well characterized, and knowledge of which microbes and their relationship with average daily gain in chicks is still limited. This study characterized the dynamic succession of microbiota in the intestinal tract of chicks and investigated its relationship with daily weight gain. A total of 121 fecal samples across 7 time points from d 0 to 10 posthatching were collected from 19 chicks randomly selected from 1,950 chicks. Using 16S rRNA gene sequencing examined microbial composition of fecal samples. The observed species index of alpha diversity increased with age, gradually achieving stability at 3 d of age. The microbiota of chicks after hatching was primarily Clostridium_sensu_stricto_1 (34.49%), and its relative abundance diminishes with age. In contrast, Lactobacillus had a low relative abundance in the first 2 d after hatching and gradually increased with age. Predicted functional capacities found that the microbiota of early-stage posthatching (d 0 and 1 after hatching) was involved in metabolism, including amino acid metabolism, metabolism of cofactors and vitamins, and nitrogen metabolism. However, at the later stage posthatching (from d 3–10 after hatching), the intestinal microbial function was involved in carbohydrate metabolism, amino acid metabolism, cell growth and death, and methane metabolism. It was identified that 47 operational taxonomic units were associated with average daily gain of chicks, 12 of which were annotated with Lactobacillus and significantly positive associated with average daily gain. In addition, Clostridium_sensu_stricto_1 was significantly negatively associated with average daily gain. Taken together, we characterized the dynamic successions of intestinal microbiota in hatching chicks. The intestinal microbiota of chicks has an impact on the host average daily gain. Our findings should be instrumental in improving local chick production

A Thermal Runaway Simulation on a Lithium Titanate Battery and the Battery Module

Based on the electrochemical and thermal model, a coupled electro-thermal runaway model was developed and implemented using finite element methods. The thermal decomposition reactions when the battery temperature exceeds the material decomposition temperature were embedded into the model. The temperature variations of a lithium titanate battery during a series of charge-discharge cycles under different current rates were simulated. The results of temperature and heat generation rate demonstrate that the greater the current, the faster the battery temperature is rising. Furthermore, the thermal influence of the overheated cell on surrounding batteries in the module was simulated, and the variation of temperature and heat generation during thermal runaway was obtained. It was found that the overheated cell can induce thermal runaway in other adjacent cells within 3 mm distance in the battery module if the accumulated heat is not dissipated rapidly

Moderating effect of classroom-level victimization in the relationship between bullying victimization and subjective well-being.

Moderating effect of classroom-level victimization in the relationship between bullying victimization and subjective well-being.</p

Test of the moderated mediation model.

Few empirical studies have specifically examined the underlying mechanisms of the "healthy context paradox" in Chinese cultural context. By constructing a moderated mediation model, the present study investigated the relationship between bullying victimization and academic adjustment, as well as the mediating effects of subjective well-being and the moderating role of classroom-level victimization. A sample of 631 adolescents (Mage = 13.75, SD = 0.74, 318 boys) were recruited from four schools in Hubei, Southern China. Results show that: (1) classroom-level victimization moderates the relationship between bullying victimization and academic adjustment. (2) Classroom-level victimization moderates the association through subjective well-being. This study confirms the healthy context paradox of bullying victimization and first reveals the mechanism of the mediating role of subjective well-being. Understanding the mechanisms that contribute to the health context paradox is crucial for developing targeted intervention strategies for individuals who experience ongoing bullying.</div

Moderating effect of classroom-level victimization in the relationship between bullying victimization and academic adjustment.

Moderating effect of classroom-level victimization in the relationship between bullying victimization and academic adjustment.</p