Monetary and Macroprudential Policies, Output, Prices, and Financial Stability

We examine the time-varying causal link between monetary policies and macroeconomy, macroprudential policies and financial stability in China. We find that expansionary monetary policy leads to output growth, tightening monetary policy leads to price stability, and tightening quantitative monetary policy or expanding price-based monetary policy is effective in maintaining financial stability. In response to stagnation or deflation, the central bank implements an expansionary monetary policy. To prevent financial turbulence, the central bank pursues an expansionary quantitative monetary policy or a tight price-based monetary policy. In addition, macroprudential policy should be used in conjunction with monetary policy to maintain financial stability

One-step architecture of bifunctional petal-like oxygen-deficient NiAl-LDHs nanosheets for high-performance hybrid supercapacitors and urea oxidation

Nickel-based layered double hydroxides (LDHs) are promising electrode materials in the fields of energy storage (supercapacitors) and conversion (urea oxidation). The rational construction of atomic and electronic structure is crucial for nickel-based LDHs to realize their satisfactory electrochemical performance. Herein, we report a facile, ecofriendly, one-step synthesis process to construct petal-like oxygen-deficient NiAl-LDH nanosheets for hybrid super-capacitors (HSCs) and urea oxidation reaction (UOR). The asprepared NiAl-LDH nanosheets with rich oxygen vacancies possess a large specific surface area of 216.6 m2 g-1 and a desirable electronic conductivity of 3.45 * 10-4 S cm-1 to deliver an ultra-high specific capacitance of 2801 F g-1 (700 C g-1) at 1 A g-1. Furthermore, high specific energy of 50.0 W h kg-1 at 400 W kg-1 and excellent cycle stability with 91% capacitance retention after 10,000 cycles are achieved by the NiAl-LDHs/CFP (carbon fiber paper) (+)//YP-80F (a commercial activated carbon) (-) HSC. Besides, NiAl-LDH nanosheets also work as an efficient electrocatalyst for UOR, which only requires 1.42 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode to drive 10 mA cm-2 in 1 mol L-1 KOH with 0.33 mol L-1 urea. This remarkable performance is superior to most reported values of previous candidates owing to the thin structure of NiAl-LDH nanosheets for exposing more active sites and abundant oxygen vacancies. In addition, various reaction parameters are investigated to optimize the electrochemical performance. In general, this work paves a new way for the architecture of multifunctional nanostructured energy materials

Pathogen manipulation of chloroplast function triggers a light-dependent immune recognition

In plants and animals, nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat (NLR) proteins are intracellular immune sensors that recognize and eliminate a wide range of invading pathogens. NLR-mediated immunity is known to be modulated by environmental factors. However, how pathogen recognition by NLRs is influenced by environmental factors such as light remains unclear. Here, we show that the agronomically important NLR Rpi-vnt1.1 requires light to confer disease resistance against races of the Irish potato famine pathogen Phytophthora infestans that secrete the effector protein AVRvnt1. The activation of Rpi-vnt1.1 requires a nuclear-encoded chloroplast protein, glycerate 3-kinase (GLYK), implicated in energy production. The pathogen effector AVRvnt1 binds the full-length chloroplast-targeted GLYK isoform leading to activation of Rpi-vnt1.1. In the dark, Rpi-vnt1.1-mediated resistance is compromised because plants produce a shorter GLYK-lacking the intact chloroplast transit peptide-that is not bound by AVRvnt1. The transition between full-length and shorter plant GLYK transcripts is controlled by a light-dependent alternative promoter selection mechanism. In plants that lack Rpi-vnt1.1, the presence of AVRvnt1 reduces GLYK accumulation in chloroplasts counteracting GLYK contribution to basal immunity. Our findings revealed that pathogen manipulation of chloroplast functions has resulted in a light-dependent immune response

Allylic oxidation of olefins with a manganese-based metal-organic framework

Selective oxidation of olefins to α,β-unsaturated ketones under mild reaction conditions have attracted considerable interest, since α,β-unsaturated ketones can serve to be synthetic precursors for various downstream chemical products. The major challenges inherently with this chemical oxidation are chem-, regio-selectivity as well as environmental concerns, i.e. catalyst recycle, safety and cost. Using atmospheric oxygen as an environmental friendly oxidant, we found that a metal-organic framework (MOF) constructed with Mn and tetrazolate ligand (CPF-5) showed good activity and selectivity for the allylic oxidation of olefins to α,β-unsaturated ketones. Under the optimized condition, we could achieve 98% conversion of cyclohexene and 87% selectivity toward cyclohexanone. The combination of a substoichiometric amount of TBHP (tert-butylhydroperoxide) and oxygen not only provides a cost effective oxidation system but significantly enhances the selectivity to α,β-unsaturated ketones, outperforming most reported oxidation methods. This catalytic system is heterogeneous in nature, and CPF-5 could be reused at least five times without a significant decrease in its catalytic activity and selectivity

Unveiling the Effects of Linker Substitution in Suzuki Coupling with Palladium Nanoparticles in Metal–Organic Frameworks

The establishment of structure–property relationships in heterogeneous catalysis is of prime importance but remains a formidable challenge. Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) featuring excellent chemical tunability are emerging as an auspicious platform for the atomic-level control of heterogeneous catalysis. Herein, we encapsulate palladium nanoparticles (Pd NPs) in a series of isoreticular mixed-linker MOFs, and the obtained MOF-Pd NPs catalysts were used to unveil the electronic and steric effects of linker substitution on the activity of these catalysts in the Suzuki–Miyaura cross-coupling reactions. Significantly, m-6,6′-Me2bpy-MOF-Pd exhibits a remarkable enhancement in the activity compared to non-functionalized m-bpy-MOF-Pd and m-4,4′-Me2bpy-MOF-Pd. This study unambiguously demonstrates that the stereoelectronic properties of linker units are crucial to the catalytic activity of nanoparticles encapsulated in MOFs. More interestingly, the trend of activity change is consistent with our previous work on catalytic sites generated in situ from Pd(II) coordinated in MOFs bearing the same functional groups, which suggests that both MOF-Pd NPs and MOF-Pd(II) catalysts generate similar active centers during Suzuki–Miyaura coupling reactions. This work paves a new avenue to the fabrication of advanced and tunable MOF-based catalysts through rational linker engineering

Metal–Organic‐Framework‐Derived Carbons: Applications as Solid‐Base Catalyst and Support for Pd Nanoparticles in Tandem Catalysis

The facile pyrolysis of a bipyridyl metal‐organic framework, MOF‐253, produces N‐doped porous carbons (Cz‐MOF‐253), which exhibit excellent catalytic activity in the Knoevenagel condensation reaction and outperform other nitrogen‐containing MOF‐derived carbons. More importantly, by virtue of their high Lewis basicity and porous nature, Cz‐MOF‐253‐supported Pd nanoparticles (Pd/Cz‐MOF‐253‐800) show excellent performance in a one‐pot sequential Knoevenagel condensation‐hydrogenation reaction

Monolayer hydrophilic MoS2 with strong charge trapping for atomically thin neuromorphic vision systems

Effective control of electrical and optoelectronic properties of two-dimensional layered materials, one of the key requirements for applications in advanced optoelectronics with multiple functions, has been hindered by the difficulty of elemental doping, which is commonly utilized in Si technology. In this study, we proposed a new method to synthesize hydrophilic MoS2 monolayers through covalently introducing hydroxyl groups during their growth process. These hydroxyl groups exhibit a strong capability of charge trapping, and thus the hydrophilic MoS2 monolayers achieve excellent electrical, optical, and memory properties. Optical memory transistors, made from a single component of monolayer hydrophilic MoS2, exhibit not only excellent light-dependent and time-dependent photoelectric performance, but also good photo-responsive memory characteristics with over multi-bit storage and more than 104 switching ratios. Atomically thin neuromorphic vision systems (with a concept of proof of 10 × 10 neuromorphic visual image) are manufactured from arrays of hydrophilic MoS2 optical memory transistors, showing high quality image sensing and memory functions with a high color resolution. These results proved our new concepts to realize image memorization and simplify the pixel matrix preparation process, which is a significant step toward the development of future artificial visual systems

Designed TiS2 nanosheets for efficient electrocatalytic reductive amination of biomass-derived furfurals

Green and highly selective synthesis of organonitrogen chemicals (ONCs) using the renewable energy source biomass over noble-metal free solid catalysts under common room temperature and pressure conditions is still a major challenge. Here, we report a sustainable electrochemical method for selective synthesis of several valuable ONCs with high yields using biomass-derived furanic aldehydes over greenly fabricated TiS2 nanosheets through a facile synthesis. Based on a range of characterization techniques including high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and X-ray absorption fine structure, a well-defined structure of the TiS2 nanosheets (3.86 nm with 1T phase) was constructed. These as-prepared catalysts were applied to the electrochemical reductive amination (ERA) of three biomass-derived aldehydes, i.e. furfural (FF), 5-methylfurfural (MF) and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), and exhibited superior performance whereby over 95% conversion of each furanic aldehyde and nearly perfect selectivity of ONCs were achieved. TiS2 nanosheets, in particular, exhibited a marked ∼2-fold increase in conversion (∼49%) compared with the monometallic Ti electrode. Besides, the reaction kinetics and rational pathway were also studied. In addition, these exfoliated TiS2 nanosheets maintained high durability over 6 h, providing a promising and versatile route for the sustainable upgrading of biomass-derived sources

Sensory Evaluation and Metabolomic Analysis of Lycium Leave Tea

The sensory quality and metabolite profiles of the fresh and dried buds and leaves of Lycium from 26 cultivars (lines) were analyzed by sensory evaluation and metabolomics combined with multivariate statistical analysis. The results of sensory evaluation showed that the dried buds and leaves of Lycium had a mellow, fresh and sweet taste, and by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS), 879 metabolites were identified in Lycium buds and leaves, including amino acids and their derivatives, flavonoids, phenolic acids, saccharides, nucleotides and their derivatives, lignans and coumarins, alkaloids, terpenoids, organic acids, and lipids. Using partial least square discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) model and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), 211 differential metabolites were selected, which were mainly enriched in the linoleic acid metabolism, flavonoid biosynthesis, flavonoids and flavanols biosynthesis, phenylpropanol biosynthesis, and galactose metabolism pathways. In addition, it was found that amino acids and their derivatives, flavonoids, sugars, and lipids were important components to discriminate the metabolites of different cultivars (lines). Partial least squares regression (PLSR) analysis showed that 26 metabolites including epicatechin, isoquercitrin, and rutin collectively affected the taste of Lycium tea such as mellow, thick, fresh, sweet and bitter. The results of sensory evaluation and PLSR analysis showed that seven cultivars (lines) of Lycium including ‘Ningqicai No. 1’, ‘Ningqi No. 9’, Z90, Z68, Q3, Q6-13, and Z48 had better sensory quality and rich flavor substances

IgG4-related disease with nasopharyngeal malignancy-like manifestations

BackgroundIgG4-related disease (IgG4-RD) was characterized by single or multiple masses in organs, which may mimic various inflammatory and malignant diseases. Here, we summarize 4 patients with aggressive manifestations of IgG4-RD that mimic nasopharynx cancer to provide some new sights for the diagnosis of IgG4-RD.Case summaryFour patients were included in our series. The age ranged from 53 to 64 years old, and the duration of the disease ranged from 4 to 6 months. The chief complaints included headache, rhinorrhea, or diplopia. All patients had more than 10 IgG4+ plasma cells/HPF in immunohistochemistry with plasma lgG4 levels ranging from 218 mg/dL to 765 mg/dL. All of them met the diagnostic criteria of lgG4-RD.ConclusionThe described case is highly similar to the clinical manifestations of nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Although pathology is the gold standard, there are still limitations. Serological IgG4 can help confirm the diagnosis. Timely diagnosis of IgG4-RD is of great significance in preventing secondary organ damage in patients with active diseases