Carbon dioxide reduction on Ir(111): Stable hydrocarbon surface species at near-ambient pressure

Stable hydrocarbon surface species in the carbon dioxide hydrogenation reaction on Ir(111) were identified by means of infrared-visible sum-frequency generation vibrational spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy under near-ambient pressure conditions (0.1 mbar). By introducing gas phase binary and ternary mixtures of CO2, CO, and H2 into the reaction chamber, stable ethylidyne and ethynyl species were found at the metal surface above 425 K, in remarkable analogy with that observed during the ethylene decomposition process yielding graphene. In addition, upon increasing temperature (up to 600 K depending on the reaction conditions), vibrational and electronic spectroscopic fingerprints appeared that could be attributed to the nucleation of aromatic hydrocarbons at the edge of metastable graphenic clusters interacting with the metal surface

Effects of water temperature on survival, growth, digestive enzyme activities, and body composition of the leopard coral grouper Plectropomus leopardus

The effects of water temperature (15, 20, 25,30, and 35 °C) on survival, growth performance, digestive enzyme activities, and body composition of Plectropomus leopardus were studied for a period of 6 weeks. One hundred eighty fish with initial body weights of 26.5 ± 1.5 g were randomly arranged into 15 glass aquaria in equal numbers in five recirculating systems to form five groups in triplicate. The results showed that survival of P. leopardus at 35 °C was significantly greater (P < 0.05) than survival at 15 °C. No death was recorded at 20, 25, and 30 °C. Among all treatment groups, the significantly highest average individual harvesting weight, weight gain, feed ingestion rate and protease enzyme activity of P. leopardus were observed in 30 °C group. Similar results were also observed in protein and fat content in this species. Based on the present findings, a culture temperature of 30 °C can be considered to be the optimum temperature for the aquaculture of juvenile P. leopardus. However, more research is still needed to optimize the nutrition and photoperiod of P. leopardus culture

Efficacy and safety of rituximab for systemic lupus erythematosus treatment: a meta-analysis

Background: Given the inconsistency of previous studies and the newly emerging evidence, we decided to conduct a meta-analysis. Methods: The meta-analysis included 2 randomized controlled trials and 13 observational studies 742 patients in total. Qualified studies were properly searched from databases . Data were analyzed by the RevMan 5.3 software. Results were demonstrated as WMD , SMD and RR with 95% CIs, I2 and P value. Results: we observed that a remarkable increase of complement C3 in the rituximab group than placebo group (WMDfixed=7.67mg/dL, 95%CIs=-0.16~15.50, I2=0%, P=0.05). A significant increase of complement C4 was observed in the rituximab group than placebo group (WMDfixed=3.14mg/dL, 95%CIs=1.06~5.22, I2 =0%, P=0.003). Notably decreased peripheral CD19+B cells in rituximab group than placebo group (WMDfixed=-117.93n/\u3bcl, 95%CIs=-172.94~-62.91, I2 =0%, P&lt;0.0001) in RCTs. Patients with severe or refractory SLE got more satisfactory efficacy results after receiving rituximab in observational studies, such as British Isles Lupus Assessment Group index score, SLE Disease Activity Index score, complement C3/C4, anti-dsDNA antibodies, peripheral CD19+B cells and so on. Safety profiles were no difference between rituximab and placebo groups. Conclusion: although the efficacy of rituximab is highly controversial for SLE, our study shows that rituximab presents a satisfying efficacy and safety for SLE

Electronic properties of the boroxine–gold interface: evidence of ultra-fast charge delocalization

We performed a combined experimental and theoretical study of the assembly of phenylboronic acid on the Au(111) surface, which is found to lead to the formation of triphenylboroxines by spontaneous condensation of trimers of molecules. The interface between the boroxine group and the gold surface has been characterized in terms of its electronic properties, revealing the existence of an ultra-fast charge delocalization channel in the proximity of the oxygen atoms of the heterocyclic group. More specifically, the DFT calculations show the presence of an unoccupied electronic state localized on both the oxygen atoms of the adsorbed triphenylboroxine and the gold atoms of the topmost layer. By means of resonant Auger electron spectroscopy, we demonstrate that this interface state represents an ultra-fast charge delocalization channel. Boroxine groups are among the most widely adopted building blocks in the synthesis of covalent organic frameworks on surfaces. Our findings indicate that such systems, typically employed as templates for the growth of organic films, can also act as active interlayers that provide an efficient electronic transport channel bridging the inorganic substrate and organic overlayer

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

Structure and chemical characterization of novel 2D homo- and hetero-organic architectures on a gold surface: a combined STM and photoemission spectroscopies study

This work focuses on the study of the electronic and structural properties of molecular architectures at metal surfaces formed by assembly of functionalized organics, in particular amino- and/or carboxylic-functionalized molecules. Several homo- and hetero-organic architectures are characterized on a gold (111) surface by means of combined low temperature scanning tunneling microscopy (LT-STM) and X-ray spectroscopy techniques, coupled with ab initio calculations performed in collaboration with theoretical groups. The aim is to identify the role of the molecule-molecule and molecule-substrate interactions in determining the electronic and structural configuration of the investigated systems. This thesis is subdivided in two parts. In the first part we report the homo-organic assembly of a simple solvent molecule, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), and two different amino-functionalized molecules. In particular, DMSO is found to form molecular complexes unexpectedly trapping gold adatoms natively available on Au(111). Although such adatoms are not visible in the STM images, comparison between experiments and theoretical calculations shows that they are crucial for the stability of the observed DMSO complexes. Then, we have studied a small aminomethyl-functionalized molecule, 1-naphthylmethylamine (NMA), forming complexes of 3 or 4 molecules, and an amino-phenyl-porphyrin forming hydrogen bonded molecular chains. In the latter two works, we have pointed out the interplay between the amino-amino and amino-gold substrate interactions which drive the formation of such complexes. In the second part we exploit what we have learned about the amino-functionalized molecules on Au(111) to build novel hetero-organic supramolecular architectures based on the amino-carboxylic (A-C) interaction. Initially, we have studied the self-assembly of two small molecules, namely NMA and terephthalic acid (TPA, carboxylic-), whose 2D hetero-organic assembly is shown to be driven by the competition between the A-C and carboxylic-carboxylic recognition. In literature, organic templates are successfully synthesized on surfaces to build guest-host systems based on the shape matching between the host template and guest molecules. We instead exploit the competitive A-C bond to develop a novel guest-host method based on chemical affinity. By employing the monolayer of a carboxylic-functionalized porphyrin as the host template, we find that small guest aminomethyl-terminated molecules (like NMA) can be intercalated into this 2D template. These results show that the competitive A-C recognition is a powerful tool to build supramolecular assemblies

Binary Conformational Switches in a Porphyrin Chain: Tautomerization and Stereoisomerization

In the last decade, hydrogen (H-)tautomerization, that is, a reaction that involves simple intramolecular proton transfer, has been studied in single phthalocyanine, porphyrin, and porphycene derivatives as a prototypical single molecular conductance switch. Here, by means of low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy and density functional theory calculations, we report a binary H-tautomerism and stereoisomeric conformational switch in (amino-functionalized) porphyrins assembled in molecular chains on a gold surface. We show that the formation of the chain is crucial for the binary tautomeric switch mechanism as the single molecule switches differently. Our findings suggest that the (amino-)functionalization of molecules can be exploited not only to drive the formation of molecular self-assemblies but also to steer their switching properties

Dynamic Behavior of the Net of a Pile–Net-Gapped Enclosure Aquaculture Facility

A pile–net enclosure aquaculture facility, deployed in inshore waters, is a sustainable and ecological aquaculture pattern for rearing fish and other aquatic animals of economic value in China. It is essential to study the maximum force on and deformation of the net system of a pile–net enclosure facility to prevent its failure, since successful aquaculture is highly dependent on the longevity of the net system. In this study, a pile-net enclosure aquaculture facility with a gapped pile-net configuration was numerically investigated based on the lumped mass model. A Newton’s second-law-based motion equation was solved using Euler’s method. Finally, MATLAB was used to visualize the results. The results highlight that the force of a net system significantly increases with ocean loads, and the load of the entire net is mainly from the top half of the net. Moreover, the maximum force of the vertical rope occurs at the connection of the top channel steel. The maximum force of the horizontal rope and net twine occur in the rope near the still-water level and at the connection of the top channel steel, respectively. Thus, the net at those positions should be reinforced to prevent its failure

Design of special planar linkages

Planar linkages play a very important role in mechanical engineering. As the simplest closed chain mechanisms, planar four-bar linkages are widely used in mechanical engineering, civil engineering and aerospace engineering.Design of Special Planar Linkages proposes a uniform design theory for planar four-bar linkages. The merit of the method proposed in this book is that it allows engineers to directly obtain accurate results when there are such solutions for the specified n precise positions; otherwise, the best approximate solutions will be found. This book discusses the kinematics and reac