Assessment of Streamflow from EURO-CORDEX Regional Climate Simulations in Semi-Arid Catchments Using the SWAT Model

This research studies the effect of climate change on the hydrological behavior of two semi-arid basins. For this purpose, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model was used with the simulation of two future climate change scenarios, one Representative Concentration Pathway moderate (RCP 4.5) and the other extreme (RCP 8.5). Three future periods were considered: close (2019–2040), medium (2041–2070), and distant (2071–2100). In addition, several climatic projections of the EURO-CORDEX model were selected, to which different bias correction methods were applied before incorporation into the SWAT model. The statistical indices for the monthly flow simulations showed a very good fit in the calibration and validation phases in the Upper Mula stream (NS = 0.79–0.87; PBIAS = −4.00–0.70%; RSR = 0.44–0.46) and the ephemeral Algeciras stream (NS = 0.78–0.82; PBIAS = −8.10–−8.20%; RSR = 0.4–0.42). Subsequently, the impact of climate change in both basins was evaluated by comparing future flows with those of the historical period. In the RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 scenarios, by the end of the 2071–2100 period, the flows of the Upper Mula stream and the ephemeral Algeciras stream will have decreased by between 46.3% and 52.4% and between 46.6% and 55.8%, respectively.ERDF/Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities—State Research Agency/Project CGL2017-84625-C2-1-R (CCAMICEM)State Program for Research, Development and Innovation Focused on the Challenges of Societ

Effect of heavy-quark energy loss on the muon differential production cross section in Pb-Pb collisions at \sqrtsNN=5.5 TeV

We study the nuclear modification factors RAA and RCP of the high transverse momentum 5<pt<60 GeV/c distribution of muons in Pb--Pb collisions at LHC energies. We consider two pseudo-rapidity ranges covered by the LHC experiments: $|\eta|<2.5$ and $2.5<\eta<4$. Muons from semi-leptonic decays of heavy quarks (c and b) and from leptonic decays of weak gauge bosons (W and Z) are the main contributions to the muon pt distribution above a few GeV/c. We compute the heavy quark contributions using available pQCD-based programs. We include the nuclear shadowing modification of the parton distribution functions and the in-medium radiative energy loss for heavy quarks, using the mass-dependent BDMPS quenching weights. Muons from W and Z leptonic decays, that dominate the yield at high pt, can be used as a medium-blind reference to observe the medium-induced suppression of beauty quarks

MultiBaC: A strategy to remove batch effects between different omic data types

[EN] Diversity of omic technologies has expanded in the last years together with the number of omic data integration strategies. However, multiomic data generation is costly, and many research groups cannot afford research projects where many different omic techniques are generated, at least at the same time. As most researchers share their data in public repositories, different omic datasets of the same biological system obtained at different labs can be combined to construct a multiomic study. However, data obtained at different labs or moments in time are typically subjected to batch effects that need to be removed for successful data integration. While there are methods to correct batch effects on the same data types obtained in different studies, they cannot be applied to correct lab or batch effects across omics. This impairs multiomic meta-analysis. Fortunately, in many cases, at least one omics platform-i.e. gene expression- is repeatedly measured across labs, together with the additional omic modalities that are specific to each study. This creates an opportunity for batch analysis. We have developed MultiBaC (multiomic Multiomics Batch-effect Correction correction), a strategy to correct batch effects from multiomic datasets distributed across different labs or data acquisition events. Our strategy is based on the existence of at least one shared data type which allows data prediction across omics. We validate this approach both on simulated data and on a case where the multiomic design is fully shared by two labs, hence batch effect correction within the same omic modality using traditional methods can be compared with the MultiBaC correction across data types. Finally, we apply MultiBaC to a true multiomic data integration problem to show that we are able to improve the detection of meaningful biological effects.The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work is part of a research project that is totally funded by Conselleria d'Educacio, Cultura i Esport (Generalitat Valenciana) through PROMETEO grants program for excellence research groups.Ugidos, M.; Tarazona Campos, S.; Prats-Montalbán, JM.; Ferrer, A.; Conesa, A. (2020). MultiBaC: A strategy to remove batch effects between different omic data types. Statistical Methods in Medical Research. 29(10):2851-2864. https://doi.org/10.1177/0962280220907365S285128642910Kupfer, P., Guthke, R., Pohlers, D., Huber, R., Koczan, D., & Kinne, R. W. (2012). Batch correction of microarray data substantially improves the identification of genes differentially expressed in Rheumatoid Arthritis and Osteoarthritis. BMC Medical Genomics, 5(1). doi:10.1186/1755-8794-5-23Gregori, J., Villarreal, L., Méndez, O., Sánchez, A., Baselga, J., & Villanueva, J. (2012). Batch effects correction improves the sensitivity of significance tests in spectral counting-based comparative discovery proteomics. Journal of Proteomics, 75(13), 3938-3951. doi:10.1016/j.jprot.2012.05.005Ritchie, M. E., Phipson, B., Wu, D., Hu, Y., Law, C. W., Shi, W., & Smyth, G. K. (2015). limma powers differential expression analyses for RNA-sequencing and microarray studies. Nucleic Acids Research, 43(7), e47-e47. doi:10.1093/nar/gkv007Gagnon-Bartsch, J. A., & Speed, T. P. (2011). Using control genes to correct for unwanted variation in microarray data. Biostatistics, 13(3), 539-552. doi:10.1093/biostatistics/kxr034Nueda, M. j., Ferrer, A., & Conesa, A. (2011). ARSyN: a method for the identification and removal of systematic noise in multifactorial time course microarray experiments. Biostatistics, 13(3), 553-566. doi:10.1093/biostatistics/kxr042Jansen, J. J., Hoefsloot, H. C. J., van der Greef, J., Timmerman, M. E., Westerhuis, J. A., & Smilde, A. K. (2005). ASCA: analysis of multivariate data obtained from an experimental design. Journal of Chemometrics, 19(9), 469-481. doi:10.1002/cem.952Nueda, M. J., Conesa, A., Westerhuis, J. A., Hoefsloot, H. C. J., Smilde, A. K., Talón, M., & Ferrer, A. (2007). Discovering gene expression patterns in time course microarray experiments by ANOVA–SCA. Bioinformatics, 23(14), 1792-1800. doi:10.1093/bioinformatics/btm251Giordan, M. (2013). A Two-Stage Procedure for the Removal of Batch Effects in Microarray Studies. Statistics in Biosciences, 6(1), 73-84. doi:10.1007/s12561-013-9081-1Nyamundanda, G., Poudel, P., Patil, Y., & Sadanandam, A. (2017). A Novel Statistical Method to Diagnose, Quantify and Correct Batch Effects in Genomic Studies. Scientific Reports, 7(1). doi:10.1038/s41598-017-11110-6Reese, S. E., Archer, K. J., Therneau, T. M., Atkinson, E. J., Vachon, C. M., de Andrade, M., … Eckel-Passow, J. E. (2013). A new statistic for identifying batch effects in high-throughput genomic data that uses guided principal component analysis. Bioinformatics, 29(22), 2877-2883. doi:10.1093/bioinformatics/btt480Papiez, A., Marczyk, M., Polanska, J., & Polanski, A. (2018). BatchI: Batch effect Identification in high-throughput screening data using a dynamic programming algorithm. Bioinformatics, 35(11), 1885-1892. doi:10.1093/bioinformatics/bty900Keel, B. N., Zarek, C. M., Keele, J. W., Kuehn, L. A., Snelling, W. M., Oliver, W. T., … Lindholm-Perry, A. K. (2018). RNA-Seq Meta-analysis identifies genes in skeletal muscle associated with gain and intake across a multi-season study of crossbred beef steers. BMC Genomics, 19(1). doi:10.1186/s12864-018-4769-8Li, M. D., Burns, T. C., Morgan, A. A., & Khatri, P. (2014). Integrated multi-cohort transcriptional meta-analysis of neurodegenerative diseases. Acta Neuropathologica Communications, 2(1). doi:10.1186/s40478-014-0093-yAndres-Terre, M., McGuire, H. M., Pouliot, Y., Bongen, E., Sweeney, T. E., Tato, C. M., & Khatri, P. (2015). Integrated, Multi-cohort Analysis Identifies Conserved Transcriptional Signatures across Multiple Respiratory Viruses. Immunity, 43(6), 1199-1211. doi:10.1016/j.immuni.2015.11.003Sandhu, V., Labori, K. J., Borgida, A., Lungu, I., Bartlett, J., Hafezi-Bakhtiari, S., … Haibe-Kains, B. (2019). Meta-Analysis of 1,200 Transcriptomic Profiles Identifies a Prognostic Model for Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma. JCO Clinical Cancer Informatics, (3), 1-16. doi:10.1200/cci.18.00102Huang, H., Liu, C.-C., & Zhou, X. J. (2010). Bayesian approach to transforming public gene expression repositories into disease diagnosis databases. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107(15), 6823-6828. doi:10.1073/pnas.0912043107Pelechano, V., & Pérez-Ortín, J. E. (2010). There is a steady-state transcriptome in exponentially growing yeast cells. Yeast, 27(7), 413-422. doi:10.1002/yea.1768Garcı́a-Martı́nez, J., Aranda, A., & Pérez-Ortı́n, J. E. (2004). Genomic Run-On Evaluates Transcription Rates for All Yeast Genes and Identifies Gene Regulatory Mechanisms. Molecular Cell, 15(2), 303-313. doi:10.1016/j.molcel.2004.06.004Pelechano, V., Chávez, S., & Pérez-Ortín, J. E. (2010). A Complete Set of Nascent Transcription Rates for Yeast Genes. PLoS ONE, 5(11), e15442. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0015442Zid, B. M., & O’Shea, E. K. (2014). Promoter sequences direct cytoplasmic localization and translation of mRNAs during starvation in yeast. Nature, 514(7520), 117-121. doi:10.1038/nature13578Freeberg, M. A., Han, T., Moresco, J. J., Kong, A., Yang, Y.-C., Lu, Z., … Kim, J. K. (2013). Pervasive and dynamic protein binding sites of the mRNA transcriptome in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Genome Biology, 14(2), R13. doi:10.1186/gb-2013-14-2-r13McKinlay, A., Araya, C. L., & Fields, S. (2011). Genome-Wide Analysis of Nascent Transcription in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. G3 Genes|Genomes|Genetics, 1(7), 549-558. doi:10.1534/g3.111.000810Castells-Roca, L., García-Martínez, J., Moreno, J., Herrero, E., Bellí, G., & Pérez-Ortín, J. E. (2011). Heat Shock Response in Yeast Involves Changes in Both Transcription Rates and mRNA Stabilities. PLoS ONE, 6(2), e17272. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0017272Wold, S., Sjöström, M., & Eriksson, L. (2001). PLS-regression: a basic tool of chemometrics. Chemometrics and Intelligent Laboratory Systems, 58(2), 109-130. doi:10.1016/s0169-7439(01)00155-1Folch-Fortuny, A., Vitale, R., de Noord, O. E., & Ferrer, A. (2017). Calibration transfer between NIR spectrometers: New proposals and a comparative study. Journal of Chemometrics, 31(3), e2874. doi:10.1002/cem.2874García Muñoz, S., MacGregor, J. F., & Kourti, T. (2005). Product transfer between sites using Joint-Y PLS. Chemometrics and Intelligent Laboratory Systems, 79(1-2), 101-114. doi:10.1016/j.chemolab.2005.04.009Andrade, J. M., Gómez-Carracedo, M. P., Krzanowski, W., & Kubista, M. (2004). Procrustes rotation in analytical chemistry, a tutorial. Chemometrics and Intelligent Laboratory Systems, 72(2), 123-132. doi:10.1016/j.chemolab.2004.01.007Hurley, J. R., & Cattell, R. B. (2007). The procrustes program: Producing direct rotation to test a hypothesized factor structure. Behavioral Science, 7(2), 258-262. doi:10.1002/bs.3830070216Hartigan, J. A., & Wong, M. A. (1979). Algorithm AS 136: A K-Means Clustering Algorithm. Applied Statistics, 28(1), 100. doi:10.2307/234683

Method of analysis to evaluate the CFRP ShearStrengthened in Reinforced Concrete

[ES] En este trabajo de investigación se comparan diferentes modelos de cálculo de refuerzo a esfuerzo cortante mediante polímeros reforzados con fibras de carbono (CFRP) clasificados según el modo de fallo. En el diseño del refuerzo se tiene en cuenta la modificación del comportamiento de la viga por el refuerzo. Los estudios muestran que siempre que sea posible, la dirección principal de las fibras debe ser perpendicular a las fisuras de cortante. La contribución del refuerzo a la resistencia a cortante de la viga depende de los estribos de acero existentes en la viga original. Cuando aumenta el espesor del refuerzo la resistencia a cortante de la viga se incrementa. Esta relación tiende a ser lineal cuando la viga no está fisurada. Por último indicar que tanto el ángulo de inclinación de las fisuras, como el cortante resistido por el refuerzo, dependen del ángulo de inclinación de las fibras.[EN] Different models of shear-strengthened calculation by means of Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) are compared in this investigation works classified according to the way of failure. We take into account the modification of the behavior of the beam for the reinforcement in its design. The surveys show that as long as it is possible the main direction of the fibers must be perpendicular to the shear crakc. The contribution of the reinforcement to the resistance to shear-strengthened of the beam depends on the steel stirrups in the original beam. When the reinforcement strips thickness increases the resistance to shear-strengthened of the beam also increases. This relation tends to be lineal when the beam is not cracks. At last we must state that both the inclination angle of the crack and the shear-strengthened resisted by the reinforcement depend on the inclination angle of the fiber.Parra, C.; Martínez-Conesa, E.; Valcuende Payá, MO.; Garrido, A. (2012). Análisis de métodos para evaluar el refuerzo a esfuerzo cortante con CFRP en vigas de hormigón armado. Informes de la Construcción. 64(526):197-206. doi:10.3989/ic.11.007S1972066452

The composition and antimicrobial activity of the essential oil of Salvia officinalis subsp. oxyodon (Webb & Heldr.) Reales, D.Rivera & Obón cultivated in the region of Murcia (Spain)

The aerial parts of Spanish sage (Salvia officinalis subsp. oxyodon (Webb & Heldr.) Reales, D.Rivera & Obón, Lamiaceae) have been used in the traditional Mediterranean medicine for its analgesic, antioxidant, sedative and antiseptic activities since ancient times. The main goal of the present work was to evaluate the bacterial growth inhibition curves of ten S. officinalis subsp. oxyodon essential-oil chemotypes, containing varying relative concentrations of secondary metabolites, against Shigella sonnei CECT 413, Escherichia coli CECT 45, Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica CECT 443, and Listeria monocytogenes CECT 911. A total of 30 individual plants (3 per chemotype) were used in this assay. The essential oils were extracted by hydrodistillation and the qualitative and quantitative composition was analyzed by a gas chromatograph coupled to a mass spectrometer (GC-MS). Among the total of 65 cultivated plants, collected in an experimental plot of land (Murcia, Spain), it was possible to identify the presence of 10 different chemotypes, based on the chemical composition of their essential oils. The majority of the plants belonged to a single chemotype, represented by eucalyptol and camphor. The inhibition growth curves were monitored for 48 h and the essential-oil concentrations ranged from 625 to 40000 ppm. The essential-oil chemical variability could be represented by the following chemotypes: eucalyptol (22-25%) and camphor (17-40%); camphor (40%) and eucalyptol (28%); camphor (37%), eucalyptol (8%), and α-pinene (11%); camphor (28%), eucalyptol (19%), and α-terpinyl acetate (18%); eucalyptol (22%), myrtenyl acetate (22%), and camphor (18%); camphor (37%), myrtenyl acetate (20%), and eucalyptol (7%); camphor (40%) and myrtenyl acetate (20%); linalyl acetate (21%), camphor (20%), and eucalyptol (18%).                From the results it can be concluded, that among the chemotypes studied, the ones containing 40-37% of camphor and 20% of myrtenyl acetate, at a concentration of 5000 ppm, was the most effective against Shigella and Salmonella (48 h) strains, while at a concentration of 20000 ppm, against E. coli (48 h) and Listeria (24 h) strains

Antimicrobial activity and chemical variability of the essential oil of Thymus hyemalis Lange cultivated in the region of Murcia (Spain)

Thymus hyemalis Lange (Lamiaceae), winter thyme, is an endemic shrub growing on the Southeastern Iberian Peninsula, mainly in Alicante, Murcia, and Almeria. The main goal of the present work was to evaluate the chemical variability of the essential oils from this species and their antimicrobial activity based on bacterial growth inhibition curves. The chemical variability of the essential oils from this species was analyzed by means of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The oils were assayed to evaluate their bacterial growth inhibition curves against Escherichia coli CECT 45, Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica CECT 443, Enterococcus faecalis CECT 481, and Listeria monocytogenes CECT 911. Among the total of 53 cultivated plants, collected from an experimental plot of land in Torreblanca (Murcia, Spain), it was possible to identify the presence of eight different chemotypes, based on the chemical composition of their essential oils. The majority of the plants (53%) belonged to a phenolic chemotype, represented by a high content of thymol, and followed by p-cymene, eucalyptol, and carvacrol. The 48-h growth inhibition curves were obtained for the essential oil tested in concentrations that ranged from 156 to 5000 ppm. The essential-oil chemical variability was represented by the following chemotypes: (A) carvacrol (68%) and p-cymene (17%); (B) carvacrol (52%) and p-cymene (25%); (C) thymol (50%), p-cymene (25%), and γ-terpinene (10%); (D) p-cymene (44%) and thymol (41%); (E) p-cymene (41%) and thymol (30%); (F) p-cymene (40%) and carvacrol (33%); (G) eucalyptol (38%) and carvacrol (25%); (H) eucalyptol (38%) and thymol (22%). Besides, the essential oil yield ranged from 1.4 to 4.6%, showing statistically significant differences among the plants.                From these results it can be summarized that the chemotype C showed the highest effect against S. enterica (312 ppm), E. faecalis and L. monocytogenes (625 ppm), followed by the chemotypes with 60-50% of carvacrol, and then with 44% of p-cymene and 41% of thymol. The chemotypes with 38-30% of carvacrol, or thymol with p-cymene or eucalyptol did not inhibit the growth of E. coli and S. enterica (625 ppm), or of L. monocytogenes and E. faecalis (2500 ppm)

Antimicrobial activity and chemical variability of the essential oil of Thymus hyemalis Lange cultivated in the region of Murcia (Spain)

Thymus hyemalis Lange (Lamiaceae), winter thyme, is an endemic shrub growing on the Southeastern Iberian Peninsula, mainly in Alicante, Murcia, and Almeria. The main goal of the present work was to evaluate the chemical variability of the essential oils from this species and their antimicrobial activity based on bacterial growth inhibition curves. The chemical variability of the essential oils from this species was analyzed by means of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The oils were assayed to evaluate their bacterial growth inhibition curves against Escherichia coli CECT 45, Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica CECT 443, Enterococcus faecalis CECT 481, and Listeria monocytogenes CECT 911. Among the total of 53 cultivated plants, collected from an experimental plot of land in Torreblanca (Murcia, Spain), it was possible to identify the presence of eight different chemotypes, based on the chemical composition of their essential oils. The majority of the plants (53%) belonged to a phenolic chemotype, represented by a high content of thymol, and followed by p-cymene, eucalyptol, and carvacrol. The 48-h growth inhibition curves were obtained for the essential oil tested in concentrations that ranged from 156 to 5000 ppm. The essential-oil chemical variability was represented by the following chemotypes: (A) carvacrol (68%) and p-cymene (17%); (B) carvacrol (52%) and p-cymene (25%); (C) thymol (50%), p-cymene (25%), and γ-terpinene (10%); (D) p-cymene (44%) and thymol (41%); (E) p-cymene (41%) and thymol (30%); (F) p-cymene (40%) and carvacrol (33%); (G) eucalyptol (38%) and carvacrol (25%); (H) eucalyptol (38%) and thymol (22%). Besides, the essential oil yield ranged from 1.4 to 4.6%, showing statistically significant differences among the plants.                From these results it can be summarized that the chemotype C showed the highest effect against S. enterica (312 ppm), E. faecalis and L. monocytogenes (625 ppm), followed by the chemotypes with 60-50% of carvacrol, and then with 44% of p-cymene and 41% of thymol. The chemotypes with 38-30% of carvacrol, or thymol with p-cymene or eucalyptol did not inhibit the growth of E. coli and S. enterica (625 ppm), or of L. monocytogenes and E. faecalis (2500 ppm)

Algorithmic robustness to preferred orientations in single particle analysis by CryoEM

The presence of preferred orientations in single particle analysis (SPA) by cryo-Electron Microscopy (cryoEM) is currently one of the hurdles preventing many structural analyses from yielding high-resolution structures. Although the existence of preferred orientations is mostly related to the grid preparation, in this technical note, we show that some image processing algorithms used for angular assignment and three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction are more robust than others to these detrimental conditions. We exemplify this argument with three different data sets in which the presence of preferred orientations hindered achieving a 3D reconstruction without artifacts or, even worse, a 3D reconstruction could never be achievedWe acknowledge support from “la Caixa” Foundation (Fellowship LCF/BQ/DI18/11660021. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 713673. We also thank the financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through Grants BIO2016-76400-R(AEI/FEDER, UE) and SEV 2017-0712, the “Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid” through Grant: S2017/BMD-3817, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, PT17/ 0009/0010 (ISCIII-SGEFI/ERDF), European Union (EU) and Horizon 2020 through grants: CORBEL (INFRADEV-1-2014-1, Proposal: 654248), INSTRUCT-ULTRA (INFRADEV-03-2016-2017, Proposal: 731005), EOSC Life (INFRAEOSC-04-2018, Proposal: 824087), High- ResCells (ERC-2018-SyG, Proposal: 810057), IMpaCT (WIDESPREAD-03-2018 – Proposal: 857203), EOSC-Synergy (EINFRA-EOSC-5, Proposal: 857647), and iNEXT-Discovery (Proposal: 871037). The authors acknowledge the support and the use of resources of Instruct, a Landmark ESFRI projec

Molecular Gastronomy in Spain

[EN] Beyond the overwhelming international success of Ferrán Adria, Spain has been one of the countries with a more active implication in molecular gastronomy as a scientific discipline but also in the use of ingredients, technologies, and equipment from the scientificand technological universe in the culinary area. Nowadays, this is a well-established discipline in Spain, with a number of research groups covering related topics, several companies commercializing appliances and additives worldwide, and renowned international chefs and many restaurants and companies committed to the collaboration with scientists for facing the future of Spanish gastronomyThe authors would like to thank the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Spain) for funding the Collaborative Network “INDAGA” (AGL2007-28589- E/ALI; AGL2009-05765-E), which enabled their collaboration.García Segovia, P.; Garrido, MD.; Vercet Tormo, A.; Arboleya, JC.; Fiszman Dal Santo, S.; Martínez Monzó, J.; Laguarda, S.... (2014). Molecular Gastronomy in Spain. Journal of Culinary Science and Technology. 12(4):279-293. https://doi.org/10.1080/15428052.2014.914813S27929312

Tuning branching in ceria nanocrystals

Branched nanocrystals (NCs) enable high atomic surface exposure within a crystalline network that provides avenues for charge transport. This combination of properties makes branched NCs particularly suitable for a range of applications where both interaction with the media and charge transport are involved. Herein we report on the colloidal synthesis of branched ceria NCs by means of a ligand-mediated overgrowth mechanism. In particular, the differential coverage of oleic acid as an X-type ligand at ceria facets with different atomic density, atomic coordination deficiency, and oxygen vacancy density resulted in a preferential growth in the [111] direction and thus in the formation of ceria octapods. Alcohols, through an esterification alcoholysis reaction, promoted faster growth rates that translated into nanostructures with higher geometrical complexity, increasing the branch aspect ratio and triggering the formation of side branches. On the other hand, the presence of water resulted in a significant reduction of the growth rate, decreasing the reaction yield and eliminating side branching, which we associate to a blocking of the surface reaction sites or a displacement of the alcoholysis reaction. Overall, adjusting the amounts of each chemical, well-defined branched ceria NCs with tuned number, thickness, and length of branches and with overall size ranging from 5 to 45 nm could be produced. We further demonstrate that such branched ceria NCs are able to provide higher surface areas and related oxygen storage capacities (OSC) than quasi-spherical NCs