Exploring a Porous Biochar-Based Capacitive Deionization Device for Phosphogypsum Wastewater Treatment in Undergraduate Experimental Teaching: Understanding, Development, and Practice.

Capacitive deionization (CDI) is a crucial technique for industries managing liquid chemical waste, requiring efficient electrode materials to ensure optimal performance. This study presents a novel undergraduate experimental teaching framework that integrates the understanding, development, and practical application of porous biochar-based CDI systems. Designed to support both students and educators, the curriculum guides learners through the synthesis of biochar electrodes via biomass pyrolysis and the assembly of CDI devices for treating phosphogypsum wastewater.

Blueberry anthocyanins-functionalized hydrogel labels for smartphone-assisted real-time visual freshness monitoring of perishable proteins.

Given rising consumer demands for meat safety and quality assurance, developing an intuitive, cost-effective, and user-friendly sensor platform for real-time monitoring of perishable meat freshness is important. Herein, this study developed an innovative chitosan/agarose/blueberry anthocyanin (CS/AG/BA) hydrogel label system for visual real-time freshness tracking of perishable proteins through smartphone-assisted colorimetric analysis. Through systematic optimization of CS/AG compositional ratios (3:7-7:3) and pH conditions (2.

COF-derived multicore-shell FeCo nanoalloys@N-doped carbon for sensitive electrochemical detection of caffeic acid.

Caffeic acid is a key indicator of wine quality, but its sensitive and accurate detection remains challenging due to the lack of high-performance sensing materials. Metal/N-doped porous carbon (M/NPC) electrocatalysts with abundant catalytic sites are promising to address this issue. Herein, a FeCo nanoalloy encapsulated in NPC (FeCo@NPC) was designed and synthesized via a "covalent organic framework (COF) adsorption-pyrolysis" strategy.

Prenatal diagnosis of cerebellar hypoplasia in fetal ultrasound using deep learning under the constraint of the anatomical structures of the cerebellum and cistern.

Objective: The objective of this retrospective study is to develop and validate an artificial intelligence model constrained by the anatomical structure of the brain with the aim of improving the accuracy of prenatal diagnosis of fetal cerebellar hypoplasia using ultrasound imaging.

Background: Fetal central nervous system dysplasia is one of the most prevalent congenital malformations, and cerebellar hypoplasia represents a significant manifestation of this anomaly. Accurate clinical diagnosis is of great importance for the purpose of prenatal screening of fetal health.

Side-Chain Poly[2]rotaxane-Toughened Graphene Films.

Graphene-based films are highly valued for their superior conductivity, thermal stability, and mechanical strength, yet their brittleness and low ductility limit their full potential. Current toughening strategies for graphene-based composites mainly focus on interfacial reinforcement between polymers and graphene substrates. However, research on energy dissipation arising from the intrinsic properties of polymers remains limited.

Interference enhancement of spin wave in NiO nanosheets on SiO/Al substrate.

Spin waves, as carriers of information in magnetic materials, hold great potential for information transmission and storage. However, the spin wave signals are generally weak, limiting both detection and practical application. Herein, we report a Raman spectroscopy study of the interference-enhanced Raman scattering (IERS) on the spin wave signal in nickel oxide (NiO) nanosheets on the SiO/Al substrate.

Clustering Single-Cell RNA-Seq Data with Low-Rank Matrix Factorization and Local Graph Regularization.

Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) offers significant opportunities to reveal cellular heterogeneity and diversity. Accurate cell type identification is critical for downstream analyses and understanding the mechanisms of heterogeneity. However, challenges arise from the high dimensionality, sparsity, and noise of scRNA-seq data.

Elevated salinity amplifies polyethylene microplastic-induced soil nitrous oxide emissions.

Microplastics (MPs) have been shown to enhance nitrous oxide (NO) emissions and soil salinization potentially amplifying this effect. This study investigated the individual and combined impacts of polyethylene (PE) MPs and salinity on NO emissions from paddy soils, while simultaneously analyzing related microbial parameters. MPs significantly increased cumulative NO emissions by 9.

Visible light-induced controlled release and biological evaluation of bismuth sulfide quantum dots and silver nanoparticles co-sensitized titanium dioxide nanotubes.

Controlled drug delivery has attracted significant attention because of its ability to release therapeutic agents at specific times and locations. Titanium dioxide nanotubes (TNTs), which are known for their unique tubular morphology, large surface area and excellent biocompatibility, have been widely investigated as drug carriers. However, their application in light-induced drug release is limited by their reliance on ultraviolet (UV) light.

Aptamer-Functionalized Redox-Responsive Mesoporous Organosilica-Coated Selenium Nanoparticles for Targeted Therapy of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Cells.

Selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs) exhibit tumor-suppressive capabilities via reactive oxygen species (ROS)-mediated mitochondrial dysfunction, yet their biomedical application remains constrained by poor targeting specificity and aqueous instability. Herein, we engineered glutathione-responsive therapeutic nanoparticles by encapsulating SeNPs within mesoporous organosilica (MON) isolation layers to ensure aqueous stability, while conjugating LXL-1 aptamers for targeted delivery to triple-negative MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells. In vitro assessments across breast cell lines (MDA-MB-231 vs MCF-10A/MCF-7) revealed a 5.

d-p Orbital Hybridization of Ternary Transition Metal Toward High-Performance Proton Storage.

Electrochemical proton storage offers grid-scale energy storage system with long lifespan, great safety, and eco-friendliness. However, preparing proton storage materials with balanced conductivity, activity, and stability remains challenging due to suboptimal structure design. Herein, we report atomic-level engineering of d-p orbital hybridization strategy to regulate transition metal (V/Fe) d-band centers.

Structural evolution and photoluminescence tuning of Bi3+/Sb3+ doped zero-dimensional perovskite [(CH3)3S]2SnCl6 under pressure.

The tunable photoluminescence (PL) response of Bi3+/Sb3+ doped zero-dimensional perovskite [(CH3)3S]2SnCl6 via pressure-induced structure evolution is investigated using high-pressure techniques and density-functional theory calculations. In contrast to the rigidification of [SnCl6]2-/[SbCl6]3- octahedra by Sb3+ ions, Bi3+ ions trigger the distortion of the [SnCl6]2-/[BiCl6]3- octahedra at a relatively lower pressure, and even a cubic-to-trigonal phase transition of Bi3+ singly doped [(CH3)3S]2SnCl6 occurs at higher pressures due to its pressure sensitivity, wherein, the organic (CH3)3S+ chains enhance the flexibility of [(CH3)3S]2SnCl6 host structure. For Bi3+/Sb3+ doubly doped [(CH3)3S]2SnCl6, the two metal ion dopants interact with each other, accompanied by synergistic lattice distortion, resulting in novel self-trapped exciton emission behaviors in the host that is distinct from the single-ion doping effects.

Urea oxidation catalysts: a review on non-metallic enhancements in nickel-based electrocatalysts.

The urea oxidation reaction (UOR) offers a promising low-energy alternative to the conventional oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in hydrogen production, leveraging urea's lower thermodynamic barrier to reduce energy demands of water splitting. This review focuses on the design and optimization of nickel-based UOR catalysts through the strategic incorporation of nonmetallic inorganic dopants to enhance their electrocatalytic performance. By modulating the electronic structure and surface active sites, these dopants aim to improve catalytic activity.

Dual-Probe Strategy-Enabled Multiplex Photoelectrochemical Sensor for Highly Sensitive Screening of Diabetes and Related Complications.

Photoelectrochemical (PEC) biosensing has emerged as a vital tool in disease surveillance and therapeutic monitoring. However, most current PEC platforms are constrained to single biomarker detection, limiting their utility in comprehensive disease management. In this study, we report the development of a dual-target PEC biosensor by integrating silane molecules and β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) with carbon nitride materials, specifically designed for monitoring diabetes and its associated complication, uremia.

Automatic and accurate reconstruction of long-range axonal projections of single-neuron in mouse brain.

Single-neuron axonal projections reveal the route map of neuron output and provide a key cue for understanding how information flows across the brain. Reconstruction of single-neuron axonal projections requires intensive manual operations in tens of terabytes of brain imaging data and is highly time-consuming and labor-intensive. The main issue lies in the need for precise reconstruction algorithms to avoid reconstruction errors, yet current methods struggle with densely distributed axons, focusing mainly on skeleton extraction.

Microplastics and soil microbiomes.

Microplastics, small particles that are released from plastics as they degrade, are ubiquitous and increasing in amount in most environments, including the soil. Here, we review the impacts of microplastics on the structure and activity of soil microbiomes and their key ecosystem functions. We then discuss how soil microbiomes regulate the environmental behavior of microplastics, such as enhancing pollutant adsorption and promoting degradation.

"Twisted" Terpolymer Donor Enabling High-Performance Intrinsically Stretchable Organic Solar Cells.

Intrinsically stretchable organic solar cells (is-OSCs) hold great potential for next-generation wearable power generators. Currently, high-efficiency polymeric donor materials are based on rigid planar conjugated backbones, which limits their mechanical robustness and creates a trade-off between photovoltaic performance and stretchability. To simultaneously improve the power conversion efficiency (PCE) and mechanical robustness of is-OSCs, we develop a series of ductile PM-BOX% terpolymers by incorporating different amounts (X = 5, 10, and 20) of 3-butyloctyl-thiophene (ThBO) units into PM6 backbone.

Temperature Field and Temperature Effects for Concrete Box Girder Bridges Based on Monitoring Data and Numerical Simulation.

The temperature field distribution and temperature effects of concrete box girder bridges were found to be critical to their long-term service safety. Based on long-term structural health monitoring data, the temperature field and temperature effects of a curved continuous concrete box girder bridge in Wuhan were investigated. A finite element model of the temperature field was established through the combined application of finite element software.

Electrolyte engineering regulating the interfacial water structure of CuO catalysts to promote electrochemical C-C coupling reactions.

Here we engineer the solvated structure of metal cations by introducing dimethyl sulfoxide as an electrolyte additive to modulate the interfacial water environment. This tailored solvation facilitates faster proton-coupled electron transfer on Cu-based catalysts during CO activation and increases *CO intermediate absorption, thereby promoting C-C coupling toward CH formation in the electrochemical CO reduction.

Dual Vacancy Engineering in Alloyed Ga-Zn-Cu-Se Quantum Dots for Photocatalytic 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural to 2,5-Diformylfuran Conversion.

Highly -active/-selective photocatalytic biomass conversion is of great importance for achieving remarkable solar-to-chemical conversion. However, serious challenges, e.g.

WGGLFA: Wavelet-Guided Global-Local Feature Aggregation Network for Facial Expression Recognition.

Facial expression plays an important role in human-computer interaction and affective computing. However, existing expression recognition methods cannot effectively capture multi-scale structural details contained in facial expressions, leading to a decline in recognition accuracy. Inspired by the multi-scale processing mechanism of the biological visual system, this paper proposes a wavelet-guided global-local feature aggregation network (WGGLFA) for facial expression recognition (FER).

Heterostructured Copper-Palladium Phosphide Particles as Efficient Electrocatalysts for Ethanol Oxidation and Oxygen Reduction in Direct Ethanol Fuel Cells.

Engineering lattice strain, electronic structure, and crystallinity in palladium alloys offers a promising approach to significantly enhance their electrocatalytic performance. In this work, we present a versatile strategy to synthesize Pd-based phosphide alloys integrated with non-noble metal atoms (Pd-M-P; M = Co, Ni, Cu), characterized by expanded lattice structures and a crystalline-amorphous core-shell architecture. Catalytic performance assessments revealed that CuPdP exhibits an impressive mass activity of 7.

Voltage-driven flexible skyrmioniums for high-speed transport and reversible logic in discrete electrode nanowires.

A magnetic skyrmionium, a composite spin texture formed by merging two topologically distinct skyrmions, is a promising information carrier for high-speed and high-density spintronic devices. Although spin current is a common driving force for skyrmionium dynamics, it can induce Joule heating and compromise device stability. To address this limitation, we investigated a voltage-driven approach for propelling skyrmioniums using discrete electrodes.

Pt Atomic Site-Engineered Redox Mediator Boosts Electrosynthesis of Formic Acid from Glycerol.

Electrophilic oxygen-mediated non-electrocatalytic processes on Ni-based catalysts enable highly selective electrosynthesis of formic acid from glycerol. However, this process, usually mediated by dual mediators of Ni-O and Ni-(OH), is significantly plagued by the high potential of Ni-O. Herein, we report a class of Pt atomic site-engineered Ni-(OH) redox mediators without Ni-O involvement for breaking the dual-mediator mechanism limitation, achieving efficient formic acid electrosynthesis from glycerol at remarkably low potential.

Miconazole attenuates LPS-induced lung inflammation by modulating alveolar macrophage polarization via promoting lipid metabolic reprogramming.

Objective: Pulmonary inflammation is closely associated with macrophage polarization and lipid metabolic reprogramming. Miconazole (MCZ), traditionally used as an antifungal agent, exhibits emerging anti-inflammatory potential, yet its underlying mechanisms remain unclear.

Methods: A mouse model of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced lung inflammation was employed to evaluate MCZ's anti-inflammatory efficacy.