Greater Effect Research Articles

A Novel Circuit-Based Model of a Bipolar Membrane Electrodialysis Reactor for Offshore Chemical Synthesis

Bipolar membrane electrodialysis (BPMED) is a sustainable and highly tuneable electrocatalytic technology used to efficiently manipulate the pH of liquid streams through the electrosynthesis of H+ and OH- ions from water. This emerging reactor technology employs a repeating stack of cation selective, anion selective, and bipolar membranes placed between two electrodes to create a repeating pattern of acid, base, and diluting flow chambers. The applied electric field induces water splitting at the bipolar interface, due to the presence of an electrocatalyst, the products of which are transported to the adjacent channels. The salient benefits of BPMED arise from its fundamental design, as it consumes electricity alone to correct stream pH, resulting in greater sustainability and tunability. However, current barriers to implementation of BPMED stem from a high energy consumption resulting from a high membrane electrical resistance or a low selectivity.A robust mathematical model of BPMED would be invaluable to identify situations where BPMED is commercially viable and the aspects in which technological advancements which would have the greatest effect. Due to the highly multifaceted and confounding nature of BPMED, the relationship between manipulated variables and process performance is unintuitive. The proposed model will thus have stark implications for process intensification.In this work, a novel circuit-based model of BPMED has been developed. The repeating unit cell is represented as a system of resistors in series, with membranes and electrolytes comprising the resistive elements. The water splitting potential is computed using Wein’s second law, Ohm’s law is used to relate the cell voltage to a current density on a differential volume, and Faraday’s law translates the current density to an ion flux. Ion speciation is computed in these differential volumes as well. Delayed differential material balances are then used to calculate the distribution of ionic species in time and space.A critical feature implemented is a novel model for the current efficiency, which is calculated as a function of the trans-membrane concentration difference. A single ‘innate current efficient’ experimental parameter is used, the value found when the trans-membrane concentrations are equal and is very often supplied by membrane manufactures.Experimental validation was conducted on a PC Cell BED 1-4 recirculating batch system. A stack of seven cell pairs of PC acid 60 (anion selective), PC SK (cation selective), and PC Bip (bipolar) membranes. Good agreement between the model and experimental results across a range of conditions and variables demonstrates the accuracy and robustness of the model.This model was subsequently used to investigate the power consumption of BPMED as a function of the desired outlet pH, and integrated into an Aspen Plus model. A process model was developed to simulate and optimise the electrosynthesis of concentrated sodium hydroxide and hydrochloric acid from seawater. The compact nature of BPMED and reliance on electricity only makes this a promising application for offshore drilling platforms. An economic analysis showed this to be a very preferable alternative to current technologies. Figure 1

FoxO signaling pathway stimulation by Bacillus smithii XY1 contributes to alleviating copper-induced neurotoxicity

Increasingly copper pollution in the environment exacerbates the risk of neurodegenerative diseases. It is necessary to look for effective targets and safe methods for protecting from copper-induced neurotoxicity. Here we firstly explored the impact of copper-exposure on expression profiles in zebrafish. Copper reduced embryo hatching, increased mortality and caused embryonic developmental abnormalities and behavioral dysfunction in juveniles. Transcriptomic analysis revealed that differential genes related to neuron were highly associated with oxidative stress especially enriched to FoxO pathway. Through further validation in Caenorhabditis elegans, copper resulted in nematode neurodegenerative movement disorders and neuronal damage, along with increased levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) as well as decreased expressions of antioxidant-related enzymes and downstream genes which was also involved in FoxO signaling pathway. Bacillus smithii XY1, a novel strain with an excellent antioxidative activity, showed a great alleviative effect on copper-induced neurotoxicity that was related to FoxO stimulation, being a potential candidate for copper pollution management. Overall, these results suggested that FoxO pathway activation can regard as a strategy for mitigating neurotoxicity caused by copper and B. smithii XY1 with excellent tolerance and outstanding antioxidation specially targeted for FoxO has a promising application in controlling copper contamination.

Effect of Electrolyte Anions on the Activity of Iridium Oxide Catalysts for Water Electrolysis

Developing environmentally friendly and renewable energy sources is essential due to the environmental and energy security issues caused by traditional combustion of fossil fuel-based energy sources. Therefore, as a clean and sustainable energy carrier, hydrogen has attracted great attention in recent years. In this regard, water electrolysis utilizing renewable energy sources to produce hydrogen is considered one of the most promising technologies. It is believed elucidation of the reaction mechanism of highly active iridium oxides is promising for the further development of cost-efficient PEM water electrolysis catalysts. The properties of the MEA could be affected by many parameters such as the catalysts, operating temperature, and pressure1,2. Another important factor is the cation impurities that can be found in the circulating water, which could severely degrade the MEA performance during the operation of a PEM water electrolyze. However, there are less reports on anion impurities such as SO4 2- and PO4 3-. Therefore, in this study, the relationship between electrolyte anions and OER activity was investigated for IrOx catalysts with different crystal structure. By using operando X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), we investigated the electronic state of Ir and O under operation potential.IrOx with different degree of crystallinity (SA3.5 and SA58) were provided by Tanaka Kikinzoku Kogyo K.K., Chemical & Refining Company and named after their BET surface areas. These two samples were then tested for electrochemical properties in different concentrations of phosphoric acid and perchloric acid, respectively. The electrochemical measurements were performed using a standard three-electrode cell connected to an MPG-205-NUC system (Bio-Logic). The cyclic voltammograms (CV) were scanned from 0.1 V to 1.2 V vs. RHE at 50 mV s-1. The electrochemical activities of the catalysts were subsequently investigated using linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) in the range of 1.1 to 1.7 V vs RHE at 10 mV s−1. operando XAS were collected using a home-made flow-type cell, where Pt wire and RHE worked as counter and reference electrodes, respectively. The catalyst ink was coated onto an Nafion membrane to prepare both the X-ray window and working electrode. The electrolyte was circulated at the flow rate of 100 mL min-1.The catalytic performance of IrOx was investigated at different types and content of electrolyte under H3PO4 and HClO4. Figure 1 shows the CVs of SA3.5 and SA58 under different types and content of electrolyte. In the presence of phosphate anions, SA3.5 showed a tendency to decrease Ir redox between 0.6 and 1.1 V with increasing electrolyte concentration. On the other hand, there were no obvious changes in SA58. It was found that IrOx catalysts have an great effect of specific adsorption of anions and low symmetry of monoclinic phase catalysts (SA 3.5) are more susceptible to anion poisoning. Figure 2 shows the result of examining the poisoning mechanism using soft X-ray XAS. O K-edge results present the formation of µ2-O (O-O) bond at around 528.7 eV, which was previously observed by Nong, H. N. et. al. through operando O-K edge measurements during OER process3. The peak intensity at 528.7 eV of the amorphous samples was in the same order as the OER activities. According to potential dependence change of the pre-edge peak, under the presence of phosphate anions, the hole formation to Ir-O hybrid orbitals was suppressed in SA3.5. This result indicates that the anion adsorbs to the active site, poisoning the catalyst surface and inhibiting the reaction. Acknowledgements This work is based on results obtained from a project (JPNP14021) commissioned by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) of Japan. References Zhang, Y.; Zhu, X.; Zhang, G.; Shi, P.; Wang, A.-L.; et al. J. Mater. Chem. A: 2021, 9, 5890-5914.Chen, Z.; Duan, X.; Wei, W.; Wang, S.; Ni, B.-J.; et al. Nano Energy: 2020, 78, 105270.Nong, H. N.; Falling, L. J.; Bergmann, A.; et al. Nature 2020, 587 (7834), 408-413. Figure 1

Modelling bus-based substitution capabilities for metro systems using bipartite graphs

Abstract A disruption of metro services can have a negative impact in the performance of a city’s transportation system and hinder mobility needs of travellers. Investigating the vulnerability of metro systems is required for planning mitigation actions, such as bus substitution services. This study develops a model, which consists of a bipartite graph and its projection to represent the bus substitution capabilities for metro networks. The proposed methodology effectively identifies significant substitution elements (bus lines), evaluates the robustness of alternative options in terms of both connectedness and connectivity, and suggests effective strategies for enhancing bus line capacity to improve network robustness. By applying the methodology to a real-world metro network, valuable insights are gained regarding important bus lines and substitution robustness. Study findings suggest that approaches based on the weighted degree exhibit the greatest effectiveness when it comes to connectivity and the overall efficiency of the network. These findings can assist public transport operators in proactively managing disruptions and improving their services.

Growth performance, blood lipids, and fat digestibility of broilers fed diets supplemented with bile acid and xylanase.

This study aimed to show the effect of bile acid (BA) and xylanase (Xyl) supplementation on the growth, fat digestibility, serum lipid metabolites, and ileal digesta viscosity of broilers. A total of 720 1 d old male broilers were allocated to one of nine treatments with four replicates in each under a factorial design arrangement of three levels of BA (0 %, 0.25 %, and 0.50 %) and three levels of Xyl (0 %, 0.05 %, and 0.10 %) supplementation. The duration of the experiment was 35 d (7-42 d). Growth performance, blood lipids, fat digestibility, and ileal digesta viscosity were determined. The experimental treatments did not affect feed intake (FI) and weight gain (WG). Supplementation of BA or Xyl did not significantly ameliorate the feed conversion rate (FCR) (). The addition of BA linearly increased fat digestibility. At 7-21 d of age, the addition of BA or Xyl had a significant () increase in serum cholesterol (Chol) but no significant difference for other serum lipid parameters in broiler chickens fed with Xyl in the starter and grower periods. However, the supplementation of 0.5 % BA at 7-21 d of age significantly increased the Chol and low-density-lipoprotein (LDL) levels. The results of this trial revealed that the supplementation of xylanases had a great effect on the degradation of arabinoxylan from wheat, which led to a relatively greater reduction in ileal digesta viscosity; it was also found that supplementation of BA significantly increased the concentration of serum lipid metabolites, whereas BA and Xyl supplementation linearly increased the fat digestibility of the birds fed wheat and tallow diets.

Impact of mother's care burden, fatigue and child's functional level on quality of life in spastic cerebral palsy.

Cerebral palsy (CP) may be considered one of the most common motor disabilities that require a lot of caregiving from mothers or caregivers; therefore, the mothers of children with CP face a lot of difficulties in their caregiving, which in turn may affect the child's quality of life (QOL). This work was conducted to evaluate the impact of the children's functional level in different types of spastic CP, mothers' care burden (CB), and fatigue on the child's QOL. One hundred thirty-eight children with different types of spastic CP (unilateral and bilateral) with different levels of the gross motor function classification system (GMFCS), with an age range of 6-12years, and their mothers with ages ranged from 25 to 45years, participated in this study. Mother CB, fatigue, and child QOL were measured and compared between different groups by using the Zarit burden Interview (ZBI), Chalder Fatigue Questionnaire (CFQ), and Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL) CP Module, respectively. There were significant differences in all measured variables (ZBI, CFQ, GMFCS, and PedsQL) with p-value <0.001 among the different spastic groups (unilateral and bilateral CP). However, the results revealed a positive impact of the child's GMFCS, mother's CB, and fatigue level on the quality of the child's life, with a greater effect on those with quadriplegic type. The mother's CB and fatigue should be considered in the rehabilitation of spastic CP children based on their GMFCS, as they have a negative impact on child QOL; therefore, helping the mother with her needs should not be ignored, especially in families with severely spastic CP children and low financial income.

Analysis of discharge characteristics of a symmetrical stepped labyrinth side weir based on global sensitivity

Abstract In this paper, the discharge coefficient prediction model for this structure in a subcritical flow regime is first established by extreme learning machine (ELM) and Bayesian network, and the model's performance is analyzed and verified in detail. In addition, the global sensitivity analysis method is introduced to the optimal prediction model to analyze the sensitivity for the dimensionless parameters affecting the discharge coefficient. The results show that the Bayesian extreme learning machine (BELM) can effectively predict the discharge coefficients of the symmetric stepped labyrinth side weir. The range of 95% confidence interval [−0.055,0.040] is also significantly smaller than that of the ELM ([−0.089,0.076]) and the Kernel extreme learning machine (KELM) ([−0.091,0.081]) at the testing stage. The dimensionless parameter ratio of upstream water depth of stepped labyrinth side weir p/y1 has the greatest effect on the discharge coefficient Cd, accounting for 55.57 and 54.17% under single action and other parameter interactions, respectively. Dimensionless step number bs/L has little effect on Cd, which can be ignored. Meanwhile, when the number of steps is less (N = 4) and the internal head angle is smaller (θ = 45°), a larger discharge coefficient value can be obtained.

Effects of selenium supplementation on oxidative stress in the brain

Selenium is known to produce great effect on the oxidative stress of cells, both systemic and cerebral. Brain degeneration occurs as a result of several factors, one of them is the oxidative stress. We aim To analyze selenium effect on rats’ brains, investigating serum and immunohistochemical oxidative stress markers, and the neural structural pattern. Selenium supplementation with 48 μg chelated selenium and with 96 μg chelated selenium for 60 days, followed by an evaluation of oxidative stress markers, as well as immunohistochemical markers. Lower TBARS was observed in the rats subjected to 44mcg Se supplementation when compared to the other groups. Among the other oxidative stress markers, and immunohistochemical markers, little variation was observed. Improvement was observed in TBARS levels. However, the other measurements showed little statistical relevance. This raises some questioning regarding the dose used or the formulation and its bioavailability as influential factors in the oxidative response.

Effect of infill walls on progressive collapse behavior of self-centering precast concrete frame

To study the effect of infill walls on the progressive collapse resisting-performance of self-centering precast concrete (PC) frame structures, three 1/2 scaled, two-span and two-story self-centering PC frame specimens with and without infill walls were tested under quasi-static pushdown loading regime. The test results showed that the failure modes of self-centering PC frames were governed by concrete cracking and local spalling at the beam ends under progressive collapse scenario. Compared with self-centering bare frame, the presence of infill walls provided additional load path, thereby reducing the concrete damage at the beam ends to some extent. The full infill walls with lower strength could still increase the initial stiffness and peak resistance of self-centering bare frame to 2.47 times and 1.33 times, while the infill walls with 20% opening ratio could increase to 2.21 times and 1.19 times, respectively. Nevertheless, the infill walls also reduced the self-centering capacity of the structures. Numerical analyses further indicated that the magnitude of prestress force of steel strands between beams and columns, the strength of bed joints as well as the width of infill walls had a great effect on the progressive collapse of self-centering infilled frames. Finally, based on numerical results, a reduction factor formula was proposed to quickly estimate the structural resistance of self-centering infilled frames with different opening ratios.

Advances of CRISPR/Cas9 in cancer research and treatment

Cancer is a disease that is very difficult to cure and a lot of people in the world die because of cancer. In the past, the treatments of cancer could only depend on radiotherapy, chemotherapy and surgery of removing tumors. But these ways have some weaknesses such as harming the health of the body and relapse of cancer. Whereas recently, completely curing cancer has become possible through the advances of gene-editing technologies. Due to its great effectiveness, simplicity of usage, and other advantages, the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats/CRISPR-associated protein-9 (CRISPR/Cas9) system is a widely used gene editing technique today. But there are still many challenges that are applied to the body. For example, the CRISPR/Cas9 system has an off-target effect and there are no suitable carriers to deliver it to the area of the body. The resolution of these problems may be made possible by future developments in the CRISPR/Cas9 system. The use, restrictions, and potential uses of the CRISPR/Cas9 system in the treatment of cancer are examined in this research. In addition, this paper compares other treatments of cancer to summarize the advantages and disadvantages of different methods.

Stress Pathways Induced by Volatile Anesthetics and Failure of Preconditioning in a Mitochondrial Complex I Mutant.

Carriers of mutations in the mitochondrial electron transport chain are at increased risk of anesthetic-induced neurotoxicity. To investigate the neurotoxicity mechanism and to test preconditioning as a protective strategy, this study used a Drosophila melanogaster model of Leigh syndrome. Model flies carried a mutation in ND23 (ND2360114) that encodes a mitochondrial electron transport chain complex I subunit. This study investigated why ND2360114 mutants become susceptible to lethal, oxygen-modulated neurotoxicity within 24 h of exposure to isoflurane but not sevoflurane. This study used transcriptomics and quantitative real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction to identify genes that are differentially expressed in ND2360114 but not wild-type fly heads at 30 min after exposure to high- versus low-toxicity conditions. This study also subjected ND2360114 flies to diverse stressors before isoflurane exposure to test whether isoflurane toxicity could be diminished by preconditioning. The ND2360114 mutation had a greater effect on isoflurane- than sevoflurane-mediated changes in gene expression. Isoflurane and sevoflurane did not affect expression of heat shock protein (Hsp) genes (Hsp22, Hsp27, and Hsp68) in wild-type flies, but isoflurane substantially increased expression of these genes in ND2360114 mutant flies. Furthermore, isoflurane and sevoflurane induced expression of oxidative (GstD1 and GstD2) and xenobiotic (Cyp6a8 and Cyp6a14) stress genes to a similar extent in wild-type flies, but the effect of isoflurane was largely reduced in ND2360114 flies. In addition, activating stress response pathways by pre-exposure to anesthetics, heat shock, hyperoxia, hypoxia, or oxidative stress did not suppress isoflurane-induced toxicity in ND2360114 mutant flies. Mutation of a mitochondrial electron transport chain complex I subunit generates differential effects of isoflurane and sevoflurane on gene expression that may underlie their differential effects on neurotoxicity. Additionally, the mutation produces resistance to preconditioning by stresses that protect the brain in other contexts. Therefore, complex I activity modifies molecular and physiologic effects of anesthetics in an anesthetic-specific manner.

Study of ethanol vapor explosion and prediction based on chemical kinetics under high temperature and pressure

AbstractThe study of the explosion parameters of ethanol–air mixture at high pressure and temperature is essential for the safe production of ethanol. However, the explosion characteristics of ethanol vapor at various pressures and temperatures are limited. The mechanism at the flammability limits of ethanol has not been clarified, and the corresponding prediction model is also lacking. In this study, chemical kinetics and machine learning are used to study the mechanism of ethanol explosion and build predictive models, respectively. Our findings show that an increase in the initial pressure has a more pronounced influence on the explosion pressure (Pex) and pressure rise rate (dp/dt) than an increase of temperature. The variation trend of the upper flammability limit (UFL) of ethanol is related to the different effects of temperature and pressure on OH radicals. H + O2&lt;&gt;OH + O and HO2 + CH3&lt;&gt;OH + CH3O had the greatest effect on the generation of OH radicals. The quantitative relationship between the H, O, and OH radicals and UFL was constructed by machine learning, providing a new research perspective for the prediction of the UFL of an inflammable fuel under different pressures and temperatures. The results of the study will provide theoretical and practical guidance for the prevention and control of explosions in the ethanol production process.

Predicting fracture behavior (mixed‐modes I/III) of cement asphalt mortar under fatigue and static loading conditions using response surface method

AbstractStatic and cyclic fracture properties (Modes I, III, and I/III) of cement emulsified asphalt mortar at three frequencies were investigated in terms of the fracture energy and fatigue life, respectively. For this to achieve, 576 edge notched disk bend specimens with 16 haphazard mix designs including, disparate bitumen‐to‐cement (B/C), water‐to‐cement (W/C) ratios, and cement contents (C) were tested. By developing statistical models (at the 5% significance level, p value &lt; 0.05), the findings revealed that under static loading, the fracture energy got highest in tearing mode and lowest in opening mode. In all fracture modes, the fracture energy decreased with an increase of C and decrease of B/C while the mortar's fatigue life augmented due to a rise in C and B/C. Moreover, the fatigue life gained an increase with the increase in the fracture energy, loading frequency, and Me in the nonlinear trend. The utmost variation of fatigue life was explained with the increase of fracture energy which had the greatest effect in mode‐III loading.

Numerical study of exhaust chemical composition in a methane DBD plasma actuator under different operating conditions

In this paper, numerical simulations of a Dielectric-Barrier Discharge (DBD) plasma actuator are performed to predict its output chemical composition. The plasma actuator is cylindrical, with two coaxial electrodes and a quartz dielectric. The electrical discharge occurs in a pulsed manner around the quartz wall. This device is utilized for methane conversion in plasma-assisted combustion applications. The effects of voltage, frequency, temperature, and relative permeability parameters on methane conversion and some selected species concentrations were investigated. The results show that plasma discharging converts methane to hydrogen and heavier hydrocarbons such as C2H3, C2H4,C2H5, C2H6, and C3H8. Moreover, increasing the relative permeability coefficient and voltage had the greatest effect on methane conversion. Increasing the relative permeability from 2 to 6 increases the methane conversion by 43 % and also increases the H2 density by 57 %. The conversion rate of methane and the H2 density increase by 18 % with increasing the voltage from 6 to 8 kV. The partial conversion of methane to hydrogen and radical species benefits combustion applications in terms of flame stability and emissions reduction.

Parameter Optimization in Orbital TIG Welding of SUS 304 Stainless Steel Pipe

The influence of welding angle, welding current, travel speed, pulse time, and torch height on the geometry, macrostructure, and mechanical properties of Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG) orbital welding on an SUS 304 stainless steel pipe is investigated in this study. The results show that an electrode angle of 45° produces better weld joints than angles of 30°, 60°, 90°, and 120°. Furthermore, the electrode angle of 30° results in an acceptable weld width but a low depth of penetration (DOP) value. Welding current and weld speed have a significant impact on heat dispersion during TIG welding of an SUS 304 stainless steel pipe. The high welding current may result in blow-hole flaws, particularly near the conclusion of the welding process when heat is accumulated. A long torch height of 2 mm causes unevenness in the weld joints because the arc may be distorted when compared to shorter torch height cases. The pulse time of 0.2 s is too lengthy for a low-welding current situation because it will generate a small weld pool. As a result, the weld pool solidification process speeds up, and porosity emerges in the weld bead. A pulse time of 0.1 s results in a better weld joint. To avoid blow-hole creation, the welding current should be gradually reduced during the process. In addition, the Taguchi results demonstrate that the welding current has the greatest effect on the ultimate tensile strength (UTS) value, followed by welding speed, pulse time, electrode angle, and torch height. Furthermore, the ideal parameters for the UTS value are an electrode angle of 45°, a torch height of 2.0 mm, a welding current of 174 A, a welding speed of 72 mm/min, and a pulse time of 0.3 s.

The quantum tunnelling effect in double barrier structure

The purpose of this paper is to study the quantum tunnelling effect of double barriers. At the beginning, the research background and application of quantum tunnelling effect are described, and then the research purpose is explained. Although the real double barriers are very complex, most of them are composed of double barrier, double triangle barrier and double parabola barrier. The author mainly studies the barrier of double parabola. The reason is that the quantum tunnelling effect proposed by Hund will greatly adjust the internal structure of triangular conical molecules, which has great research significance. In triangular conical molecules, the change of potential energy of a single atom with its position may be very complicated, but the part that can occur with the consequential effect is similar to the potential barrier of a double parabola. In this paper, the wave function, projection and reflection coefficients of the biparabolic barrier tunnelling effect are analysed to determine whether it has a great adjustment effect on triangular conical molecules.

Study on the influence of non-newtonian fluid characteristics on the hydraulic performance and internal flow field of multiphase pump

As a pivotal prospective clean energy source, the secure and efficient extraction of natural gas hydrate has emerged as a forefront concern within the global oil drilling industry in recent years. In this study, a self-developed multiphase pump adapted to "gas-liquid-solid" three-phase mixing is used to extract natural gas hydrate slurries which have non-Newtonian characteristics. Prior research on pumps has primarily focused on water, introducing a significant disparity in handling slurries containing hydrates. This paper investigates the hydraulic performance and flow field variations of a multiphase pump using three different concentrations of Herschel-Bulkley non-Newtonian fluids that exhibit rheological properties similar to natural gas hydrate slurries. Additionally, a viscous Newtonian fluid with seawater as the liquid phase medium is studied for comparison. The results show that the shear-thinning properties of the non-Newtonian fluid improve the efficiency of the pump. However, excessive concentration negatively affects the hydraulic properties. The flow field characteristics such as apparent viscosity and turbulent kinetic energy are closely related to the pump structure and fluid properties. Compared with viscous Newtonian fluid, the non-Newtonian fluid's also have a greater effect on the distribution of gas-solid phases.

Social factors in the management of youth participation in the labor market in Asia: Justification of causal dependencies

The study aims to determine social factors in the management of youth participation in the labor market in Asia based on causal analysis. The information base involves youth employment and youth working-age population by education levels, rural/urban areas, marital and disability status, time arrangement, and job contract. The sample covers 14 countries the ILO assigned to the Asia group for 2012–2021. Correlation analysis identifies dependencies between social factors and youth employment and determines their nature and strength, considering time lags when this influence becomes maximally significant. Granger causality analysis contributes to the establishment of causal dependencies within identified relationships. The greatest causal effect on youth employment is identified for educational level (basic educational level is a cause of positive changes in youth employment level in four countries, and youth employment level is a cause of growth of basic educational level in eight countries, including three countries with bidirectional causality, mostly with strong/very strong strength without lag). Quantitative indicator of youth working-age population by gender influences youth employment in Azerbaijan, Israel, the Philippines, and Thailand (from moderate to strong strength with lag from 0 to 2 years), by marital status – in Cyprus, Georgia, Korea, and Thailand (mostly very strong, time lag – from 0 to 2 years), by social factor of disability – in Shri-Lanka and Mongolia (very strong with 1-year time lag). The results can be used to form directions for managing youth participation in the labor market to improve social, educational, and youth policy.

Planimetric and Volumetric Brainstem MRI Markers in Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, Multiple System Atrophy, and Corticobasal Syndrome. A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Various MRI markers-including midbrain and pons areas (Marea, Parea) and volumes (Mvol, Pvol), ratios (M/Parea, M/Pvol), and composite markers (magnetic resonance imaging Parkinsonism Indices 1,2; MRPI 1,2)-have been proposed as imaging markers of Richardson's syndrome (RS) and multiple system atrophy-Parkinsonism (MSA-P). A systematic review/meta-analysis of relevant studies aiming to compare the diagnostic accuracy of these imaging markers is lacking. Pubmed and Scopus were searched for studies with >10 patients (RS, MSA-P or CBS) and >10 controls with data on Marea, Parea, Mvol, Pvol, M/Parea, M/Pvol, MRPI 1, and MRPI 2. Cohen's d, as a measure of effect size, was calculated for all markers in RS, MSA-P, and CBS. Twenty-five studies on RS, five studies on MSA-P, and four studies on CBS were included. Midbrain area provided the greatest effect size for differentiating RS from controls (Cohen's d = -3.10; p < 0.001), followed by M/Parea and MRPI 1. MSA-P had decreased midbrain and pontine areas. Included studies exhibited high heterogeneity, whereas publication bias was low. Midbrain area is the optimal MRI marker for RS, and pons area is optimal for MSA-P. M/Parea and MRPIs produce smaller effect sizes for differentiating RS from controls.

Phase-Regulated Active Hydrogen Behavior on Molybdenum Disulfide for Electrochemical Nitrate-to-Ammonia Conversion.

Electrochemical reduction of nitrate waste is promising for environmental remediation and ammonia preparation. This process includes multiple hydrogenation steps, and thus the active hydrogen behavior on the surface of the catalyst is crucial. The crystal phase referred to the atomic arrangements in crystals has a great effect on active hydrogen, but the influence of the crystal phase on nitrate reduction is still unclear. Herein, enzyme-mimicking MoS2 in different crystal phases (1T and 2H) are used as models. The Faradaic efficiency of ammonia reaches ≈90 % over 1T-MoS2 , obviously outperforming that of 2H-MoS2 (27.31 %). In situ Raman spectra and theoretical calculations reveal that 1T-MoS2 produces more active hydrogen on edge S sites at a more positive potential and conducts an effortless pathway from nitrate to ammonia instead of multiple energetically demanding hydrogenation steps (such as *HNO to *HNOH) performed on 2H-MoS2 .