Character Of Structure Research Articles

Stability and Semiconducting Behavior of Magnesium Polysulfides by Nonequivalent sp3 Hybridizations.

The Mg/S battery has attracted enormous interest in recent years due to its high theoretical capacity, low cost, and high security. However, the understanding of many intermediate magnesium polysulfides in the Mg/S battery remains elusive. Combining extensive structural search and first-principles calculations, we investigate the phase stability, structural character, and electronic structure of magnesium polysulfides in a wide range from MgS to MgS8. The pyrite-type MgS2 (space group: Pa3̅) is predicted to be stable. Five magnesium polysulfides, MgSx (x = 3, 4, 5, 6, and 8), are found to be metastable, with formation enthalpies slightly above the convex hull. S2 dimer, "V"-like S3, and highly distorted Sx chains are found for the polysulfides with bond lengths close to or slightly longer than S8 and bond angles similar to S8. A wide range of band gaps (0.77-2.82 eV) are revealed for the polysulfides due to the contribution of the nonequivalent sp3 hybridization of the S atoms in Sx2-. Our results can help to further understand the electrochemical process in the Mg/S battery.

Investigations of Charge Transfer Processes on Plasmonic Cathode Electrodes

The establishment of efficient light energy conversion system is an important issue in the field of photoelectrochemical region. For the realization of it, the wide-band semiconductor electrode could be the good candidate. However, semiconductor electrodes often have the limitation to the ultraviolet region because of their band gap energy. Because the sunlight energy mainly consists of visible light, the visible-light induced photoenergy conversion is a challenging issue. As the breakthrough for it, recently, the combination of the plasmonic metal nanostructures with wide semiconductor electrodes has been received much attention because of the addition of visible light response characters. Up to now, the various systems of the anodic reaction controls have been established. Recently, the cathode system which can control the reduction reactions at metal semiconductor interfaces have been reported via the introduction of plasmonic metal nanostructures into the p-type semiconductor electrodes. In our previous study, we have established the plasmonic photocathode by using the Ag nanostructures with the p-type GaP electrode [1]. In this system, it can be considered as the holes excited in the metal structures injected into the valence band of the p-type semiconductor and the remained electron are consumed in the hydrogen evolution reaction. In addition, we have observed the unique pH dependence on the hydrogen evolution which could not be observed on conventional metal electrodes. For understanding the unique reaction selectivity on the plasmonic cathode electrode, the detail understanding about both the charge transfer process and absolute electrochemical potential of generated electrons. In this study, we have attempted to obtain such information through the various chemical reactions using the various types of plasmonic structures. Through the various photoelectrochemical measurements, we have confirmed the changes in the electrochemical potential of excited electrons depending on the optical characters of plasmonic structures. The unique molecular selectivity was also observed. Our current research would provide the novel insight for the accurate design of the high efficient visible light conversion device.[1] H. Minamimoto et al., Chem. Lett., 2020, 49, 806.

Youth Ministry of the ROC of the XXI Century: Ideological and Practical Principles

ABSTRACTThe Russian Orthodox Church has been undergoing a process of revival for the last thirty years, which means that its influence on various strata of society is expanding. The Church has always seen it necessary to carry out educational work among certain groups of the population, but in the XXI century. this ministry has received a structural character. This fact is confirmed by the content of church official documents that determine the opinion of the ROC on all the main agendas of modern society: politics, economics, education, etc. Young people, as the most energetic and actively developing social group of the population, also found themselves in the focus of the Church’s attention. Along with this, the process of structuring and institutionalization of religious and social work with the youth of the Russian Orthodox Church is one of the important theoretical, methodological and practical aspects of the holistic formation and evolution of youth policy in the Russian Federation. Moreover, representatives of the Church perceive work with young people as part of an internal mission, the purpose of which is religious life and the search for answers to the eternal questions of humanity.

Link between the aboveground and belowground biomass allocation with growing of Tamarix sp. seedlings in the hinterland of Taklimakan Desert, China.

The morphological characteristics and biomass allocation can reflect plant adaptive strategies to the environment. Tamarix sp. is an excellent shrub species used for windbreaks and fixing sand in the desert of northwest China. The successful establishment of Tamarix sp. seedlings and their growth into mature individuals require their adaptation to various environmental conditions, which is the key to naturally regenerating the Tamarix population. To clarify the root morphological characteristics, leaf structural characters, and biomass allocation of Tamarix sp. seedlings in response to drought conditions, we took the Tamarix sp. seedlings at the Daryaboyi oasis in the hinterland of Taklimakan Desert as the object of study, analyzed rooting depth, root dry weight (RDW), specific root length (SRL), root surface area (RA), specific root area (SRA), leaf area (LA), specific leaf area (SLA) and root: shoot ratio (R:S ratio). The gravimetric soil water content varied from 5.80% to 25.84% in this study area. The taproots of Tamarix sp seedlings with small basal stem diameters were shallower and had few lateral root branches and Tamarix sp. seedlings with large basal stem diameters had more obvious taproots and lateral roots. With the growth of Tamarix sp. seedlings, the taproot deepened, and the values ranged from 4.5 cm to 108.0 cm; the SRL, SRA, and SLA decreased, and the ranges of the values were 28.92-478.79 cm·g-1, 1.07-458.50 cm2·g-1, and 24.48-50.7 cm2·g-1; the RDW, RA, and LA increased, the ranges of the values were 0.16-21.34 g, 3.42-328.04 cm2, and 2.41-694.45 cm2; the more biomass was allocated to the aboveground parts, and the mean R: S ratio was 0.76. In better soil water conditions, the root growth rate decreased as Tamarix sp. seedlings grew, and more biomass was allocated to the aboveground. This further showed that stable surface water is highly significant to the biomass allocation strategy of Tamarix sp. seedlings.

Extracellular Vesicles-mediated recombinant IL-10 protects against ascending infection-associated preterm birth by reducing fetal inflammatory response.

Fetal inflammatory response mediated by the influx of immune cells and activation of pro-inflammatory transcription factor NF-κB in feto-maternal uterine tissues is the major determinant of infection-associated preterm birth (PTB, live births < 37 weeks of gestation). To reduce the incidence of PTB by minimizing inflammation, extracellular vesicles (EVs) were electroporetically engineered to contain anti-inflammatory cytokine interleukin (IL)-10 (eIL-10), and their efficacy was tested in an ascending model of infection (vaginal administration of E. coli) induced PTB in mouse models. EVs (size: 30-170 nm) derived from HEK293T cells were electroporated with recombinant IL-10 at 500 volts and 125 Ω, and 6 pulses to generate eIL-10. eIL-10 structural characters (electron microscopy, nanoparticle tracking analysis, ExoView [size and cargo content] and functional properties (co-treatment of macrophage cells with LPS and eIL-10) were assessed. To test efficacy, CD1 mice were vaginally inoculated with E. coli (1010CFU) and subsequently treated with either PBS, eIL-10 (500ng) or Gentamicin (10mg/kg) or a combination of eIL-10+gentamicin. Fetal inflammatory response in maternal and fetal tissues after the infection or treatment were conducted by suspension Cytometer Time of Flight (CyTOF) using a transgenic mouse model that express red fluorescent TdTomato (mT+) in fetal cells. Engineered EVs were structurally and functionally stable and showed reduced proinflammatory cytokine production from LPS challenged macrophage cells in vitro. Maternal administration of eIL-10 (10 µg/kg body weight) crossed feto-maternal barriers to delay E. coli-induced PTB to deliver live pups at term. Delay in PTB was associated with reduced feto-maternal uterine inflammation (immune cell infiltration and histologic chorioamnionitis, NF-κB activation, and proinflammatory cytokine production). eIL-10 administration was safe, stable, specific, delayed PTB by over 72 hrs and delivered live pups. The delivery of drugs using EVs overcomes the limitations of in-utero fetal interventions. Protecting IL-10 in EVs eliminates the need for the amniotic administration of recombinant IL-10 for its efficacy.

Surviving trees are key elements in the fate of ectomycorrhizal community after severe bark-beetle forest disturbance.

Bark beetle disturbances are a critical event in the life cycle of Norway spruce forests. However, our knowledge of their effects on ectomycorrhizal fungi (EMF), which play a key role in forest productivity and nutrient cycling, is still incomplete. Special attention has been paid to the dynamics and diversity of EMF communities in managed forests, but studies dealing with disturbed natural stands are underrepresented. We conducted a study in an unmanaged natural spruce forest in the Bohemian Forest, (Czech Republic) which suffered severe forest dieback caused by bark beetle. Approximately a decade after the disturbance, the character of the forest structure in the study area (∼60 ha, 41 study plots) ranged from sites with open canopy and sparse tree cover to areas with dense spruce regeneration to patches of closed-canopy forest. We found that relative EMF abundance in soils was positively related to surviving tree and regeneration density. The number of surviving trees also positively affected species EMF richness and tended to support preservation of late-successional EMF species. Our results suggest that trees that survive bark beetle disturbance are key for the fate of the EMF community in natural forests.

A comparison study on structure-function relationship of polysaccharides obtained from sea buckthorn berries using different methods: antioxidant and bile acid-binding capacity

In this study, the structural characters, antioxidant activities and bile acid-binding ability of sea buckthorn polysaccharides (HRPs) obtained by the commonly used hot water (HRP-W), pressurized hot water (HRP-H), ultrasonic (HRP-U), acid (HRP-C) and alkali (HRP-A) assisted extraction methods were investigated. The results demonstrated that extraction methods had significant effects on extraction yield, monosaccharide composition, molecular weight, particle size, triple-helical structure, and surface morphology of HRPs except for the major linkage bands. Thermogravimetric analysis showed that HRP-U with filamentous reticular microstructure exhibited better thermal stability. The HRP-A with the lowest molecular weight and highest arabinose content possessed the best antioxidant activities. Moreover, the rheological analysis indicated that HRPs with higher galacturonic acid content and molecular weight showed higher viscosity and stronger crosslinking network (HRP-C, HRP-W and HRP-U), which exhibited stronger bile acid binding capacity. The present findings provide scientific evidence in the preparation technology of sea buckthorn polysaccharides with good antioxidant and bile acid binding capacity which are related to the structure affected by the extraction methods.

Advances in the knowledge and therapeutics of schizophrenia, major depression disorder, and bipolar disorder from human brain organoid research.

Tridimensional cultures of human induced pluripotent cells (iPSCs) experimentally directed to neural differentiation, termed "brain organoids" are now employed as an in vitro assay that recapitulates early developmental stages of nervous tissue differentiation. Technical progress in culture methodology enabled the generation of regionally specialized organoids with structural and neurochemical characters of distinct encephalic regions. The technical process of organoid elaboration is undergoing progressively implementation, but current robustness of the assay has attracted the attention of psychiatric research to substitute/complement animal experimentation for analyzing the pathophysiology of psychiatric disorders. Numerous morphological, structural, molecular and functional insights of psychiatric disorders have been uncovered by comparing brain organoids made with iPSCs obtained from control healthy subjects and psychiatric patients. Brain organoids were also employed for analyzing the response to conventional treatments, to search for new drugs, and to anticipate the therapeutic response of individual patients in a personalized manner. In this review, we gather data obtained by studying cerebral organoids made from iPSCs of patients of the three most frequent serious psychiatric disorders: schizophrenia, major depression disorder, and bipolar disorder. Among the data obtained in these studies, we emphasize: (i) that the origin of these pathologies takes place in the stages of embryonic development; (ii) the existence of shared molecular pathogenic aspects among patients of the three distinct disorders; (iii) the occurrence of molecular differences between patients bearing the same disorder, and (iv) that functional alterations can be activated or aggravated by environmental signals in patients bearing genetic risk for these disorders.

Transfer Learning Approach to Seed Taxonomy: A Wild Plant Case Study

Plant taxonomy is the scientific study of the classification and naming of various plant species. It is a branch of biology that aims to categorize and organize the diverse variety of plant life on earth. Traditionally, plant taxonomy has been performed using morphological and anatomical characteristics, such as leaf shape, flower structure, and seed and fruit characters. Artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and especially deep learning can also play an instrumental role in plant taxonomy by automating the process of categorizing plant species based on the available features. This study investigated transfer learning techniques to analyze images of plants and extract features that can be used to cluster the species hierarchically using the k-means clustering algorithm. Several pretrained deep learning models were employed and evaluated. In this regard, two separate datasets were used in the study comprising of seed images of wild plants collected from Egypt. Extensive experiments using the transfer learning method (DenseNet201) demonstrated that the proposed methods achieved superior accuracy compared to traditional methods with the highest accuracy of 93% and F1-score and area under the curve (AUC) of 95%, respectively. That is considerable in contrast to the state-of-the-art approaches in the literature.

An Approach to Spermacoceae Cham. &amp; Schltdl. sensu lato from the view-point of certain floral characters

Spermacoceae sensu lato is a tribe of the subfamily Rubioideae (Rubiaceae) that is referred in the literature with problems of generic delimitations. Recent investigations on the systematics, taxonomy and floristics of Brazilian species of Rubiaceae confirm this trend in the tribe, and suggest new phylogenetic and multidisciplinary studies on the group. In this context, the present paper aimed at the morphoanatomical analysis of the flowers of nine species of Spermacoceae, belonging to the genera Emmeorhiza, Galianthe, Mitracarpus, Richardia and Spermacoce, in order to indicate characters that have significant potential in the taxonomy and phylogeny of the tribe. Floral buds and flowers from vegetation in different environments were embedded in historesin and sectioned in a rotation microtome. Sepals exhibit glabrous or hairy epidermis and homogeneous mesophyll or they have atypical palisade parenchyma. Petals consist of hairy or glabrous epidermis and homogeneous mesophyll. Anthers are tetrasporangiate, and they possibly show dicotyledoneous anther wall formation. The ovary is inferior and probably appendicular in nature, consisting of mesophyll with parenchyma and precursor tissue of the sclerenchymatous pyrene of the fruit. Presence of compitum in the ovary and style characterizes the species as eu-syncarpous. The study revealed that floral structural characters related to the perianth, gynoecium and nectary have significant taxonomic potential within Spermacoceae sensu lato.

Multi-functional fluorinated NiTiO3 perovskites for CO2 photocatalytic reduction, electrocatalytic water splitting, and biomedical waste management

Multi-functional F-doped NiTiO3 structures with high stability were prepared by a template-free hydrothermal method. A multi-technique approach including several physicochemical techniques was employed to describe the morphology, electronic properties, and structural characters. The F-doped NiTiO3 catalyst showed a much higher CO2 to CH4 photocatalytic conversion rate (2.6 μmol g−1 h−1) than pristine NiTiO3 (1.6 μmol g−1 h−1), highlighting the key role of F impurities in suppressing the charge carriers recombination. In addition to the higher efficiency and reusability than Pt/C reference electrode toward electrocatalytic water splitting, a lower Tafel slope was recorded for the F-doped structure (81.2 mV dec−1). This implies significant improvement in the reaction kinetics, arising from the synergistic effects between the F sites and bulk constituents to supply more desired active electronic states. The capability of the structures for the biomedical wastewater (containing the Caco-2 cancer cells) treatment was also explored. According to several biochemical assays, the fluorinated material shows a promising performance against the tumor cells at its IC50 concentration, 0.15 μg/mL, in a typical hospital wastewater. Our results pave the way for developing novel multi-functional photoactive titanate perovskites aiming at future clean energy transition.

Voces inocentes: violence and historical reality at El Salvador

The article makes a review of a qualitative nature around the relationship between the childhood and the violence in the context of the civil war in El Salvador (1980-1992). The thought is instrumented by the exam of the Voces inocentes (2004) movie, which is conceived as a social production and as a representation of historical reality based on a prospective nature. This work emphasizes the film’s merit in its interest to make visible and denounce the responsibility of the primal supporters of the violence ‒currently unpunished‒ towards the Salvadorian childhood, whose psychosocial sequels established a Central American socio-historical environment configured by a humanitarian crisis started four decades ago at an unlucky ride “from the madness to hope”. This work uses the conceptual theoretical framework around the violence, developed by the Basque-Salvadorian Jesuit, Ignacio Ellacuría. Which conceived that the resulting violence can be assessed only from the initial criticism of the original violence of structural character

Quinone Pool, a Key Target of Plant Flavonoids Inhibiting Gram-Positive Bacteria.

Plant flavonoids have attracted increasing attention as new antimicrobial agents or adjuvants. In our previous work, it was confirmed that the cell membrane is the major site of plant flavonoids acting on the Gram-positive bacteria, which likely involves the inhibition of the respiratory chain. Inspired by the similar structural and antioxidant characters of plant flavonoids to hydro-menaquinone (MKH2), we deduced that the quinone pool is probably a key target of plant flavonoids inhibiting Gram-positive bacteria. To verify this, twelve plant flavonoids with six structural subtypes were preliminarily selected, and their minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) against Gram-positive bacteria were predicted from the antimicrobial quantitative relationship of plant flavonoids to Gram-positive bacteria. The results showed they have different antimicrobial activities. After their MICs against Staphylococcus aureus were determined using the broth microdilution method, nine compounds with MICs ranging from 2 to 4096 μg/mL or more than 1024 μg/mL were eventually selected, and then their MICs against S. aureus were determined interfered with different concentrations of menaquinone-4 (MK-4) and the MKs extracted from S. aureus. The results showed that the greater the antibacterial activities of plant flavonoids were, the more greatly their antibacterial activities decreased along with the increase in the interfering concentrations of MK-4 (from 2 to 256 μg/mL) and the MK extract (from 4 to 512 μg/mL), while those with the MICs equal to or more than 512 μg/mL decreased a little or remained unchanged. In particular, under the interference of MK-4 (256 μg/mL) and the MK extract (512 μg/mL), the MICs of α-mangostin, a compound with the greatest inhibitory activity to S. aureus out of these twelve plant flavonoids, increased by 16 times and 8 to 16 times, respectively. Based on the above, it was proposed that the quinone pool is a key target of plant flavonoids inhibiting Gram-positive bacteria, and which likely involves multiple mechanisms including some enzyme and non-enzyme inhibitions.

DFT study of structural optoelectronic and thermoelectric properties of CuNiO ferromagnetic alloys

In this study, the structural, electronic, and thermoelectric properties of pure NiO and Cu-doped NiO were investigated. The structural and optoelectronic properties of nickel oxide and in the supercell containing atoms CuNi15O16 were obtained by density functional theory (DFT) using the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) with the Hubbard correction potential U. The theoretical results obtained using the quantum espresso code show that the ferromagnetic character of the supercell structure is more stable than the antiferromagnetic configuration, and incorporating copper in the NiO matrix reduces the spin-up band structure. The value of the band gap channel is approximately 1.7 eV. The spin-down states cross the Fermi level and indicate the half-metal character of the CuNiO alloys. These results suggest that Cu-doped NiO is a potential candidate for infrared light and spintronic applications. The transport coefficients of the nickel oxide and copper doped NiO were calculated using the semi-classical Boltzmann theory implemented in BoltzTraP code. The thermoelectric properties, such as the Seebeck coefficient, power factor, and figure of merit, are calculated with respect to the chemical potential and carrier concentration in the temperature range of 300 K–800 K. We found an increase in the factor of merit and switching of NiO oxide from n-type to p-type after copper incorporation.

Flea morphotypes (Insecta, Siphonaptera)

Combinations of structural characters previously used to substantiate various classifications of the order Siphonaptera are analyzed. Adaptive and phyletic morphotypes marking assemblages or phylogenetically closely related groups of flea families are considered.

Discovery of the oldest known elmid larva (Coleoptera, Elmidae) from the Lower Eocene of Rajasthan (India, Palana Formation)

A single elmid larva is reported from a laminate maroon shale bed of Gurha opencast lignite mine (Palana Formation, early Eocene, Bikaner District, north-western Rajasthan, India). It is the first fossil larva that can be attributed to Elmidae with certainty. A generic assignation is not possible, because the larva is strongly compressed, and the most important characters are not visible or poorly preserved. The larva is described morphologically and illustrated by photographs and line drawings. A larva of a holometabolous insect from Baltic amber, which was published recently as a member of Elmidae by Zippel et al. (2022), possesses no structural characters that would clearly suggest placement in this family. A photograph of the hitherto unknown larva of the extant Grouvellinus rioloides from Kyrgyzstan is included for comparison.

Barriers and enablers of coordination across healthcare system levels

Coordination across healthcare system levels is a global imperative to ensure efficient resource utilization and provide high‐quality care. The substantial body of research on coordination in healthcare mainly concerns coordination across professional and organizational domains. Consequently, there is a dearth of empirical research aimed at delineating the determinants of coordination across healthcare system levels. This paper describes and analyses the barriers and enablers of healthcare coordination across national, regional, and local system levels in a populous Swedish region. Individual interviews and focus group discussions, encompassing a total of 63 individuals, were conducted with managers, administrators, and politicians. The findings of the paper underscore that the barriers identified were most often of a structural or institutional character, whereas the enablers of the studied cross‐level coordination were mostly relational. Therefore, we propose that future research should aim to further delineate the prerequisites for personal relationships to emerge, as well as how they may act as enablers of coordination across healthcare system levels.

Micropore-facilitated surface-dominated pseudocapacitive storage in MOF-derived hollow nano-cuboids enabled by in-situ Zn-sacrificed strategy

Herein, we report a novel metal–organic frameworks (MOF)-derived nanomaterial, this is hollow nano-cuboids composed of NiCoP particles and nanocarbon, which is enriched in appropriate micropores induced by in-situ Zn-sacrificed strategy (NiCoP@C(Zn)). Such abundant micropores (∼0.5 nm, larger than the radius of OH−) can supply more ion shuttle channels at multi-directions, greatly-reducing the longitudinal migration time in the hollow structure, resulting in a rather high ion diffusion coefficient (∼10−8 cm2 s−1). This combined with hollow topology show the marked electrolyte-accessibility recognized by experimental and density functional theory (DFT) results, which can adequately-expose the electrochemically active sites, thus birthing a surface-dominated pseudocapacitive behaviors towards high-rate response and high-capacity storage. Due to the robust structural merits and pore character as well as their synergy, the NiCoP@C(Zn) electrode can realize a rather stable cyclability (over 10,000 cycles). Further, we construct the pouch-type supercapacitor based on NiCoP@C(Zn) cathode, which delivers a relatively-good energy output (35.2 Wh kg−1), superior to those of some previously-reported asymmetric supercapacitors. Remarkably, such pouch device can exhibit the triple-high properties, including high mechanical reliability, high safety and high availability in real-word application. This work successfully-discloses the influence of well-matched micropores on pseudocapacitive charge storage, and opens new horizons of developing a high-performance electrode nanomaterial.

Copper and Zinc Co-doped Titanium Dioxide Nanotubes Arrays on Controlling Nitric Oxide Releasing and Regulating the Inflammatory Responses for Cardiovascular Biomaterials.

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanotubes arrays have shown tremendous application foreground due to their unique characters of structure and performance. However, the single bio-function is still the limit on cardiovascular biomaterials. The loadability function provides the possibility for the TiO2 nanotubes arrays to realize composite multifunction. The copper can catalyze the release of nitric oxide to promote the proliferation of endothelium cells and improve the anticoagulant. Also, zinc can adjust the inflammatory responses to improve anti-inflammation. In this patent work, we co-doped the copper and zinc onto TiO2 nanotubes arrays to estimate the hemocompatibility, cytocompatibility and responses of inflammation. The results showed that copper and zinc could introduce better multi-biofunctions to the TiO2 nanotubes arrays for the application in cardiovascular biomaterials. In summary, the NTs@Cu/Zn sample as a new composite material in this study had significant biocompatibility in vascular implantation and can be used as a potential material for polymer- free drug-eluting stents.

Intertwined electronic and magnetic structure of the van-der-Waals antiferromagnet Fe2P2S6

Many unusual and promising properties have been reported recently for the transition metal trichalcogenides of the type MPS3 (M = V, Mn, Fe, Ni ...), such as maintaining magnetic order to the atomically thin limit, ultra-sharp many-body excitons, metal-insulator transitions and, especially for Fe2P2S6, giant linear dichroism among others. Here we conduct a detailed investigation of the electronic structure of Fe2P2S6 using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, q-dependent electron energy loss spectroscopy, optical spectroscopies and density functional theory. Fe2P2S6 is a Mott insulator with a gap of Egap ≈ 1.4 eV and zigzag antiferromagnetism below TN = 119 K. The low energy excitations are dominated by Fe 3d states. Large and sign-changing linear dichroism is observed. We provide a microscopic mechanism explaining key properties of the linear dichroism based on the correlated character of the electronic structure, thereby elucidating the nature of the spin-charge coupling in Fe2P2S6 and related materials.