Promotion of SO2 resistance of Ce-La/TiO2 denitrification catalysts by V doping.

Conventional cerium-based denitrification catalysts show good catalytic activity at moderate and high temperatures, but their denitrification performance may be decreased due to poisoning by SO2 in the flue gas. In this paper, V was introduced into Ce-La/TiO2 catalysts by a ball-milling method, and the effects of the V content on catalyst denitrification performance and SO2 resistance were investigated. Fourier-transform diffuse reflectance in situ infrared spectroscopy was used to examine the denitrification mechanism and evaluate the catalysts for surface acidity, redox characteristics, and SO2 adsorption. After introducing V, Brønsted acids played the dominant role in the catalytic reaction by increasing the number of acidic sites on the catalyst surface, adsorbing NH3 to participate in the reaction, and improving the sulfur resistance by inhibiting SO2 poisoning. The Ce3+ and O ratio on the catalyst surface were also enhanced by V doping, which reduced interactions between SO2 and the primary metal oxide active ingredients. The modified catalyst inhibited the formation of sulfate species on the catalyst surface and prevented the generation of additional nitrate species on the surface, which protected the main active sites. After V doping, the NH3-SCR reaction on the catalyst surface followed the Langmuir-Hinshelwood mechanism.

Circular RNA as a Novel Regulator and Promising Biomarker in Polycystic Ovary Syndrome.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a prevalent metabolic and reproductive disorder that causes low fertility in females. Despite its detrimental effects on women's health, care for PCOS has been impeded by its undefined pathogenesis. Thus, there is an urgent need to explore novel biomarkers and therapeutic targets for the diagnosis and treatment of PCOS. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a class of noncoding RNAs with covalently closed cyclic structures, present in high abundance, and show development-stage specific expression patterns. Recent studies have demonstrated that circRNAs participate in PCOS progression by modulating various biological functions, including cell proliferation, apoptosis, and steroidogenesis. In addition, circRNAs are widely present in the follicular fluid of women with PCOS, indicating their potential as diagnostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets for PCOS. This review provides the current knowledge of circRNAs in PCOS, including their regulatory functions and molecular mechanisms, and explores their potential as diagnostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets.

A study of long-term toxicity of multiple mixtures with hormetic effects by the characteristic parameter σ2(k∙ECx) and stepwise method.

A previous study found that the characteristic parameter σ2(k∙ECx) (the concentration ECx and slope k of the concentrationresponse curve (CRC) at the effect x %) can predict the acute combined toxicity of multiple mixtures with S-shaped CRCs. In this paper, the competence of σ2(k∙ECx) to predict the long-term toxicity of multiple mixtures with J-shaped CRCs was explored using the Aliivibrio fischeri as the test organism. The combined toxicity was evaluated by the independent action (IA) model and the effect ratio (ERx) model. The stepwise method was used to divide J-shaped CRC into ML and MR (SL and SR). The results showed that the σ2(k∙ECx) and ERx of each segment was in good agreement with the exponential function. A new type of mixture was added to the original type A and type B, whose rules of interaction were opposite to those of type B (named opposite B, OB). This paper improves the understanding and analysis of the J-shaped CRCs in environmental risk assessment.

FSPLO: a fast sensor placement location optimization method for cloud-aided inspection of smart buildings.

With the awakening of health awareness, people are raising a series of health-related requirements for the buildings they live in, with a view to improving their living conditions. In this context, BIM (Building Information Modeling) makes full use of cutting-edge theories and technologies in many domains such as health, environment, and information technology to provide a new way for engineers to design and build various healthy and green buildings. Specifically, sensors are playing an important role in achieving smart building goals by monitoring the surroundings of buildings, objects and people with the help of cloud computing technology. In addition, it is necessary to quickly determine the optimal sensor placement to save energy and minimize the number of sensors for a building, which is a de-trial task for the cloud platform due to the limited number of sensors available and massive candidate locations for each sensor. In this paper, we propose a Fast Sensor Placement Location Optimization approach (FSPLO) to solve the BIM problem in cloud-aided smart buildings. In particular, we quickly filter out the repeated candidate locations of sensors in FSPLO using Locality Sensitive Hashing (LSH) techniques to maintain only a small number of optimized locations for deploying sensors around buildings. In this way, we can significantly reduce the number of sensors used for health and green buildings. Finally, a set of simulation experiments demonstrates the excellent performance of our proposed FSPLO method.

Removal of fluoride using platanus acerifoli leaves biochar - an efficient and low-cost application in wastewater treatment.

The fluoride with high-concentration in industrial wastewater will cause great harm to the environment and calcium-modified biochar is an effective adsorbent for the removal of fluoride. Biochar composites were prepared from mature and dried dead leaves and eggshell to remove fluoride from the aqueous solution. The effects of raw material ratio, pH, contact time, adsorbent dosage, temperature, initial concentration of fluoride, and the coexisting ions on the removal efficiency of fluoride were explored. The biochar composites before and after fluoride removal were characterized by the SEM, FTIR, XRD, and XPS, which showed CaF2 precipitation was formed during the adsorption. The kinetics and isotherm study showed that chemical adsorption was the primary step for the fluoride adsorption of the biochar composites. The removal efficiency of fluoride can reach 98.53% when the amount of adsorbent was 1.6 g/L and the fluoride concentration was 500 mg/L. The BET-specific surface area of platanus acerifoli leaves biochar was 410.14 m2/g, which was suitable for the adsorption carrier. The adsorption capacity of the biochar composite materials was as high as 308 mg/g. The platanus acerifoli leaves-eggshell biochar composite with large pore size and high removal efficiency may be used as an efficient and low-cost adsorbent for treating high-concentration fluoride-containing wastewater.

Preparation of high temperature NH3-SCR catalysts with carbonate as precursors by ball milling method.

High-temperature 10Ce-2La/TiO2 catalysts for selective catalytic reduction of NO with NH3 were prepared by the ball milling, impregnation and co-precipitation methods and their catalytic performance was compared. The effects of different starting materials of the ball milling method on the catalytic activity were investigated. The results showed that the 10Ce-2La/TiO2 catalyst prepared by the ball milling method using carbonates as starting materials exhibited the highest NO conversion, which was more than 80% in the temperature range of 330-550 °C. The as-prepared catalysts were characterized by XRD, TEM, and XPS. Results showed that the ball milling prepared 10Ce-2La/TiO2 had the advantages of uniform active site distribution, high oxygen storage capacity, and high Ce3+ and Oα ratio. The results of NH3-TPD and H2-TPR showed that the ball milling method not only improved the redox ability but also increased the quantities and concentration of the acidic sites. The green production and economically viable concept of this process provides a new solution for the production application of industrial catalysts.

Joint action of binary mixtures based on parameter k·ECx from concentration-response curves in long-term toxicity assay.

A previous acute toxicity study of binary mixtures showed that the combined toxicity can be predicted with the parameter k∙ECx. To systematically investigate the ability of k∙ECx to predict the chronic combined toxicity of binary mixtures, the toxicity of six contaminants and five binary mixtures was determined by long-term microplate toxicity analysis (L-MTA) using Aliivibrio fischeri as the test organism. The independent action model (IA) and the relative model deviation ratio (rMDR) were employed to determine the relationship between the Δ(k∙ECx)% and rMDRx. The results showed that these two factors conformed to the exponential function in long-term toxicity. Owing to the time-dependence of toxicity, the mixture type of chronic toxicity changes to the relative type of acute toxicity. If the acute toxicity of binary mixtures changes their mode of joint action throughout the concentration range, the chronic toxicity will also change their mode of joint action, and vice versa. This study clarified the change rules of the joint action of binary mixtures in acute and chronic toxicity which can promote research on chronic toxicity of binary mixtures.

Study of the joint action of multi-component mixtures based on parameter σ2(k∙ECx) characterizing the shape difference of concentration-response curves.

A previous study has revealed that the parameter k∙ECx, characterizing the shape of concentration-response curves (CRCs), could predict the combined toxicity of binary mixtures. This study further explored the predictability of multi-component mixtures. Eleven component mixtures were designed using the uniform design ray, and the acute toxicity of the eleven environmental pollutants and their mixtures to Vibrio fischeri was determined using microplate toxicity analysis. We used independent action (IA) and the effect residual ratio (ERRx) models to evaluate the combined toxicity of multi-component mixtures and ascertain the functional relationship between σ2(k∙ECx), a parameter characterizing the CRC morphological difference of multi-component mixtures, and combined toxicity. The variance σ2(k∙ECx) of each component characteristic parameter of multi-component mixtures gradually increased in the concentration range, and the relationship between σ2(k∙ECx) and ERRx was consistent with the exponential function. The literature verification showed that this rule is generally applicable to the acute toxicity of multi-component mixtures to luminescent bacteria. The exponential function showed the variation rule of the joint action of multi-component mixtures. In the present study, the joint toxicity of multi-component mixtures can be predicted from single toxicity and small amount of multiple toxicity, circumventing complex multi-component toxicity experiments.

Fe2O3 enhanced high-temperature arsenic resistance of CeO2-La2O3/TiO2 catalyst for selective catalytic reduction of NO x with NH3.

High-temperature arsenic resistance catalysts of CeLa0.5Fe x /Ti (x = 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5) series were prepared and measured under a simulation condition of arsenic poisoning. The as-prepared catalysts were characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, and XPS. The specific surface area and pore size of the catalysts were measured. At x = 0.2, the catalyst shows the best arsenic resistance and catalytic performance. The active temperature range of the CeLa0.5Fe0.2/Ti catalyst is 345-520 °C when the gas hourly space velocity is up to 225 000 mL g-1 h-1. Compared with commercial vanadium-based catalysts, CeLa0.5Fe0.2/Ti shows much better catalytic performance. The introduction of Fe will improve the dispersion of CeO2 and increase the concentration of Ce3+ and unsaturated active oxygen on the surface. The NH3-TPD and H2-TPR results show that the CeLa0.5Fe0.2/Ti catalyst has more acidic sites and more excellent redox performance than CeLa0.5Fe0/Ti. The CeLa0.5Fe0.2/Ti catalyst might have application prospects in the field of selective catalytic reduction of NO x with NH3.

Structures and magnetism of {Ni2Na2}, {Ni4} and {Ni6(II)Ni(III)} 2-hydroxy-3-alkoxy-benzaldehyde clusters.

Three polynuclear complexes, [NiNa(µ(1,1,1)-N(3))(µ-hmb)(2)(DMF)](2), (1), [Ni(4)(µ(3)-OMe)(4)(heb)(4)(MeOH)(1.05)(H(2)O)(2.95)], (2) and [Ni(III)(OH)(6)(hmb)(6)Ni(II)(6)]·(ClO(4))(3) (3) (Hhmb = 2-hydroxy-3-methoxy-benzaldehyde; Hheb = 2-hydroxy-3-ethoxy-benzaldehyde), were prepared by reaction of the appropriate ligand with nickel(II) perchloride hexahydrate under solvothermal conditions. All compounds were characterized by elemental analysis, IR spectroscopy and X-ray single-crystal diffraction. Compound 1 exhibits a centrosymmetric heterotetranuclear cluster which represents the first nickel complex to possess two connected face-sharing cubes structure {Ni(2)Na(2)N(2)O(4)}. Compound 2 has a tetranuclear Ni cluster with a cubane topology in which the Ni(II) and the oxygen atoms from the methanol ligands occupying alternate vertices of the cube. Compound 3 consisits of a mixed-valence [Ni(III)(OH)(6)(hmb)(6)Ni(II)(6)](3+) subunits and it represents the first nickel {Ni(II)(6)Ni(III)} complex to possess a planar hexagonal disc-like structure. The results show that the minor ligand modifications or solvent change have a key role in the structural control of the self-assembly process. Magnetic properties of 1-3 in the 300-2 K have been discussed. The {Ni(2)Na(2)} (1) and {Ni(4)} (2) core display dominant ferromagnetic interactions from the nature of the binding modes through µ(3)-N(3)(-) or µ(3)-OCH(3)(-), while {Ni(II)(6)Ni(III)} core (3) displays dominant anti-ferromagnetic interactions from the nature of the binding modes through µ(3)-OH(-).