Chemical-Vapor-Deposition-Synthesized Two-Dimensional Non-Stoichiometric Copper Selenide (ß-Cu2-xSe) for Ultra-Fast Tetracycline Hydrochloride Degradation under Solar Light.

The high concentration of antibiotics in aquatic environments is a serious environmental issue. In response, researchers have explored photocatalytic degradation as a potential solution. Through chemical vapor deposition (CVD), we synthesized copper selenide (ß-Cu2-xSe) and found it an effective catalyst for degrading tetracycline hydrochloride (TC-HCl). The catalyst demonstrated an impressive degradation efficiency of approximately 98% and a reaction rate constant of 3.14 × 10-2 min-1. Its layered structure, which exposes reactive sites, contributes to excellent stability, interfacial charge transfer efficiency, and visible light absorption capacity. Our investigations confirmed that the principal active species produced by the catalyst comprises O2- radicals, which we verified through trapping experiments and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR). We also verified the TC-HCl degradation mechanism using high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS). Our results provide valuable insights into developing the ß-Cu2-xSe catalyst using CVD and its potential applications in environmental remediation.

Ultrasound Stimulation of Piezoelectric Nanocomposite Hydrogels Boosts Chondrogenic Differentiation in Vitro, in Both a Normal and Inflammatory Milieu.

The use of piezoelectric nanomaterials combined with ultrasound stimulation is emerging as a promising approach for wirelessly triggering the regeneration of different tissue types. However, it has never been explored for boosting chondrogenesis. Furthermore, the ultrasound stimulation parameters used are often not adequately controlled. In this study, we show that adipose-tissue-derived mesenchymal stromal cells embedded in a nanocomposite hydrogel containing piezoelectric barium titanate nanoparticles and graphene oxide nanoflakes and stimulated with ultrasound waves with precisely controlled parameters (1 MHz and 250 mW/cm2, for 5 min once every 2 days for 10 days) dramatically boost chondrogenic cell commitment in vitro. Moreover, fibrotic and catabolic factors are strongly down-modulated: proteomic analyses reveal that such stimulation influences biological processes involved in cytoskeleton and extracellular matrix organization, collagen fibril organization, and metabolic processes. The optimal stimulation regimen also has a considerable anti-inflammatory effect and keeps its ability to boost chondrogenesis in vitro, even in an inflammatory milieu. An analytical model to predict the voltage generated by piezoelectric nanoparticles invested by ultrasound waves is proposed, together with a computational tool that takes into consideration nanoparticle clustering within the cell vacuoles and predicts the electric field streamline distribution in the cell cytoplasm. The proposed nanocomposite hydrogel shows good injectability and adhesion to the cartilage tissue ex vivo, as well as excellent biocompatibility in vivo, according to ISO 10993. Future perspectives will involve preclinical testing of this paradigm for cartilage regeneration.

Ericoid shrub encroachment shifts aboveground-belowground linkages in three peatlands across Europe and Western Siberia.

In northern peatlands, reduction of Sphagnum dominance in favour of vascular vegetation is likely to influence biogeochemical processes. Such vegetation changes occur as the water table lowers and temperatures rise. To test which of these factors has a significant influence on peatland vegetation, we conducted a 3-year manipulative field experiment in Linje mire (northern Poland). We manipulated the peatland water table level (wet, intermediate and dry; on average the depth of the water table was 17.4, 21.2 and 25.3 cm respectively), and we used open-top chambers (OTCs) to create warmer conditions (on average increase of 1.2°C in OTC plots compared to control plots). Peat drying through water table lowering at this local scale had a larger effect than OTC warming treatment per see on Sphagnum mosses and vascular plants. In particular, ericoid shrubs increased with a lower water table level, while Sphagnum decreased. Microclimatic measurements at the plot scale indicated that both water-level and temperature, represented by heating degree days (HDDs), can have significant effects on the vegetation. In a large-scale complementary vegetation gradient survey replicated in three peatlands positioned along a transitional oceanic-continental and temperate-boreal (subarctic) gradient (France-Poland-Western Siberia), an increase in ericoid shrubs was marked by an increase in phenols in peat pore water, resulting from higher phenol concentrations in vascular plant biomass. Our results suggest a shift in functioning from a mineral-N-driven to a fungi-mediated organic-N nutrient acquisition with shrub encroachment. Both ericoid shrub encroachment and higher mean annual temperature in the three sites triggered greater vascular plant biomass and consequently the dominance of decomposers (especially fungi), which led to a feeding community dominated by nematodes. This contributed to lower enzymatic multifunctionality. Our findings illustrate mechanisms by which plants influence ecosystem responses to climate change, through their effect on microbial trophic interactions.

The illusion of moral decline.

Anecdotal evidence indicates that people believe that morality is declining1,2. In a series of studies using both archival and original data (n = 12,492,983), we show that people in at least 60 nations around the world believe that morality is declining, that they have believed this for at least 70 years and that they attribute this decline both to the decreasing morality of individuals as they age and to the decreasing morality of successive generations. Next, we show that people's reports of the morality of their contemporaries have not declined over time, suggesting that the perception of moral decline is an illusion. Finally, we show how a simple mechanism based on two well-established psychological phenomena (biased exposure to information and biased memory for information) can produce an illusion of moral decline, and we report studies that confirm two of its predictions about the circumstances under which the perception of moral decline is attenuated, eliminated or reversed (that is, when respondents are asked about the morality of people they know well or people who lived before the respondent was born). Together, our studies show that the perception of moral decline is pervasive, perdurable, unfounded and easily produced. This illusion has implications for research on the misallocation of scarce resources3, the underuse of social support4 and social influence5.

Assaying Proliferation Characteristics of Cells Cultured Under Static Versus Periodic Conditions.

Two-dimensional in vitro culture models are widely being employed for assessing a vast variety of biological questions in different scientific fields. Common in vitro culture models are typically maintained under static conditions, where the surrounding culture medium is replaced every few days-typically every 48 to 72 h-with the aim to remove metabolites and to replenish nutrients. Although this approach is sufficient for supporting cellular survival and proliferation, static culture conditions do mostly not reflect the in vivo situation where cells are continuously being perfused by extracellular fluid, and thus, create a less-physiological environment. In order to evaluate whether the proliferation characteristics of cells in 2D culture maintained under static conditions differ from cells kept in a dynamic environment, in this chapter, we provide a protocol for differential analysis of cellular growth under static versus pulsed-perfused conditions, mimicking continuous replacement of extracellular fluid in the physiological environment. The protocol involves long-term life-cell high-content time-lapse imaging of fluorescent cells at 37 °C and ambient CO2 concentration using multi-parametric biochips applicable for microphysiological analysis of cellular vitality. We provide instructions and useful information for (i) the culturing of cells in biochips, (ii) setup of cell-laden biochips for culturing cells under static and pulsed-perfused conditions, (iii) long-term life-cell high-content time-lapse imaging of fluorescent cells in biochips, and (iv) quantification of cellular proliferation from image series generated from imaging of differentially cultured cells.

One-Step Synthesis of a Binder-Free, Stable, and High-Performance Electrode; Cu-O|Cu3P Heterostructure for the Electrocatalytic Methanol Oxidation Reaction (MOR).

Although direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) have been spotlighted in the past decade, their commercialization has been hampered by the poor efficiency of the methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) due to the unsatisfactory performance of currently available electrocatalysts. Herein, we developed a binder-free, copper-based, self-supported electrode consisting of a heterostructure of Cu3P and mixed copper oxides, i.e., cuprous-cupric oxide (Cu-O), as a high-performance catalyst for the electro-oxidation of methanol. We synthesized a self-supported electrode composed of Cu-O|Cu3P using a two-furnace atmospheric pressure-chemical vapor deposition (AP-CVD) process. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy analysis revealed the formation of 3D nanocrystals with defects and pores. Cu-O|Cu3P outperformed the MOR activity of individual Cu3P and Cu-O owing to the synergistic interaction between them. Cu3P|Cu-O exhibited a highest anodic current density of 232.5 mAcm-2 at the low potential of 0.65 V vs. Hg/HgO, which is impressive and superior to the electrocatalytic activity of its individual counterparts. The formation of defects, 3D morphology, and the synergistic effect between Cu3P and Cu-O play a crucial role in facilitating the electron transport between electrode and electrolyte to obtain the optimal MOR activity. Cu-O|Cu3P shows outstanding MOR stability for about 3600 s with 100% retention of the current density, which proves its robustness alongside CO intermediate.

Speak Up! Mistaken Beliefs About How Much to Talk in Conversations.

We hypothesized that people would exhibit a reticence bias, the incorrect belief that they will be more likable if they speak less than half the time in a conversation with a stranger, as well as halo ignorance, the belief that their speaking time should depend on their goal (e.g., to be liked vs. to be found interesting), when in fact, perceivers form global impressions of each other. In Studies 1 and 2, participants forecasted they should speak less than half the time when trying to be liked, but significantly more when trying to be interesting. In Study 3, we tested the accuracy of these forecasts by randomly assigning participants to speak for 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, or 70% of the time in a dyadic conversation. Contrary to people's forecasts, they were more likable the more they spoke, and their partners formed global rather than differentiated impressions.

Intranasal Oxytocin Modulates Decision-Making Depending on Outcome Predictability-A Randomized Within-Subject Controlled Trial in Healthy Males.

Oxytocin (OT) has been extensively studied with regard to its socio-cognitive and -behavioral effects. Its potential as a therapeutic agent is being discussed for a range of neuropsychiatric conditions. However, there is limited evidence of its effects on non-social cognition in general and decision-making in particular, despite the importance of these functions in neuropsychiatry. Using a crossover/within-subject, blinded, randomized design, we investigated for the first time if intranasal OT (24 IU) affects decision-making differently depending on outcome predictability/ambiguity in healthy males. The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and the Cambridge Risk Task (CRT) were used to assess decision-making under low outcome predictability/high ambiguity and under high outcome probability/low ambiguity, respectively. After administration of OT, subjects performed worse and exhibited riskier performance in the IGT (low outcome predictability/high ambiguity), whereas they made borderline-significant less risky decisions in the CRT (high outcome probability/low ambiguity) as compared to the control condition. Decision-making in healthy males may therefore be influenced by OT and adjusted as a function of contextual information, with implications for clinical trials investigating OT in neuropsychiatric conditions.

Draft Metagenome Sequences of the Sphagnum (Peat Moss) Microbiome from Ambient and Warmed Environments across Europe.

We present 49 metagenome assemblies of the microbiome associated with Sphagnum (peat moss) collected from ambient, artificially warmed, and geothermally warmed conditions across Europe. These data will enable further research regarding the impact of climate change on plant-microbe symbiosis, ecology, and ecosystem functioning of northern peatland ecosystems.

Promising Electrocatalytic Water and Methanol Oxidation Reaction Activity by Nickel Doped Hematite/Surface Oxidized Carbon Nanotubes Composite Structures.

Tailoring the precise construction of non-precious metals and carbon-based heterogeneous catalysts for electrochemical oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) is crucial for energy conversion applications. Herein, this work reports the composite of Ni doped Fe2 O3 (Ni-Fe2 O3 ) with mildly oxidized multi-walled CNT (O-CNT) as an outstanding Mott-Schottky catalyst for OER and MOR. O-CNT acts as a co-catalyst which effectively regulates the charge transfer in Ni-Fe2 O3 and thus enhances the electrocatalytic performance. Ni-Fe2 O3 /O-CNT exhibits a low onset potential of 260 mV and overpotential 310 mV @ 10 mA cm-2 for oxygen evolution. Being a Mott-Schottky catalyst, it achieves the higher flat band potential of -1.15 V with the carrier density of 0.173×1024  cm-3 . Further, in presence of 1 M CH3 OH, it delivers the MOR current density of 10 mA cm-2 at 1.46 V vs. RHE. The excellent electrocatalytic OER and MOR activity of Ni-Fe2 O3 /O-CNT could be attributed to the synergistic interaction between Ni-doped Fe2 O3 and O-CNT.

Field Suppression of Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD) (Drosophila suzukii Matsumura) Using the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT).

Drosophila suzukii (spotted wing drosophila­SWD) is an economically important pest of soft and stone fruit worldwide. Control relies on broad-spectrum insecticides, which are neither fully effective nor environmentally sustainable. The sterile insect technique (SIT) is a proven, effective and environmentally friendly pest-management tool. Here, we investigated, for the first time, the potential of using SIT to control D. suzukii in field conditions without physical barriers that limit insect invasion. A proprietary method of rearing and irradiation with X-rays was used to obtain males that were > 99% sterile. Sterile males were released twice per week from April to October 2021 on a site in Kent, UK, where everbearing strawberries were grown in open polytunnels. The infestation of wild female D. suzukii was monitored weekly using red sticky traps with dry lure at the treated site and at two similar control sites that did not receive sterile male releases. Releases of sterile males suppressed the wild female D. suzukii population by up to 91% in comparison with the control sites. We thus demonstrated the feasibility of SIT to achieve season-long control of D. suzukii using early, sustained and dynamically targeted releases of sterile males. This provides a promising environmentally friendly method to control this important pest.

Tips From the Top: Do the Best Performers Really Give the Best Advice?

Everyone knows that if you want to learn how to do something, you should get advice from people who do it well. But is everyone right? In a series of studies (N = 8,693), adult participants played a game after receiving performance advice from previous participants. Although advice from the best-performing advisors was no more beneficial than advice from other advisors, participants believed that it had been-and they believed this despite the fact that they were told nothing about their advisors' performance. Why? The best performers did not give better advice, but they did give more of it, and participants apparently mistook quantity for quality. These studies suggest that performing and advising may often be unrelated skills and that in at least some domains, people may overvalue advice from top performers.

CVD-Assisted Synthesis of 2D Layered MoSe2 on Mo Foil and Low Frequency Raman Scattering of Its Exfoliated Few-Layer Nanosheets on CaF2 Substrates.

Transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) are unique layered materials with exotic properties. So, examining their structures holds tremendous importance. 2H-MoSe2 (analogous to MoS2; Gr. 6 TMDC) is a crucial optoelectronic material studied extensively using Raman spectroscopy. In this regard, low-frequency Raman (LFR) spectroscopy can probe this material's structure as it reveals distinct vibration modes. Here, we focus on understanding the microstructural evolution of different 2H-MoSe2 morphologies and their layers using LFR scattering. We grew phase-pure 2H-MoSe2 (with variable microstructures) directly on a Mo foil using a two-furnace ambient-pressure chemical vapor deposition (CVD) system by carefully controlling the process parameters. We analyzed the layers of exfoliated flakes after ultrasonication and drop-cast 2H-MoSe2 of different layer thicknesses by choosing different concentrations of 2H-MoSe2 solutions. Further detailed analyses of the respective LFR regions confirm the presence of newly identified Raman signals for the 2H-MoSe2 nanosheets drop-cast on Raman-grade CaF2. Our results show that CaF2 is an appropriate Raman-enhancing substrate compared to Si/SiO2 as it presents new LFR modes of 2H-MoSe2. Therefore, CaF2 substrates are a promising medium to characterize in detail other TMDCs using LFR spectroscopy.

Divergent effects of oxytocin on "mind-reading" in healthy males.

The neuropeptide oxytocin (OT) has been associated with a broad range of human behaviors, particularly in the domain of social cognition, and is being discussed to play a role in a range of psychiatric disorders. Studies using the Reading The Mind In The Eyes Test (RMET) to investigate the role of OT in mental state recognition reported inconsistent outcomes. The present study applied a randomized, double-blind, cross-over design, and included measures of serum OT. Twenty healthy males received intranasal placebo or OT (24 IU) before performing the RMET. Frequentist and Bayesian analyses showed that contrary to previous studies (Domes et al., 2007; Radke & de Bruijn, 2015), individuals performed worse in the OT condition compared to the placebo condition (p = 0.023, Cohen's d = 0.55, 95% confidence interval [CI] [0.08, 1.02], BF10 = 6.93). OT effects did not depend on item characteristics (difficulty, valence, intensity, sex) of the RMET. Furthermore, OT serum levels did not change after intranasal OT administration. Given that similar study designs lead to heterogeneous outcomes, our results highlight the complexity of OT effects and support evidence that OT might even interfere with social cognitive abilities. However, the Bayesian analysis approach shows that there is only moderate evidence that OT influences mind-reading, highlighting the need for larger-scale studies considering the discussed aspects that might have led to divergent study results.

A trade-off model of intentional thinking for pleasure.

We investigated intentional thinking for pleasure, defined as the deliberate attempt to have pleasant thoughts while disengaged from the external world. We propose a Trade-Off model that explains when and why thinking for pleasure is enjoyable: People focus on personally meaningful thoughts when thinking for pleasure (especially when prompted to do so), which increases their enjoyment, but they find it difficult to concentrate on their thoughts, which decreases their enjoyment. Thus, the net enjoyment of thinking for pleasure is a trade-off between its benefits (personal meaningfulness) and costs (difficulty concentrating). To test the model, we compared intentional thinking for pleasure to four alternate activities in three studies. Thinking for pleasure was more enjoyable than undirected thinking (Study 1) and planning (Study 3), because it was more meaningful than these activities while requiring a similar level of concentration. Thinking for pleasure was just as enjoyable as playing a video game (Study 2) or unprompted idle time activities (Study 3), but for different reasons: It was more meaningful than these activities, but required more concentration. We discuss the implications of these findings for what people might choose to do during idle times. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Correction: Thiadiazole containing N- and S-rich highly ordered periodic mesoporous organosilica for efficient removal of Hg(II) from polluted water.

Correction for 'Thiadiazole containing N- and S-rich highly ordered periodic mesoporous organosilica for efficient removal of Hg(II) from polluted water' by Asim Baumik et al., Chem. Commun., 2020, 56, 3963-3966, DOI 10.1039/D0CC00407C.

Graphene Oxide and Reduced Graphene Oxide Nanoflakes Coated with Glycol Chitosan, Propylene Glycol Alginate, and Polydopamine: Characterization and Cytotoxicity in Human Chondrocytes.

Recently, graphene and its derivatives have been extensively investigated for their interesting properties in many biomedical fields, including tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Nonetheless, graphene oxide (GO) and reduced GO (rGO) are still under investigation for improving their dispersibility in aqueous solutions and their safety in different cell types. This work explores the interaction of GO and rGO with different polymeric dispersants, such as glycol chitosan (GC), propylene glycol alginate (PGA), and polydopamine (PDA), and their effects on human chondrocytes. GO was synthesized using Hummer's method, followed by a sonication-assisted liquid-phase exfoliation (LPE) process, drying, and thermal reduction to obtain rGO. The flakes of GO and rGO exhibited an average lateral size of 8.8 ± 4.6 and 18.3 ± 8.5 µm, respectively. Their dispersibility and colloidal stability were investigated in the presence of the polymeric surfactants, resulting in an improvement in the suspension stability in terms of average size and polydispersity index over 1 h, in particular for PDA. Furthermore, cytotoxic effects induced by coated and uncoated GO and rGO on human chondrocytes at different concentrations (12.5, 25, 50 and 100 µg/mL) were assessed through LDH assay. Results showed a concentration-dependent response, and the presence of PGA contributed to statistically decreasing the difference in the LDH activity with respect to the control. These results open the way to a potentially safer use of these nanomaterials in the fields of cartilage tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.

Bimetallic Phosphides for Hybrid Supercapacitors.

Supercapacitors (SCs) are considered promising energy storage systems because of their high power output and long-term cycling stability; however, they usually exhibit poor energy density. The hybrid supercapacitor (HSC) is an emerging concept in which two dissimilar electrodes with different charge storage mechanisms are paired to deliver high energy without sacrificing power output. This Perspective highlights the features of transition-metal phosphides (TMPs) as the positive electrode in HSCs. In particular, bimetallic nickel cobalt phosphide (NiCoP) with multiple redox sites, excellent electrochemical reversibility, and stability is discussed. We outline how the rational heterostructures, elemental variations, and nanocomposite morphologies tune the electrochemical properties of NiCoP as the positive electrode in HSCs. The Perspective further sheds light on NiCoP-based composites that help in improving the overall performance of HSCs in terms of energy density and cycling stability. The key scientific challenges and perspectives on building efficient and stable HSCs for future applications are discussed.

Higher Ultrasonic Frequency Liquid Phase Exfoliation Leads to Larger and Monolayer to Few-Layer Flakes of 2D Layered Materials.

Among the most reliable techniques for exfoliation of two-dimensional (2D) layered materials, sonication-assisted liquid-phase exfoliation (LPE) is considered as a cost-effective and straightforward method for preparing graphene and its 2D inorganic counterparts at reasonable sizes and acceptable levels of defects. Although there were rapid advances in this field, the effect and outcome of the sonication frequency are poorly understood and often ignored, resulting in a low exfoliation efficiency. Here, we demonstrate that simple mild bath sonication at a higher frequency and low power positively contributes to the thickness, size, and quality of the final exfoliated products. We show that monolayer graphene flakes can be directly exfoliated from graphite using ethanol as a solvent by increasing the frequency of the bath sonication from 37 to 80 kHz. The statistical analysis shows that ∼77% of the measured graphene flakes have a thickness below three layers with an average lateral size of 13 µm. We demonstrate that this approach works for digenite (Cu9S5) and silver sulfide (Ag2S), thus indicating that this exfoliation technique can be applied to other inorganic 2D materials to obtain high-quality few-layered flakes. This simple and effective method facilitates the formation of monolayer/few layers of graphene and transition metal chalcogenides for a wide range of applications.