Improving storability,physiological disorders,and antioxidant properties of ‘Bartlett’ and ‘d’Anjou’ pears (Pyrus communis L.) by pre-harvest 1-methylcyclopropene spraying

Ethylene continues to be a major factor influencing quality of European pears during storage. Although research has been done on the effect of pre-harvest 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) on physiological characteristics in pears, a full understanding of cultivar response and antioxidant metabolism remains elusive. Spraying 1-MCP on ‘Bartlett’ and ‘d’Anjou’ pears was studied with respect to physiology, storage and eating quality, disorders, and antioxidant properties at two harvest date (H1 and H2) during storage and ripening. Treatment with 1-MCP extended the harvest window of ‘Bartlett’ and ‘d’Anjou’ pears 3 and 4 days, respectively, without reducing storage or eating quality. Treatment with 1-MCP reduced ethylene production (EPR) and respiration rates (RR), maintained fruit firmness and green colour during storage and retarded development of desirable melting texture in both cultivars. Additionally, 1-MCP lowered the incidence of disorders by alleviating membrane lipid peroxidation, retaining high total flavonoids (TF) and antioxidant capacity, and enhancing superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) activity in both cultivars. Overall, pre-harvest 1-MCP applications could extend storage time of ‘Bartlett’ and ‘d’Anjou’ pears to 5 and 6 months, respectively, at −1.1 ± 0.5 °C, by reducing ethylene synthesis and enhancing antioxidant metabolism.     

Two-dimensional temperature distribution estimation for a cross-flow planar solid oxide fuel cell stack

The uniform temperature distribution of a cross-flow planar solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) stack plays an essential role in stack thermal safety and electrical property. However, because of the strict requirements in stack sealing struture, it is hard to acquire the temperature inside the stack using thermal detection devices within an acceptable cost. Therefore, accurately estimating the two-dimensional (2-D) temperature distribution of the cross-flow stack is crucial for its thermal management. In this paper, Firstly, a 2-D mechanism model of a cross-flow planar SOFC stack is established. The stack is divided into 5*5 nodes along the gas flow directions, which can reflect the stack states with moderate computational burden. Then, experimental test data is utilized to modify and validate the stack model, guaranteeing the model accuracy as well as the reliability of model-based state estimator design. Finally, easily-measured stack inputs and outputs are selected, and a temperature distribution estimator combined with unscented kalman filter (UFK) approach is developed to achieve accurate and fast temperature distribution estimation of a cross-flow SOFC stack. Simulation results demonstrate that the UKF-based temperature distribution estimator can precisely and quickly achieve the temperature distribution estimation of the cross-flow stack under both static state and dynamic state changes and is applicable to cross-flow stacks with different size or cell number as well, the maximum estimated absolute error is less than 0.15 K with an absolute error rate of 0.015%, which indicates the developed estimator has good estimation performances.     

Affect of recombiner location on its performance in closed containment under dry and steam conditions

Hydrogen has been the major cause of fire in almost all of the biggest nuclear accidents witnessed by world so far. Many approaches have been investigated and developed worldwide to mitigate the consequences of hydrogen buildup inside the containment of Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs) under severe accident scenarios. One such most promising method is to deploy Passive Catalytic Recombiner Devices (PCRDs). They work on the principle of recombining hydrogen with oxygen from ambient air on catalytic surfaces to form steam and release of the exothermic heat of reaction. The present work describes the development, validation and application of a CFD based detailed 3D model for hydrogen recombination inside PCRD using the governing mass, momentum, energy and species conservation equations from first principle. The model has been integrated into the CFD code FLUIDYN-MP to capture the associated multi-physics phenomena. The integrated tool has been used to assess the most suitable location within a closed geometry for placing the PCRD so as to improve its performance and efficiency. Simulations were performed for different PCRD positions within a closed vessel under dry as well as steam laden conditions. The findings reveal that PCRD location in closed geometry plays important role in its performance. Moreover lower PCRD position helps in more natural convective mixing causing better hydrogen transport towards PCRD inlet and hence more hydrogen consumption.     

Enhanced electrocatalytic performance of Cu0.02S0.01/rGO hybrid for oxygen reduction reaction in alkaline medium at low temperature

Graphene, is a carbon allotrope, which is widely used as a substrate for various catalysts due to its interesting physicochemical properties. In the present study, graphene oxide sheets were prepared from graphite, then, the graphene oxide surface was modified by a low-temperature method using sulfur and copper atoms to obtain pseudo-enzyme Cu/S/Graphene prosthetic group. The current density passing through Cu/S/Graphene catalyst was four times higher than that passing through graphite. The novel copper-based catalyst had an extraordinary performance for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) due to the unique bio-inspired and stoichiometric structure. The results of Raman and Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy confirmed the presence of ultra-low content of copper (2%) and sulfur (1%) atoms on the graphene surface. Thermogravimetric analysis indicated a strong interaction between nanoparticles and graphene layers. The number of electrons transferred for ORR varied from 3.98 to 4.16 in a wide range of over-potentials indicating an effective 4-electron pathway form O₂ to H₂O. The Tafel slopes indicated insignificant amount of formed copper oxide on the catalyst surface. The catalyst showed excellent electrochemical durability and its half-wave potential (E_1/2) was exhibited a negative shift only 8.2 mV after 10000 cycles.     

山西省产业结构与区位优势的偏离分析

运用偏离-份额分析方法对山西省三大地区以及11个地级市的经济增长进行了定量分析，从产业结构和区位因素两方面计算其对经济增长的贡献情况，并在此基础上提出一些建议。     

N-Positive ion activated rapid addition and mitochondrial targeting ratiometric fluorescent probes for in vivo cell H2S imaging

Heterocyclic compound quinoline and its derivatives exist in natural compounds and have a broad spectrum of biological activity.They play an important role in the design of new structural entities for medical applications.Similarly,indoles and their derivatives are found widely in nature.Amino acids,alkaloids and auxin are all derivatives of indoles,as are dyes,and their condensation with aldehydes makes it easy to construct reaction sites for nucleophilic addition agents.In this work,we combine these two groups organically to construct a rapid response site(within 30 s)for H₂S,and at the same time,a ratiometric fluorescence response is presented throughout the process of H₂S detection.As such,the lower detection limit can reach 55.7 nmol/L for H₂S.In addition,cell imaging shows that this probe can be used for the mitochondrial targeted detection of endogenous and exogenous H₂S.Finally,this probe application was verified by imaging H₂S in nude mice.     

The influence of compression molding techniques on thermal conductivity of UHMWPE/BN and UHMWPE/(BN + MWCNT) hybrid composites with segregated structure

Various ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene (UHMWPE)/boron nitride (BN) and UHMWPE/(BN + multi-wall carbon nanotube (MWCNT)) composites with segregated structure were prepared by using the compression molding process. The dispersion of fillers under different compression molding were observed by optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The results showed that integrated thermal conductive networks were formed after cold-pressing sintering. However, these networks would be destroyed by middle-high pressure/high temperature treatment. Although the treatment of high pressure/high temperature can effectively improve the crystallinity and crystal size of UHMWPE, the thermal conductivity of composite dramatically decreased due to the replacement of filler-filler by filler-polymer-filler interface. The 1D-MWCNT is liable to entangle with 2D-BNs and formed MWCNT-BN networks even at high pressure/high temperature, leading to a nearly constant thermal conductivity (reached 1.794 W/m·K with the addition of 50% (BNs + MWCNT) hybrid fillers). Besides, the dispersion of the fillers have a great influence on thermal stability of the composites.     

Cyanide-bridged mixed-valence copper(II/I) coordination polymers: Unique 7-connected sev-type 3D network versus anionic 2D host network encapsulated with cationic complex

Reactions of CuCl₂, K₂[Ni(CN)₄]/K₃[Co(CN)₆], and 5-amino-1H-tetrazole led to cyanide-bridged mixed-valence Cu(II/I) complexes, [Cu(H₂O)₃Cu₃(CN)₅] (1) and [Cu(H₂O)₄][Cu₄(CN)₆] (2).The uncommon semi-closed {Cu₂(CN)₃} dimmers in 1 are bridged by μ₃-C,C,N cyanide ligands to afford rare 1D centipedal-like chain motifs, which are further bridged by μ₂-C,N and metalloligand “CN–Cu(4)–CN” to finish sophisticated zeolite-like 3-D structure. Topologically, 1 is the first example of uninodal 7-connected sev-like cyanide-bridged network. Compound 2 consists of two-dimensional honeycomb-related anionic layers [Cu₄(CN)₆]^2 −, within which the [Cu(H₂O)₄]^2 + cations are intercalated into alternate interlamellar space. Compound 1 shows antiferromagnetic couple arising from pure ground-state configuration of Cu(II) mediated by diamagnetic bridges –CN–Cu^I–CN −. The inclusion compound 2 shows blue photoluminescence originated from Cu(I) center to the unoccupied π* orbital of the cyanide ligand (MLCT) charge transfer.     

GPU-based optimal control for RWM feedback in tokamaks

The design and implementation of a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) based Resistive Wall Mode (RWM) controller to perform feedback control on the RWM using Linear Quadratic Gaussian (LQG) control is reported herein. The control algorithm is based on a simplified DIII-D VALEN model. By using NVIDIA’s GPUDirect RDMA framework, the digitizer and output module are able to write and read directly to and from GPU memory, eliminating memory transfers between host and GPU. The system and algorithm was able to reduce plasma response excited by externally applied fields by 32% during development experiments.