Corrosion of aluminium in the aqueous chemical environment of a loss-of-coolant accident at a nuclear power plant

Aluminium corrosion is a significant concern in the aqueous chemical environment of the reactor containment building following a hypothetical loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) at a nuclear power plant. Aluminium corrosion may lead to the formation of precipitates that can, in combination with insulation debris, block the recirculation sump screens. This study investigated aluminium corrosion experimentally at both bench and pilot scale under conditions representative of several types of nuclear power plants. Evidence of corrosion was determined using aqueous concentrations measured with inductively-coupled plasma (ICP) spectrometry and surface examinations using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS), X-ray photoelectron spectrometry (XPS), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Corrosion proceeded slowly at pH near 7, but more rapidly at higher pH when the representative pipe insulation material was fibreglass. However, when calcium silicate pipe insulation was introduced into the system, corrosion became insignificant even at pH values near 10. Experimental evidence indicates that the calcium silicate insulation released a significant amount of silicate to the solution. Silicate formed a passivation layer composed of Al₂OSiO₄ with a thickness of more than 10 nm, and this layer effectively inhibited corrosion.     

Cytokinin Confers Brown Planthopper Resistance by Elevating Jasmonic Acid Pathway in Rice

Plants have evolved a sophisticated defense system that employs various hormone pathways to defend against attacks by insect pests. Cytokinin (CK) plays an important role in plant growth and stress tolerance, but the role of CKs in plant–insect interaction remains largely unclear. Here, we report that CKs act as a positive regulator in rice resistance against brown planthopper (BPH), a devastating insect pest of rice. We found that BPH feeding promotes CK biosynthesis and signaling in rice. Exogenous application of CKs significantly increased the rice resistance to BPH. Increasing endogenous CKs by knocking out cytokinin oxidase/dehydrogenase (OsCKXs) led to enhanced resistance to BPH. Moreover, the levels of the plant hormone jasmonic acid (JA) and the expression of JA-responsive genes were elevated by CK treatment and in OsCKXs knockout plants. Furthermore, JA-deficient mutant og1 was more susceptible to BPH, and CK-induced BPH resistance was suppressed in og1. These results indicate that CK-mediated BPH resistance is JA-dependent. Our findings provide the direct evidence for the novel role of CK in promoting insect resistance, and demonstrate that CK-induced insect resistance is JA-dependent. These results provide important guidance for effective pest management strategies in the future.     

Simultaneous determination of three pesticides and their metabolites in unprocessed foods using ultraperformance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

We have developed a rapid, multi-compound analytical method for measuring residues of the pesticides thiamethoxam and its metabolite, clothianidin; fipronil and its three metabolites, fipronil sulfone, fipronil sulfide, and fipronil desulfinyl; and pyraclostrobin in unprocessed foods (rice, corn, cucumbers, tomatoes, apples, and bananas) by ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry. Acetonitrile was used as the extraction solvent, and an octadecylsilane-dispersive SPE was used to clean up the analytes, which were then separated through a UPLC HSS T3 column connected to a tandem mass spectrometer via an electrospray ionisation source. The linearity of this method for the target analytes was excellent (R² ≥0.990) in the concentration range of 5–1000 μg kg^–1. The average recoveries of the seven compounds at concentrations of 10, 100, and 1000 μg kg^–1 from six spiked matrix samples ranged from 73.6 to 110.6%, all with RSD values of ≤19.7%. The limit of quantification was 10 μg kg^–1. The method validated the effectiveness of the method for routine monitoring the residue of these pesticides and their metabolites in foods.     

Plasmon-enhanced nanosoldering of silver nanoparticles for high-conductive nanowires electrodes

The silver nanowires (Ag NWs) electrodes, which consist of incompact Ag nanoparticles (NPs) formed by multi-photon photoreduction, usually have poor conductivit...     

和谐发展理念下建筑经济活动导则初探

对和谐发展理念下建筑经济价值综合体现的内容和特点进行了分析,结合自己建筑经济方面的实践工作经验,进而就和谐发展理念下建筑经济活动的指导性原则做了初步探讨.     

工作危害分析法在蜡油催化裂化装置的应用

在催化裂化装置停工消缺的全过程中．全面应用工作危害分析法，细化每一项工作，分析潜在的危害，找出主要危害及其后果，制定控制措施，并抓好具体落实，确保检修工作的顺利进行。应用结果表明，装置各专业管理人员的共同参与，使分析结果充分全面，措施合理、可操作性强；删除了原表格中风险度一栏，使分析表的指导作用更强，也提高了应用水平；应用该方法，使管理、操作人员正确识别危害与风险，提高了管理与操作的水平。并找出存在的不足，提出了改进意见。     

Topset-to-forest rollover trajectories as reliable predictors of sediment-volume partitioning into deep-lake areas

Topset-to-forest rollover trajectories and their relation to sediment-and sand-budget partitioning into deep-lake areas are far from being well understood,as co...     

Metal–Organic Gel‐Derived FexOy/Nitrogen‐Doped Carbon Films for Enhanced Lithium Storage

The development of cost‐effective and flexible electrodes is demanding in the field of energy storage. Herein, flexible Fe_xO_y/nitrogen‐doped carbon films (Fe_xO_y/NC‐MOG) are prepared by facile electrospinning of Fe‐based metal–organic gels (MOGs) followed by high‐temperature carbonization. This approach allows the even mixing of fragile coordination polymers with polyacrylonitrile into flexible films while reserving the structural characteristics of coordination polymers. After thermal treatment, Fe_xO_y/NC‐MOG films possess uniformly distributed Fe_xO_y nanoparticles and larger accessible surface areas than traditional Fe_xO_y‐NC films without MOG. Taking advantage of the unique structure, Fe_xO_y/NC‐MOG exhibits a superior rate performance (449.8 mA h g^?1 at 5000 mA g^–1) and long cycle life (629.3 mA h g^–1 after 500 cycles at 1000 mA g^–1) when used as additive‐free anodes in lithium‐ion batteries.     

Development of single drive electrode electrical resistance tomography system

A new electrical resistance tomography system has been designed using the single drive electrode method. The bidirectional pulse current is adopted in this system as the exciting current. The model of this new method has been set up in ANSYS and validated by simulation and actual measured data. Based on this model, the influence of medium resistivity and connected resistance as well as the influence of medium distribution on the measured data is studied. The experimental results and the reconstructed images are presented at last to testify to the reliability of the new system and the feasibility of the new method.     

Advances in Soft Materials for Sustainable Electronics

In the current shift from conventional fossil-fuel-based materials to renewable energy,ecofriendly mate-rials have attracted extensive research interest due to ...