Hydrogeochemical Processes and Inverse Modeling for a Multilayer Aquifer System in the Yuaner Coal Mine,Huaibei Coalfield,China

Coal mining can dramatically change hydrogeological conditions and induce serious environmental problems. Fifty groundwater samples were collected from the main aquifers in the Yuaner coal mine (Anhui Province, China). The results show that the main hydrogeochemical processes in the mine include dissolution, precipitation, pyrite oxidation, desulfurization, and cation exchange. The Neogene porous aquifer is affected by groundwater flow conditions; its main hydrogeochemical processes are dissolution of carbonate minerals and gypsum, and cation exchange. The Permian coal measure’s fractured sandstone aquifer was confirmed to be controlled by the region’s geological structure; its main hydrogeochemical processes are desulfurization and cation exchange. The Carboniferous Taiyuan limestone aquifer was determined by both groundwater flow conditions and regional geological structure; its main hydrogeochemical processes are dissolution of carbonate minerals and gypsum, pyrite oxidation, and cation exchange. Additionally, hydrogeochemical inverse modeling of the groundwater flow path confirm the hydrochemistry results and principal component analysis.

     

Synthesis of nanopowders with low agglomeration by elaborating Φ values for producing Gd2O3-MgO nanocomposites with extremely fine grain sizes and high mid-infrared transparency

Refining ceramic microstructures to the nanometric range to minimize light scattering provides an interesting methodology for developing novel optical ceramic materials. In this work, we reported the fabrication and properties of a new nanocomposite optical ceramic of Gd₂O₃-MgO. The citric acid sol-gel combustion method was adopted to fabricate Gd₂O₃-MgO nanocomposites with fine-grain sizes, dense microstructures and homogeneous phase domains. Nanopowders with low agglomeration and improved sinterability can be obtained by elaborating Φ values. Further refining of the microstructure of the nanocomposites was achieved by elaborating the hot-pressing conditions. The sample sintered at 65 MPa and 1300 °C showed a quite high hardness value of 14.3 ± 0.2 GPa, a high transmittance of 80.3 %–84.7 % over the 3?6 μm wavelength range, due mainly to its extremely fine-grain size of Gd₂O₃ and MgO (93 and 78 nm, respectively) and high density.     

Isolated hepatic tuberculosis mimicking liver tumors in a dialysis patient

Cases of isolated hepatic tuberculosis (TB) are rare. The diagnosis is often delayed or missed because of nonspecific symptoms and laboratory findings. Besides, the disease is extremely rare even in a country where TB is an alarming public health problem. This report demonstrates the difficulty in correctly diagnosing local hepatic TB. We report the case of a 62‐year‐old male patient with end‐stage renal disease treated with hemodialysis, who developed 2 months of abdominal distension and general anorexia, with hyperechoic hepatic lesions on ultrasound. Computed tomography suspected multiple liver tumors. The liver biopsy finally led to the diagnosis of TB of the liver without other involvements. We conclude that isolated hepatic TB is one of the rare forms of extrapulmonary TB in dialysis patients. A greater awareness of this rare clinical entity may prevent needless surgical interventions.     

A new perspective of co-doping and Nd segregation effect on proton stability and transportation in Y and Nd co-doped BaCeO3

Bulk and surface properties of proton stability and transportation in Y and Nd co-doped BaCeO₃ (BCYN), especially the effect of Nd segregation, were investigated by first-principles calculations. Since the structure of doped BaCeO₃ at the operating temperature of proton-conducting has been unclear for a long time, we have summarized the latest experimental results and calculated the structure of the asymmetric BCYN for the first time. The results show that compared with Y, Nd doping promotes oxygen vacancy formation, however reduces proton stability. Our calculation can also provide a possible explanation for the formation of space charge layer at the grain boundary of doped BaCeO₃ in experiment. Unlike the stable Y in BCYN, Nd is calculated to be easily segregated, which can facilitate both proton hydration and proton transportation near the surface. Moreover, Nd segregation at the grain boundary is predicted to be beneficial for proton transportation between grains.     

Theoretical investigation of solvent effects on the selective hydrogenation of furfural over Pt(111)

It was well known that solvent effect plays a very important role in the catalytic reaction. There are many theoretical studies on the solvent effect in homogeneous catalysis while there are few theoretical studies on the solvent effect in the heterogeneous catalytic reaction and there has been no work to investigate the solvent effect on furfural transformation in heterogeneous catalysis. In the present work, both the density functional calculations and the microkinetic analysis were performed to study the selective hydrogenation of furfural over Pt(111) in the presence of methanol as well as toluene and compared with that in the gas condition. The present results indicated that the methanol can enhance the adsorption strength of furfural and other oxygen-containing reaction species due to its relatively strong polarity properties and this can be a main reason for solvent-induced high activity and selectivity. Another reason is that reaction paths study showed that the presence of methanol solvent makes the dehydrogenation of furfural less thermochemical due to the fact that furfural is more stabilized than that of dehydrogenation species, and methanol also has an inhibition effect on the dehydrogenation of furfural in the kinetic aspect, and further energetic span theory proves highest activity and selectivity for hydrogenation in methanol solvent of vapor, methanol and toluene. Moreover, microkinetic model simulation demonstrated that the activity and selectivity of hydrogenation in methanol is both higher than that in vapor and toluene. The much higher activity in methanol is due to the stabilized adsorbed reactants in the surface, which leads to a higher surface coverage of furfural. It might be proposed based on the present work that a solvent with relatively strong polarity may be favorable for the high selective hydrogenation of furfural.     

Fabrication of hierarchical PANI@W-type barium hexaferrite composites for highly efficient microwave absorption

Hexagonal barium ferries is a promising and efficient microwave (MW) absorbing material, but the low dielectric loss and poor conductivity have limited their extensive applications. In this work, a simple tactic of coating conductive polymer PANI on hexaferrite BaCo₂Fe₁₆O₂₇ is presented, wherein the dielectric properties are customized, and more significantly, the electromagnetic loss is greatly enhanced. As displayed from structural characterizations, PANI were coated equably on the surface of hexaferrite grains by an in-situ polymerization process. The outcomes exhibit the as-prepared PANI@hexaferrite composite has remarkable electromagnetic wave absorption capacity. When the thickness is 6.0 mm, the minimal RL of ?40.4 dB was achieved at 2.9 GHz. The effective absorption bandwidth (RL < ?20 dB) of 0.65 GHz, 0.53 GHz, 0.65 GHz, 0.52 GHz, 0.46 GHz and 0.39 GHz was achieved separately when the thickness ranges from 4 to 9 mm. The highly efficient MW absorbing performance of PANI@hexaferrite composite were the consequence of multiple loss mechanisms and perfect impedance matching. It is demonstrated that the PANI@hexaferrite composite with excellent MW absorption performance is expected to be potential MW absorbers for extensive applications.     

赤红球菌组氨酸激酶的融合表达和功能分析

对赤红球菌的组氨酸激酶基因进行密码子优化，将优化后的组氨酸激酶基因（rhks）构建重组表达质粒pGEX-4T-2-rhks。将此质粒导入到大肠杆菌BL21（DE3）中进行异源表达。在25 ℃和1 mmol/L异丙基-β-D-硫代吡喃半乳糖苷诱导条件下，组氨酸激酶融合蛋白（GST-RHK）获得成功表达，并具有催化活性。经谷胱甘肽琼脂糖亲和层析纯化，获得电泳纯的GST-RHK，其中纯化倍数为3.1，得率为19.5%。该蛋白大小约为72.75 kDa，Km、Vmax和Kcat值分别为20.92 μmol/L、0.17 μmol/（L·min）和1.4 min－1。野生型赤红球菌、组氨酸激酶基因增强株sdrhkE和组氨酸激酶基因敲减株sdrhkD在分别含有苯酚、甲苯、氯苯、异辛烷4 种有机溶剂的培养基中培养，菌株sdrhkD的生长情况都优于野生型赤红球菌，菌株sdrhkE的生长情况都低于野生型赤红球菌。本研究为进一步揭示赤红球菌SD3中组氨酸激酶涉及的信号转导途径与赤红球菌有机溶剂耐受性的关联机制提供一定参考依据。     

Association of solid fuel use with risk of stunting in children living in China

Stunting adversely affects physical and mental outcomes of children. It has not been examined whether household air pollution from solid fuel combustion is a risk factor for stunting in children. In a total of 41,439 children aged 6-17 across China, height was measured using a unified protocol. Multivariable linear regression models and logistic regression models were used to assess the associations of solid fuel use for cooking/heating with stunting in children. Adjusted for covariates, cooking/heating with solid fuel was significantly associated with a lower z-score for height for age and sex (β = −0.21 [−0.32 to −0.09] and −0.17 [−0.31 to −0.03], respectively) and an increased risk of stunting with an estimated ORs of 1.34 [1.07~1.68] and 1.37 [1.02~1.83], respectively. The risk of stunting associated with solid fuel use was statistically significant in high-age children. And the effect was greater on girls than on boys, though the difference was not statistically significant. Our study suggested that Chinese children living in households using solid fuel had a significantly higher risk of stunting than those living in households using cleaner fuel.