Striking Improvement of N Selectivity in NH Oxidation Reaction on FeO-Based Catalysts via SiO Doping.

The emission of NH has been reported to pose a serious threat to both human health and the environment. To efficiently eliminate NH, catalysts for the selective catalytic oxidation of NH (NH-SCO) have been intensively studied. FeO-based catalysts were found to exhibit superior NH oxidation activity; however, the low N selectivity made it less attractive in practical applications.

Real-World Particle Emissions from a Modern Heavy-Duty Diesel Vehicle during Normal Operation and DPF Regeneration Events: Impacts on Disadvantaged Communities.

We assessed the real-world particulate emissions of a goods movement diesel vehicle, with an emphasis on total particle number and solid particle number emissions at different cutoff sizes. The vehicle was tested on routes in the South Coast Air Basin (SCAB) of California, representative of typical goods movement operation between the ports to warehouses and logistic centers with a mixture of urban and highway driving, as well as elevation change. We evaluated emissions during normal vehicle operation and diesel particulate filter (DPF) active regeneration events.

Estimation of neighborhood scale PM impacts in rural towns in the Purepecha region of Mexico.

The impact of cooking with solid fuels on neighborhood-scale PM concentrations in rural towns and communities is poorly quantified due to the lack of credible ground-level monitoring sites and spatial heterogeneity at a scale that is below the resolution of remote sensing GEOS-Chem hybrid models. Emissions of PM from use of open fires for cooking in rural Mexico are known to cause poor indoor air quality. The effectiveness of different intervention strategies to reduce such pollution exposures also varies because of different local building densities and source intensities.

Improved voltage scanning algorithm based MPPT algorithm for PV systems under partial shading conduction.

Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) algorithms are crucial for maximizing power extraction from photovoltaic (PV) systems. Traditional MPPT methods often exhibit suboptimal performance under partial shading conditions. Hence, advanced MPPT algorithms have been developed to enhance efficiency in such scenarios.

Optimized design of SynRM drive systems for high-efficiency solar water pumps.

This study presents the design and implementation of a Synchronous Reluctance Motor (SynRM) with an integrated drive circuit for a 4-inch submersible pump motor, tailored for small-scale solar photovoltaic water pumping systems. The SynRM operates efficiently at low voltage levels, eliminating the need for a boost converter and allowing direct connection to low-voltage power sources. With a power output of 0.

Sulfate residuals on Ru catalysts switch CO reduction from methanation to reverse water-gas shift reaction.

Efficient heterogeneous catalyst design primarily focuses on engineering the active sites or supports, often neglecting the impact of trace impurities on catalytic performance. Herein, we demonstrate that even trace amounts of sulfate (SO) residuals on Ru/TiO can totally change the CO reduction from methanation to reverse-water gas shift (RWGS) reaction under atmospheric pressure. We reveal that air annealing causes the trace amount of SO to migrate from TiO to Ru/TiO interface, leading to the significant changes in product selectivity from CH to CO.

Disturbance rejecting PID-FF controller design of a non-ideal buck converter using an innovative snake optimizer with pattern search algorithm.

The optimal design of a proportional-integral-derivative controller with two cascaded first-order low-pass filters (PID-FF) for non-ideal buck converters faces significant challenges, including effective disturbance rejection, robustness to parameter variations, and the mitigation of high-frequency signal noise, with existing approaches often struggling and leading to suboptimal performance in practical applications. This study addresses these challenges by introducing a constraint on the open-loop crossover frequency to mitigate high-frequency noise and ensuring the controller prioritizes maintaining constant output voltage and robust responsiveness to input voltage and load current variations. This study also introduces an innovative metaheuristic algorithm, the opposition-based snake optimizer with pattern search (OSOPS), designed to address these limitations.

Effect of cellulose reducing ends and primary hydroxyl groups modifications on cellulose-cellulase interactions and cellulose hydrolysis.

Cellulose reducing ends are believed to play a vital role in the cellulose recalcitrance to enzymatic conversion. However, their role in insoluble cellulose accessibility and hydrolysis is not clear. Thus, in this study, reducing ends of insoluble cellulose derived from various sources were modified by applying reducing and/or oxidizing agents.

On-road evaluation and regulatory recommendations for NOx and particle number emissions of China VI heavy-duty diesel trucks: A case study in Shenzhen.

This research analyzed the real-world NOx and particle number (PN) emissions of 21 China VI heavy-duty diesel trucks (HDDTs). On-road emission conformity was first evaluated with portable emission measurement system (PEMS). Only 76.

Secondary Organic Aerosol Formation Potential from Vehicular Non-tailpipe Emissions under Real-World Driving Conditions.

Traffic emissions are a dominant source of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) in urban environments. Though tailpipe exhaust has drawn extensive attention, the impact of non-tailpipe emissions on atmospheric SOA has not been well studied. Here, a closure study was performed combining urban tunnel experiments and dynamometer tests using an oxidation flow reactor in situ photo-oxidation.

Enhancing breast cancer classification via histopathological image analysis: Leveraging self-supervised contrastive learning and transfer learning.

Breast cancer, a significant threat to women's health, demands early detection. Automating histopathological image analysis offers a promising solution to enhance efficiency and accuracy in diagnosis. This study addresses the challenge of breast cancer histopathological image classification by leveraging the ResNet architecture, known for its depth and skip connections.

Exceedances of Secondary Aerosol Formation from In-Use Natural Gas Heavy-Duty Vehicles Compared to Diesel Heavy-Duty Vehicles.

This work, for the first time, assessed the secondary aerosol formation from both in-use diesel and natural gas heavy-duty vehicles of different vocations when they were operated on a chassis dynamometer while the vehicles were exercised on different driving cycles. Testing was performed on natural gas vehicles equipped with three-way catalysts (TWCs) and diesel trucks equipped with diesel oxidation catalysts, diesel particulate filters, and selective catalytic reduction systems. Secondary aerosol was measured after introducing dilute exhaust into a 30 m environmental chamber.

Human Post-Translational SUMOylation Modification of SARS-CoV-2 Nucleocapsid Protein Enhances Its Interaction Affinity with Itself and Plays a Critical Role in Its Nuclear Translocation.

Viruses, such as Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), infect hosts and take advantage of host cellular machinery for genome replication and new virion production. Identifying and elucidating host pathways for viral infection is critical for understanding the development of the viral life cycle and novel therapeutics. The SARS-CoV-2 N protein is critical for viral RNA (vRNA) genome packaging in new virion formation.

Lipid-Sensing Receptor FFAR4 Modulates Pulmonary Epithelial Homeostasis following Immunogenic Exposures Independently of the FFAR4 Ligand Docosahexaenoic Acid (DHA).

The role of pulmonary free fatty acid receptor 4 (FFAR4) is not fully elucidated and we aimed to clarify the impact of FFAR4 on the pulmonary immune response and return to homeostasis. We employed a known high-risk human pulmonary immunogenic exposure to extracts of dust from swine confinement facilities (DE). WT and -null mice were repetitively exposed to DE via intranasal instillation and supplemented with docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) by oral gavage.

Fate of Exhaled Droplets From Breathing and Coughing in Supermarket Checkouts and Passenger Cars.

The global pandemic of COVID-19 has highlighted the importance of understanding the role that exhaled droplets play in virus transmission in community settings. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) enables systematic examination of roles the exhaled droplets play in the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in indoor environments. This analysis uses published exhaled droplet size distributions combined with terminal aerosol droplet size based on measured peak concentrations for SARS-CoV-2 RNA in aerosols to simulate exhaled droplet dispersion, evaporation, and deposition in a supermarket checkout area and rideshare car where close proximity with other individuals is common.

Synergistic and Antagonistic Effects of the Co-Pyrolysis of Plastics and Corn Stover to Produce Char and Activated Carbon.

The physicochemical properties of char and activated carbon produced from the co-pyrolysis of corn stover (CS) and plastics, polystyrene (PS) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET), were studied. Non-isothermal gas analysis of the volatiles was conducted using an online mass spectrometer to correlate the thermal degradation of gaseous byproducts to the formation of pores in the char materials. The findings determined that the addition of PS or PET promotes the formation of the solid char product with either higher than average pore sizes or surface areas compared to control samples.

Prospects of thermotolerant Kluyveromyces marxianus for high solids ethanol fermentation of lignocellulosic biomass.

Simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) is effective for minimizing sugar inhibition during high solids fermentation of biomass solids to ethanol. However, fungal enzymes used during SSF are optimal between 50 and 60 °C, whereas most fermentative yeast, such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae, do not tolerate temperatures above 37 °C. Kluyveromyces marxianus variant CBS 6556 is a thermotolerant eukaryote that thrives at 43 °C, thus potentially serving as a promising new host for SSF operation in biorefineries.

Electrical Gating of the Charge-Density-Wave Phases in Two-Dimensional -BN/1T-TaS Devices.

We report on the electrical gating of the charge-density-wave phases and current in -BN-capped three-terminal 1T-TaS heterostructure devices. It is demonstrated that the application of a gate bias can shift the source-drain current-voltage hysteresis associated with the transition between the nearly commensurate and incommensurate charge-density-wave phases. The evolution of the hysteresis and the presence of abrupt spikes in the current while sweeping the gate voltage suggest that the effect is electrical rather than self-heating.

Effects off hydrogenated vegetable oil (HVO) and HVO/biodiesel blends on the physicochemical and toxicological properties of emissions from an off-road heavy-duty diesel engine.

In this study, the regulated emissions, gaseous toxics, and the physical, chemical, and toxicological properties of particulate matter (PM) emissions from a legacy off-road diesel engine operated on hydrogenated vegetable oil (HVO) and HVO blends with biodiesel were investigated. This is one of the very few studies currently available examining the emissions and potential health effects of HVO and its blends with biodiesel from diesel engines. Extended testing was conducted over the nonroad transient cycle (NRTC) and the 5-mode D2 ISO 8718 cycle.

Triangular Arrangement of Ferromagnetic Iron Chains in the High-T Ferromagnet TiFe Os B.

Transition-metal borides (TMBs) containing B -fragment (n>3) have recently gained interest for their ability to enable exciting magnetic materials. Herein, we show that the B -containing TiFe Os B is a new ferromagnetic TMB with a Curie temperature of 523(2) K and a Weiss constant of 554(3) K, originating from the chain of M -triangles (M=64 %Fe+36 %Os). The new phase was synthesized from the elements by arc-melting, and its structure was elucidated by single-crystal X-ray diffraction.