Facile synthesis of a porous network-like silver film for electrocatalytic detection of nitrate

We have developed a method for in-situ construction of a porous network-like silver film on the surface of a glassy carbon electrode (GCE). It is based on a galvanic replacement reaction where a layer of copper nanoparticles is first electrodeposited as a sacrificial template. The silver film formed possesses a porous network-like structure and consists of an assembly of numerous nanoparticles with an average size of 200 nm. The electrode displays excellent electrocatalytic activity, good stability, and fast response (within 2 s) toward the reduction of nitrate at a working potential of −0.9 V. The catalytic currents linearly increase with the nitrate concentrations in the range of 0.08–6.52 mM, with a detection limit of 3.5 μM (S/N = 3) and a repeatability of 3.4 % (n = 5).

A facile method was developed for in situ construction of a porous network-like Ag film on a glassy carbon electrode by a galvanic replacement reaction, where a layer of Cu nanoparticles previously electrodeposited as a sacrificial template. Thus-formed Ag film displays excellent electrocatalytic activity, good stability, and fast response (within 2 s) toward nitrate reduction.

     

Regular arrays of triangular‐microstructure formed on silicon (111) surface via ultrafast laser irradiation in KOH solution

The regular micrometer‐scale triangular arrays were formed using ultrafast femtosecond laser irradiation on (111) surface of silicon wafer immersed in KOH solution (0.1 g/ml). At low laser fluence, the resulting surface is covered by triangular pits microstructures, whereas at high laser fluence, the structures are transformed to multilayer‐triangular stacks‐microstructures. The number of triangular stacks layer increased as the laser fluence increased. The formation of triangle microstructure arrays depends on both silicon surface crystallographic orientation and the concentration of KOH solution. Either for lower KOH solution concentration (0.02 g/ml) or other silicon crystallographic orientation, triangle arrays cannot be obtained. We attribute the formation of triangular microstructure arrays to the laser‐assisted chemical etching process. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cloning, Expression, and Characterization of β-mannanase from Bacillus subtilis MAFIC-S11 in Pichia pastoris

The β-mannanase gene (1,029 nucleotide) from Bacillus subtilis MAFIC-S11, encoding a polypeptide of 342 amino acids, was cloned and expressed in Pichia pastoris. To increase its expression, the β-mannanase gene was optimized for codon usage (mannS) and fused downstream to a sequence-encoding modified α-factor signal peptide. The expression level was improved by 2-fold. This recombinant enzyme (mannS) showed its highest activity of 24,600 U/mL after 144-h fermentation. The optimal temperature and pH of mannS were 50 °C and 6.0, respectively, and its specific activity was 3,706 U/mg. The kinetic parameters V _max and K _m were determined as 20,000 U/mg and 8 mg/mL, respectively, representing the highest ever expression level of β-mannanase reported in P. pastoris. In addition, the enzyme exhibited much higher binding activity to chitin, chitosan, Avicel, and mannan. The superior catalytic properties of mannS suggested great potential as an effective additive in animal feed industry.     

A facile one-pot, three-component synthesis of 3,3′-(4-arylpyridine-2,6-diyl)bis(2H-chromen-2-one) derivatives under microwave irradiation

A series of 3,3′-(4-arylpyridine-2,6-diyl)bis(2H-chromen-2-one) derivatives have been synthesized by the one-pot, three-component reaction of 3-acetylcoumarin, an aromatic aldehyde, and ammonium acetate in acetic acid under microwave irradiation. This procedure has the major advantages of short reaction time, good yields, low energy consumption, easy operation, and environmental friendliness. All of the products were characterized by IR and NMR spectroscopy, MS, and elemental analysis.     

Chinese regional energy efficiency change and its determinants analysis: Malmquist index and Tobit model

China becomes the largest energy consumer in 2010 but its energy productivity is well below the world average. To meet China’s fast growing energy using, energy efficiency should be especially emphasized under China’s energy policy. This paper focuses on the regional level of energy efficiency change in China. And we analyze total factor energy efficiency for 30 Chinese provinces over the period 1998–2009 using Malmquist index method and Tobit analysis. The Malmquist estimation results suggest there is a dropping change trend of energy productivity growth. Chinese energy efficiency still faces with huge regional disparity, but the energy technical efficiency reflects convergence in the nationwide and west region. As a result of Tobit regression, we find that industrial structure, energy consumption structure and institutional factor have different influences on energy efficiency.     

Survey study and experimental investigation on the local behavior of pedestrian groups

Current research on pedestrian dynamics mainly focuses on the interactions among isolated individuals, the impact of the presence of groups is not fully considered. In recent 5 years, researchers have started to investigate pedestrian group movement. The aim of this work is to explore the local behavior of pedestrian groups by questionnaires and field observation. Survey study focused on pedestrians' psychology when walking in groups, which included five parts: group size, interpersonal distance, spatial relationship among group members, speed adjustment of group members, information transmission, and acid action among group members. Meantime a field observation was carried out to study group movement characteristics, which contained speed, step frequency, offset angle and interpersonal distance. The survey results show that group members have a closer interpersonal distance, faster information transmission and plenty of acid action. Conversely, group walking has a negative influence on pedestrian's speed, step frequency by comparing with the way isolated pedestrian walks. In addition, it is found that for a certain group, the group members are able to keep movement consistent. Also there exists obvious movement diversity among different group types (male dyads, female dyads, couple groups, and ordinary‐friend groups) because of different gender and social relationship. Ultimately the results will be more promising for helping to model the movement of pedestrian groups. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Complexity 20: 87–97, 2015     

Electrophile-driven copper-catalyzed one-pot synthesis of 3-halogen quinoline derivatives

A convenient and regioselective one-pot synthesis of 3-chloride or 3-bromide quinoline derivatives was achieved through a Grignard addition reaction by alkynyl Grignard regent to o-trifluoroacetyl aniline and a Cu(II)-catalyzed cyclization–halogenation tandem reaction with aqueous HCl or HBr as electrophilic reagent.     

Urinary metabolomic study of non‐small cell lung carcinoma based on ultra high performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry

Metabolic profiles from human urine reveal the significant difference of carnitine and acylcarnitines levels between non‐small cell lung carcinoma patients and healthy controls. Urine samples from cancer patients and healthy individuals were assayed in this metabolomic study using ultra high performance liquid chromatography coupled to quadrupole time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry. The data were normalized by the sum of all intensities and creatinine calibration, respectively, before orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis. Twenty differential metabolites were identified based on standard compounds or tandem mass spectrometry fragments. Among them, some medium‐/long‐chain acylcarnitines, for example, cis‐3,4‐methylene heptanoylcarnitine, were found to be downregulated while carnitine was upregulated in urine samples from the cancer group compared to the control group. Receiver operating characteristic analysis of the two groups showed that the area under curve for the combination of carnitine and 11 selected acylcarnitines was 0.958. This study suggests that the developed carnitine and acylcarnitines profiling method has the potential to be used for screening non‐small cell lung carcinoma.     

Copper‐Catalyzed NH Insertion and Oxidative Aromatization Cascade: Facile Synthesis of 2‐Arylaminophenols

A copper‐catalyzed cascade reaction of N‐H insertion and oxidative aromatization has been developed. 2‐Arylaminophenols have been prepared in moderate to high yields from the diazo substrates. Moreover, this newly established methodology allows efficient access to natural 1‐oxygenated carbazole alkaloids, such as glycozolicine and murrayafoline A.