Electrochemical Study on Hydrogen Evolution and \begin{document}${\rm C}\rm{O}$\end{document}\begin{document}$_\rm{2}$\end{document} Reduction on Pt Electrode in Acid Solutions with Different pH

Hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is the major cathodic reaction which competes \begin{document}${\rm C}\rm{O}_\rm{2}$\end{document} reduction reaction (\begin{document}${\rm C}\rm{O}_\rm{2}$\end{document} RR) on Pt electrode. Molecular level understanding on how these two reactions interact with each other and what the key factors are of \begin{document}${\rm C}\rm{O}_\rm{2}$\end{document} RR kinetics and selectivity will be of great help in optimizing electrolysers for \begin{document}${\rm C}\rm{O}_\rm{2}$\end{document} reduction. In this work, we report our results of hydrogen evolution and \begin{document}${\rm C}\rm{O}_\rm{2}$\end{document} reduction on Pt(111) and Pt film electrodes in \begin{document}${\rm C}\rm{O}_\rm{2}$\end{document} saturated acid solution by cyclic voltammetry and infrared spectroscopy. In solution with pH > 2, the major process is HER and the interfacial pH increases abruptly during HER; \begin{document}${\rm C}\rm{O}_\rm{ad}$\end{document} is the only adsorbed intermediate detected in \begin{document}${\rm C}\rm{O}_\rm{2}$\end{document} reduction by infrared spectroscopy; the rate for \begin{document}${\rm C}\rm{O}_\rm{ad}$\end{document} formation increases with the coverage of UPD-H and reaches maximum at the onset potential for HER; the decrease of \begin{document}${\rm C}\rm{O}_\rm{ad}$\end{document} formation under HER is attributed to the available limited sites and the limited residence time for the reduction intermediate (\begin{document}$\rm{H}_\rm{ad}$\end{document}), which is necessary for \begin{document}${\rm C}\rm{O}_\rm{2}$\end{document} adsorption and reduction.     

Ag-Cu Nanoparticles Supported on N-Doped TiO\begin{document}$_2$\end{document} Nanowire Arrays for Efficient Photocatalytic CO\begin{document}$_2$\end{document} Reduction

Photocatalytic reduction of CO\begin{document}$_2$\end{document} into various types of fuels has attracted great interest, and serves as a potential solution to addressing current global warming and energy challenges. In this work, Ag-Cu nanoparticles are densely supported on N-doped TiO\begin{document}$_2$\end{document} nanowire through a straightforward nanofabrication approach. The range of light absorption by N-doped TiO\begin{document}$_2$\end{document} can be tuned to match the plasmonic band of Ag nanoparticles, which allows synergizing a resonant energy transfer process with the Schottky junction. Meanwhile, Cu nanoparticles can provide active sites for the reduction of CO\begin{document}$_2$\end{document} molecules. Remarkably, the performance of photocatalytic CO\begin{document}$_2$\end{document} reduction is improved to produce CH\begin{document}$_4$\end{document} at a rate of 720 \begin{document}$\mu$\end{document}mol\begin{document}$\cdot$\end{document}g\begin{document}$^{-1}$\end{document}\begin{document}$\cdot$\end{document}h\begin{document}$^{-1}$\end{document} under full-spectrum irradiation.     

Examination of Polish Identity Documents by Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) was applied to the preliminary examination of Polish documents – passports and identity cards – for forensic purposes. Several security features of potentially high discrimination capability were selected at both the passports (Alphagram, serial number, the contour map of Europe, and emblem) and identity cards (kinegram, the date of birth, and emblem). Different elemental compositions were identified after comparing the spectra recorded from various measurement locations. It was possible to identify characteristic atomic emission from several elements (such as Ti, Ca, K, Fe, Cr, Mg, Na, La, Cd, Li, V, Al, Mn, Ni, and Cu) based on the type of document, issue date, and evaluated area. In the case of passports, the potentially good discriminators with unique elemental composition were identified, e.g., the serial number and the contour map of Europe printed with the use of intaglio printing technique. Identity cards with the cover of polycarbonate foil constitute a very difficult sample to analyze because of the foil’s influence on the laser ablation phenomenon. This study presents the potential of LIBS as an effective and useful technique to analyze Polish passports for forensic purposes. Its many advantages provide a good alternative to the analytical methods routinely used for the examination of these objects.     

A novel kernel Fisher discriminant analysis: constructing informative kernel by decision tree ensemble for metabolomics data analysis

Large amounts of data from high-throughput metabolomics experiments become commonly more and more complex, which brings an enormous amount of challenges to existing statistical modeling. Thus there is a need to develop statistically efficient approach for mining the underlying metabolite information contained by metabolomics data under investigation. In the work, we developed a novel kernel Fisher discriminant analysis (KFDA) algorithm by constructing an informative kernel based on decision tree ensemble. The constructed kernel can effectively encode the similarities of metabolomics samples between informative metabolites/biomarkers in specific parts of the measurement space. Simultaneously, informative metabolites or potential biomarkers can be successfully discovered by variable importance ranking in the process of building kernel. Moreover, KFDA can also deal with nonlinear relationship in the metabolomics data by such a kernel to some extent. Finally, two real metabolomics datasets together with a simulated data were used to demonstrate the performance of the proposed approach through the comparison of different approaches.     

Comparative Study of Natural Terpenoid Precursors in Reactive Plasmas for Thin Film Deposition

If plasma polymer thin films are to be synthesised from sustainable and natural precursors of chemically heterogeneous composition, it is important to understand the extent to which this composition influences the mechanism of polymerisation. To this end, a well-studied monoterpene alcohol, terpinen-4-ol, has been targeted for a comparative study with the naturally occurring mix of terpenes (viz. Melaleuca alternifolia oil) from which it is commonly distilled. Positive ion mode mass spectra of both terpinen-4-ol and M. alternifolia oil showed a decrease in disparities between the type and abundance of cationic species formed in their respective plasma environments as applied plasma power was increased. Supplementary biological assay revealed the antibacterial action of both terpinen-4-ol and M. alternifolia derived coatings with respect to S. aureus bacteria, whilst cytocompatibility was demonstrated by comparable eukaryotic cell adhesion to both coatings. Elucidating the processes occurring within the reactive plasmas can enhance the economics of plasma polymer deposition by permitting use of the minimum power, time and precursor pre-processing required to control the extent of monomer fragmentation and fabricate a film of the desired thickness and functionality.     

Comparative Analysis of Herbaceous and Woody Cell Wall Digestibility by Pathogenic Fungi

Fungal pathogens have evolved combinations of plant cell-wall-degrading enzymes (PCWDEs) to deconstruct host plant cell walls (PCWs). An understanding of this process is hoped to create a basis for improving plant biomass conversion efficiency into sustainable biofuels and bioproducts. Here, an approach integrating enzyme activity assay, biomass pretreatment, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), and genomic analysis of PCWDEs were applied to examine digestibility or degradability of selected woody and herbaceous biomass by pathogenic fungi. Preferred hydrolysis of apple tree branch, rapeseed straw, or wheat straw were observed by the apple-tree-specific pathogen Valsa mali, the rapeseed pathogen Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, and the wheat pathogen Rhizoctonia cerealis, respectively. Delignification by peracetic acid (PAA) pretreatment increased PCW digestibility, and the increase was generally more profound with non-host than host PCW substrates. Hemicellulase pretreatment slightly reduced or had no effect on hemicellulose content in the PCW substrates tested; however, the pretreatment significantly changed hydrolytic preferences of the selected pathogens, indicating a role of hemicellulose branching in PCW digestibility. Cellulose organization appears to also impact digestibility of host PCWs, as reflected by differences in cellulose microfibril organization in woody and herbaceous PCWs and variation in cellulose-binding domain organization in cellulases of pathogenic fungi, which is known to influence enzyme access to cellulose. Taken together, this study highlighted the importance of chemical structure of both hemicelluloses and cellulose in host PCW digestibility by fungal pathogens.     

Induction of decision trees using genetic programming for modelling ecotoxicity data: adaptive discretization of real-valued endpoints

Recent literature has demonstrated the applicability of genetic programming to induction of decision trees for modelling toxicity endpoints. Compared with other decision tree induction techniques that are based upon recursive partitioning employing greedy searches to choose the best splitting attribute and value at each node that will necessarily miss regions of the search space, the genetic programming based approach can overcome the problem. However, the method still requires the discretization of the often continuous-valued toxicity endpoints prior to the tree induction. A novel extension of this method, YAdapt, is introduced in this work which models the original continuous endpoint by adaptively finding suitable ranges to describe the endpoints during the tree induction process, removing the need for discretization prior to tree induction and allowing the ordinal nature of the endpoint to be taken into account in the models built.     

Identification tree based on fragmentation rules for structure elucidation of organophosphorus esters by electrospray mass spectrometry

Organophosphorus compounds have played important roles as pesticides, chemical warfare agents and extractors of radioactive material. Structural elucidation of phosphonates poses a particular challenge because their initial forms can be hydrolyzed, thus, degradation products may predominate in samples acquired in the field. The analysis of non‐volatile organophosphorus compounds and their degradation products is possible using electrospray tandem mass spectrometry ESI‐MS/MS. Here, we present a generic strategy that allows the unambiguous identification of substituents for two families of organophosphorus compounds: the phosphonates and phosphates. General fragmentation rules were deduced based on the study of decomposition pathways of 55 organophosphorus esters, including examples found in the literature. Multistage MS (MSⁿ) experiments at high resolution in a hybrid mass spectrometer provide accurate mass measurements, whereas collision‐induced dissociation experiments in a triple quadrupole give access to small fragment ions. The creation of a specific nomenclature for each possible structure of organophosphorus compound, depending on the alkyl side chain linked to the oxygen, was achieved by applying these fragmentation rules. This led to the creation of an ‘identification tree’ based upon the unique consecutive decomposition pathways uncovered for each individual compound. Hence, seven structural motifs were created that orient an unequivocal identification using the ‘identification tree’. Despite the similar structures of the ensemble of phosphate and phosphonate esters, distinct identifications based upon characteristic neutral losses and diagnostic fragment ions were possible in all cases. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.