Influence of Transportation Accessibility on Urban-rural Income Disparity and Its Spatial Heterogeneity

Transportation accessibility has been treated as an important means of reducing the urban-rural income disparity.However,only a few studies have examined the effects of different types of transportation accessibility on urban-rural income disparity and their spatial heterogeneity.Based on data from 285 prefecture-level(and above)Chinese cities in 2000,2005,2010,2015,and 2020,this study uses spatial econometric models to examine how highway accessibility and railway accessibility influence the urban-rural income disparity and to identify their spatial heterogeneity.The result reveals that highway accessibility and railway accessibility have‘coreperiphery’ring-like circle structures.The urban-rural income disparity exhibits strong spatial clustering effects.Both highway accessibility and railway accessibility are negatively associated with urban-rural income disparity,and the former having a greater effect size.Moreover,there is a substitution effect between highway accessibility and railway accessibility in the whole sample.Furthermore,these associations differ in geographic regions.In the central region,highway accessibility is more important in reducing the urban-rural income disparity,but its effect is weakened with the increase of railway accessibility.In the western region,railway accessibility has a larger effect on narrowing the urban-rural income disparity,and this effect is strengthened by the increase of highway accessibility.We conclude that improving transportation accessibility is conducive to reducing the urban-rural income disparity but its effect is spatial heterogenetic.Highways and railways should be developed in a coordinated manner to promote an integrated transport network system.

An aqueous magnesium-ion hybrid supercapacitor operated at-50℃

The recent advances in aqueous magnesium-ion hybrid supercapacitor(MHSC)have attracted great attention as it brings together the benefits of high energy density,high power density,and synchronously addresses cost and safety issues.However,the freeze of aqueous electrolytes discourages aqueous MHSC from operating at low-temperature conditions.Here,a low-concentration aqueous solution of 4 mol L^(-1) Mg(ClO_(4))_(2) is devised for its low freezing point(-67℃)and ultra-high ionic conductivity(3.37 mS cm^(-1) at-50℃).Both physical characterizations and computational simulations revealed that the Mg(ClO_(4))_(2) can effectively disrupt the original hydrogen bond network among water molecules via transmuting the electrolyte structure,thus yielding a low freezing point.Thus,the Mg(ClO_(4))_(2) electrolytes endue aqueous MHSC with a wider temperature operation range(-50℃–25℃)and a higher energy density of 103.9 Wh kg^(-1) at 3.68 kW kg^(-1) over commonly used magnesium salts(i.e.,MgSO_(4) and Mg(NO_(3))_(2))electrolytes.Furthermore,a quasi-solid-state MHSC based on polyacrylamide-based hydrogel electrolyte holds superior low-temperature performance,excellentflexibility,and high safety.This work pioneers a convenient,cheap,and eco-friendly tactic to procure low-temperature aqueous magnesium-ion energy storage device.

Audio-visual keyword transformer for unconstrained sentence-level keyword spotting

As one of the most effective methods to improve the accuracy and robustness of speech tasks,the audio-visual fusion approach has recently been introduced into the field of Keyword Spotting(KWS).However,existing audio-visual keyword spotting models are limited to detecting isolated words,while keyword spotting for unconstrained speech is still a challenging problem.To this end,an Audio-Visual Keyword Transformer(AVKT)network is proposed to spot keywords in unconstrained video clips.The authors present a transformer classifier with learnable CLS tokens to extract distinctive keyword features from the variable-length audio and visual inputs.The outputs of audio and visual branches are combined in a decision fusion module.As humans can easily notice whether a keyword appears in a sentence or not,our AVKT network can detect whether a video clip with a spoken sentence contains a pre-specified keyword.Moreover,the position of the keyword is localised in the attention map without additional position labels.Exper-imental results on the LRS2-KWS dataset and our newly collected PKU-KWS dataset show that the accuracy of AVKT exceeded 99%in clean scenes and 85%in extremely noisy conditions.The code is available at https://github.com/jialeren/AVKT.

A large-scale cold plasma jet: generation mechanism and application effect

Atmospheric pressure cold plasma jets(APCPJs) typically exhibit a slender, conical structure,which imposes limitations on their application for surface modification due to the restricted treatment area. In this paper, we introduce a novel plasma jet morphology known as the large-scale cold plasma jet(LSCPJ), characterized by the presence of both a central conical plasma jet and a peripheral trumpet-like diffuse plasma jet. The experimental investigations have identified the factors influencing the conical and the trumpet-like diffuse plasma jet, and theoretical simulations have shed light on the role of the flow field and the electric field in shaping the formation of the LSCPJ. It is proved that, under conditions of elevated helium concentration, the distributions of impurity gas particles and the electric field jointly determine the plasma jet’s morphology. High-speed ICCD camera images confirm the dynamic behavior of plasma bullets in LSCPJ, which is consistent with the theoretical analysis. Finally, it is demonstrated that when applied to the surface treatment of silicone rubber, LSCPJ can achieve a treatment area over 28 times larger than that of APCPJ under equivalent conditions. This paper uncovers the crucial role of impurity gases and electric fields in shaping plasma jet morphology and opens up the possibility of efficiently diversifying plasma jet generation effects through external electromagnetic fields. These insights hold the promise of reducing the generation cost of plasma jets and expanding their applications across various industrial sectors.

Multiple-dimensioned defect engineering for graphite felt electrode of vanadium redox flow battery

The scarcity of wettability,insufficient active sites,and low surface area of graphite felt(GF)have long been suppressing the performance of vanadium redox flow batteries(VRFBs).Herein,an ultra-homogeneous multipledimensioned defect,including nano-scale etching and atomic-scale N,O codoping,was used to modify GF by the molten salt system.NH_(4)Cl and KClO_(3) were added simultaneously to the system to obtain porous N/O co-doped electrode(GF/ON),where KClO_(3) was used to ultra-homogeneously etch,and O-functionalize electrode,and NH4Cl was used as N dopant,respectively.GF/ON presents better electrochemical catalysis for VO_(2)+/VO_(2)+ and V3+/V2+ reactions than only O-functionalized electrodes(GF/O)and GF.The enhanced electrochemical properties are attributed to an increase in active sites,surface area,and wettability,as well as the synergistic effect of N and O,which is also supported by the density functional theory calculations.Further,the cell using GF/ON shows higher discharge capacity,energy efficiency,and stability for cycling performance than the pristine cell at 140 mA cm^(−2) for 200 cycles.Moreover,the energy efficiency of the modified cell is increased by 9.7% from 55.2% for the pristine cell at 260 mA cm^(−2).Such an ultra-homogeneous etching with N and O co-doping through“boiling”molten salt medium provides an effective and practical application potential way to prepare superior electrodes for VRFB.

Call for knowledge systematization:An example from lithium ion batteries recycling

Scientific research is one of the primary ways to drive human civilization forward.Countless research institutions and researchers worldwide are dedicated to exploring the unknown,resulting in a flood of research findings[1].For instance,Web of Science alone collects over 10,000 academic papers on a daily basis.While each research field typically has around 10%of review articles,these mainly focus on a limited portion of the subject,failing to provide a comprehensive and real-time updated overview.As a result,researchers or students in a particular field may spend several months,or even longer,comprehending the state of research that has developed over just a few years.The lack of systematic background often leads to redundant or similar studies,which is highly detrimental to the progress of science and technology.

Incombustible solid polymer electrolytes:A critical review and perspective

Since the advent of the solid-state batteries,employing solid polymer electrolytes(SPEs)to replace routine flammable liquid electrolytes is regarded to be one of the most promising solutions in pursing highenergy-density battery systems.SPEs with superior thermal stability,good processability,and high mechanical modulus obtain increasing attentions.However,SPE-based batteries are not impenetrable due to their decomposition and combustibility under extreme conditions.Researchers believe incorporating appropriate flame-retardant additives/solvents/fragments into SPEs can intrinsically reduce their flammability to solve the battery safety issues.In this review,the recent research progress of incombustible SPEs,with special emphasis on flame-retardant structural design,is summarized.Specifically,a brief introduction of flame-retardant mechanism,evaluation index for safety of SPEs,and a detailed overview of the latest advances on diverse-types SPEs in various battery systems are highlighted.The deep insight into thermal ru naway process,the free-standing incombustible GPEs,and the ratio nal design of pouch cell structures may be the main directions to motivate revolutionary next-generation for safety batteries.

Considerations of advanced aqueous batteries recycling:A perspective

1.Introduction Battery technology,serving as a basis for a rechargeable society,has developed rapidly over a century[1].The progress can be roughly divided into three stages,with the initial two mainly focusing on aqueous battery systems.Prior to 1859,research primarily focused on the conceptualization of batteries and the development of primary(non-rechargeable)cells[2].In the subsequent150 years,rechargeable battery technology emerged。

Elliptical vibration chiseling:a novel process for texturing ultra-high-aspect-ratio microstructures on the metallic surface

High-aspect-ratio metallic surface microstructures are increasingly demanded in breakthrough applications,such as high-performance heat transfer enhancement and surface plasmon devices.However,the fast and cost-effective fabrication of high-aspect-ratio microstructures on metallic surfaces remains challenging for existing techniques.This study proposes a novel cutting-based process,namely elliptical vibration chiseling(EV-chiseling),for the high-efficiency texturing of surface microstructures with an ultrahigh aspect ratio.Unlike conventional cutting,EV-chiseling superimposes a microscale EV on a backward-moving tool.The tool chisels into the material in each vibration cycle to generate an upright chip with a high aspect ratio through material deformation.Thanks to the tool’s backward movement,the chip is left on the material surface to form a microstructure rather than falling off.Since one microstructure is generated in one vibration cycle,the process can be highly efficient using ultrafast(>1 kHz)tool vibration.A finite element analysis model is established to explore the process mechanics of EV-chiseling.Next,a mechanistic model of the microstructured surface generation is developed to describe the microstructures’aspect ratio dependency on the process parameters.Then,surface texturing tests are performed on copper to verify the efficacy of EV-chiseling.Uniformed micro ribs with a spacing of 1–10μm and an aspect ratio of 2–5 have been successfully textured on copper.Compared with the conventional EV-cutting that uses a forward-moving tool,EV-chiseling can improve the aspect ratio of textured microstructure by up to 40 times.The experimental results also verify the accuracy of the developed surface generation model of microstructures.Finally,the effects of elliptical trajectory,depth of cut,tool shape,and tool edge radius on the surface generation of micro ribs have been discussed.

用于学习和解释行人预期行为的群体交互场

Anticipating others’actions is innate and essential in order for humans to navigate and interact well with others in dense crowds.This ability is urgently required for unmanned systems such as service robots and self-driving cars.However,existing solutions struggle to predict pedestrian anticipation accurately,because the influence of group-related social behaviors has not been well considered.While group relationships and group interactions are ubiquitous and significantly influence pedestrian anticipation,their influence is diverse and subtle,making it difficult to explicitly quantify.Here,we propose the group interaction field(GIF),a novel group-aware representation that quantifies pedestrian anticipation into a probability field of pedestrians’future locations and attention orientations.An end-to-end neural network,GIFNet,is tailored to estimate the GIF from explicit multidimensional observations.GIFNet quantifies the influence of group behaviors by formulating a group interaction graph with propagation and graph attention that is adaptive to the group size and dynamic interaction states.The experimental results show that the GIF effectively represents the change in pedestrians’anticipation under the prominent impact of group behaviors and accurately predicts pedestrians’future states.Moreover,the GIF contributes to explaining various predictions of pedestrians’behavior in different social states.The proposed GIF will eventually be able to allow unmanned systems to work in a human-like manner and comply with social norms,thereby promoting harmonious human-machine relationships.

Tuning synergy between nickel and iron in Ruddlesden-Popper perovskites through controllable crystal dimensionalities towards enhanced oxygenevolving activity and stability

Ni-Fe-based oxides are among the most promising catalysts developed to date for the bottleneck oxygen evolution reaction(OER)in water electrolysis.However,understanding and mastering the synergy of Ni and Fe remain challenging.Herein,we report that the synergy between Ni and Fe can be tailored by crystal dimensionality of Ni,Fe-contained Ruddlesden-Popper(RP)-type perovskites(La_(0.125)Sr_(0.875))n+1(Ni_(0.25)Fe_(0.75))nO3n+1(n=1,2,3),where the material with n=3 shows the best OER performance in alkaline media.Soft X-ray absorption spectroscopy spectra before and after OER reveal that the material with n=3 shows enhanced Ni/Fe-O covalency to boost the electron transfer as compared to those with n=1 and n=2.Further experimental investigations demonstrate that the Fe ion is the active site and the Ni ion is the stable site in this system,where such unique synergy reaches the optimum at n=3.Besides,as n increases,the proportion of unstable rock-salt layers accordingly decreases and the leaching of ions(especially Sr^(2+))into the electrolyte is suppressed,which induces a decrease in the leaching of active Fe ions,ultimately leading to enhanced stability.This work provides a new avenue for rational catalyst design through the dimensional strategy.

Residual alkali-evoked cross-linked polymer layer for anti-air-sensitivity LiNi_(0.89)Co_(0.06)Mn_(0.05)O_(2)cathode

High-energy density lithium-ion batteries(LIBs)with layered high-nickel oxide cathodes(LiNi_(x)Co_(y)Mn_(1-x-y)O_(2),x≥0.8)show great promise in consumer electronics and vehicular applications.However,LiNi_(x)Co_(y)Mn_(1-x-y)O_(2)faces challenges related to capacity decay caused by residual alkalis owing to high sensitivity to air.To address this issue,we propose a hazardous substances upcycling method that fundamentally mitigates alkali content and concurrently induces the emergence of an anti-air-sensitive layer on the cathode surface.Through the neutralization of polyacrylic acid(PAA)with residual alkalis and then coupling it with 3-aminopropyl triethoxysilane(KH550),a stable and ion-conductive cross-linked polymer layer is in situ integrated into the LiNi_(0.89)Co_(0.06)Mn_(0.05)O_(2)(NCM)cathode.Our characterization and measurements demonstrate its effectiveness.The NCM material exhibits impressive cycling performance,retaining 88.4%of its capacity after 200 cycles at 5 C and achieving an extraordinary specific capacity of 170.0 mA h g^(-1) at 10 C.Importantly,this layer on the NCM efficiently suppresses unfavorable phase transitions,severe electrolyte degradation,and CO_(2)gas evolution,while maintaining commendable resistance to air exposure.This surface modification strategy shows widespread potential for creating air-stable LiNi_(x)Co_(y)Mn_(1-x-y)O_(2)cathodes,thereby advancing high-performance LIBs.

Andrias davidianus bone peptides alleviates hyperuricemia-induced kidney damage in vitro and in vivo

Hyperuricemia(HUA)is a vital risk factor for chronic kidney diseases(CKD)and development of functional foods capable of protecting CKD is of importance.This paper aimed to explore the amelioration effects and mechanism of Andrias davidianus bone peptides(ADBP)on HUA-induced kidney damage.In the present study,we generated the standard ADBP which contained high hydrophobic amino acid and low molecular peptide contents.In vitro results found that ADBP protected uric acid(UA)-induced HK-2 cells from damage by modulating urate transporters and antioxidant defense.In vivo results indicated that ADBP effectively ameliorated renal injury in HUA-induced CKD mice,evidenced by a remarkable decrease in serum UA,creatinine and blood urea nitrogen,improving kidney UA excretion,antioxidant defense and histological kidney deterioration.Metabolomic analysis highlighted 14 metabolites that could be selected as potential biomarkers and attributed to the amelioration effects of ADBP on CKD mice kidney dysfunction.Intriguingly,ADBP restored the gut microbiome homeostasis in CKD mice,especially with respect to the elevated helpful microbial abundance,and the decreased harmful bacterial abundance.This study demonstrated that ADBP displayed great nephroprotective effects,and has great promise as a food or functional food ingredient for the prevention and treatment of HUA-induced CKD.

Coaxial Wet Spinning of Boron Nitride Nanosheet‑Based Composite Fibers with Enhanced Thermal Conductivity and Mechanical Strength

Hexagonal boron nitride nanosheets(BNNSs)exhibit remarkable thermal and dielectric properties.However,their self-assembly and alignment in macroscopic forms remain challenging due to the chemical inertness of boron nitride,thereby limiting their performance in applications such as thermal management.In this study,we present a coaxial wet spinning approach for the fabrication of BNNSs/polymer composite fibers with high nanosheet orientation.The composite fibers were prepared using a superacid-based solvent system and showed a layered structure comprising an aramid core and an aramid/BNNSs sheath.Notably,the coaxial fibers exhibited significantly higher BNNSs alignment compared to uniaxial aramid/BNNSs fibers,primarily due to the additional compressive forces exerted at the core-sheath interface during the hot drawing process.With a BNNSs loading of 60 wt%,the resulting coaxial fibers showed exceptional properties,including an ultrahigh Herman orientation parameter of 0.81,thermal conductivity of 17.2 W m^(-1)K^(-1),and tensile strength of 192.5 MPa.These results surpassed those of uniaxial fibers and previously reported BNNSs composite fibers,making them highly suitable for applications such as wearable thermal management textiles.Our findings present a promising strategy for fabricating high-performance composite fibers based on BNNSs.

Degradation of FAK-targeting by proteolytic targeting chimera technology to inhibit the metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma

Liver cancer is a prevalent malignant cancer,ranking third in terms of mortality rate.Metastasis and recurrence primarily contribute to the high mortality rate of liver cancer.Hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)has low expression of focal adhesion kinase(FAK),which increases the risk of metastasis and recurrence.Nevertheless,the efficacy of FAK phosphorylation inhibitors is currently limited.Thus,investigating the mechanisms by which FAK affects HCC metastasis to develop targeted therapies for FAK may present a novel strategy to inhibit HCC metastasis.This study examined the correlation between FAK expression and the prognosis of HCC.Additionally,we explored the impact of FAK degradation on HCC metastasis through wound healing experiments,transwell invasion experiments,and a xenograft tumor model.The expression of proteins related to epithelial-mesenchymal transition(EMT)was measured to elucidate the underlying mechanisms.The results showed that FAK PROTAC can degrade FAK,inhibit the migration and invasion of HCC cells in vitro,and notably decrease the lung metastasis of HCC in vivo.Increased expression of E-cadherin and decreased expression of vimentin indicated that EMT was inhibited.Consequently,degradation of FAK through FAK PROTAC effectively suppressed liver cancer metastasis,holding significant clinical implications for treating liver cancer and developing innovative anti-neoplastic drugs.

Facile electrochemical surface-alloying and etching of Au wires to enable high-performance substrates for surface enhanced Raman scattering

Surface-enhanced Raman Spectroscopy(SERS)is a nondestructive technique for rapid detection of analytes even at the single-molecule level.However,highly sensitive and reliable SERS substrates are mostly fabricated with complex nanofabrication techniques,greatly restricting their practical applications.A convenient electrochemical method for transforming the surface of commercial gold wires/foils into silver-alloyed nanostructures is demonstrated in this report.Au substrates are treated with repetitive anodic and cathodic bias in an electrolyte of thiourea,in a one-pot one-step manner.X-rays absorption fine structure(XAFS)spectroscopy confirms that the AuAg alloy is induced at the surface.The unique AuAg alloyed surface nanostructures are particularly advantageous when served as SERS substrates,enabling a remarkably sensitive detection of Rhodamine B(a detection limit of 10^(-14)M,and uniform strong response throughout the substrates at 10^(-12)M).

Transcriptomic analysis of Andrias davidianus meat and experimental validation for exploring its bioactive components as functional foods

Andrias davidianus(Chinese giant salamander,CGS)is the largest and oldest extant amphibian species in the world and is a source of prospective functional food in China.However,the progress of functional peptides mining was slow due to lack of reference genome and protein sequence data.In this study,we illustrated full-length transcriptome sequencing to interpret the proteome of CGS meat and obtain 10703 coding DNA sequences.By functional annotation and amino acid composition analysis,we have discovered various genes related to signal transduction,and 16 genes related to longevity.We have also found vast variety of functional peptides through protein coding sequence(CDS)analysis by comparing the data obtained with the functional peptide database.Val-Pro-Ile predicted by the CDS analysis was released from the CGS meat through enzymatic hydrolysis,suggesting that our approach is reliable.This study suggested that transcriptomic analysis can be used as a reference to guide polypeptide mining in CGS meat,thereby providing a powerful mining strategy for the bioresources with unknown genomic and proteomic sequences.

Measurement Uncertainty Analysis of the Rotary-scan Method for the Measurable Dimension of Cylindrical Workpieces

The measurement uncertainty analysis is carried out to investigate the measurable dimensions of cylindrical workpieces by the rotary-scan method in this paper.Due to the difficult alignment of the workpiece with a diameter of less than 3 mm by the rotary scan method,the measurement uncertainty of the cylindrical workpiece with a diameter of 3 mm and length of 50 mm which is measured by a roundness measuring machine,is evaluated according to GUM(Guide to the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement)as an example.Since the uncertainty caused by the eccentricity of the measured workpiece is different with the dimension changing,the measurement uncertainty of cylindrical workpieces with other dimensions can be evaluated the same as the diameter of 3 mm but with different eccentricity.Measurement uncertainty caused by different eccentricities concerning the dimension of the measured cylindrical workpiece is set to simulate the evaluations.Compared to the target value of the measurement uncertainty of 0.1μm,the measurable dimensions of the cylindrical workpiece can be obtained.Experiments and analysis are presented to quantitatively evaluate the reliability of the rotary-scan method for the roundness measurement of cylindrical workpieces.

Spatial Process of Green Infrastructure Changes Associated with Rapid Urbanization in Shenzhen,China

Through a case study of Shenzhen City,China,this study focused on a quantitative method for analyzing the spatial processes involved in green infrastructure changes associated with rapid urbanization.Based on RS,GIS and SPSS statistics software,the approach includes selection of the square analysis units and representative landscape metrics,quantification of the change types of landscape metrics in all analysis units through two indices and hierarchical cluster analysis of the above analysis units with different landscape metric change types(i.e.spatial attributes).The analyses verify that there is a significant sequence of continuous changes in green infrastructure in Shenzhen.They are the perforation,the segmentation,the fragmentation,the evanescence and the filling-in processes,which have a good spatio-temporal correspondence with urbanization and reflect the synthetic influence of urban planning,government policies and landforms.Compared with other studies on quantifying the spatial pattern,this study provides an alternative probe into linking the spatial pattern to spatial processes and the corresponding ecological processes in the future.These spatio-temporal processes offer many opportunities for identifying,protecting and restoring key elements in an urban green infrastructure network for areas in the early stages of urbanization or for non-urbanized areas.

Quantitative Analysis of the Outdoor Thermal Comfort in the Hot and Humid Summertime of Shenzhen, China

Outdoor thermal comfort has always been a major issue due to its irreplaceable role in maintaining good health and energy use. Thus,quantitative analysis of outdoor thermal comfort and discussions on influential factors seem very necessary to achieve the climate-conscious urban design. Therefore,an outdoor thermal comfort questionnaire survey and the simultaneous field measurement were conducted in six different places during the hot and humid summertime in Shenzhen. The results show that the overall weather conditions during the investigation can be expressed with high temperature and high humidity with strong solar radiation. The micro-meteorological parameters of six test sites vary greatly due to their different regional spatial layouts.Moderate range of air temperature( Ta) is between 28 to 30 ℃ while that of relative humidity( RH) mainly concentrates in 60%-70% with the thermal sensation votes. The main influential factors impacting outdoor thermal comfort are obtained and Tahas the greatest effect. The overall thermal comfortable ranges in Shenzhen are expressed by the range of 28. 14-32. 83 ℃ of PET and 24. 74-30. 45 ℃ of SET*. With the correlation analysis between the characteristic parameters of regional spatial layout and thermal climate and thermal comfort,it reveals that increasing the coverage ratio of water and green space( S) helps lower Taand increase RH. The global solar radiation( G) has a significant negative correlation with the height of buildings( H) and a positive correlation with sky view factor( SVF). Overall,reasonable configuration of the regional spatial layout contributes to providing a thermal comfortable environment.