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MXenes have extensive applications due to their different properties determined by intrinsic structures and various functional groups. Exploring different functional groups of MXenes leads to improved performance or potential applications. In this work, we prepared new Ti3C2PBrx (x=0.4-0.6) MXene with phosphorus functional groups (-P) through a two-step gas-phase reaction. The acquisition of -P is achieved by replacing bromine functional groups (-Br) of Ti3C2Br2 in the phosphorus vapor. After -Br is replaced with -P, Ti3C2PBrx MXene shows an improved areal capacitance (360 mF cm-2) at 20 mV s-1 compared with Ti3C2Br2 MXene (102 mF cm-2)...

INTRODUCTION: Veterinary vaccines against Clostridium perfringens type C need to be tested for absence of toxicity, as mandated by pharmacopoeias worldwide. This toxicity testing is required at multiple manufacturing steps and relies on outdated mouse tests that involve severe animal suffering. Clostridium perfringens type C produces several toxins of which the β-toxin is the primary component responsible for causing disease. Here, we describe the successful development of a new cell-based in vitro assay that can address the specific toxicity of the β-toxin...

Zinc metal suffered from violent and long-lasting water-induced side reactions and uncontrollable dendritic Zn growth, which seriously reduced the coulombic efficiency (CE) and lifespan of aqueous zinc-metal batteries (AZMBs). To suppress the corresponding harmful effects of the highly active water, a stable zirconium-based metal-organic framework with water catchers decorated inside its sub-nano channels was used to protect Zn-metal. Water catchers within narrow channels can constantly trap water molecules from the solvated Zn-ions and facilitate step-by-step desolvation/dehydration, thereby promoting the formation of an aggregative electrolyte configuration, which consequently eliminate water-induced corrosion and side reactions...

The total oxidizable precursor (TOP) assay has been extensively used for detecting PFAS pollutants that do not have analytical standards. It uses hydroxyl radicals (HO• ) from the heat activation of persulfate under alkaline pH to convert H-containing precursors to perfluoroalkyl carboxylates (PFCAs) for target analysis. However, the current TOP assay oxidation method does not apply to emerging PFAS because (i) many structures do not contain C-H bonds for HO• attack and (ii) the transformation products are not necessarily PFCAs...

Layered manganese dioxide is a promising cathode candidate for aqueous Zn-ion batteries. However, the narrow interlayer spacing, inferior intrinsic electronic conductivity and poor structural stability still limit its practical application. Herein, we report a two-step strategy to incorporate ammonium ions into manganese dioxide (named as AMO) nanosheets as a cathode for boosted Zn ion storage. K+-intercalated δ-MnO2 nanosheets (KMO) grown on carbon cloth are chosen as the self-involved precursor. Of note, ammonium ions could replace K+ ions via a facile hydrothermal reaction to enlarge the lattice space and form hydrogen-bond networks...

In the emerging aqueous zinc ion batteries (AZIBs), proton (H+) with the smallest molar mass and fast (de)coordination kinetics is considered as the most ideal charge carrier compared with Zn2+ counterpart, however, searching for new hosting materials for H+ storage is still at its infancy. Herein, redox-active hydrogen-bonded organic frameworks (HOFs) assembled from diaminotriazine moiety decorated hexaazatrinnphthalene (HOF-HATN) are for the first time developed as the stable cathode hosting material for boosting H+ storage in AZIBs...

Microextractions have been developed for the tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs) analysis in biological matrices, including dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (DLLME). The proposed DLLME employed 490 µL of biological sample (whole blood or plasma), which were added 15 mg of NaCl, 10 µL of medazepam as internal standard (10 µg/mL) and 100 µL of 2 M NaOH. This mixture was homogenized by vortex (2800 rpm/10 s) and 400 µL of hexane (extractor solvent) with 600 µL of methanol (dispersing solvent) were added to the sample...

Khat is a common plant that grows primarily in Eastern Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. Cathinone, norpseudoephedrine, and norephedrine are the main psychoactive components of khat. Experimental studies have shown that red and green khat have similar cathinone contents, but green khat contains more norpseudoephedrine and norephedrine than red khat. Research indicates that Ethiopians believe that red khat has stronger psychoactive effects than green khat. Therefore, we speculated that other substances in red khat may enhance its psychoactive effects...

The bottleneck in the rapid development of tin-based perovskite solar cells (TPSCs) is the inherent chemical instability. Although this is being addressed continuously, the device performance has not improved further due to the use of PEDOT:PSS as the hole-transport material (HTM), which has poor long-term stability. Herein we have applied commercial ITO nanoparticles over ITO glass substrates and altered the surface chemistry of the ITO electrode via a simple two-step thermal annealing, followed by a UV-ozone treatment...

Gait differentiation in progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and vascular parkinsonism (VaP) is sometimes difficult to detect with the naked eye. Here, we compared specific gait parameters, neuro-morphometric indices, and their associations between patients with PSP Richardson's syndrome (PSP-RS) and VaP. A total of 18 PSP-RS and 13 VaP patients were recruited. Spatio-temporal gait parameters (GAITRite®) and neuroanatomical morphometry (FreeSurfer pipeline) were assessed. The groups were compared using unpaired t-tests involving 10000 random permutations after statistically controlling for total UPDRS-III and H&Y scores...

On-site specific capture is a critical step in accurate analysis of trace Pb(II) in environmental waters. In this connection, a new Pb(II)-imprinted polymer-based adsorbent (LIPA) was in-situ prepared in pipette tip and used as the extraction medium of laboratory-made portable three channels in-tip microextraction apparatus (TIMA). Density function theory was employed to verify the selection of functional monomers for the preparation of LIPA. The physical and chemical properties of the prepared LIPA were inspected with various characterization techniques...

PURPOSE: The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of resin cement color, cement thickness, and thermocycling on the final color of monolithic lithium disilicate crowns. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of ninety prepared central incisors of typodont teeth were restored with lithium disilicate crowns which have different cement thicknesses (40 µm, 80 µm, and 120 µm) and cement shades (clear, yellow, and white). Color parameters of restorations were measured with a spectrophotometer in three different steps 1) before cementing 2) after cementing and 3) after thermocycling with 10000 cycles...

A steady, high-efficiency and precise LC-ESI-MS/MS method was established and validated with cefaclor-d5 as stable isotope-labeled internal standard for quantification of cefaclor in human plasma. One-step protein precipitation was applied to extract human plasma samples adopting methanol as precipitant. Ultimate XB C18 column (2.1 × 50.0 mm, 5.0 μm) was used to achieve chromatographic separation. Mobile phases of gradient elution were aqueous solution containing 0.1 % formic acid (mobile phase A) and acetonitrile solution containing 0...

Gears play an important role in virtual manufacturing systems for digital twins; however, the image of gear tooth defects is difficult to acquire owing to its non-convex shape. In this study, a deep learning network is proposed to detect gear defects based on their point cloud representation. This approach mainly consists of three steps: (1) Various types of gear defects are classified into four cases (fracture, pitting, glue, and wear); A 3D gear dataset was constructed with 10000 instances following the aforementioned classification...

Bacteriosis is one of the most prevalent and deadly infections that affect peach crops globally. Timely detection of Bacteriosis disease is essential for lowering pesticide use and preventing crop loss. It takes time and effort to distinguish and detect Bacteriosis or a short hole in a peach leaf. In this paper, we proposed a novel LightWeight (WLNet) Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) model based on Visual Geometry Group (VGG-19) for detecting and classifying images into Bacteriosis and healthy images. Profound knowledge of the proposed model is utilized to detect Bacteriosis in peach leaf images...

Directly measurement of the bioavailable concentration of soil contaminants is essential for their accurate risk assessment. In this study, we successfully modified and identified the key genetic elements (pobR1-3) for the bio-detection of p-nitrophenol and synthesized five novel whole-cell biosensors (Escherichia coli BL21/pPNP-mrfp, E. coli BL21/pPNP-CFP, E. coli BL21/pPNP-YFP, E. coli BL21/pPNP-GFP, and E. coli BL21/pPNP-amilCP) to directly detect the concentration of p-nitrophenol in soils. These biosensor methods contained a simple biosensor activation and sample extraction step, a cost-effective detection means, and a fast detection process (5 h) by using a 96-microwell plate with a low background value and high-reliability equation for p-nitrophenol detection...

Background: Preimplantation genetic test for monogenic disorders (PGT-M) has been used to select genetic disease-free embryos for implantation during in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment. However, embryos tested by PGT-M have risks of harboring chromosomal aneuploidy. Hence, a universal method to detect monogenic diseases and genomic imbalances is required. Methods: Here, we report a novel PGT-A/M procedure allowing simultaneous detection of monogenic diseases and genomic imbalances in one experiment. Library was prepared in a special way that multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was integrated into the process of whole genome amplification...

In this paper, the eggplant carbon (EC)was derived from eggplant skin by one-step carbonization method. Subsequently, the MnO2 /eggplant carbon (MnO2 /EC) composite was prepared via in-situ hydrothermal method. The morphology and structure as well as electrochemical performance were investigated through a series of characterization and tests. The results showed that the urchin shaped structures of MnO2 was successfully loaded on the surface of EC. The electrochemical studies indicated that the specific capacitance of the MnO2 /ECcomposite could reach 652...

The zeolitic imidazolate framework 67 (ZIF67) derivative is a potential active material of supercapacitors (SC), owing to high specific surface area and porosity and possible formation of cobalt compounds. A novel ZIF67 derivative is synthesized using a one-step solution process with cobalt precursor 2-methylimidazole (2-Melm) and ammonia fluoride in our previous work. Due to its facile synthesis and excellent electrocapacitive behavior, it is crucial to understand the competition between ammonia fluoride and 2-Melm on forming derivatives with cobalt ions and to create more efficient ZIF67 derivatives for charge storage...

Multilayered bacterial cellulose (MBC)/reduced graphene oxide (rGO) composite films were fabricated using dyeing method. First, MBC films were constructed by the static culturing of kombucha SCOBY bacterial cellulose in a rectangular plastic mold for 15 days. The MBC formed on the air-liquid interface was collected and employed as the matrix for the preparation of MBC/rGO composite films using dyeing method. As found, the color strength increased with an increase in dyeing cycle due to MBC and GO (rGO precursor) affinity...