Synthesis of ZnWO4−x nanorods with oxygen vacancy for efficient photocatalytic degradation of tetracycline

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) especially tetracycline pose a great threat to human health, and the photocatalytic degradation of tetracycline by ZnWO4 nanomaterials has drawn much attention. To improve the photo-response range and photoactivity, we prepared ZnWO4?x sample with oxygen vacancies by solvothermally treating Zn(NO3)3 and Na2WO4 in water/ethanol/PEG-400 mixture where ethanol could act as a reducing agent to selectively remove some oxygen atoms from ZnWO4. ZnWO4?x sample is composed of nanorods with length of ~50 nm and diameter of ~20 nm. Furthermore, ZnWO4?x nanorods are brown and exhibit the obviously broadened photoabsorption from ultraviolet (UV) to near infrared (NIR) region, compared with the tradition white ZnWO4 nanorod without oxygen vacancies and with UV absorption edge of 365 nm. Under the irradiation of UV or ultraviolet-visible-near infrared (UV–Vis–NIR) light, ZnWO4?x nanorods can photocatalytically degrade 91% or 78% tetracycline, higher than those (67% or 71%) by ZnWO4 nanorods. The enhanced photocatalytic efficiency can be attributed to the introduction of oxygen vacancies which have been found to reduce photogenerated electron-hole pair recombination and narrow band gap.     

The characteristics of CO2 assimilation of photosynthesis and chlorophyll fluorescence in transgenic PEPC rice

With PEPC, PPDK, NADP-ME and PEPC+ PPDK transgenic and untransformed rice (Orysa sativa L.), the activities of related C₄ photosynthesis enzymes, the chlorophyll fluorescence parameters, CO₂ exchange and other physiological indexes were compared, in which the physiological characteristics of PEPC transgenic rice were mainly studied. The results were as follows: (ⅰ) The activities of PEPC in PEPC transgenic rice were 20-fold higher than those in untransformed rice; the light-saturation photosynthetic rates and the carboxylation efficiency of PEPC transgenic rice were increased by 55% and 50% more than those of untransformed rice, respectively, while the CO₂ compensation point decreased by 27%. (ⅱ) The PSⅡ photochemical efficiency (F_v/F_m) and photochemical quenching (q_P) of transgenic PEPC rice decreased less in comparison with those of untransformed rice after the treatment with high light intensity (3 h) or methyl viologen (MV), a photooxidative reagent, which demonstrated that the tolerance of PEPC transgenic rice to photoinhibition and photooxidation was enhanced. (ⅲ) Under the condition of high light intensity, the activity of RuBPCase in PEPC transgenic rice did not obviously vary while the activity induced of carbonic anhydrase (CA) in PEPC transgenic rice increased by 1.8 fold. These results would provide some beneficial enlightment for revealing the mechanism of high photosynthetic efficiency and breeding with high photosynthetic efficiency in rice.     

Structure of the insulin receptor ectodomain reveals a folded-over conformation

The insulin receptor is a phylogenetically ancient tyrosine kinase receptor found in organisms as primitive as cnidarians and insects. In higher organisms it is essential for glucose homeostasis, whereas the closely related insulin-like growth factor receptor (IGF-1R) is involved in normal growth and development. The insulin receptor is expressed in two isoforms, IR-A and IR-B; the former also functions as a high-affinity receptor for IGF-II and is implicated, along with IGF-1R, in malignant transformation. Here we present the crystal structure at 3.8 A resolution of the IR-A ectodomain dimer, complexed with four Fabs from the monoclonal antibodies 83-7 and 83-14 (ref. 4), grown in the presence of a fragment of an insulin mimetic peptide. The structure reveals the domain arrangement in the disulphide-linked ectodomain dimer, showing that the insulin receptor adopts a folded-over conformation that places the ligand-binding regions in juxtaposition. This arrangement is very different from previous models. It shows that the two L1 domains are on opposite sides of the dimer, too far apart to allow insulin to bind both L1 domains simultaneously as previously proposed. Instead, the structure implicates the carboxy-terminal surface of the first fibronectin type III domain as the second binding site involved in high-affinity binding.     

认知与民族志

人类知识中最重要的部分应该是不直接表明的。人类学的诠释过程是民族志实践中的重要且不可或缺的部分。但是阐释也必须关照科学的传统,不能任由模糊的直觉来指引:运用认知科学,人们对于知识、对于行动的动机、对于研究对象的行动,都可以从一个明确与深思后的假设来分析;同时会让人们注意到田野中可能忽略的现象,或者至少可以做出不同的阐释。     

基于EKF的PMSM无机械传感器矢量控制

为了准确估计永磁同步电机(PMSM)的转子位置和转速,并实现无机械传感器矢量控制,提出了一种基于扩展Kalman滤波器(EKF)的转子位置和转速观测器,适合于求解永磁同步电机的非线性方程。观测器状态方程采用转子磁链定向的同步旋转坐标系下的电压方程,电感等参数为常数,可以应用于凸极机和隐极机。对扩展Kalman滤波器进行了算法简化,使它可以实用化。把负载转矩作为状态变量,观测器可以同时观测负载转矩,并把观测转矩用作前馈补偿,提高了系统的动态性能。通过实验验证了系统的性能。     

Paradigmatic Road Blocks in Elementary School Science “Reform”: Reconsidering Nature-of-Science Teaching Within a Rational-Realist Milieu

Although governments espouse development in students of comprehensive science literacy, excessive teaching of achievements of science tends to compromise students' development of realistic conceptions about science and expertise for doing science. For most students, school science is like being chained inside Plato's cave, only able to experience and interpret the world of science from flickering, shadowy images. This can be particularly problematic for students in elementary schools, who may not be developmentally ready for abstract topics inherent to nature of science discussions and whose teachers tend to have low science self-efficacy beliefs. In the mainly qualitative ethnographic study of a 3-year, large-scale collaborative action research project reported here, a significant additional factor limiting students' access to more contemporary views about and realistic experiences with science, however, was government curriculum policy—which promotes highly idealized portrayals of and regulated experiences with science. Data and arguments for these claims are provided.