Browse Articles

Analysis of mid-infrared spectral characteristics and recognition models of coal with different particle sizes

Hydrological regimes and drainage systems of aerial rivers across South America

Abstract Aerial rivers, long-term preferential pathways of atmospheric moisture flows, sustain ecosystems and regional hydrology. Maximizing their downwind discharge potential remains elusive without an objective way to identify critical upwind source regions. Here we analyze the drainage patterns of aerial rivers across South America and develop a mathematical method to identify turning points in moisture drainage curves, beyond which the intensity of upwind moisture contribution declines sharply. This provides a criterion for objectively delineating critical upwind basins and reveals pronounced continental variation in their spatial extent. These patterns reflect distinct regimes within the continental aerial river system, enabling its classification into four major drainage types: headwater, drainage, outfall, and plain areas. The four types differ in their potential for atmospheric moisture management and in their susceptibility to ecological tipping points, with implications for refining forest conservation priorities. Together, these findings support more effective land-water planning and moisture governance under a changing climate.

Photoresponsive Discoidal Polymersomes With Tracelessly Crosslinkable Bilayers for Intracellular Drug Delivery

ABSTRACT Hierarchical biological structures inspire the design of synthetic nanomaterials, yet bottom‐up access to nonspherical polymersomes, particularly discoidal architectures like red blood cells (RBCs)—remains elusive due to thermodynamic constraints. Moreover, stimuli‐responsive control over such nonspherical vesicles is largely unexplored. Here we report photoresponsive block copolymer (BCP) amphiphiles bearing photolabile thiocoumarin units in the hydrophobic side chains that self‐assemble into five distinct nanostructures, including rare polymersome discocytes (PDs), by tuning block ratio and water addition rate during cosolvent‐mediated self‐assembly. Discocytes display superior cellular uptake compared to other morphologies. Visible light irradiation triggers thiocoumarin cleavage to generate primary amines that spontaneously undergo amidation, yielding in situ crosslinking that maintains the discocyte shape while simultaneously increasing bilayer membrane permeability. This dual action ensures morphological preservation during photo‐controlled selective release of hydrophilic cargos. These findings establish a general bottom‐up strategy for constructing biomimetic, shape‐engineered, and stimuli‐responsive vesicles, opening avenues for next‐generation therapeutic and diagnostic platforms.

Intelligent fault diagnosis and classification of induction motors based on Relax-1DCNN and Relax-RF

Abstract Induction motors (IMs) are prone to diverse faults during operation, and untimely detection can lead to catastrophic failures. To address this issue, this study develops a dual-module intelligent fault diagnosis system integrating the RELAX algorithm with 1D convolutional neural network (1DCNN) and random forest (RF). The RELAX algorithm first suppresses fundamental frequency interference to highlight intrinsic fault features. The RELAX-1DCNN framework realizes efficient fault detection with 99.75% average accuracy, while the RELAX-RF framework achieves precise fault classification with 99.19% accuracy. This integrated system provides a reliable solution for IM fault diagnosis, balancing high efficiency and classification precision.

Genome-wide DNA methylation analysis revealed epigenetic mechanism underlying end-stage renal disease

Sustainable approach to mitigate freeze–thaw damage in collapsible soils using nano-scale iron oxide

Universal entanglement growth along imaginary time in quantum critical systems

Abstract Characterizing universal entanglement features in higher-dimensional quantum matter is a central challenge in quantum information science and condensed matter physics. While subleading corner terms in two-dimensional systems encode the essential fingerprints of the underlying conformal field theory, accessing these features remains notoriously difficult compared to the well-understood one-dimensional case. Here, we uncover a universal non-equilibrium scaling law governing imaginary-time entanglement dynamics. We demonstrate that for 2D quantum critical points, the corner entanglement grows logarithmically with imaginary time, with a coefficient dictated solely by the universality class. By validating this framework through large-scale Quantum Monte Carlo simulations, we definitively resolve the entanglement structure of the interacting Gross-Neveu-Yukawa critical point, revealing significant interaction-driven deviations from free-fermion theories. Crucially, our approach extracts high-precision universal data from the early stages of relaxation, thereby bypassing the prohibitive computational bottlenecks of full equilibrium convergence. This work establishes a direct bridge between non-equilibrium critical phenomena and entanglement spectroscopy, providing a robust theoretical blueprint for applications on both classical numerical computation and emerging quantum hardware.

Ion‐Electron Coupling Strategy Induced by Interface Electric Field Enables High‐Performance LiFePO ₄ From Spent Cathode

ABSTRACT The direct regeneration of spent LiFePO 4 (LFP) is primarily constrained by the high energy barriers for concurrent Li + and electron transport, which has rarely been systematically addressed. Herein, an ion‐electron coupling (IEC) strategy is proposed, driven by an interfacial electric field (IEF), to achieve coordinated Li + and electron flow, thereby overcoming these transport barriers. The strategy of constructing localized boron–carbon (B–C) dipoles clothing on the LFP surface establishes a work function ( W F ) gradient with the exterior lower than the interior. This unique gradient drives spontaneous electron flow from the C@B to the LFP to form a directional IEF that simultaneously establishes efficient Li + transport pathways. This synergistic process significantly lowers the energy barriers for both carriers, ensuring ample Li + and electron supply for effective regeneration. Moreover, the IEF is maintained in the regenerated LFP, which also ensures rapid Li + and electron transport and leads to the excellent electrochemical performance of the regenerated LFP, with an outstanding rate capacity of 111.4 mAh g − 1 at 10 C, a capacity retention of 86.6% after 1000 cycles at 1 C. This work provides a novel and universal strategy to upgrade the LFP cathode from spent lithium‐ion batteries.

Physics-informed hybrid GR4J–XGBoost model for streamflow prediction: integrating conceptual states, SHAP interpretability, and uncertainty analysis

Abstract Accurate streamflow prediction remains challenging due to the nonlinear and dynamic nature of rainfall–runoff processes. Conceptual hydrological models provide physically interpretable representations, yet their predictive performance is often limited, while data-driven models may suffer from overfitting and a lack of interpretability. To address these limitations, this study proposes a physics-informed hybrid modeling framework that integrates the GR4J conceptual model with the XGBoost machine learning algorithm. Unlike conventional hybrid approaches, the proposed method incorporates GR4J-derived state and flux variables (including simulated discharge, storage state, effective rainfall, evapotranspiration, percolation, and exchange fluxes) as input features, enabling a process-based representation of catchment dynamics within the machine learning framework. The proposed framework was evaluated using a catchment selected from the CAMELS-DE (Catchment Attributes and Meteorology for Large-sample Studies–Germany) dataset. Model performance was assessed using multiple lag configurations (7, 14, and 30 days) across training, validation, and independent test datasets. The results demonstrate that the hybrid GR4J–XGBoost model generally outperforms the standalone GR4J and XGBoost models, particularly in terms of generalization capability and predictive stability. While the standalone XGBoost model benefits from longer lag structures, the hybrid model achieves comparable or superior predictive performance with shorter lag inputs, indicating reduced dependence on extended temporal memory while providing physically meaningful conceptual information for model interpretation. SHAP analysis reveals that physically meaningful variables, especially GR4J-derived state and flux components, play a dominant role in governing model predictions. Furthermore, residual-based uncertainty assessment shows that the hybrid model produces lower prediction bias, reduced residual dispersion, and narrower residual uncertainty bounds than the standalone approaches, indicating improved prediction reliability. Overall, the proposed framework provides a physics-informed, process-based, and interpretable approach for rainfall–runoff modeling while offering an additional assessment of prediction reliability through residual-based uncertainty evaluation.

Bifacial ladder polymers enabled by chirality-assisted synthesis that exhibit self-assembly and chirality-induced spin selectivity

Abstract The development of structural concepts in polymers has repeatedly enabled advances in molecular organization and emergent functions. Here we introduce “bifacial ladder polymers” —rigid double-stranded backbones bearing two deliberately differentiated molecular faces— realized through a chirality-assisted synthetic strategy. To implement this architecture, we designed a C 2 -chiral 2,8-dibromoindenofluorene monomer bearing two different substituents with syn stereochemistry across the sp 3 -carbon pair, such that only one ladderization geometry is accessible. Polymerization of the enantiopure monomers with a diboronate comonomer under Suzuki-Miyaura conditions affords precursor polymers, which undergo regioselective ladderization to yield well-defined bifacial ladder polymers with fully preserved facial differentiation. The homochiral bifacial ladder polymers display emergent chiroptical behaviour in the solid state: thin films form one-handed supramolecular helices with circular dichroism intensities over 100-fold stronger than those of their monomeric or non-ladder analogues. Strikingly, these films also exhibit robust chirality-induced spin selectivity, with spin-polarization values exceeding ±90% and opposite signs for the two enantiomers, far surpassing their precursor polymers. These results demonstrate that bifacial ladder polymers provide a versatile platform for emergent self-assemblies and functions in organic polymeric materials.

Thiol‐Isocyanate Photoprinting of Liquid Crystal Elastomers Toward High Toughness and Reprintability

ABSTRACT Photoprinting of liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) is blooming for creating soft actuators with complex geometries, reversible large and anisotropic deformations. However, they exhibit poor toughness below 10 MJ m −3 due to the limited chemical design under the necessary constraint of photoreactive groups (complete reliance on acrylate‐based polymerization); the introduction of toughening units along the chain backbone often reduces the mesogen content and compromises liquid crystallinity. The resulting permanent photocuring sites fundamentally hinder reprintability, which is critical for recyclability in photoprinted LCEs. Here, a thiol‐isocyanate photoprinting strategy is introduced in LCEs. The in situ formation of thiourethane bonds during crosslinking not only provides greater design freedom with higher hydrogen bond density, but also serves as dynamic photocuring sites. The resulting SU‐xLCE achieves high toughness and large elongation at break (85.3 ± 2.5 MJ m −3 and 1498.1 ± 32.5%, respectively), exhibiting actuation load 10 000 times its own weight and self‐healing ability, along with remarkable tear and puncture resistance, while sustaining over 10 000 fatigue and actuation cycles. It can also achieve chemical recycling of LC oligomer (accounting for 90.0 wt% of resin, 98.3% of cost) and the reprintability of the actuator without large performance loss. This work establishes a photoprinting platform toward next‐generation high‐performance soft robotics.

AI exposure breadth moderates differences between age-defined generational cohorts in preference for artificial intelligence rather than a human

Alternating-chiral charge density waves and associated spin polarization in monolayered NbTe2

A fuzzy graph-based prediction model for crop yield forecasting under climatic variability

Divergent concerted and stepwise cycloadditions via enantioselective cross-conjugated iminium-ion catalysis

Liquid Crystal Elastomers for Adaptive Intelligent Systems: From Molecular Design to Multifunctional Applications

ABSTRACT Liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs), particularly nematic and cholesteric variants, have emerged as pivotal adaptive intelligent materials due to their unique capacity to reversibly translate microscopic molecular reorientation into macroscopic deformation and optical responses. This review provides a comprehensive overview of recent breakthroughs in LCE‐based adaptive systems, systematically examining their fundamental stimulus‐response mechanisms, network architecture engineering, advanced fabrication techniques, and cutting‐edge applications. Special emphasis is placed on strategies for lowering actuation thresholds to near‐ambient or body temperatures through chemical composition modulation, dynamic covalent adaptable networks, and innovative processing methods such as hybrid cooling 3D printing. We further highlight the integration of LCEs into multifunctional platforms for dynamic thermal management, multispectral camouflage, high‐density information encryption, deformable energy storage, and closed‐loop soft actuators with intrinsic sensing capabilities. Despite significant progress, challenges regarding large‐scale manufacturing, long‐term cyclic stability, and precise spatiotemporal control remain. By synthesizing current design principles and identifying critical technological bottlenecks, this review aims to guide the rational development of next‐generation programmable, multifunctional, and environmentally resilient LCE systems, ultimately accelerating their transition from laboratory prototypes to real‐world adaptive intelligent applications.

Optimizing the mechanical properties of concrete incorporating metakaolin and recycled PET

Early-mid Holocene Ross Sea extreme wave heights reflect sea ice retreat and ocean-atmosphere interactions

Abstract Antarctic coastal systems preserve valuable records of postglacial environmental change and extreme storm events. On Inexpressible Island, Ross Sea, we integrated geomorphic mapping, boulder measurements, exposure dating, radiocarbon constraints, and hydrodynamic analysis to reconstruct early to mid-Holocene storm-wave activity. Here we show that between approximately 8000 and 5000 years ago, reduced sea-ice cover, expanded open-water fetch, and stronger atmosphere–ocean coupling drove repeated high-energy storms with significant wave heights of 1–3 m during typical events and up to 4–9 m during episodic extremes. These storms transported meter-scale boulders and formed raised beach ridges, the highest ridge crest situated at 29 m above sea level (asl), reflecting postglacial sea-level fluctuation, glacio-isostatic adjustment, and local wave energy variations. Holocene storminess in the Ross Sea region exceeded present-day extremes, underscoring linkages between Antarctic coastal evolution and climate–ocean–cryosphere processes, with implications for projecting future coastal change under ongoing warming.

Photoinduced Palladium‐Catalyzed Site‐Selective <i>Meta</i> ‐Alkylation of Pyridines

ABSTRACT Achieving regioselective meta ‐C–H alkylation of pyridines remains a long‐standing challenge due to their intrinsic electronic bias and the lack of general strategies compatible with simple alkyl electrophiles. In contrast to Minisci‐type alkylations, which preferentially functionalize electron‐deficient positions, meta ‐alkylation of unbiased pyridines using alkyl bromides has remained elusive. Herein, we report a photoinduced palladium‐catalyzed strategy that enables regioselective meta ‐alkylation of pyridines with commercially available alkyl bromides via a redox‐neutral dearomatization pathway. Visible‐light excitation of palladium generates a hybrid alkyl–Pd(I) radical species that undergoes regioselective addition to oxazino‐pyridine intermediates despite inherent polarity mismatch, forming a stabilized π ‐allyl Pd(I) radical prior to rearomatization. The method exhibits a broad substrate scope encompassing diverse pyridines, quinolines, and alkyl bromides, and enables one‐pot and sequential meta ‐functionalization strategies. DFT calculations support an outer‐sphere radical addition mechanism and rationalize the observed regioselectivity. This work establishes a new paradigm for Pd‐catalyzed meta ‐C–H alkylation of azines, a complementary conceptual approach to conventional and important Minisci chemistry.

Optimizing the removal of color and impurities from sugar beet syrup using bentonite/iron oxide nanocomposite

Abstract Efficient removal of colorants and impurities is a crucial step in the sugar industry to ensure high-quality final products and to minimize operational costs. This study investigates the performance of a magnetic bentonite/iron oxide nanocomposite for removing color-forming compounds from beet sugar syrup under laboratory conditions. Iron oxide nanoparticles were synthesized using the co-precipitation method and subsequently immobilized onto bentonite. The main operating parameters, including contact time, adsorbent dosage, pH, and temperature, were optimized using response surface methodology (RSM). Characterization by FTIR, XRD, and SEM analyses confirmed the successful formation of the magnetic nanocomposite and its suitable surface properties for adsorption. The results showed that acidic conditions (around pH 5) significantly improved both decolorization efficiency and syrup clarity. Optimization results indicated that the optimal conditions were pH 5, a temperature of 80 °C, a contact time of 200 min, and an adsorbent dosage of 2.36 g L⁻¹. Under these conditions, the process followed the pseudo-second order kinetic model (R² = 0.981) and the Freundlich isotherm model (R² = 0.949), indicating a chemisorption-dominated process on a heterogeneous surface. Increasing the adsorbent dosage enhanced decolorization efficiency; however, exceeding the optimal dosage slightly reduced syrup clarity due to particle aggregation. Overall, the results indicate that the magnetic bentonite/iron oxide nanocomposite has considerable potential as a magnetically recoverable adsorbent for the sustainable purification of sugar beet syrup, although further pilot-scale and industrial-scale investigations are recommended to evaluate its long-term applicability.