Showing papers by "Nankai University published in 2008"

Evaluation of Solution-Processed Reduced Graphene Oxide Films as Transparent Conductors

Abstract: Processable, single-layered graphene oxide (GO) is an intriguing nanomaterial with tremendous potential for electronic applications. We spin-coated GO thin-films on quartz and characterized their sheet resistance and optical transparency using different reduction treatments. A thermal graphitization procedure was most effective, producing films with sheet resistances as low as 102 −103 Ω/square with 80% transmittance for 550 nm light. Our experiments demonstrate solution-processed GO films have potential as transparent electrodes.

The draft genome of the transgenic tropical fruit tree papaya (Carica papaya Linnaeus)

Abstract: Papaya, a fruit crop cultivated in tropical and subtropical regions, is known for its nutritional benefits and medicinal applications. Here we report a 3x draft genome sequence of 'SunUp' papaya, the first commercial virus-resistant transgenic fruit tree to be sequenced. The papaya genome is three times the size of the Arabidopsis genome, but contains fewer genes, including significantly fewer disease-resistance gene analogues. Comparison of the five sequenced genomes suggests a minimal angiosperm gene set of 13,311. A lack of recent genome duplication, atypical of other angiosperm genomes sequenced so far, may account for the smaller papaya gene number in most functional groups. Nonetheless, striking amplifications in gene number within particular functional groups suggest roles in the evolution of tree-like habit, deposition and remobilization of starch reserves, attraction of seed dispersal agents, and adaptation to tropical daylengths. Transgenesis at three locations is closely associated with chloroplast insertions into the nuclear genome, and with topoisomerase I recognition sites. Papaya offers numerous advantages as a system for fruit-tree functional genomics, and this draft genome sequence provides the foundation for revealing the basis of Carica's distinguishing morpho-physiological, medicinal and nutritional properties.

MoS2 nanoribbons: high stability and unusual electronic and magnetic properties.

Abstract: First-principles computations were carried out to predict the stability and magnetic and electronic properties of MoS2 nanoribbons with either zigzag- or armchair-terminated edges. Zigzag nanoribbons show the ferromagnetic and metallic behavior, irrespective of the ribbon width and thickness. Armchair nanoribbons are nonmagnetic and semiconducting, and the band gaps converge to a constant value of approximately 0.56 eV as the ribbon width increases. The higher stability of MoS2 nanoribbons, compared with the experimentally available triangular MoS2 nanoclusters, invites the experimental realization of such novel ribbons in true nanoscale.

BSKs mediate signal transduction from the receptor kinase BRI1 in Arabidopsis.

Abstract: Brassinosteroids (BRs) bind to the extracellular domain of the receptor kinase BRI1 to activate a signal transduction cascade that regulates nuclear gene expression and plant development. Many components of the BR signaling pathway have been identified and studied in detail. However, the substrate of BRI1 kinase that transduces the signal to downstream components remains unknown. Proteomic studies of plasma membrane proteins lead to the identification of three homologous BR-signaling kinases (BSK1, BSK2, and BSK3). The BSKs are phosphorylated by BRI1 in vitro and interact with BRI1 in vivo. Genetic and transgenic studies demonstrate that the BSKs represent a small family of kinases that activate BR signaling downstream of BRI1. These results demonstrate that BSKs are the substrates of BRI1 kinase that activate downstream BR signal transduction.

Context-aware query suggestion by mining click-through and session data

Abstract: Query suggestion plays an important role in improving the usability of search engines. Although some recently proposed methods can make meaningful query suggestions by mining query patterns from search logs, none of them are context-aware - they do not take into account the immediately preceding queries as context in query suggestion. In this paper, we propose a novel context-aware query suggestion approach which is in two steps. In the offine model-learning step, to address data sparseness, queries are summarized into concepts by clustering a click-through bipartite. Then, from session data a concept sequence suffix tree is constructed as the query suggestion model. In the online query suggestion step, a user's search context is captured by mapping the query sequence submitted by the user to a sequence of concepts. By looking up the context in the concept sequence sufix tree, our approach suggests queries to the user in a context-aware manner. We test our approach on a large-scale search log of a commercial search engine containing 1:8 billion search queries, 2:6 billion clicks, and 840 million query sessions. The experimental results clearly show that our approach outperforms two baseline methods in both coverage and quality of suggestions.

Chiral Diphosphine and Monodentate Phosphorus Ligands on a Spiro Scaffold for Transition-Metal-Catalyzed Asymmetric Reactions

Abstract: The preparation of chiral compounds in enantiomerically pure form is a challenging goal in modern organic synthesis. The use of chiral metal complex catalysis is a powerful, economically feasible tool for the preparation of optically active organic compounds on both laboratory and industrial scales. In particular, the metals coordinated by one or more chiral phosphorus ligands exhibit amazing enantioselectivity and reactivity. Many chiral phosphorus ligands have been synthesized and used in transition-metal-catalyzed asymmetric reactions in past decades. However, a large number of reactions still lack effective chiral ligands, and the enantioselectivities in many reactions are substrate-dependent. The development of effective chiral phosphorus ligands, especially ligands having novel chiral backbones, is still an important task in the area of asymmetric catalysis. Molecules containing a spirocyclic framework are ubiquitous in nature. The synthesis of molecules with this spiro structure can be traced back to 100 years ago. However, the use of this spirocyclic framework to construct chiral phosphorus ligands is a recent event. This Account outlines the design and synthesis of a new family of chiral spiro phosphorus ligands including spiro diphosphines and spiro monodentate phosphorus ligands with 1,1'-spirobiindane and 9,9'-spirobifluorene backbone and their applications in transition-metal-catalyzed asymmetric hydrogenation and carbon-carbon bond formation reactions. The chiral spiro diphosphine lgands SDP with a 1,1'-spirobiindane backbone and SFDP with a 9,9'-spirobifluorene backbone, and the spiro monophosphorus ligands including phosphoramidites, phosphites, phosphonites, and phospholane with a 1,1'-spirobiindane backbone were synthesized in good yields from enantiomerically pure 1,1'-spirobiindane-7,7'-diol and 9,9'-spirobifluoren-1,1'-diol. The ruthenium complexes of chiral spiro diphosphine ligands proved to be very effective catalysts for asymmetric hydrogenations of ketones, alpha-arylaldehydes and alpha,beta-unsaturated acids. The rhodium complexes of chiral spiro monophosphorus ligands are highly enantioselective for the asymmetric hydrogenations of alpha- and beta-dehydroamino acid derivatives, alpha-arylethenyl acetamides and non- N-acyl enamines. The spiro monophosphorus ligands were demonstrated to be highly efficient for the Rh-catalyzed asymmetric addition of arylboronic acids to aldehydes and N-tosylarylimines, Pd-catalyzed asymmetric allylation of aldehydes with allylic alcohols, Cu-catalyzed asymmetric ring opening reactions with Grignard reagents, and Ni-catalyzed asymmetric hydrovinylation of styrene derivatives with ethylene. The chiral spiro phosphorus ligands show high enantioselectivities for a wide range of transition-metal-catalyzed asymmetric reactions. In most of these transformations, the enantioselectivities of spiro phosphorus ligands are superior to those obtained by using the corresponding phosphorus ligands with other backbones. These results arise from the intriguing chiral inducement of spiro structures of the ligands.

Template-Directed Materials for Rechargeable Lithium-Ion Batteries†

Abstract: Extensive research activities have been directed to develop flexible rechargeable lithium-ion batteries with large capacity, high power, and long cycling life. Template technology offers the benefits in terms of either designing new-type electrode materials or modifying traditional battery configurations. With the aid of “hard” or “soft” templates, a variety of functional materials with diverse structures and morphologies such as one-dimensional (1D) nanostructures, 2D films, and 3D porous frameworks have been synthesized. This review highlights the recent progress in the template-prepared electrode materials for lithium storage, mainly focusing on the Li+ intercalation reactions and the Li conversion properties with the nanostructures of LiCoO2, C, SnO2, Fe2O3, Co3O4, VOx, and MnO2. In some specifically demonstrated examples, the templated cathode materials (e.g., lithium metal oxides) show significantly improved reversibility and high rate capability over a voltage of 3 V after 100 cycles, whereas the t...

Comparative toxicity of several metal oxide nanoparticle aqueous suspensions to Zebrafish (Danio rerio) early developmental stage

Abstract: With the emergence of manufactured nanomaterials, it is urgent to carry out researches on their potential environmental impacts and biological effects To better understand the potential ecotoxicological impacts of metal oxide nanoparticles released to aquatic environments, the zebrafish 96-h embryo-larval bioassay was used to assess and compare the developmental toxicities of nanoscale zinc oxide (nZnO), titanium dioxide (nTiO(2)) and alumina (nAl(2)O(3)) aqueous suspensions Toxicological endpoints such as zebrafish embryos or larvae survival, hatching rate and malformation were noted and described within 96 h of exposure Meanwhile, a comparative experiment with their bulk counterparts (ie, ZnO/bulk, TiO(2)/bulk and Al(2)O(3)/bulk) was conducted to understand the effect of particle size on their toxicities The results showed that: (i) both nZnO and ZnO/bulk aqueous suspensions delayed zebrafish embryo and larva development, decreased their survival and hatching rates, and caused tissue damage The 96-h LC(50) of nZnO and ZnO/bulk aqueous suspensions on the zebrafish survival are 1793 mg/L and 1550 mg/L respectively; and the 84-h EC(50) on the zebrafish embryo hatching rate are 2065 mg/L and 2066 mg/L respectively Serious tissue ulceration was found on zebrafish larvae exposed to nZnO and ZnO/bulk aqueous suspensions (ii) In contrast, neither nTiO(2) and TiO(2)/bulk nor nAl(2)O(3) and Al(2)O(3)/bulk showed any toxicity to zebrafish embryos and larvae under the same experimental condition It revealed that the metal oxide nanoparticles with different chemical composition have different zebrafish developmental toxicities (iii) Exposures of nTiO(2), nZnO and nAl(2)O(3) produced toxic effects on zebrafish embryos and larvae, which was not different from the effects caused by exposing to their bulk counterparts This is the first study about the developmental toxicity of metal oxide nanoparticles, and the results demonstrate that nZnO is very toxic to zebrafish embryos and larvae, which highlights the need to evaluate the potential eco-toxicity of these manufactured nanomaterials (MNMs)

Exploring an Inverted U-Shape Relationship between Entrepreneurial Orientation and Performance in Chinese Ventures

Abstract: The critical role of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) in firm performance has been widely studied in the U.S. context. However, the examination of this key construct in emerging regions such as Chi...

Structures of Two Coronavirus Main Proteases : Implications for Substrate Binding and Antiviral Drug Design

Abstract: Coronaviruses (CoVs) can infect humans and multiple species of animals, causing a wide spectrum of diseases. The coronavirus main protease (M(pro)), which plays a pivotal role in viral gene expression and replication through the proteolytic processing of replicase polyproteins, is an attractive target for anti-CoV drug design. In this study, the crystal structures of infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) M(pro) and a severe acute respiratory syndrome CoV (SARS-CoV) M(pro) mutant (H41A), in complex with an N-terminal autocleavage substrate, were individually determined to elucidate the structural flexibility and substrate binding of M(pro). A monomeric form of IBV M(pro) was identified for the first time in CoV M(pro) structures. A comparison of these two structures to other available M(pro) structures provides new insights for the design of substrate-based inhibitors targeting CoV M(pro)s. Furthermore, a Michael acceptor inhibitor (named N3) was cocrystallized with IBV M(pro) and was found to demonstrate in vitro inactivation of IBV M(pro) and potent antiviral activity against IBV in chicken embryos. This provides a feasible animal model for designing wide-spectrum inhibitors against CoV-associated diseases. The structure-based optimization of N3 has yielded two more efficacious lead compounds, N27 and H16, with potent inhibition against SARS-CoV M(pro).

Visible-Light-Driven Oxidation of Organic Contaminants in Air with Gold Nanoparticle Catalysts on Oxide Supports

Abstract: One of the great challenges in catalysis is to devise new catalysts that have high activity when illuminated by visible light. Solving this challenge will allow us to use sunlight, an abundant and clean low-cost energy source, to drive chemical reactions. Visible light (wavelength l> 400 nm) constitutes around 43% of solar energy, and the energy of sunlight to the Earth is about 10000 times more than the current energy consumption of the world. Many approaches have been proposed to develop visible light photocatalysts, including doping TiO2 with metal ions or metal atom clusters, [4,5] incorporating nitrogen and carbon into TiO2, and employing other metal oxides or polymetallates as catalyst materials. 5,8] Research has been mainly concentrated on semiconductor oxides. Sulfides have also been studied, but they are not suitable catalysts because of their poor chemical stability. However, searching for catalysts that can work under visible light should not be limited to semiconductor materials with band-gap structure, but can be extended to other materials, such as gold nanoparticles. It can be said that glaziers in medieval forges were the first nanotechnologists who produced colors with gold nanoparticles of different sizes, although they had little understanding of the modern day principles which have become a hot topic in the last two decades. In recent years there have been numerous studies on the optical properties of gold nanoparticles. Gold nanoparticles absorb visible light intensely because of the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect. The electromagnetic field of incident light couples with the oscillations of conduction electrons in gold particles, resulting in strong-field enhancement of the local electromagnetic fields near the rough surface of gold nanoparticles. The enhanced local field strength can be over 500 times larger than the applied field for structures with sharp apices, edges, or concave curvature (e.g. nanowires, cubes, triangular plates, and nanoparticle junctions). The SPR absorption may cause rapid heating of the nanoparticles. Gold nanoparticles supported on metal oxides are efficient catalysts for important oxidation process, including selective oxidation of hydrocarbons and oxidation of various volatile organic compounds (VOCs), such as CO, CH3OH, and HCHO at moderately elevated temperatures. Therefore, the combination of the SPR absorption and the catalytic activity of gold nanoparticles presents an important opportunity: if the heated gold nanoparticles could activate the organic molecules on them to induce oxidation of the organic compounds, then oxidation on gold catalysts can be driven by visible light at ambient temperature. Moreover, the SPR is a local effect, limited to the noble metal particles, so that the light only heats gold nanoparticles, which generally account for a few percent of the overall catalyst mass. This leads to significant saving in energy consumption for catalyzing organic compound oxidation. To verify the possibility of driving the VOC oxidation with visible light at room temperature, we prepared gold particles supported on various oxide powders. ZrO2 and SiO2 powders were first chosen as supports, because their band gaps are circa 5.0 eV and circa 9.0 eV, respectively, which are much larger than the energies of the photons of visible light (less than 3.0 eV). Thus, the light cannot excite electrons from the valence band to the conduction band. It is also impossible for the gold nanoparticles on ZrO2 to reduce the band gaps of ZrO2 enough for visible light photons to be absorbed and excite electrons in ZrO2. Thus, the catalytic activity is not caused by the same mechanism as occurs in semiconductor photocatalysts, but is due to the SPR effect of gold nanoparticles. The changes in the concentrations of the reactant (HCHO, 100 ppm) and product (CO2), when gold supported on ZrO2 was used as the catalyst, are depicted in Figure 1a. The initial concentration of HCHO in the glass vessel was 100 ppm. HCHO content decreased by 64% in two hours under the irradiation of six light tubes of blue light (with wavelength between 400 and 500 nm and the irradiation energy determined to be 0.17 Wcm 2 at the position of glass slides coated with the gold catalysts), and the CO2 content in the vessel increased accordingly. These results confirm that the oxidation of formaldehyde to carbon dioxide proceeds to a large extent at ambient temperature. The turnover frequency was calculated as being about 1.2 = 10 3 molecules of [*] Dr. X. Chen, Prof. H.-Y. Zhu, Z.-F. Zheng School of Physical and Chemical Sciences Queensland University of Technology Brisbane, Qld 4001 (Australia) Fax: (+61)7-3864-1804 E-mail: hy.zhu@qut.edu.au

Selective gas adsorption and unique structural topology of a highly stable guest-free zeolite-type MOF material with N-rich chiral open channels.

Abstract: A new multifunctional di-topic tetrazolate-based ligand, 2,3-di-1H-tetrazol-5-ylpyrazine (H2dtp) has been designed and synthesized. The solvothermal reaction of this ligand with ZnCl2 gave a robust guest-free three-dimensional zeolite-like chiral metal-organic framework (MOF) complex, [Zn(dtp)], which crystallized in chiral space group P61 and possessed chiral open channels with nitrogen-rich walls and the diameter of approximately 4.1 A. This framework presents a unique uniform etd (8,3) topology, is the first example of its type in MOFs, and exhibits high thermal stability with the decomposition temperature above 380 °C and permanent porosity. It is interesting that this material is able to selectively adsorb O2 and CO2 over N2 gas, being a rare example in MOFs. In addition, C2H2 and MeOH adsorption results show that although the framework channel holds nitrogen-rich walls that may provide H-bonding sites, no N⋅⋅⋅H H-bond effect between the guest molecules and microporous surface was observed.

A Survey on the Randic Index

Abstract: The general Randic index Rα(G) of a (chemical) graph G, is defined as the sum of the weights (d(u)d(v))α of all edges uv of G, where d(u) denotes the degree of a vertex u in G and α an arbitrary real number, which is called the Randic index or connectivity index (or branching index) for α = −1/2 proposed by Milan Randic in 1975. The paper outlines the results known for the (general) Randic index of (chemical) graphs. Some very new results are released. We classify the results into the following categories: extremal values and extremal graphs of Randic index, general Randic index, zeroth-order general Randic index, higher-order Randic index. A few conjectures and open problems are mentioned.

Suppression of tumorigenesis by human mesenchymal stem cells in a hepatoma model.

Abstract: Human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) can home to tumor sites and inhibit the growth of tumor cells. Little is known about the underlying molecular mechanisms that link hMSCs to the targeted inhibition of tumor cells. In this study, we investigated the effects of hMSCs on two human hepatoma cell lines (H7402 and HepG2) using an animal transplantation model, a co-culture system and conditioned media from hMSCs. Animal transplantation studies showed that the latent time for tumor formation was prolonged and that the tumor size was smaller when SCID mice were injected with H7402 cells and an equal number of Z3 hMSCs. When co-cultured with Z3 cells, H7402 cell proliferation decreased, apoptosis increased, and the expression of Bcl-2, c-Myc, proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and survivin was downregulated. After treatment with conditioned media derived from Z3 hMSC cultures, H4702 cells showed decreased colony-forming ability and decreased proliferation. Immunoblot analysis showed that beta-catenin, Bcl-2, c-Myc, PCNA and survivin expression was downregulated in H7402 and HepG2 cells. Taken together, our findings demonstrate that hMSCs inhibit the malignant phenotypes of the H7402 and HepG2 human liver cancer cell lines, which include proliferation, colony-forming ability and oncogene expression both in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, our studies provide evidence that the Wnt signaling pathway may have a role in hMSC-mediated targeting and tumor cell inhibition.

Adsorption of hydroxyl- and amino-substituted aromatics to carbon nanotubes.

Abstract: The combined effects of hydroxyl/amino functional groups of aromatics and surface O-containing groups of carbon nanotubes on adsorption were evaluated. When normalized for hydrophobicity, 2,4-dichlorophenol and 2-naphthol exhibited a greater adsorptive affinity to carbon nanotubes and graphite (a model adsorbent without the surface O functionality) than structurally similar 1,3-dichlorobenzene and naphthalene, respectively, and 1-naphthylamine exhibited a much greater adsorptive affinity than all other compounds. Results of the pH-dependency experiments further indicated that the hydroxyl/amino functional groups of the adsorbates and the surface properties of the adsorbents played a combinational role in determining the significance of the nonhydrophobic adsorptive interactions. We propose that the strong adsorptive interaction between hydroxyl-substituted aromatics and carbon nanotubes/graphite was mainly due to the electron-donating effect of the hydroxyl group, which caused a strong electron-donor−acce...

New Triphenylamine-Based Dyes for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Abstract: A series of new conjugated metal−free organic dyes (TC1, TC2, TC3, and TC4) comprising triphenylamine (TPA) moieties as the electron donor and cyanoacetic acid moieties as the electron acceptor/anchoring groups were designed at the molecular level and developed for the use in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs). Quantum chemical calculations have been performed to gain insight into structural, electronic, and optical properties of the as-synthesized sensitizers. The time-dependent density functional theory calculations allowed assignment of the experimental spectroscopic data. It is found that the photovoltaic performance of the DSCs with the as-synthesized dyes can be improved by enhancing the electron-donor ability and extending the π-conjugated bridge of the dyes. In particular, the DSCs based on 2-cyano-5-(4-(phenyl(4-vinylphenyl)amino)phenyl) penta-2,4-dienoic acid dye (TC4) showed an open circuit voltage of 652 mV, a short circuit photocurrent density of 11.5 mA cm-2, and a fill factor of 0.64, corres...

Complex network-based time series analysis

Abstract: Recent works show that complex network theory may be a powerful tool in time series analysis. We propose in this paper a reliable procedure for constructing complex networks from the correlation matrix of a time series. An original stock time series, the corresponding return series and its amplitude series are considered. The degree distribution of the original series can be well fitted with a power law, while that of the return series can be well fitted with a Gaussian function. The degree distribution of the amplitude series contains two asymmetric Gaussian branches. Reconstruction of networks from time series is a common problem in diverse research. The proposed strategy may be a reasonable solution to this problem.

Ammonia borane as an efficient and lightweight hydrogen storage medium

Abstract: Ammonia borane (NH3BH3, AB) containing 19.6 wt% hydrogen has been considered as a promising candidate for on-board hydrogen storage applications on the way to the ideal “hydrogen economy”. Whereas, how to control the energy of the hydrogen releasing and recycling of AB efficiently is the present challenge for its wide use. In this mini review, we highlight the preparation, dehydrogenation and regeneration of AB and briefly discuss the current developments, problems and feasible solutions in AB hydrogen storage chemistry.

Structure and genetics of Shigella O antigens

Abstract: This review covers the O antigens of the 46 serotypes of Shigella, but those of most Shigella flexneri are variants of one basic structure, leaving 34 Shigella distinct O antigens to review, together with their gene clusters. Several of the structures and gene clusters are reported for the first time and this is the first such group for which structures and DNA sequences have been determined for all O antigens. Shigella strains are in effect Escherichia coli with a specific mode of pathogenicity, and 18 of the 34 O antigens are also found in traditional E. coli. Three are very similar to E. coli O antigens and 13 are unique to Shigella strains. The O antigen of Shigella sonnei is quite atypical for E. coli and is thought to have transferred from Plesiomonas. The other 12 O antigens unique to Shigella strains have structures that are typical of E. coli, but there are considerably more anomalies in their gene clusters, probably reflecting recent modification of the structures. Having the complete set of structures and genes opens the way for experimental studies on the role of this diversity in pathogenicity.

Hydride, Hydrogen Atom, Proton, and Electron Transfer Driving Forces of Various Five-Membered Heterocyclic Organic Hydrides and Their Reaction Intermediates in Acetonitrile

Abstract: The enthalpy changes of 47 five-membered heterocyclic compounds (ZH) [33 substituted 2,3-dihydro-2-phenylbenzo[d]imidazoles (1H-5H), 9 substituted 2,3-dihydro-2-phenylbenzo[d]thiazoles (6H), and 5 substituted 2,3-dihydro-2-phenylbenzo[d]oxazoles (7H)] as a class of very important organic hydride donors to release hydride anion were determined by using titration calorimetry. The result shows that the enthalpy change scale of the 47 ZH in acetonitrile ranges from 49.0 to 93.4 kcal/mol. Such a long energy scale evidently shows that the 47 ZH can construct a large and useful library of organic hydride donors, which can provide various organic hydride donors that the hydride-releasing enthalpies are known. The enthalpy changes of the 47 ZH to release hydrogen atom and the 47 ZH+• to release proton and hydrogen atom were also evaluated by using relative thermodynamic cycles according to Hess' law. The results show: (1) the enthalpy change scale of the 47 ZH to release hydrogen atom covers a range from 71.8 to ...

Neutrino masses and the CERN LHC: Testing the type II seesaw mechanism

Abstract: We demonstrate how to systematically test a well-motivated mechanism for neutrino mass generation (type II seesaw) at the LHC, in which a Higgs triplet is introduced In the optimistic scenarios with a small Higgs triplet vacuum expectation value ${v}_{\ensuremath{\Delta}}l{10}^{\ensuremath{-}4}\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{GeV}$, one can look for clean signals of lepton-number violation in the decays of doubly charged (${H}^{\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}}$) and singly charged (${H}^{\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}}$) Higgs bosons to distinguish the normal hierarchy (NH), the inverted hierarchy (IH), and the quasidegenerate (QD) spectrum for the light neutrino masses The observation of either ${H}^{+}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{\ensuremath{\tau}}^{+}\overline{\ensuremath{ u}}$ or ${H}^{+}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{e}^{+}\overline{\ensuremath{ u}}$ will be particularly robust for the spectrum test since they are independent of the unknown Majorana phases The ${H}^{++}$ decays moderately depend on a Majorana phase ${\ensuremath{\Phi}}_{2}$ in the NH, but sensitively depend on ${\ensuremath{\Phi}}_{1}$ in the IH In a less favorable scenario ${v}_{\ensuremath{\Delta}}g2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}4}\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{GeV}$, when the leptonic channels are suppressed, one needs to observe the decays ${H}^{+}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{W}^{+}{H}_{1}$ and ${H}^{+}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}t\overline{b}$ to confirm the triplet-doublet mixing which in turn implies the existence of the same gauge-invariant interaction between the lepton doublet and the Higgs triplet responsible for the neutrino mass generation In the most optimistic situation, ${v}_{\ensuremath{\Delta}}\ensuremath{\sim}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}4}\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{GeV}$, both channels of the lepton pairs and gauge boson pairs may be available simultaneously The determination of their relative branching fractions would give a measurement for the value of ${v}_{\ensuremath{\Delta}}$

α-CuV2O6 Nanowires: Hydrothermal Synthesis and Primary Lithium Battery Application

Abstract: We report on the synthesis, characterization, and electrochemical lithium intercalation of α-CuV2O6 nanowires, mesowires, and microrods that were prepared through a facile hydrothermal route. The diameters of the as-synthesized α-CuV2O6 nanowires, mesowires, and microrods were about 100 nm, 400 nm, and 1 µm, respectively. It was found that by simply controlling the hydrothermal reaction parameters, such as the reagent concentration and the dwell time, the transformation of microrods to nanowires was readily achieved via a “ripening−splitting” mechanism. Electrochemical measurements revealed that the as-prepared α-CuV2O6 nanowires and mesowires displayed high discharge capacities (447−514 mAh/g at 20 mA/g and 37 °C) and excellent high-rate capability. In particular, the α-CuV2O6 nanowires showed capacities much higher than those of α-CuV2O6 mesowires, microrods, and bulk particles. The mechanisms for the electrochemical lithium intercalation into the α-CuV2O6 nanowires were also discussed. From the Arrheni...