bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
TiO2−WOxCoatings on Aluminum Open Cell Foams as Potential Packing Material for Esterification of Glycolic Acid with Ethanol
Authors: Reyes Laura , Vilcocq Léa , Zanota Marie‐Line , Meille Valérie , Nikitine Clémence , Fongarland Pascal 
Published: January 2023

AbstractThe application of open cell foams as catalytic supports has been developed in recent years due to their interesting features: large specific surface area (>300 m2 m−3), high void fractions (>0.9) and enhanced internal mass transport. Catalytic foams are highly appealing for the development of structured reactors, especially for multiphase systems. In this paper, catalytic packing material with potential application in structured reactors was developed. Aluminum foams with different macropore sizes were chosen as support for a TiO2−WOxcatalyst. The main features, geometric and structural, of the foams were established. At optimized conditions a maximum catalyst loading of 234 kgcatalyst m−3supportwas obtained, while maintaining significant void fraction (>0.8). The structured catalyst was successfully implemented in batch reactor for a model reaction, esterification of glycolic acid with ethanol. It was shown that the catalyst does not lose performance during the coating steps and remains active for at least 3 catalytic runs, i. e. 18 h.
Study of the bactericidal properties of ZnO/Ag0 nanoparticles in the treatment of raw sewage effluents
Authors: Moreira Micheline D. D. , Neto Nivaldo F. Andrade , Oliveira Fernanda K. F. , Paskocimas Carlos A. , Bomio Mauricio R. D. , Motta Fabiana V. 
Published: January 2023

AbstractIn this work, the antimicrobial treatment of raw sewage effluents (RSE) of residences was studied. For this, the RSE was collected from a treatment plant and the antimicrobial activity was evaluated using Ag0 decorated ZnO nanoparticles. ZnO/Ag0 nanoparticles were synthesized by a microwave‐assisted hydrothermal method and sonochemical method. The effect of ZnO/Ag0 nanoparticles was evaluated by varying the concentration of the catalyst to the RSE, varying the amount of silver, and varying the contact time of the catalyst with the RSE, to optimize the process. The ZnO/Ag0 nanoparticles were characterized by X‐ray diffraction, surface area using the Brunauer‐Emmett‐Teller methodology, and field emission scanning electron microscopy. The results indicate that the particles synthesized by the association of sonochemical and hydrothermal methods provide a better antimicrobial result against all tested bacteria. The results obtained in this manuscript indicate an alternative methodology in the removal of 99% of the bacteria from tailings from a real sewer, showing its applicability in the treatment for later consumption.
Undergraduate financial knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors: The impact of financial life skills course on college students
Authors: Robb Cliff A. , Chy Somalis 
Published: January 2023

AbstractIt is increasingly common for universities to offer financial education or life skills courses as electives. However, less is known about the potential impacts of these courses on factors beyond financial literacy, such as financial attitudes, financial stress, or financial well‐being. Our study explores these topics using a unique sample of 370 undergraduate students, half of whom opted to enroll in and complete a financial life skills course and half of whom did not. We explore various aspects of student financial life, including well‐being, stress, self‐efficacy, knowledge, behavior, and socialization. Evidence from our study did not suggest that a single‐credit financial life skills course has much impact on financial well‐being or financial stress. There were notable impacts associated with financial socialization and financial self‐efficacy that reinforce some earlier explorations of financial well‐being.
Organocatalytic Desymmetric Conjugate Addition to Cyclobutanone: An Enantio‐ and Diastereoselective Synthesis of [6,5,4]‐Fused Carbocycles
Authors: Panda Shibaram , Gayen Upasana , Ghorai Prasanta 
Published: January 2023

AbstractThe first organocatalytic, non‐destructive desymmetrisation of 3‐substituted cyclobutanone followed by intramolecular cyclisation is described. Owing to the slow activation of the pronucleophile by the weak Brønsted base, the α‐functionalization of ketones with tertiary‐amine‐derived Brønsted base catalysis has been chemically challenging in asymmetric transformations. Herein, we demonstrate that the cinchona‐derived squaramide catalyst works effectively for the intramolecular Michael addition of cyclobutanone to enones and affords the architecturally fascinating [6,5,4]‐fused carbocyclic skeleton in good yields and excellent diastereo‐ and enantioselectivities (up to >20 : 1drand 96 %ee). Furthermore, as a synthetic application, this method provides an alternative pathway to enantioenriched high‐value products like γ‐lactones and indan‐2‐ol derivatives.
Conversion of Ketones into Blue‐Emitting Electron‐Deficient Benzofurans
Authors: Górski Krzysztof , Ostojić Tea , Banasiewicz Marzena , Ouellette Erik T. , Grisanti Luca , Gryko Daniel T. 
Published: January 2023

AbstractA novel heavy metal‐free and safe synthetic methodology enabling one‐step conversion of ketones into corresponding 4,5,6,7‐tetrafluorobenzofurans (F4BFs) has been developed. The presented approach has numerous advantageous qualities, including utilization of readily available substrates, broad scope, scalability, and good reaction yields. Importantly, some of the benzofurans prepared by this method were heretofore inaccessible by any other known transformation. Importantly, furo[2,3‐b]pyrazines and heretofore unexplored difuro[2,3‐c:3′,2′‐e]pyridazine can be prepared using this strategy. Spectroscopic studies reveal that for simple systems, absorption and fluorescence maxima fall within the UV spectral range, while π‐electron system expansion red‐shifts both spectra. Moreover, the good fluorescence quantum yields observed in solution, up to 96 %, are also maintained in the solid state. Experimental results are supported by density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The presented methodology, combined with the spectroscopic characteristics, suggest the possibility of using F4BFs in the optoelectronic industry (i. e., organic light emitting devices (OLED), organic field‐effect transistors (OFET), organic photovoltaics (OPV)) as inexpensive and readily available emissive or semiconductor materials.
Self‐Healable Elastomeric Network with Dynamic Disulfide, Imine, and Hydrogen Bonds for Flexible Strain Sensor
Authors: Zeng Wangyi , Deng Longjiang , Yang Guang 
Published: January 2023

AbstractSelf‐healable and stretchable elastomeric material is essential for the development of flexible electronics devices to ensure their stable performance. In this study, a strain sensor (PIH2T1‐tri/CNT‐3) composed of self‐repairable crosslinked elastomer substrate (PIH2T1‐tri, containing multiple reversible repairing sites such as disulfide, imine, and hydrogen bonds) and conductive layer (carbon nanotube, CNT) was prepared. The PIH2T1‐tri elastomer had excellent self‐healing ability (healing efficiency=91 %). It exhibited good mechanical integrity in terms of elongation at break (672 %), tensile strength (1.41 MPa). The Young's modulus (0.39 MPa) was close to that of human skin. The PIH2T1‐tri/CNT‐3 sensor also demonstrated an effective self‐healing function for electrical conduction and sensing property. Meanwhile, it had high sensitivity (gauge factor (GF)=24.1), short response time (120 ms), and long‐term durability (4000 cycles). This study offers a novel self‐healable elastomer platform with carbon based conductive components to develop flexible strain sensors towards high performance soft electronics.
In situ H2O2 Generation and Corresponding Pollutant Removal Applications: A Review
Authors: Ji Jiahui , Wang Zijie , Xu Qing , Zhu Qiaohong , Xing Mingyang 
Published: January 2023

AbstractCatalytic hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) generation from oxygen and water enables a sustainable environment to operate in an effective and green energy‐to‐chemical conversion way, which has attracted increasing interest in the fields of energy production and environment treatment. In light of this, tremendous progresses and developments have been made during the past decades in catalytic H2O2 production for pollutant removal from three perspectives including photocatalysis, electrocatalysis or chemical activation. Herein, we critically review the state‐of‐the‐art developments over various procedures of H2O2 generation and its further application, with the existence of photocatalysts, electrocatalysts, and catalysts, respectively. Benefiting from extensively experimental and theoretical investigations, the performance and stability of H2O2 generation and its utilization can be maneuvered by devising catalytic platform based on numerous catalysts with predominant electronic, chemical and physical properties, which endow the catalysts with efficient electrons transportation, abundant active sites, and sufficient oxygen adsorption for H2O2 generation. Furthermore, this review also discusses the formation mechanism of H2O2 by 2e‐ORR and 2e‐WOR, as well as its functional process of activating and removing pollutants, and summarizes the design principles of various catalysts by focusing on the formation of H2O2. We finally highlight the specific challenges and prospects related to the utilization of catalysts and envision the possible future development trends in the fields of pollutant removal.
Definition of the term asymmetric synthesis—History and revision
Authors: Helmchen Günter 
Published: January 2023

AbstractThe widely used term asymmetric synthesis was introduced by Emil Fischer in 1894 by demonstration with examples. An early definition by Marckwald was successful in applications involving enantiomeric reaction products. The term caused difficulties in cases of diastereomeric products, because of a lack of a clear definition of the term diastereoisomers, which in turn affected the introduction of the term diastereoselectivity. Clarity was reached only after Wheland had revived a definition by Victor Meyer of 1907. Today, a definition codified by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is in use, which is slightly modified here.
Analytical formulas for calculating the electrical characteristics of multiparameter arbitrary configurational homogenous ladder networks
Authors: Lakshmi Prasanna K. , Mondal Mithun 
Published: January 2023

SummaryMost electrical systems are represented as ladder networks made up of resistances, inductances and capacitances. Electrical characteristics of these networks, such as voltages, currents and equivalent impedance, are difficult to compute because they require solving multiple differential‐algebraic equations. Further, circuit simulator‐based modelling is a time‐consuming and tedious process for simulating large networks with multiparameters present in various configuration. This paper presents generalised analytical formulae for computing the electrical properties of any multiparameter arbitrary section homogenous ladder network that can be reduced to series and shunt impedances. Circuit principles, chain matrix decomposition and linear transformation are used to derive the symbolic expressions. Simply plugging the values of the series and shunt impedances, as well as the number of sections, into the derived expression yields the impedance. Thereafter, the calculated impedances can be used to calculate the nodal voltages and mesh currents. Simulation results of a six‐section homogeneous ladder network are presented and compared with those of other existing techniques to validate the derived expressions. The derived expressions eliminate the need for recursive relations, complex integro‐differential equations, large state‐space matrices and simulator‐based circuit modelling, which are all clearly advantageous.
Single‐stage buck‐boost off‐grid inverter with feedforward control
Authors: Yao Zhilei , Cai Liang 
Published: January 2023

SummarySince the output voltage accuracy of the off‐grid inverter is low with the proportional‐integral (PI) control and a two‐stage inverter is often used in the low input voltage application, a single‐stage buck‐boost off‐grid inverter with feedforward control is proposed. The proposed inverter consists of a buck‐boost converter and a full‐bridge inverter. The buck‐boost converter operates at high frequency, while the full‐bridge inverter operates at line frequency. Therefore, the intermediate bus voltage is controlled as the unipolar half‐cycle sinusoidal voltage wave to reduce the voltage stress of semiconductors, and film capacitors can be used as intermediate bus capacitors for high reliability and high power density. The operating principle is illustrated. Design guidelines and example are given. The stability analysis and external characteristic analysis are given. A 500‐W proposed inverter is constructed to verify the theoretical analysis.
Elephant rewilding affects landscape openness and fauna habitat across a 92‐year period
Authors: Gordon Christopher E. , Greve Michelle , Henley Michelle , Bedetti Anka , Allin Paul , Svenning Jens‐Christian 
Published: January 2023

AbstractTrophic rewilding aims to promote biodiverse self‐sustaining ecosystems through the restoration of ecologically important taxa and the trophic interactions and cascades they propagate. How rewilding effects manifest across broad temporal scales will determine ecosystem states; however, our understanding of post‐rewilding dynamics across longer time periods is limited. Here we show that the restoration of a megaherbivore, the African savannah elephant (Loxodonta africana), promotes landscape openness (i.e., various measures of vegetation composition/complexity) and modifies fauna habitat and that these effects continue to manifest up to 92 years after reintroduction. We conducted a space‐for‐time floristic survey and assessment of 17 habitat attributes (e.g., floristic diversity and cover, ground wood, tree hollows) across five comparable nature reserves in South African savannah, where elephants were reintroduced between 1927 and 2003, finding that elephant reintroduction time was positively correlated with landscape openness and some habitat attributes (e.g., large‐sized tree hollows) but negatively associated with others (e.g., large‐sized coarse woody debris). We then indexed elephant site occurrence between 2006 and 2018 using telemetry data and found positive associations between site occurrence and woody plant densities. Taken alongside the longer‐term space‐for‐time survey, this suggests that elephants are attracted to dense vegetation in the short term and that this behavior increases landscape openness in the long term. Our results suggest that trophic rewilding with elephants helps promote a semi‐open ecosystem structure of high importance for African biodiversity. More generally, our results suggest that megafauna restoration represents a promising tool to curb Earth's recent ecological losses and highlights the importance of considering long‐term ecological responses when designing and managing rewilding projects.
The ecological consequences of the timing of extreme climate events
Authors: Cinto Mejía Elizeth , Wetzel William C. 
Published: January 2023

AbstractClimate change is increasing the intensity, duration, and frequency of extreme climate events (ECEs). These ECEs can have major ecological consequences, e.g., changing nutrient flows, causing extirpation, and altering organismal development. Many ECEs are discrete events that occur at distinctive times during the biological processes they impact. Because of this, ECEs are likely to have differing ecological impacts depending on when they happen, yet we lack on studies that explore how the ecological consequences of ECEs vary with when they occur. Drawing upon evidence from physiological, population, and community ecology, and previous work on ecological disturbances, we suggest that the consequences of ECEs will be sensitive to when they occur. We illustrate the importance of timing by showing how the effects of an ECE could vary depending on when it occurs through the course of (1) organismal ontogeny, (2) population dynamics, and (3) community assembly. An enhanced focus on the timing of extreme weather in climate change research will reveal how and when ECEs are altering ecosystems, possible mechanisms behind these impacts, and what ecosystems or species are most vulnerable to ECEs, helping us to make more informed predictions about the ecological consequences of climate change.
Role of plant relatedness in plant–soil feedback dynamics of sympatric Asclepias species
Authors: Duell Eric B. , Bever James D. , Wilson Gail W. T. 
Published: January 2023

AbstractPlants affect associated biotic and abiotic edaphic factors, with reciprocal feedbacks from soil characteristics affecting plants. These two‐way interactions between plants and soils are collectively known as plant–soil feedbacks (PSFs). The role of phylogenetic relatedness and evolutionary histories have recently emerged as a potential driver of PSFs, although the strength and direction of feedbacks among sympatric congeners are not well‐understood. We examined plant–soil feedback responses of Asclepias syriaca, a common clonal milkweed species, with several sympatric congeners across a gradient of increasing phylogenetic distances (A. tuberosa, A. viridis, A. sullivantii, and A. verticillata, respectively). Plant–soil feedbacks were measured through productivity and colonization by arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi. Asclepias syriaca produced less biomass in soils conditioned by the most phylogenetically distant species (A. verticillata), relative to conspecific‐conditioned soils. Similarly, arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungal colonization of A. syriaca roots was reduced when grown in soils conditioned by A. verticillata, compared with colonization in plants grown in soil conditioned by any of the other three Asclepias species, indicating mycorrhizal associations are a potential mechanism of observed positive PSFs. This display of differences between the most phylogenetically distant, but not close or intermediate, paring(s) suggests a potential phylogenetic threshold, although other exogenous factors cannot be ruled out. Overall, these results highlight the potential role of phylogenetic distance in influencing positive PSFs through mutualists. The role of phylogenetic relatedness and evolutionary histories have recently emerged as a potential driver of plant–soil feedbacks (PSFs), although the strength and direction of feedbacks among sympatric congeners are not well‐understood. Congeneric, sympatric milkweeds typically generated positive PSFs in terms of productivity and AM fungal colonization, suggesting the low likelihood of coexistence among tested pairs, with a strength of feedback increasing as the phylogenetic distance increases.
Color polymorphism in the Cuban endemic livebearing fish Limia vittata (Teloestei, Poeciliidae): Potential roles of sexual and natural selection
Authors: Rodriguez‐Silva Rodet , Spikes Montrai , Monsisbay Manuel Iturriaga , Schlupp Ingo 
Published: January 2023

AbstractColor polymorphism can be maintained in natural populations by natural selection or sexual selection. In this study, we use two different approaches to test which of these evolutionary mechanisms may explain the presence of color polymorphism in the Cuban Limia (Limia vittata), an endemic livebearing fish from Cuba. First, we investigate the role of sexual selection using traditional binary choice tests looking at both female and male preferences relative to varying degrees of black spotting in stimulus mates. Second, we assess the role of natural selection by analyzing the frequency and geographic distribution of black‐spotted and nonspotted morphs of L. vittata in natural populations from Cuba. The frequency of black‐spotted morphs is significantly higher in brackish and saltwater environments compared with freshwater habitats, which could be related to higher predation pressure in coastal ecosystems compared with purely freshwater environments. Our results suggest that habitat variation is the most important factor in maintaining color polymorphism in L. vittata. Salinity levels could be indirectly responsible for maintaining different color morphs in this species, likely due to the regulatory effect of saline gradients on predation regimes.
Species of fast bulk‐soil nutrient cycling have lower rhizosphere effects: A nutrient spectrum of rhizosphere effects
Authors: Sun Lijuan , Tsujii Yuki , Xu Tianle , Han Mengguang , Li Rui , Han Yunfeng , Gan Dayong , Zhu Biao 
Published: January 2023

AbstractTree roots not only acquire readily‐usable soil nutrients but also affect microbial decomposition and manipulate nutrient availability in their surrounding soils, that is, rhizosphere effects (REs). Thus, REs challenge the basic understanding of how plants adapt to the environment and co‐exist with other species. Yet, how REs vary among species in response to species‐specific bulk soil nutrient cycling is not well‐known. Here, we studied how plant‐controlled microbial decomposition activities in rhizosphere soils respond to those in their corresponding bulk soils and whether these relations depend on species‐specific nutrient cycling in the bulk soils. We targeted 55 woody species of different clades and mycorrhizal types in three contrasting biomes, namely a temperate forest, a subtropical forest, and a tropical forest. We found that microbial decomposition activities in rhizosphere soils responded linearly to those in their corresponding bulk soils at the species level. Thereafter, we found that REs (parameters in rhizosphere soils minus those in corresponding bulk soils) of microbial decomposition activities had negative linear correlations with microbial decomposition activities in corresponding bulk soils. A multiple factor analysis revealed that soil organic carbon, total nitrogen, and soil water content favored bulk soil decomposition activities in all three biomes, showing that the magnitude of REs varied along a fast‐slow nutrient cycling spectrum in bulk soils. The species of fast nutrient cycling in their bulk soils tended to have smaller or even negative REs. Therefore, woody plants commonly utilize both positive and negative REs as a nutrient‐acquisition strategy. Based on the trade‐offs between REs and other nutrient‐acquisition strategies, we proposed a push and pull conceptual model which can bring plant nutrient‐acquisition cost and plant carbon economics spectrum together in the future. This model will facilitate not only the carbon and nutrient cycling but also the mechanisms of species co‐existence in forest ecosystems.