| 1. |
- Beal, Jacob, et al.
(författare)
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Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density
- 2020
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Ingår i: Communications Biology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2399-3642. ; 3:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data.
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| 2. |
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| 3. |
- de Vries, Paul S., et al.
(författare)
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Multiancestry Genome-Wide Association Study of Lipid Levels Incorporating Gene-Alcohol Interactions
- 2019
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Ingår i: American Journal of Epidemiology. - : Oxford University Press. - 0002-9262 .- 1476-6256. ; 188:6, s. 1033-1054
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A person's lipid profile is influenced by genetic variants and alcohol consumption, but the contribution of interactions between these exposures has not been studied. We therefore incorporated gene-alcohol interactions into a multiancestry genome-wide association study of levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and triglycerides. We included 45 studies in stage 1 (genome-wide discovery) and 66 studies in stage 2 (focused follow-up), for a total of 394,584 individuals from 5 ancestry groups. Analyses covered the period July 2014-November 2017. Genetic main effects and interaction effects were jointly assessed by means of a 2-degrees-of-freedom (df) test, and a 1-df test was used to assess the interaction effects alone. Variants at 495 loci were at least suggestively associated (P < 1 x 10(-6)) with lipid levels in stage 1 and were evaluated in stage 2, followed by combined analyses of stage 1 and stage 2. In the combined analysis of stages 1 and 2, a total of 147 independent loci were associated with lipid levels at P < 5 x 10(-8) using 2-df tests, of which 18 were novel. No genome-wide-significant associations were found testing the interaction effect alone. The novel loci included several genes (proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 5 (PCSK5), vascular endothelial growth factor B (VEGFB), and apolipoprotein B mRNA editing enzyme, catalytic polypeptide 1 (APOBEC1) complementation factor (A1CF)) that have a putative role in lipid metabolism on the basis of existing evidence from cellular and experimental models.
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| 4. |
- He, Xiaoyu, et al.
(författare)
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Dual-optimization strategy engineered Ti-based metal-organic framework with Fe active sites for highly-selective CO2 photoreduction to formic acid
- 2023
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Ingår i: Applied Catalysis B. - : Elsevier BV. - 0926-3373 .- 1873-3883. ; 327
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Increasing CO2 conversion efficiency over metal-organic framework (MOF) based photocatalysts is of great significance to promote the carbon capture and utilization. In this work, a dual-benefit design strategy is deployed in the synthesis of a new two-dimensional Fe/Ti-BPDC MOF photocatalyst with atomically dispersed Fe sites. This catalyst demonstrated an excellent catalytic performance in the visible-light-driven CO2 conversion to HCOOH, achieving a high yield of 703.9 μmol g-1 h-1 at a selectivity greater than 99.7%. This is attributed to the ‘dual-optimization’ achieved by this catalyst to sustain the supply of photogenerated electrons and to effectively activate CO2. Specifically, the Fe/Ti-BPDC catalyst provides a high proportion of effective photogenerated electrons for the CO2 photocatalysis process via a unique electron transfer mechanism. Meanwhile, the strong O/Fe affinity between CO2 and atomically dispersed Fe active sites not only enables a fast CO2 activation, but also dictates the intermediate reaction pathways towards high HCOOH selectivity.
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| 5. |
- He, Yunfei, et al.
(författare)
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Sulfated complex metal oxides solid acids with dual Brønsted-Lewis acidic property for production of 5-ethoxymethylfurfural from biomass-derived carbohydrates
- 2022
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Ingår i: Chemical Engineering Journal. - : Elsevier BV. - 1385-8947. ; 429
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The transformation of aldose-based carbohydrates into 5-ethoxymethylfurfural (EMF) is very challenging as compared to ketose-based carbohydrates, but the formers are more abundant and cheaper. Here, a series of sulfated complex metal oxides were synthesized for the conversion of aldose-based mono-, di-, and poly-saccharides, as well as starchy food waste into EMF. The catalysts were carefully characterized and the results showed that the type and strength of the acid sites were more important than their concentration. It was also shown that the efficiency of these catalysts was significantly affected by the metal species in the catalyst composition and followed the order tetra- > tri- > bi- > mono-component metal oxides based catalyst. Among the prepared catalysts, Zr-Sn-Fe-Al-O-S exhibited superior catalytic activity, with an EMF yield of 33.1% from glucose, and yields ranging from 4.1−26.3% for di-, poly-saccharides and starchy food waste in ethanol/dimethyl sulfoxide solvent system under glucose/catalyst mass ratio of 4. The role of co-solvent in the reaction pathway was also studied. It was found that the predominant reaction pathway for EMF production was closely related to the co-solvent amount. A kinetic model of glucose conversion to EMF was developed and the thermodynamic analysis was performed, the main features of the experimental observations can be described by the model. Zr-Sn-Fe-Al-O-S was reused for four runs without intermediate regeneration steps, showing a slight decay in activity. After reactivation by calcination before the fifth cycle, the catalyst recovered its activity, indicating good reusability and thermal stability.
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| 6. |
- Luo, Yiqi, et al.
(författare)
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Toward more realistic projections of soil carbon dynamics by Earth system models
- 2016
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Ingår i: Global Biogeochemical Cycles. - 0886-6236. ; 30:1, s. 40-56
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Soil carbon (C) is a critical component of Earth system models (ESMs), and its diverse representations are a major source of the large spread across models in the terrestrial C sink from the third to fifth assessment reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Improving soil C projections is of a high priority for Earth system modeling in the future IPCC and other assessments. To achieve this goal, we suggest that (1) model structures should reflect real-world processes, (2) parameters should be calibrated to match model outputs with observations, and (3) external forcing variables should accurately prescribe the environmental conditions that soils experience. First, most soil C cycle models simulate C input from litter production and C release through decomposition. The latter process has traditionally been represented by first-order decay functions, regulated primarily by temperature, moisture, litter quality, and soil texture. While this formulation well captures macroscopic soil organic C (SOC) dynamics, better understanding is needed of their underlying mechanisms as related to microbial processes, depth-dependent environmental controls, and other processes that strongly affect soil C dynamics. Second, incomplete use of observations in model parameterization is a major cause of bias in soil C projections from ESMs. Optimal parameter calibration with both pool- and flux-based data sets through data assimilation is among the highest priorities for near-term research to reduce biases among ESMs. Third, external variables are represented inconsistently among ESMs, leading to differences in modeled soil C dynamics. We recommend the implementation of traceability analyses to identify how external variables and model parameterizations influence SOC dynamics in different ESMs. Overall, projections of the terrestrial C sink can be substantially improved when reliable data sets are available to select the most representative model structure, constrain parameters, and prescribe forcing fields.
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| 7. |
- Sun, Huiliang, et al.
(författare)
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A monothiophene unit incorporating both fluoro and ester substitution enabling high-performance donor polymers for non-fullerene solar cells with 16.4% efficiency
- 2019
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Ingår i: Energy & Environmental Science. - : ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY. - 1754-5692 .- 1754-5706. ; 12:11, s. 3328-3337
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Thiophene and its derivatives have been extensively used in organic electronics, particularly in the field of polymer solar cells (PSCs). Significant research efforts have been dedicated to modifying thiophene-based units by attaching electron-donating or withdrawing groups to tune the energy levels of conjugated materials. Herein, we report the design and synthesis of a novel thiophene derivative, FE-T, featuring a monothiophene functionalized with both an electron-withdrawing fluorine atom (F) and an ester group (E). The FE-T unit possesses distinctive advantages of both F and E groups, the synergistic effects of which enable significant downshifting of the energy levels and enhanced aggregation/crystallinity of the resulting organic materials. Shown in this work are a series of polymers obtained by incorporating the FE-T unit into a PM6 polymer to fine-tune the energetics and morphology of this high-performance PSC material. The optimal polymer in the series shows a downshifted HOMO and an improved morphology, leading to a high PCE of 16.4% with a small energy loss (0.53 eV) enabled by the reduced non-radiative energy loss (0.23 eV), which are among the best values reported for non-fullerene PSCs to date. This work shows that the FE-T unit is a promising building block to construct donor polymers for high-performance organic photovoltaic cells.
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| 8. |
- Sun, Huiliang, et al.
(författare)
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Reducing energy loss via tuning energy levels of polymer acceptors for efficient all-polymer solar cells
- 2020
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Ingår i: Science China Chemistry. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1869-1870 .- 1674-7291. ; 63:12, s. 1785-1792
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The open-circuit voltage (Voc) of all-polymer solar cells (all-PSCs) is typically lower than 0.9 V even for the most efficient ones. Large energy loss is the main reason for limiting Voc and efficiency of all-PSCs. Herein, through materials design using electron deficient building blocks based on bithiophene imides, the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) energy levels of polymer acceptors can be effectively tuned, which resulted in a reduced energy loss induced by charge generation and recombination loss due to the suppressed charge-transfer (CT) state absorption. Despite a negligible driving force, all-PSC based on the polymer donor and acceptor combination with well-aligned energy levels exhibited efficient charge transfer and achieved an external quantum efficiency over 10% while maintaining a large Voc of 1.02 V, leading to a 9.21% efficiency. Through various spectroscopy approaches, this work sheds light on the mechanism of energy loss in all-PSCs, which paves an avenue to achieving efficient all-PSCs with large Voc and drives the further development of all-PSCs.
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| 9. |
- Sun, Huiliang, et al.
(författare)
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Reducing energy lossviatuning energy levels of polymer acceptors for efficient all-polymer solar cells
- 2020
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Ingår i: Science China Chemistry. - : Science China Press and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany. - 1674-7291 .- 1869-1870. ; 63, s. 1785-1792
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The open-circuit voltage (V-oc) of all-polymer solar cells (all-PSCs) is typically lower than 0.9 V even for the most efficient ones. Large energy loss is the main reason for limitingV(oc)and efficiency of all-PSCs. Herein, through materials design using electron deficient building blocks based on bithiophene imides, the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) energy levels of polymer acceptors can be effectively tuned, which resulted in a reduced energy loss induced by charge generation and recombination loss due to the suppressed charge-transfer (CT) state absorption. Despite a negligible driving force, all-PSC based on the polymer donor and acceptor combination with well-aligned energy levels exhibited efficient charge transfer and achieved an external quantum efficiency over 10% while maintaining a largeV(oc)of 1.02 V, leading to a 9.21% efficiency. Through various spectroscopy approaches, this work sheds light on the mechanism of energy loss in all-PSCs, which paves an avenue to achieving efficient all-PSCs with largeV(oc)and drives the further development of all-PSCs.
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| 10. |
- Zhou, Yao, et al.
(författare)
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Enabling High-Performance Polypropylene Nanocomposites With Interfacial Deep Traps
- 2023
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Ingår i: IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation. - 1558-4135 .- 1070-9878. ; 30:1, s. 484-487
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Polymer nanocomposites are the material of choice for dc insulation. The emerging demand for high-capacity high voltage direct current (HVdc) power transmission requires polymer nanocomposites capable of safe and stable operation at high temperatures. However, the high-temperature electrical properties of current polymer nanocomposites are still unsatisfactory. Here, we report that the modulation of polymer/nanoparticle interfaces can greatly improve the high-temperature insulation properties of polypropylene (PP)-based nanocomposite for recyclable HVdc cable insulation application. The nanoparticles are surface-modified with PP-graft-maleic anhydride (PP- g -mah), which is not only well miscible with PP but also contains polar groups to act as interfacial deep traps. We demonstrate that the interfacial deep traps can improve the dc breakdown strength and the electrical resistivity of polymer nanocomposite by inhibiting the charge injection. This work deepens the understanding of interfacial effects in polymer nanocomposites and provides new opportunities for designing high-performance recyclable insulation materials for HVdc cables.
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