The catalytic conversion of CO2 into value-added chemicals is essential for sustainable development. Herein, an oxygen-vacancy-rich WO3 catalyst (OV-WO3) was prepared via ethylene glycol-assisted hydrothermal reduction and applied to CO2 cycloaddition with styrene oxide (SO). Characterizations confirmed that OV-WO3 retains the monoclinic structure and flower-like morphology of WO3, while the introduction of oxygen vacancies enhances the electron density and Lewis basicity of the adjacent lattice oxygen atoms. Under optimal conditions, OV-WO3 achieved an 89.7 % cyclic carbonate yield, outperforming pristine WO3 (58.2 %), with a reduced activation energy (20.7 vs. 32.9 kJ & sdot;mol-1). The catalyst also exhibited excellent recyclability and stability. A synergistic acid-base mechanism is proposed wherein empty d orbitals of W5+ accept electrons from the epoxide oxygen to activate the ring, while electron-rich lattice oxygen back-donate electrons into the pi* orbital of CO2 for its activation. This work provides a facile defect engineering strategy for WO3 and insights for designing efficient CO2 fixation catalysts.
Zearalenone (ZEA) is an estrogenic mycotoxin with documented immunotoxic effects, but its cell-type-resolved splenic responses remain incompletely characterized. In this study, C57BL/6 mice received 20 mg/kg·bw ZEA by oral gavage for 21 consecutive days. Conventional toxicological endpoints, TUNEL staining, cleaved caspase-3 immunofluorescence, and single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) were performed using samples derived from the same exposure experiment, with two pooled libraries sequenced per group, each constructed from the spleens of five mice. Under the tested conditions, no marked changes in spleen organ coefficient or overall histopathological architecture were observed, whereas the TUNEL-positive and cleaved caspase-3-positive cell ratios were significantly increased in ZEA-exposed mice. scRNA-seq resolved 44,759 high-quality splenic cells into 15 transcriptionally distinct populations. Differential expression analysis identified cell-type-associated transcriptional changes, including altered antigen-presentation and ribosomal programs in B and T cells and changes in apoptosis-, antioxidant-, and mitochondria-related gene sets in selected populations. CellChat predicted altered intercellular communication and SCENIC inferred altered NF-κB2, STAT1, and MYC regulon activities. These findings describe increased apoptosis-related positivity accompanied by cell-type-resolved transcriptional remodeling following ZEA exposure. This exploratory atlas provides a basis for further mechanistic and dose–response studies for mycotoxin risk assessment.
Understanding how soil-plant systems regulate water use and productivity is critical for improving agricultural resilience in semiarid regions. However, the functional mechanisms linking hydrological management with rhizosphere biological processes and crop productivity remain insufficiently quantified. This study developed an integrated framework to evaluate soil-plant system functionality under ridge-furrow rainwater harvesting compacted with eco-engineered chopped straw-soil crust management. A 3-year field study was executed under randomized complete block design containing ten treatments and replicated three times. Treatments comprised three ridge widths (30 cm (W30), 45 cm (W45), and 60 cm (W60)) & times; three straw mulching treatments (ridges compacted with soil crust (SC0), short chopped straw-soil crust (SSC2, 2 cm), and long chopped straw-soil crust (LSC10, 10 cm)), and flat planting (FP) was control. Soil water storage, microbial biomass carbon, extracellular enzyme potential activities, nutrient availability, sainfoin water use efficiency (WUE), and fodder yield were measured to characterize hydrological, biochemical, and productivity responses. Soil health was quantified using a principal component analysis-based soil health index, while structural equation modeling identified functional pathways linking soil biological activity, water availability, and crop performance. A multi-criteria decision framework using entropy-weighted TOPSIS was applied to rank treatment performance and identify optimal management strategies. Results showed that wide ridges combined with long chopped straw-soil crust significantly enhanced soil water storage, microbial enzyme activity, and nutrient availability, resulting in improved soil health and higher WUE. Structural equation modeling revealed that ridge geometry enhanced productivity primarily through microbially mediated pathways that strengthened soil-plant functional interactions. The integrated framework explained more than 90% of yield variability and identified the 60-cm ridge width with a 10 cm chopped straw as the optimal configuration for maximizing system functionality and sainfoin productivity. These findings demonstrate that integrating hydrological management with multi-dimensional soil indicators provides a robust strategy for improving soil-plant system functionality and sustainable productivity in semiarid agroecosystems.
Ultraviolet (UV) narrowband perfect absorbers based on metasurfaces have attracted significant attention for applications in sensing, spectral manipulation, and photonic devices. However, achieving multimode-coupled narrowband perfect absorptions in the UV regime remains challenging. Here, the simultaneous coupling of the second-order magnetic plasmon (MP) mode with both the Rayleigh anomaly (RA) and surface plasmon polariton (SPP) modes is realized in an aluminum metasurface composed of suspended U-shaped split-ring resonators. Dual narrowband perfect absorption is further achieved, originating from the MP-RA and MP-SPP coupling, respectively, with a maximum quality factor of 230. Furthermore, temperature-induced variations in the refractive index of ethanol enable continuous tuning of the dual absorption peaks, with temperature sensitivities reaching 0.12 nm/K and 0.11 nm/K. This work provides an effective design strategy for multimode-coupled UV perfect absorbers, holding promise for applications in spectral regulation and environmental sensing.
Stringent climate policies (SCPs) are central to decarbonization, yet their distributive impacts on energy poverty (EP) and regional inequality remain contentious, especially under growing fragmentation and weaker policy coordination. This study investigates the impact of SCPs on EP in China, examining heterogeneity across policy instruments, mechanisms, and spatial contexts. Using more than 7000 subnational policies from 2007 to 2022, we construct a text-based SCP index and apply fixed-effects and spatial econometric models. The results show that SCPs are consistently associated with lower EP, with command-and-control instruments exhibiting particularly strong effects, partly through industrial upgrading. However, once spatial dependence is considered, the effects become more uneven: Spatial Durbin Models show that SCPs reduce EP within implementing provinces but increase EP pressure in neighbouring regions. Further evidence from polluting-firm entry suggests that stricter SCPs may discourage polluting activities locally while increasing their relative entry in nearby provinces, helping to explain the observed beggar-thy-neighbour pattern. Spatial effect decomposition shows that local gains are largely offset by cross-border spillovers, leading to a small and statistically insignificant total effect. We conclude that climate policy design should account for spatial externalities and regional burden sharing to ensure a just transition across regions.
