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Surpassing the Performance of Phenolate-derived Ionic Liquids in CO 2 Chemisorption by Harnessing the Robust Nature of Pyrazolonates
Superbase-derived ionic liquids (SILs) are promising sorbents to tackle the carbon challenge featured by tunable interaction strength with CO 2 via structural engineering, particularly the oxygenate-derived counterparts (e. g., phenolate). However, for the widely deployed phenolate-derived SILs, unsolved stability issues severely limited their applications leading to unfavorable and diminished CO 2 chemisorption performance caused by ylide formation-involved side reactions and the phenolate-quinone transformation via auto-oxidation. Here, in this work, robust pyrazolonate-derived SILs possessing anti-oxidation nature were developed by introducing aza-fused rings in the oxygenate-derived anions, which delivered promising and tunable CO 2 uptake capacity surpassing the phenolate-based SIL via a carbonate formation pathway (O-C bond formation), as illustrated by detailed spectroscopy studies. Further theoretical calculations and experimental comparisons demonstrated the more favorable reaction enthalpy and improved anti-oxidation properties of the pyrazolonate-derived SILs compared with phenolate anions. The achievements being made in this work provides a promising approach to achieve efficient carbon capture by combining the benefits of strong interaction strength of oxygenate species with CO 2 and the stability improvement enabled by aza-fused rings introduction.
Fluorous Fullerene Acceptors in Vacuum-Deposited Photovoltaic Cells
For the first time, a series of fluorous fullerene acceptors with experimental gas-phase electron affinities ranging from 2.8 to 3.3 eV were paired with the new dicyanovinyl thiophene-based molecular donor to study organic photovoltaic cells (OPVs). Direct comparison of their performance in planar and bulk heterojunction architectures in the cells fabricated by vacuum deposition provided unprecedented insights into the role of the acceptor intrinsic molecular and electronic structures, which are not obscured by solvent and additive effects as in the typical solution-processed fullerene-based OPVs.
Performance of the missing transverse momentum triggers for the ATLAS detector during Run-2 data taking
The factor of four increase in the LHC luminosity, from 0.5 × 10 34 cm -2 s -1 to 2.0 × 10 34 cm -2 s -1 , and the corresponding increase in pile-up collisions during the 2015–2018 data-taking period, presented a challenge for the ATLAS trigger, particularly for those algorithms that select events with missing transverse momentum. The output data rate at fixed threshold typically increases exponentially with the number of pile-up collisions, so the legacy algorithms from previous LHC data-taking periods had to be tuned and new approaches developed to maintain the high trigger efficiency achieved in earlier operations. A study of the trigger performance and comparisons with simulations show that these changes resulted in event selection efficiencies of > 98% for this period, meeting and in some cases exceeding the performance of similar triggers in earlier run periods, while at the same time keeping the necessary bandwidth within acceptable limits.
Hemobilia after CT-guided radiofrequency ablation of liver tumors: frequency, risk factors, and clinical significance
Purpose: The purpose of the study is to evaluate the frequency, risk factors, and clinical significance of hemobilia after percutaneous computed tomography (CT)-guided radiofrequency ablation (RFA) of liver tumors. Materials and methods: From January 2013 to September 2016, 195 patients received 267 sessions of CT-guided RFA for liver tumors at our institution. The CT images during and immediately after the RFA were retrospectively reviewed. The frequency of hemobilia development and clinical outcome of patients with hemobilia were studied. Risk factors were identified by comparison between the hemobilia and non-hemobilia groups using univariate and multivariate analysis. The clinical courses of patients with hemobilia were also reviewed. Results: The frequency of CT detected hemobilia after RFA was 8.2% (22/267). The majority of the clinical courses were self-limited. Univariate analysis showed that the tumor numbers (p = 0.015), the central type puncture track (p < 0.001), the length of the puncture track (p = 0.033), and the platelet count (p = 0.026) were significantly associated with the development of hemobilia. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that the central type puncture track (p < 0.024) and the platelet count (p = 0.023) were significant independent risk factors. Conclusion: Detection of hemobilia on CT images immediately after percutaneous RFA for liver tumors was not rare. Low platelet count and central type puncture track are independent risk factors. In most cases, hemobilia presented as a minor complication with favorable prognosis.
Silicate coating to prevent leaching from radiolabeled surrogate far-field fallout in aqueous environments
Recent characterization of radioactive particles indicate that a large percentage of the radioactivity observed during the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear meltdown was insoluble 137 Cs bound within silica microparticles. Therefore, much of the decontamination research performed prior to the Fukushima incident that used either soluble radionuclides deposited onto wet surfaces or large (~100 μm) particles characteristic of nuclear weapons fallout do not accurately represent the characteristics of potential contamination. Thus, the common practice of extrapolating radioactive decontamination methods generically to all radioactive release events is, at best, suspect. In response, a method to produce chemically-inert, radiolabeled silica particles was developed. Binding 152 Eu within a sodium silicate coating required proper temperature control and ethanol was beneficial as a volatile dispersant to limit residues. In the end, a step-wise method, which first deposited 152 Eu or 241 Am as a nitrate salt, decomposed the salt to a sesquioxide, and finally coated the surface with sodium silicate led to dispersed particles of the desired 2 or 0.5 μm diameters. Dynamic light scattering and scanning election microscopy confirmed the particle size was unchanged. Leaching studies into several common decontaminants were performed to ensure particle inertness. In this paper, our approach allows for substitution of other radionuclides making it a robust, simple, and novel method to produce inert particle surrogates for a release event that allows direct comparison of decontamination techniques and contaminant fate studies, greatly aiding the development of response and recovery plans.
Computational diagnostics for flame acceleration and transition to detonation in a hydrogen/air mixture
A new computational diagnostic method for pressure-induced compressibility is proposed by projecting its local contribution to the chemical explosive mode (CEM) in the chemical explosive mode analysis (CEMA) framework. The new method is validated for the study of detonation development during the deflagration-to-detonation transition (DDT) process. The flame characteristics are identified through the quantification of individual CEM contributions of chemical reaction, diffusion, and pressure-induced compressibility. Numerical simulations are performed to investigate the DDT processes in a stoichiometric hydrogen-air mixture. A Godunov algorithm, fifth-order in space, and third-order in time are used to solve the fully compressible Navier-Stokes equations on a dynamically adapting mesh. A single-step, calibrated chemical diffusive model (CDM) described by Arrhenius kinetics is used for energy release and conservation between the fuel and the product. The new diagnostic method is first applied to onedimensional (1D) canonical flame configurations followed by two-dimensional (2D) simulations of DDT in an obstructed channel where different detonation initiation scenarios are examined using the new CEMA projection formulation. Detailed examinations of the idealized configuration of detonation initiation through shock focusing mechanism at a flame front are also studied using the new formulation. A comparison of the currently proposed CEMA projection and the original formulation by the authors suggests that including the pressure-induced compressibility is essential for the use of CEMA in DDT process. The results also show that the new formulation of CEMA projection can successively capture the detonation initiation through either a gradient mechanism or a direct initiation mechanism, and therefore can be used as an effective local analytical tool for the computational diagnostics of detonation initiation in a DDT process. It was found that detonation development is characterized by a strong contribution of chemistry role to the CEM which is pivotal to the initiation of detonation. The role of compressibility is found enhanced at the edge of the detonation front where diffusion was found to have minimal effects on detonation development.
EUTERPE: A global gyrokinetic code for stellarator geometry
The current state of the EUTERPE code is described with emphasis on the implemented models and their numerical implementation. The code solves the multi-species electromagnetic gyrokinetic equations in the full volume of a three-dimensional domain. Noise reduction of the particle-in-cell method is achieved by using a δf-method and Fourier filters. The field equations are discretized with B-splines and the resulting system of equations is solved iteratively. For linear simulations a phase-factor transformation is applied in order to strongly reduce the necessary grid resolution. Apart from the full gyrokinetic model, other numerically less expensive hybrid models are also implemented. They are mainly tailored for comparison with fluid theory and for studying the interaction of the bulk plasma with fast particles. The code is parallelized for CPUs by particle and domain decomposition. Good scalability up to several thousand nodes is demonstrated.
Scaling open-weight large language models for hydropower regulatory information extraction: A systematic analysis
Information extraction from regulatory and technical documents using large language models (LLMs) involves practical trade-offs between extraction quality and computational cost. We evaluate eight open-weight LLMs spanning 0.6B–70B parameters on hydropower licensing documents and report deployment-oriented evidence under a unified extraction schema and evaluation protocol. Across the model set, we observe clear scale-dependent trends in both baseline extraction quality and the effectiveness of reflective reasoning (self-checking) under our fixed-prompt, no-augmentation setting. Mid-scale models often provide a favorable balance of accuracy and efficiency, whereas the smallest models show limited or inconsistent gains from the reasoning variants tested. Larger models achieve the highest overall F1 scores but incur substantially greater compute and infrastructure requirements. We further find that reliability failure modes can distort conventional metrics in this domain: in particular, high recall can coincide with systematic extraction errors when models fabricate values for fields that are absent from the source text, underscoring the importance of conservative null handling and evidence-grounded evaluation. Overall, our study provides a reproducible resource–performance comparison for open-weight LLM-based extraction in hydropower regulatory documentation and offers practical guidance for model selection under different deployment constraints.
Comparison of Bolus Materials to Highly Absorbent Polypropylene and Rayon Cloth
This study assesses the utility of a highly absorbent polypropylene and rayon cloth (HAPRC) as a bolus material in radiation therapy. A comparison of various bolus materials used clinically at our center to the test bolus material, water-saturated HAPRC, was conducted. The reproducibility of the physical density was assessed by computerized tomography (CT) scanning the water-saturated HAPRC on a uniform density block phantom on multiple occasions, allowing the cloth to dry fully between subsequent CT scans. The cloth was found to have a consistent physical density between 0.8 and 1.0 g/cm{sup 3}. To evaluate the dosimetric impact of the various bolus materials, metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor dosimetry measurements were performed for a 6 MV treatment beam on the anterior surface of an anthropomorphic thorax phantom. The ability of the bolus material to conform to an irregular surface was assessed by CT scanning the various bolus materials overlaying the nose of an anthropomorphic head phantom and another irregularly shaped test object. The HAPRC conforms well to irregular contours and is relatively inexpensive compared to Superflab and thermoplastic sheets. Before implementing the material into the clinical setting, an appropriate process for laundering the material should be determined, for hygienic reasons.
Study of light backgrounds from relativistic electrons in air light-guides
The MOLLER experiment proposed at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility plans a precision low energy determination of the weak mixing angle via the measurement of the parity-violating asymmetry in the scattering of high energy longitudinally polarized electrons from electrons bound in a liquid hydrogen target (Moller scattering). A relative measure of the scattering rate is planned to be obtained by intercepting the Moller scattered electrons with a circular array of thin fused silica tiles attached to air light guides, which facilitate the transport of Cherenkov photons generated within the tiles to photomultiplier tubes (PMTs). The scattered flux will also pass through the light guides of downstream tiles, generating additional Cherenkov as well as scintillation light and is a potential background. In order to estimate the rate of these backgrounds, a gas-filled tube detector was designed and deployed in an electron beam at the MAMI facility at Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany. Described in this paper is the design of a detector to measure separately the scintillation and Cherenkov responses of gas mixtures from relativistic electrons, the results of studies of several gas mixtures with comparisons to simulations, and conclusions about the implications for the design of the MOLLER detector apparatus.
Gemcitabine: Selective cytotoxicity, induction of inflammation and effects on urothelial function
Intravesical gemcitabine has recently been introduced for the treatment of superficial bladder cancer and has a favourable efficacy and toxicity profile in comparison to mitomycin c (MMC), the most commonly used chemotherapeutic agent. The aim of this study was to assess the cytotoxic potency of gemcitabine in comparison to MMC in urothelial cell lines derived from non-malignant (UROtsa) and malignant (RT4 and T24) tissues to assess selectivity. Cells were treated with gemcitabine or mitomycin C at concentrations up to the clinical doses for 1 or 2 h respectively (clinical duration). Treatment combined with hyperthermia was also examined. Cell viability, ROS formation, urothelial function (ATP, acetylcholine and PGE2 release) and secretion of inflammatory cytokines were assessed. Gemcitabine displayed a high cytotoxic selectivity for the two malignant cell lines (RT4, T24) compared to the non-malignant urothelial cells (UROtsa, proliferative and non-proliferative). In contrast, the cytotoxic effects of MMC were non-selective with equivalent potency in each of the cell lines. The cytotoxic effect of gemcitabine in the malignant cell lines was associated with an elevation in free radical formation and was significantly decreased in the presence of an equilibrative nucleoside transporter inhibitor. Transient changes in urothelial ATP and PGE{sub 2} release were observed, with significant increase in release of interleukin-6, interleukin-8 and interleukin-1β from urothelial cells treated with gemcitabine. The selectivity of gemcitabine for malignant urothelial cells may account for the less frequent adverse urological effects with comparison to other commonly used chemotherapeutic agents. - Highlights: • Intravesical gemcitabine has recently been introduced to treat bladder cancer. • Gemcitabine is selectively toxic for malignant urothelial cells. • Urothelial ATP, PGE{sub 2} and inflammatory cytokines were altered by gemcitabine. • Selectivity of gemcitabine may account for less frequent urological side effects.
Source of Processable Vitrimer Viscosities: Swap Frequencies and Steric Factors
Vitrimers exhibit high, processable viscosities, where other polymers do not, and are among the most promising polymers for closed-loop material circularity. We sought to investigate the underlying chemical kinetic factors that result in high viscosities for vitrimers, which are crucial to designing vitrimers with tunable viscosity. To interrogate these factors, we achieved the first simulated predictions of real vitrimer viscosities, using a novel kinetic Monte Carlo molecular dynamics method, overcoming the time and length scale gaps to predict experimental bulk viscosities. The vitrimer architecture investigated is based on poly(dimethylsiloxane) chains and vinylogous urethane bond swaps. We probed the effects of the extent of free swapping groups, %F, the activation energy, E A , and the steric factor, ρ. The steric factor is related to the intrinsic reaction probability for molecules with sufficient energy. All three factors were found to be significant, but the role of ρ was found to be the biggest and also the most underappreciated. The results show that the inclusion of accurate ρ is of critical importance for viscosity predictions, with the evidence suggesting that the typical assumption of ρ = 1 is not valid for vitrimers and that, indeed, very low steric factors are present in bond-swap vitrimers such that values of ρ < 10 –10 may be typical. This greatly influences the bond exchange rates and, ultimately, the viscosities. Recognition of this result is necessary for the prediction of vitrimer viscosities from molecular simulations and to make vitrimers by design from molecular dynamics. We also investigated the effects that E A , ρ, and the number of free swapping groups have upon vitreous range temperatures, TV, with respect to achieving a specific viscosity (η V = 1 × 10 8 Pa·s), as well as for a commonly reported higher viscosity extrapolation (η V = 1 × 10 12 Pa·s). The evidence suggests that vitrimers may follow universal curves for E A vs T V , as a function of ρ. Finally, this study achieves the first of these comparisons of molecular simulations to experiments and reveals critical insights toward creating vitrimers by design, while providing a route for the prediction of T V from kinetic Monte Carlo molecular dynamics simulations.
Graphene Microcapsule Arrays for Combinatorial Electron Microscopy and Spectroscopy in Liquids
Atomic-scale thickness, molecular impermeability, low atomic number, and mechanical strength make graphene an ideal electron-transparent membrane for material characterization in liquids and gases with scanning electron microscopy and spectroscopy. Here in this paper, we present a novel sample platform made of an array of thousands of identical isolated graphene-capped microchannels with high aspect ratio. A combination of a global wide field of view with high resolution local imaging of the array allows for high throughput in situ studies as well as for combinatorial screening of solutions, liquid interfaces, and immersed samples. We demonstrate the capabilities of this platform by studying a pure water sample in comparison with alkali halide solutions, a model electrochemical plating process, and beam-induced crystal growth in liquid electrolyte. Spectroscopic characterization of liquid interfaces and immersed objects with Auger and X-ray fluorescence analysis through the graphene membrane are also demonstrated.
RIFTA: A Robust Iterative Fourier Transform-based dwell time Algorithm for ultra-precision ion beam figuring of synchrotron mirrors
With the rapid evolution of synchrotron X-ray sources, the demand for high-precision X-ray mirrors has greatly increased. Single nanometer profile error is required to keep imaging capability at the diffraction limit. Ion Beam Figuring (IBF), as a highly deterministic surfacing technique, has been used for ultra-precision finishing of mirrors. One crucial step that guides the IBF process is dwell time calculation. A valid dwell time solution should be non-negative and duplicate the shape of the desired removal map. Another important aspect is to minimize the total dwell time. In this study, we propose a Robust Iterative Fourier Transform-based dwell time Algorithm (RIFTA) that automatically fulfills these requirements. First, the thresholded inverse filtering in Fourier transform-based deconvolution is stabilized and automated by optimizing the threshold value using the Nelder-Mead simplex algorithm. Second, a novel two-level iterative scheme is proposed to guarantee the minimized total dwell time with its non-negativity at each dwell point. Third, a bicubic resampling is employed to flexibly adapt the calculated dwell time map to any IBF process intervals. The performance of RIFTA is first studied with simulation, followed by a comparison with the other state-of-the-art dwell time algorithms. We then demonstrate with an experiment that, using the dwell time calculated by the RIFTA, the total dwell time is shortened by a factor of two and the RMS in a 5 × 50 mm clear aperture was reduced from 3.4 nm to 1.1 nm after one IBF run, which proves the effectiveness and the efficiency of the proposed algorithm.
Simulation of triggering and evolution of ELM by pellet injection in EAST under BOUT++ framework
A BOUT ++ three-field magnetohydrodynamic model is employed to study the triggering and evolution of edge localized mode (ELM) by Li pellets injected along the outer mid-plane in the EAST configuration. The linear simulation shows that compared with a large deposition on the pedestal top (scenario I), a smaller deposition within the steep-gradient pedestal region (scenario II) can stimulate much larger linear growth rates of all-n peeling-ballooning modes (PBMs). The nonlinear simulation shows that there exists a pellet size threshold for ELM triggering for two deposition locations; the threshold for scenario I predicted in the present study matches the EAST observation well. Comparison of the two scenarios reveals that a smaller deposition is sufficient to trigger an ELM in a much shorter time in scenario II, whose ELM size is comparable to that in scenario I. This conclusion confirms previous DIII-D and ASDEX-Upgrade observations, suggesting that the steep-gradient pedestal region is a favorable deposition location for ELM triggering with minimum pellet size. Simulation analyses also find that the positive radial gradient of the hump-like pressure profile in the outer mid-plane induced by the pellet deposition plays a different role in the two scenarios. In scenario I, the force resulting from the gradient hinders the outflow of core plasmas and in return, the perturbation is suppressed from spreading inwards after ELM crashes. In scenario II, with a sizable deposition, the gradient results in another competitive perturbation growth region during the linear phase, thus dispersing the free energy and reducing the efficiency of destabilizing PBMs by pellet injection. The suppressing effect of saturated zonal flow on other modes, the short ELM fast crash phase, and the restricting transport effect of the positive radial pressure gradient work together to constrain the pedestal energy loss, especially when the pellet deposition amount is high.
Integrated modeling of alpha particle losses in JET DT plasmas
Alpha particle confinement is crucial for sustaining burning plasmas and designing future reactor concepts. Along with classical/prompt losses, various magnetohydrodynamic instabilities can lead to wave-particle interactions which can transport alpha particles outward from the plasma. This can result in a reduction in plasma heating/performance, and, at worst, damage in-vessel components. Joint European Torus’s recent deuterium–tritium campaigns in 2021–2023 have produced numerous alpha particle loss measurements with its scintillator probe and Faraday cup array fast ion loss detectors as discussed in Bonofiglo et al (2024 Nucl. Fusion 64 096038). This paper will report on integrated energetic particle transport modeling in support of those measurements. The modeling is accomplished with the TRANSP and ORBIT-kick codes with the use of recently developed reduced models which calculate mode structure, amplitude, and the evolving dynamics. When possible, constraints and comparisons to experiment are conducted. Case studies are performed on a variety of magnetohydrodynamic activity, including: fishbones, tearing modes (TMs), and sawtooth crashes. Additionally, a special case of an alpha-driven toroidal Alfvén eigenmode is briefly discussed, where modeling showed marginally weak alpha losses and was unable to support experimental observations. Coupled effects between a TM and toroidal field ripple are presented and were unable to replicate the observations in lost particle pitch but did duplicate the localized flattening of the measured neutron profile. Additional modeling results compare the magnitude of losses and energy/velocity-space sensitivities against experimental observations/measurements for each scenario. This work corroborates numeric alpha transport modeling while also identifying model deficiencies. While this report details alpha transport, it also presents open issues for discussion in assessing the validity of our numerical models towards burning plasmas.
MINE: a new way to design genetics experiments for discovery
Abstract The Maximally Informative Next Experiment or MINE is a new experimental design approach for experiments, such as those in omics, in which the number of effects or parameters p greatly exceeds the number of samples n (p > n). Classical experimental design presumes n > p for inference about parameters and its application to p > n can lead to over-fitting. To overcome p > n, MINE is an ensemble method, which makes predictions about future experiments from an existing ensemble of models consistent with available data in order to select the most informative next experiment. Its advantages are in exploration of the data for new relationships with n < p and being able to integrate smaller and more tractable experiments to replace adaptively one large classic experiment as discoveries are made. Thus, using MINE is model-guided and adaptive over time in a large omics study. Here, MINE is illustrated in two distinct multiyear experiments, one involving genetic networks in Neurospora crassa and a second one involving a genome-wide association study in Sorghum bicolor as a comparison to classic experimental design in an agricultural setting.