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The microstructure of a composite electrode determines how individual battery particles are charged and discharged in a lithium-ion battery. It is a frontier challenge to experimentally visualize and, subsequently, to understand the electrochemical consequences of battery particles’ evolving (de)attachment with the conductive matrix. Herein, we tackle this issue with a unique combination of multiscale experimental approaches, machine-learning-assisted statistical analysis, and experiment-informed mathematical modeling. Our results suggest that the degree of particle detachment is positively correlated with the charging rate and that smaller particles exhibit a higher degree of uncertainty in their detachment from the carbon/binder matrix. We further explore the feasibility and limitation of utilizing the reconstructed electron density as a proxy for the state-of-charge. Our findings highlight the importance of precisely quantifying the evolving nature of the battery electrode’s microstructure with statistical confidence, which is a key to maximize the utility of active particles towards higher battery capacity. Developing understanding of degradation phenomena in nickel rich cathodes is under intense investigation. Here the authors use learning-assisted statistical analysis and experiment-informed mathematical modelling to resolve the microstructure of a Ni-rich NMC composite cathode.

This study developed a method to build relationships between chemical fractionations of heavy metals in soils and their accumulations in rice and estimate the respective contribution of each geochemical speciation in the soils from the Yangtze River Delta, China. In contaminated areas, residue and humic acid-bound fractions in soils were the main phases for most heavy metals. The mobility of heavy metals was in this following order: Cd > Pb ≈ Zn > Ni > As ≈ Cr > Hg. Transfer factors calculated by the ratios of specific fractionations of heavy metals in the soil–rice system were used to assess the capability of different metal speciation transfer from soil to rice. The carbonate and Fe/Mn oxyhydroxides bound phase had significant positive correlations with total metal concentrations in rice. Hg uptake by rice might be related to the exchangeable and carbonate-bound fractions of soil Hg. Results of PCA analysis of transfer factors estimated that the labile fractions (i.e. water soluble, exchangeable and carbonate bound) contributed more than 40% of the heavy metal accumulations in rice. Effect of organic matter and residue fraction on metals transfer was estimated to be ~ 25 to  ~ 30% while contribution of humic acid and Fe/Mn oxyhydroxides-bound fractions was estimated to be ~ 20 to  ~ 30%. Modified risk assessment code (mRAC) and ecological contamination index (ECI) confirmed that the soil samples were polluted by heavy metals. Soil Cd contributed more than 80% of mRAC. Contrarily, the main contributors to ECI were identified as As, Hg, Pb and Zn. The average values of total target hazard quotient (TTHQ) and Risktotal were above 1 and 10–4 respectively, implying people living in the study area were exposed to both non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risk. As and Pb were the main contributor to high TTHQ value while As, Cd and Cr in rice contributed mostly to Risktotal value. Spatial changes of ecological risk indexes and human health risk indexes showed that the samples with high TTHQ values distributed in the area with high values of mRAC. Likewise, the area with high ECI values and with high carcinogenic risk overlapped.

Nickel-rich layered cathode materials promise high energy density for next-generation batteries when coupled with lithium metal anodes. However, the practical capacities accessible are far less than the theoretical values due to their structural instability during cycling, especially when charged at high voltages. Here we demonstrate that stable cycling with an ultra-high cut-off voltage of 4.8 V can be realized by using an appropriate amount of lithium difluorophosphate in a common commercial electrolyte. The Li||LiNi 0.76 Mn 0.14 Co 0.10 O 2 cell retains 97% of the initial capacity (235 mAh g –1 ) after 200 cycles. The cycling stability is ascribed to the robust interphase on the cathode. It is formed by lithium difluorophosphate decomposition, which is facilitated by the catalytic effect of transition metals. The decomposition products (Li 3 PO 4 and LiF) form a protective interphase. This suppresses transition metal dissolution and cathode surface reconstruction. It also facilitates uniform Li distribution within the cathode, effectively mitigating the strain and crack formation. Severe capacity decay at high voltages prevents the application of Ni-rich layered oxide cathodes. Here the authors report an electrolyte additive in a common commercial electrolyte that enables stable cycling at an ultra-high voltage of 4.8 V.

Invasive candidiasis affects 1.6 million people annually, with high mortality among immunocompromised and hospitalized patients. Echinocandins are frontline antifungals, but rising resistance limits their efficacy. Here, we show that Candida albicans and multidrug-resistant Candida auris share a conserved cell wall architecture yet differ markedly in their adaptive responses to echinocandins. Solid-state NMR reveals that both species possess a rigid inner layer of tightly associated chitin microfibrils and β−1,3-glucans, supported by a flexible matrix of β−1,6-glucans and additional β−1,3-glucans. Outer mannan fibrils rely on α−1,2-linked sidechains to maintain contact with the inner wall. In both species, caspofungin rigidifies β−1,6-glucans and mannan sidechains and reduces water permeability during β−1,3-glucan depletion; however, C. albicans undergoes wall thickening and alterations in chitin and glucan dynamics, whereas C. auris maintains integrity through β−1,6-glucan upregulation. Deletion of KRE6a , which encodes β−1,6-glucan synthase, reduces echinocandin susceptibility in C. auris , further highlighting β−1,6-glucan’s critical role in adaptive remodeling. The prevalent fungal pathogen, Candida albicans , and the emerging multidrug-resistant superfungus, Candida auris , share the same initial cell wall architecture but remodel it differently in response to echinocandin-induced antifungal stress.

In this paper, a high-order method is used to simulate the viscous fingering fluid instability during the miscible displacement process in porous media, on structured and unstructured grids. The numerical model incorporates decoupling in time, discontinuous Galerkin method of high order, flux reconstruction and parallel implicit solvers to produce an accurate and efficient predictive tool for finger growth. This paper shows that the proposed numerical approach is a competitive method to simulate several viscous fingering problems, such as rectilinear flow, density-driven flow and radial flow. The numerical model does not suffer from grid orientation, and accurately measures finger growth rate. Convergence of the fingering pattern is obtained under mesh refinement and increased polynomial degree.

Monitoring spatial – temporal variations of vegetation NPP (Net Primary Productivity) and understanding its driving factors is essential for achieving carbon neutrality and mitigating climate change. This study investigates the spatio – temporal variations and key influencing factors of vegetation NPP in the Qinling Mountains from 2001 to 2023, using the Geographic Detector Model, Theil – Sen Median, Mann – Kendall test, and Hurst index. The analysis based on MODIS NPP MOD17A3HGF v006 series products and incorporates environmental variables such as 10 m wind speed (vs), reference evapotranspiration (pet), maximum temperature (tmx), downward surface shortwave radiation (srad), Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI), soil moisture (soil), average temperature (tem), precipitation (pr) and Land use/cover change (LUCC). The results indicated that vegetation NPP in the Qinling Mountains showed an increasing trend with a slope of 5.74 × 10  gC/m yr from 2001 to 2023. Spatially, the vegetation NPP follows a spatial distribution pattern of “high in the east and low in the west”, with an average value of 629.89 gC/m yr. Over the past 23 years, vegetation NPP has demonstrated a significant increase, covering 77.71 % of the study area. The results of geographic detector factor detection show that among the nine influencing factors, LUCC has the greatest impact on vegetation NPP, followed by temperature, wind speed, evapotranspiration, maximum temperature, Palmer Drought Severity Index, radiation, and precipitation, while soil moisture has the smallest impact. In addition, the results also indicate a strong interaction between LUCC and temperature, as well as precipitation and temperature, on NPP in the Qinling Mountains. The Hurst index indicated a weak downward trend in future vegetation NPP, affecting 81.98 % of the study area.

A virus infection can be initiated with very few or even a single infectious virion, and as such can become extinct, i.e. stochastically fail to take hold or spread significantly. There are many ways that a fully competent infectious virion, having successfully entered a cell, can fail to cause a productive infection, i.e. one that yields infectious virus progeny. Though many stochastic models (SMs) have been developed and used to estimate a virus infection’s establishment probability, these typically neglect infection failure post virus entry. The SM presented herein introduces parameter γ ∈ ( 0 , 1 ] which corresponds to the probability that a virion’s entry into a cell will result in a productive cell infection. We derive an expression for the likelihood of infection establishment in this new SM, and find that prophylactic therapy with an antiviral reducing γ is at least as good or better at decreasing the establishment probability, compared to antivirals reducing the rates of virus production or virus entry into cells, irrespective of the SM parameters. We investigate the difference in the fraction of cells consumed by so-called extinct versus established virus infections, and find that this distinction becomes biologically meaningless as the probability of establishment approaches zero. We explain why the release of virions continuously over an infectious cell’s lifespan, rather than as a single burst at the end of the cell’s lifespan, does not result in an increased risk of infection extinction. We show, instead, that the number of virus released, not the timing of the release, affects infection establishment and associated critical antiviral efficacy.

Synchrotron transmission X‐ray microscopy with absorption near edge structure (TXM‐XANES) is a powerful tool for investigating the structure and composition of materials at nano‐ to meso‐scales. It is, however, often challenged by high levels of noise that obscure critical details at the single‐pixel level. To address this issue, a deep learning‐based algorithm is developed for suppressing the image noise, grounded in self‐supervised learning principles. In contrast to traditional image denoising methods, this approach successfully enhances the visibility of fine details while significantly reducing the noise in the X‐ray images. Through this advancement, the potential of the approach for improving the accuracy and interpretability of the TXM‐XANES data is demonstrated, thereby enabling more precise detection of nanoscale phenomena such as inhomogeneous cation redox and metal segregation in battery cathode materials. This technique offers an effective new avenue for harnessing the full potential of synchrotron TXM‐XANES imaging, paving the way for a range of exciting new studies in materials science and beyond. The article presents a self‐supervised deep learning‐based algorithm for suppressing image noise in synchrotron transmission X‐ray microscopy with absorption near edge structure (TXM‐XANES) data. The approach enhances the visibility of fine details and reduces noise, enabling more accurate and interpretable detection of nanoscale phenomena in materials.

The fungal cell wall is a complex and dynamic entity essential for the development of fungi. It allows fungal pathogens to survive environmental challenge posed by nutrient stress and host defenses, and it also is central to polarized growth. The cell wall is mainly composed of polysaccharides organized in a three-dimensional network. Aspergillus fumigatus produces a cell wall galactomannan whose biosynthetic pathway and biological functions remain poorly defined. Here, we described two new mannosyltransferases essential to the synthesis of the cell wall galactomannan. Their absence leads to a growth defect with misregulation of polarization and altered conidiation, with conidia which are bigger and more permeable than the conidia of the parental strain. This study showed that in spite of its low concentration in the cell wall, this polysaccharide is absolutely required for cell wall stability, for apical growth, and for the full virulence of A. fumigatus . Fungal cell wall mannans are complex carbohydrate polysaccharides with different structures in yeasts and molds. In contrast to yeasts, their biosynthetic pathway has been poorly investigated in filamentous fungi. In Aspergillus fumigatus , the major mannan structure is a galactomannan that is cross-linked to the β-1,3-glucan-chitin cell wall core. This polymer is composed of a linear mannan with a repeating unit composed of four α1,6-linked and α1,2-linked mannoses with side chains of galactofuran. Despite its use as a biomarker to diagnose invasive aspergillosis, its biosynthesis and biological function were unknown. Here, we have investigated the function of three members of the Ktr (also named Kre2/Mnt1) family (Ktr1, Ktr4, and Ktr7) in A. fumigatus and show that two of them are required for the biosynthesis of galactomannan. In particular, we describe a newly discovered form of α-1,2-mannosyltransferase activity encoded by the KTR4 gene. Biochemical analyses showed that deletion of the KTR4 gene or the KTR7 gene leads to the absence of cell wall galactomannan. In comparison to parental strains, the Δktr4 and Δktr7 mutants showed a severe growth phenotype with defects in polarized growth and in conidiation, marked alteration of the conidial viability, and reduced virulence in a mouse model of invasive aspergillosis. In yeast, the KTR proteins are involved in protein 0- and N-glycosylation. This study provided another confirmation that orthologous genes can code for proteins that have very different biological functions in yeasts and filamentous fungi. Moreover, in A. fumigatus , cell wall mannans are as important structurally as β-glucans and chitin. IMPORTANCE The fungal cell wall is a complex and dynamic entity essential for the development of fungi. It allows fungal pathogens to survive environmental challenge posed by nutrient stress and host defenses, and it also is central to polarized growth. The cell wall is mainly composed of polysaccharides organized in a three-dimensional network. Aspergillus fumigatus produces a cell wall galactomannan whose biosynthetic pathway and biological functions remain poorly defined. Here, we described two new mannosyltransferases essential to the synthesis of the cell wall galactomannan. Their absence leads to a growth defect with misregulation of polarization and altered conidiation, with conidia which are bigger and more permeable than the conidia of the parental strain. This study showed that in spite of its low concentration in the cell wall, this polysaccharide is absolutely required for cell wall stability, for apical growth, and for the full virulence of A. fumigatus .