Thestrupshaffer2092

Flexible reduced graphene oxide (rGO) sheets are being considered for applications in portable electrical devices and flexible energy storage systems. However, the poor mechanical properties and electrical conductivities of rGO sheets are limiting factors for the development of such devices. Here we use MXene (M) nanosheets to functionalize graphene oxide platelets through Ti-O-C covalent bonding to obtain MrGO sheets. A MrGO sheet was crosslinked by a conjugated molecule (1-aminopyrene-disuccinimidyl suberate, AD). The incorporation of MXene nanosheets and AD molecules reduces the voids within the graphene sheet and improves the alignment of graphene platelets, resulting in much higher compactness and high toughness. In situ Raman spectroscopy and molecular dynamics simulations reveal the synergistic interfacial interaction mechanisms of Ti-O-C covalent bonding, sliding of MXene nanosheets, and π-π bridging. Furthermore, a supercapacitor based on our super-tough MXene-functionalized graphene sheets provides a combination of energy and power densities that are high for flexible supercapacitors.The exceptional properties exhibited by two-dimensional materials, such as graphene, are rooted in the underlying physics of the relativistic Dirac equation that describes the low energy excitations of such molecular systems. In this study, we explore a periodic lattice that provides access to the full solution spectrum of the extended Dirac Hamiltonian. Employing its photonic implementation of evanescently coupled waveguides, we indicate its ability to independently perturb the symmetries of the discrete model (breaking, also, the barrier towards the type-II phase) and arbitrarily define the location, anisotropy, and tilt of Dirac cones in the bulk. This unique aspect of topological control gives rise to highly versatile edge states, including an unusual class that emerges from the type-II degeneracies residing in the complex space of k. By probing these states, we investigate the topological nature of tilt and shed light on novel transport dynamics supported by Dirac configurations in two dimensions.Excessive insulin signaling through the insulin receptor (IR) may play a role in the pathogenesis of diet-induced metabolic disease, including obesity and type 2 diabetes. Here we investigate whether heterozygous impairment of insulin receptor (IR) expression limited to peripheral, i.e. non-CNS, tissues of adult mice impacts the development of high-fat diet-induced metabolic deterioration. While exhibiting some features of insulin resistance, PerIRKO+/- mice display a hepatic energy deficit accompanied by induction of energy-sensing AMPK, mitochondrial biogenesis, PPARα, unexpectedly leading to protection from, and reversal of hepatic lipid accumulation (steatosis hepatis, NAFLD). Dorsomorphin Consistently, and unlike in control mice, the PPARα activator fenofibrate fails to further affect hepatic lipid accumulation in PerIRKO+/- mice. Taken together, and opposing previously established diabetogenic features of insulin resistance, incomplete impairment of insulin signaling may mimic central aspects of calorie restriction to limit hepatic lipid accumulation during conditions of metabolic stress.Functional variomics provides the foundation for personalized medicine by linking genetic variation to disease expression, outcome and treatment, yet its utility is dependent on appropriate assays to evaluate mutation impact on protein function. To fully assess the effects of 106 missense and nonsense variants of PTEN associated with autism spectrum disorder, somatic cancer and PTEN hamartoma syndrome (PHTS), we take a deep phenotypic profiling approach using 18 assays in 5 model systems spanning diverse cellular environments ranging from molecular function to neuronal morphogenesis and behavior. Variants inducing instability occur across the protein, resulting in partial-to-complete loss-of-function (LoF), which is well correlated across models. However, assays are selectively sensitive to variants located in substrate binding and catalytic domains, which exhibit complete LoF or dominant negativity independent of effects on stability. Our results indicate that full characterization of variant impact requires assays sensitive to instability and a range of protein functions.Mutations in myosin-VIIa (MYO7A) cause Usher syndrome type 1, characterized by combined deafness and blindness. MYO7A is proposed to function as a motor that tensions the hair cell mechanotransduction (MET) complex, but conclusive evidence is lacking. Here we report that multiple MYO7A isoforms are expressed in the mouse cochlea. In mice with a specific deletion of the canonical isoform (Myo7a-ΔC mouse), MYO7A is severely diminished in inner hair cells (IHCs), while expression in outer hair cells is affected tonotopically. IHCs of Myo7a-ΔC mice undergo normal development, but exhibit reduced resting open probability and slowed onset of MET currents, consistent with MYO7A's proposed role in tensioning the tip link. Mature IHCs of Myo7a-ΔC mice degenerate over time, giving rise to progressive hearing loss. Taken together, our study reveals an unexpected isoform diversity of MYO7A expression in the cochlea and highlights MYO7A's essential role in tensioning the hair cell MET complex.Stomatal closure is one of the main physiological responses to increasing CO2 concentration, which leads to a reduction in plant water loss. This response has the potential to trigger changes in the climate system by regulating surface energy budgets-a phenomenon known as CO2 physiological forcing. However, its remote impacts on the Arctic climate system are unclear. Here we show that vegetation at high latitudes enhances the Arctic amplification via remote and time-delayed physiological forcing processes. Surface warming occurs at mid-to-high latitudes due to the physiological acclimation-induced reduction in evaporative cooling and resultant increase in sensible heat flux. This excessive surface heat energy is transported to the Arctic ocean and contributes to the sea ice loss, thereby enhancing Arctic warming. The surface warming in the Arctic is further amplified by local feedbacks, and consequently the contribution of physiological effects to Arctic warming represents about 10% of radiative forcing effects.Exploiting novel gene sources from wild relatives has proven to be an efficient approach to advance crop genetic breeding efforts. Oryza granulata, with the GG genome type, occupies the basal position of the Oryza phylogeny and has the second largest genome (~882 Mb). As an upland wild rice species, it possesses renowned traits that distinguish it from other Oryza species, such as tolerance to shade and drought, immunity to bacterial blight and resistance to the brown planthopper. Here, we generated a 736.66-Mb genome assembly of O. granulata with 40,131 predicted protein-coding genes. With Hi-C data, for the first time, we anchored ~98.2% of the genome assembly to the twelve pseudo-chromosomes. This chromosome-length genome assembly of O. granulata will provide novel insights into rice genome evolution, enhance our efforts to search for new genes for future rice breeding programmes and facilitate the conservation of germplasm of this endangered wild rice species.An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.Energy systems need decarbonisation in order to limit global warming to within safe limits. While global land planners are promising more of the planet's limited space to wind and solar photovoltaic, there is little information on where current infrastructure is located. The majority of recent studies use land suitability for wind and solar, coupled with technical and socioeconomic constraints, as a proxy for actual location data. Here, we address this shortcoming. Using readily accessible OpenStreetMap data we present, to our knowledge, the first global, open-access, harmonised spatial datasets of wind and solar installations. We also include user friendly code to enable users to easily create newer versions of the dataset. Finally, we include first order estimates of power capacities of installations. We anticipate these data will be of widespread interest within global studies of the future potential and trade-offs associated with the global decarbonisation of energy systems.The United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) highlight priority areas for global sustainable development, such as reducing inequalities and protecting the environment. Digital platforms, such as Goteo.org, facilitate financial support from individuals for SDG-related initiatives through crowdfunding and match-funding campaigns. Match-funding is a type of crowdfunding, where individual donations are matched or multiplied by public and private organizations. There remains a lack of open data, however, to study the effectiveness of match-funding as a way to finance these civic initiatives. The Goteo.org platform's approach to data transparency and open source principles have allowed these data to be collected, and here we present a dataset for 487 civic crowdfunding campaigns. This dataset presents a unique opportunity to compare the behaviour of different crowdfunding modalities in parallel with the SDGs.The perplexity of the complex multispecies community interactions is one of the many reasons why majority of the microorganisms are still uncultivated. We analyzed the entire co-occurrence networks between the OTUs of Tibet and Yunnan hot spring samples, and found that less abundant OTUs such as genus Tepidimonas (relative abundant less then 1%) had high-degree centricity (key nodes), while dominant OTUs particularly genus Chloroflexus (relative abundant, 13.9%) formed the peripheral vertexes. A preliminary growth-promotion assay determined that Tepidimonas sp. strain SYSU G00190W enhanced the growth of Chloroflexus sp. SYSU G00190R. Exploiting this result, an ameliorated isolation medium containing 10% spent-culture supernatant of Tepidimonas sp. strain SYSU G00190W was prepared for targeted isolation of Chloroflexi in the Tibet and Yunnan hot spring samples. 16S rRNA gene fingerprinting characterized majority of the colonies isolated from these media as previously uncultivated Chloroflexi, of which 36 are potential novel species (16S rRNA sequence identity less then 98.5%). Metabolomes studies indicated that the spent-culture supernatant comprises several low-molecular-weight organic substrates that can be utilized as potential nutrients for the growth of these bacteria. These findings suggested that limited knowledge on the interaction of microbes provide threshold to traditional isolation method.Whole exome sequencing (WES) is a popular and successful technology which is widely used in both research and clinical settings. However, there is a paucity of reference data for Aboriginal Australians to underpin the translation of health-based genomic research. Here we provide a catalogue of variants called after sequencing the exomes of 50 Aboriginal individuals from the Northern Territory (NT) of Australia and compare these to 72 previously published exomes from a Western Australian (WA) population of Martu origin. Sequence data for both NT and WA samples were processed using an 'intersect-then-combine' (ITC) approach, using GATK and SAMtools to call variants. A total of 289,829 variants were identified in at least one individual in the NT cohort and 248,374 variants in at least one individual in the WA cohort. Of these, 166,719 variants were present in both cohorts, whilst 123,110 variants were private to the NT cohort and 81,655 were private to the WA cohort. Our data set provides a useful reference point for genomic studies on Aboriginal Australians.