Seasonality in Arctic Warming Driven By Sea Ice Effective Heat Capacity

Arctic surface warming under greenhouse gas forcing peaks in winter and reaches its minimum during summer in both observations and model projections. Many mechanisms have been proposed to explain this seasonal asymmetry, but disentangling these processes remains a challenge in the interpretation of general circulation model (GCM) experiments. To isolate these mechanisms, we use an idealized single-column sea ice model (SCM) which captures the seasonal pattern of Arctic warming. SCM experiments demonstrate that as sea ice melts and exposes open ocean, the accompanying increase in effective surface heat capacity can alone produce the observed pattern of peak warming in early winter (shifting to late winter under increased forcing) by slowing the seasonal heating rate, thus delaying the phase and reducing the amplitude of the seasonal cycle of surface temperature. To investigate warming seasonality in more complex models, we perform GCM experiments that individually isolate sea-ice albedo and thermodynamic effects under CO2 forcing. These also show a key role for the effective heat capacity of sea ice in promoting seasonal asymmetry through suppressing summer warming, in addition to precluding summer climatological inversions and a positive summer lapse-rate feedback. Peak winter warming in GCM experiments is further supported by a positive winter lapse-rate feedback, due to cold initial surface temperatures and strong surface-trapped warming that are enabled by the albedo effects of sea ice alone. While many factors contribute to the seasonal pattern of Arctic warming, these results highlight changes in effective surface heat capacity as a central mechanism supporting this seasonality.

Laser Fabrication of Nanoholes on Silica through Surface Window Assisted Nano-Drilling (SWAN)

Nano-structures have significant applications in many fields such as chip fabrications, nanorobotics, and solar cells. However, realizing nanoscale structures on hard and brittle materials is still challenging. In this paper, when processing the silica surface with a tightly focused Bessel beam, the smallest nanohole with ~20 nm diameter has been realized by precisely controlling the interior and superficial interaction of the silica material. An effective surface window assisted nano-drilling (SWAN) mechanism is proposed to explain the generation of such a deep subwavelength structure, which is supported by the simulation results of energy depositions.

Preparation and antibacterial activity of graphene oxide/cuprous oxide/zinc oxide nanocomposite

In this study, an antibacterial GO/Cu2O/ZnO nanocomposite was synthesized by a hydrothermal synthesis method, and its phase and microstructure were characterized by a series of test methods. The results showed that the synthesized cuprous oxide nanoparticals and the added zinc oxide nanoparticals were uniformly dispersed on the surface of graphene oxide, and did not cause the agglomeration of the nanoparticles. The graphene oxide successfully made enhanced the effective surface area of the metal oxide nanoparticles due to its adsorption capacity and chargeability. Thereby enhancing the antibacterial activity of the nanocomposite, reaching a 100% antibacterial rate.

Stability Analysis of Mathematical Modeling of Interaction between Target Cells and COVID-19 Infected Cells

The stability analysis in this mathematical model was related to the infection of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19). In this mathematical model there were two balance points, namely the point of balance free from Covid-19 and the one infected with Covid-19. The stability of the equilibrium point was influenced by all parameters, i.e. target cells die during each cycle, number of target cells at  = 0, target cells infected during each cycle based on virion unit density, effective surface area of the network, the ratio of the number of virus particles to the number of virions, infected cells die during each cycle, the number of virus particles produced by each infected cell during each cycle, and virus particles die during each cycle. In the simulation model, immunity is divided into high, medium and low immunity. For high, moderate and low immunity, respectively, the highest number of target cells is in high, medium and low immunity, whereas for the number of infected cells and the number of Covid-19, it is in the opposite sequence of the number of target cells.

ZnO Nano-Flowers Assembled on Carbon Fiber Textile for High-Performance Supercapacitor’s Electrode

Herein, a crystalline nano-flowers structured zinc oxide (ZnO) was directly grown on carbon fiber textile (CFT) substrate via a simple hydrothermal process and fabricated with a binder-free electrode (denoted as ZnO@CFT) for supercapacitor (SC) utilization. The ZnO@CFT electrode revealed a 201 F·g−1 specific capacitance at 1 A·g−1 with admirable stability of >90% maintained after 3000 cycles at 10 A·g−1. These impressive findings are responsible for the exceedingly open channels for well-organized and efficient diffusion of effective electrolytic conduction via ZnO and CFT. Consequently, accurate and consistent structural and morphological manufacturing engineering is well regarded when increasing electrode materials’ effective surface area and intrinsic electrical conduction capability. The crystalline structure of ZnO nano-flowers could pave the way for low-cost supercapacitors.