Over the past two decades, the poultry sector in China went through a phase of tremendous growth as well as rapid intensification and concentration. Highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAIV) subtype H5N1 was first detected in 1996 in Guangdong province, South China and started spreading throughout Asia in early 2004. Since then, control of the disease in China has relied heavily on wide-scale preventive vaccination combined with movement control, quarantine and stamping out. This strategy has been successful in drastically reducing the number of outbreaks during the past 5years. However, HPAIV H5N1 is still circulating and is regularly isolated in traditional live bird markets (LBMs) where viral infection can persist, which represent a public health hazard for people visiting them. The use of social network analysis in combination with epidemiological surveillance in South China has identified areas where the success of current strategies for HPAI control in the poultry production sector may benefit from better knowledge of poultry trading patterns and the LBM network configuration as well as their capacity for maintaining HPAIV H5N1 infection. We produced a set of LBM network maps and estimated the associated risk of HPAIV H5N1 within LBMs and along poultry market chains, providing new insights into how live poultry trade and infection are intertwined. More specifically, our study provides evidence that several biosecurity factors such as daily cage cleaning, daily cage disinfection or manure processing contribute to a reduction in HPAIV H5N1 presence in LBMs. Of significant importance is that the results of our study also show the association between social network indicators and the presence of HPAIV H5N1 in specific network configurations such as the one represented by the counties of origin of the birds traded in LBMs. This new information could be used to develop more targeted and effective control interventions.

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Single-crystalline R-Fe 2 O 3 submicron cubes with a well-defined shape have been successively synthesized via a simple hydrothermal process. X-ray diffraction patterns, transmission electron microscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, and selected area electron diffraction patterns were applied to characterize the as-synthesized samples. The results indicate that the growth of single-crystalline R-Fe 2 O 3 cubes can be attributed to cooperation of two principal mechanisms: oriented aggregation and Ostwald ripening. At the beginning, R-Fe 2 O 3 nanorods were first fabricated and formed cube-like aggregation following a "onedimensional (1D) f three-dimensional (3D)" mode, in which these nanorods orientedly aggregated on the surfaces of some cores by sharing common {012} faces. Then, the resulting polycrystalline aggregates would fuse into a single crystal, in which Ostwald ripening process was expected to carry out because oriented aggregation alone cannot result in well-defined R-Fe 2 O 3 cubes. The extended particle would further attract free-standing R-Fe 2 O 3 nanorods to orientedly attach on their surface, and the fusion process was repeated until nanorods were completely consumed. This kind of cooperation of two basic mechanisms may give us a new insight into the growth of R-Fe 2 O 3 crystals and opens a new way for controllable synthesis of other well-defined crystals in morphology and dimensionality.

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As a promising desalination technology, capacitive deionization (CDI) have shown practicality and cost-effectiveness in brackish water treatment. Developing more efficient electrode materials is the key to improving salt removal performance. This work reviewed current progress on electrode fabrication in application of CDI. Fundamental principal (e.g. EDL theory and adsorption isotherms) and process factors (e.g. pore distribution, potential, salt type and concentration) of CDI performance were presented first. It was then followed by in-depth discussion and comparison on properties and fabrication technique of different electrodes, including carbon aerogel, activated carbon, carbon nanotubes, graphene and ordered mesoporous carbon. Finally, polyaniline as conductive polymer and its potential application as CDI electrode-enhancing materials were also discussed.

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