Fossilized organic remains are important sources of information because they provide a unique form of biological and evolutionary information, and have the long-term potential for genomic explorations. Here we report evidence of protein preservation in a terrestrial vertebrate found inside the vascular canals of a rib of a 195-million-year-old sauropodomorph dinosaur, where blood vessels and nerves would normally have been present in the living organism. The in situ synchrotron radiation-based Fourier transform infrared (SR-FTIR) spectra exhibit the characteristic infrared absorption bands for amide A and B, amide I, II and III of collagen. Aggregated haematite particles (α-Fe2O3) about 6∼8 μm in diameter are also identified inside the vascular canals using confocal Raman microscopy, where the organic remains were preserved. We propose that these particles likely had a crucial role in the preservation of the proteins, and may be remnants partially contributed from haemoglobin and other iron-rich proteins from the original blood.

Localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) is essentially a collective oscillation of free electrons in nanostructured metals. Interband excitation may also produce conduction-band electrons above the Fermi level. However, a question here is whether these excited electrons can take part in plasmonic oscillation. To answer this question, femtosecond pump-probe measurements on gold nanoparticles were performed using interband excitation, where the pump pulse produced a large amount of electrons in the sp-conduction band and left holes in the d-band. Probing by transient absorption spectroscopy, we resolved an induced LSPR feature located at a red-shifted spectrum. This feature cannot be observed for a pumping photon energy lower than the threshold for interband transition. The commonly observed red-shift or broadening of LSPR spectrum due to electron-electron and electron-phonon scattering under strong optical excitation can be ruled out for understanding this feature by a comparison between the plasmonic dynamics at a pump above and below the interband-transition threshold. In particular, a “holding” time of about 1 ps was resolved for the interband-excitation-induced electrons to relax to the LSPR oscillation.

A High Resolution Atmospheric Model (HiRAM) at 20-km resolution is adopted to simulate tropical storm (TS) activity over the western North Pacific (WNP) and Taiwan/East Coast of China (TWCN) at the present time (1979 -2003) and future climate (2075 -2099) under the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) fifth assessment report (AR5) representative concentration pathway (RCP) 8.5 scenarios. The results show that in contrast to TS simulation activities in most of the low-resolution climate models, TS activities except intensity over the WNP and TWCN region are well simulated by HiRAM at 20-km resolution. The linkage between large-scale environments and TS genesis simulated by HiRAM are dramatically superior to those in low-resolution fifth Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) models. During 2075 -2099, both TS genesis numbers and TS frequency over the WNP and TWCN are projected to decrease consistent with the IPCC AR5 report. However, the rate of decrease (49%) is much greater than that projected in IPCC AR5. The decrease in TC genesis numbers under global warming is primarily attributed to the reduction in mid-level relative humidity and large-scale ascending motion, despite the warmer sea surface temperature (SST) providing more favorable conditions for TS formation. TS intensity and the maximum precipitation rate are projected to increase under global warming. At the end of the 21 st century, the mean precipitation rate within 200 km of TS storm center over the TWCN region is projected to increase by 54%.

Skutterudite CoP3 holds a unique structural formation that exhibits much better electronic properties for obtaining high energy density supercapacitors. Herein, novel skutterudite Ni–CoP3 nanosheets are constructed by etching and coprecipitating at room temperature and subsequent low‐temperature phosphorization reaction. Benefiting from the enhanced electrical conductivity and more electroactive sites brought about by adjusting the electronic structure with Ni incorporating the Ni–CoP3 electrode with a battery‐type demonstrates an ultrahigh specific capacity of 0.7 mA h cm−2 and exceptional cycling stability. The asymmetric supercapacitor (ASC) device fabricated by employing Ni–CoP3 and activated carbon (AC) as positive and negative electrodes, resepectively, exhibits a remarkable high energy density of 89.6 Wh kg−1 at 796 W kg−1 and excellent stability of 93% after 10 000 cycles, due to the skutterudite structure. The skutterudite Ni–CoP3 shows a great potential to be an excellent next‐generation electrode candidate for supercapacitors and other energy storage devices.

New ternary metal nanocrystals of Fe1 - x PtM x (M = Ru3+, Sn2+, or Ni2+) were synthesized by chemical transformation from FePt nanocrystals using a cation redox reaction in a solution. The structure and composition of resulting nanocrystals were characterized by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS). Moreover, X-ray absorption near-edge spectroscopy (XANES) was employed to confirm the chemical transformation from FePt to Fe1 - x PtRu x nanocrystals. The analyses of extended X-ray absorption find structure (EXAFS) revealed the detailed binding structures and coordination numbers of both FePt and Fe1 - x PtRu x nanocrystals. The results suggested that iron atoms of FePt lattices were oxidized to be Fe2+ and Fe3+ ions and were replaced by ruthenium atoms from the reduction of Ru3+ ions in solution to form Fe1 - x PtRu x lattices. Our method has opened a new route to easily and rapidly prepare a solid-solution type of ternary metal nanocrystals for catalytic applications.

Organic-inorganic hybrid perovskites have realized a high power conversion efficiency (PCE) in both n-i-p and p-i-n device configurations. However, since the p-i-n structure exempts the sophisticated processing of chargetransporting layers, it seems to possess better potential for practical applications than the n-i-p one. Currently, the inorganic NiO x is the most prevailing hole-transporting layer (HTL) used in p-i-n perovskite solar cells. Nevertheless, defects might exist on its surface to influence the charge transfer/extraction across the interface with perovskite and to affect the quality of the perovskite film grown on it. Herein, two novel [7]helicenes with stable open-shell singlet biradical ground states at room temperature are demonstrated as an effective surface modifier of the NiO x HTL. Their nonpolar feature effectively promotes the crystallinity of the perovskite film grown on them; meanwhile, their unique partial biradical character seems to provide a certain degree of defect passivation function at the perovskite interface to facilitate interfacial charge transfer/extraction. As a result, both 1ab-and 1bb-modifed devices yield a PCE of >18%, exceeding the value (15.6%) of the control device using a sole NiO x HTL, and the maximum PCE can reach 19%. Detailed characterizations are carefully conducted to understand the underlying reasons behind such enhancement.

SCs suitable for many different occasions. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7] However, the low energy density limits their extensive commercial applications. Based on the above, hybrid supercapacitors (HSCs) also called supercapattery with battery-type positive electrode as the energy source and electric double-layer capacitor negative electrode as the power source have been designed, it combines the dual advantages of high power density of traditional SCs and high energy density of batteries. [7][8][9][10] Further, the electrochemical properties of the HSCs are mainly determined by the battery-type electrode, so selecting suitable electrode materials or optimizing the electrode structure is essential for obtaining high-performance hybrid devices.Transition metal oxides and sulfides have become the most widely studied battery-type electrodes due to their remarkable electrochemical activity and high specific capacity. [11][12][13] For example, Chen et al. reported the self-supported Ni 3 S 2 nanosheet arrays by a two-step method. Benefiting from its unique 3D sheet structure, the electrode shows superb rate capability and energy density. [14] Kim et al. designed the independent electrode of NiMo 2 S 4 using the successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) method, which also showed high reversible specific capacity. [15] Although some progress has been made in the research of battery-type electrodes, the inherent physical and chemical properties of the single electrode materials may limit the further development. In order to achieve higher electrochemical performance, complex and stable electrode structures are required to be constructed.In the previous work, the first-principles calculations show that amorphous oxides (such as MnO 2 , [16] ) can produce lots of unsaturated suspension bonds, which makes them have a broad application prospect in the field of energy storage. [18][19][20] Liu et al. proposed amorphous manganese oxide as the pseudocapacitive electrode, which proved to possess excellent rate capability and high cycle stability. [21] This may be due to the fact that the loose arrangement of atoms and ions is more conducive to rapid ion transport of the active materials in the bulk of oxides. Sun et al. successfully synthesized MoO 3 by electrochemical deposition technique and pointed out that the disordered structure is likely to release the structural stress caused by the repeated ion deintercalation/intercalation behavior, thus Hybrid supercapacitors (HSCs), also called supercapattery, which can substitute for low power density batteries have attracted extensive interest. However, when HSCs comes to commercial applications, there is still space for improvement in energy density. It seems that designing of electrode with high capacity is an effective measure. Herein, amorphous-crystalline MoO 3 -Ni 3 S 2 /NF-0.5 nanosheet arrays are developed as battery-type electrodes. Specifically, the sheet-like structure of crystalline Ni 3 S 2 can achieve rich structural nanocrystallization, improving the redox reacti...

This study documents observational changes in the eyewall of Typhoon Fanapi (2010) after landfall in Taiwan. The observations indicate that Fanapi’s eye and eyewall disappeared on the eastern side of Taiwan’s Central Mountain Range (CMR) after landfall, but reemerged on the western side of CMR. The cyclonic circulation, increasing wind speed, a low-level low pressure and high temperature zone, the associated updrafts and downdrafts, and surface pressure and rainfall measurements all support the existence of a reintensified eyewall. The storm slowed down during the redeveloping stage, thus prolonging the rainfall duration over Taiwan. On the western side of CMR a northwest–southeast-oriented rainband formed at an earlier stage, possibly due to the large-scale interaction between Fanapi’s remnant flow and the environment. However, the subsequent reintensification might be attributed to the interaction between the circulation and topography. This is supported by the finding that adjacent to CMR, strong wind develops vertically from lower levels, indicating that the reintensification appears to be initiated through a bottom-up process. A vorticity budget analysis shows that at lower layers the stretching mechanism plays a leading role in increasing positive vorticity, followed by the contributions from tilting and horizontal advection. The horizontal advection plays a comparable role to the vertical advection in increasing low- to midlevel vorticity. The vertical advection aloft is responsible for transporting the vorticity upward. Finally, this research provides a relatively rare documentation of the vortical hot towers (VHTs) over terrain using ground-based radars, in contrast to most previous studies focusing on maritime VHTs using simulations or aircraft measurements.