DNA sequence-dependent photoluminescence enhancement is found for a cationic polyelectrolyte complexed with single stranded DNA and described as a result of an interplay between electrostatic attraction and the π-π stacking between the polyelectrolyte's backbone and DNA's bases.

China's rapid economic growth and social transitions have deteriorated environmental conditions and caused further public health issues in last three decades. This study examines the complex mechanisms of how socioeconomic transitions and physical environmental conditions impact public health, especially with respect to increasing cancer incidences in mainland China from a spatial-temporal perspective. Specifically, (1) spatial variations of seven types of cancer incidences were analyzed in relation to heavy metal emissions from industrial wastewater at the prefecture-level city scale from 2004 to 2009. Additionally; (2) spatial statistical methods were employed to explore the associations between health outcome, heavy metal emissions from industrial wastewater (arsenic, chromium, cadmium, mercury, lead), as well as socioeconomic transitions (industrialization, urbanization, globalization) and physical environmental factors (hydrology and vegetation coverage). Results showed a significant increase of cancer incidences between 2004 and 2009. Consistent with the spatial pattern of heavy metal emissions, cancer patient clusters were identified in both traditional industrial bases and newly industrialized economic zones, especially in major cities located at downstream watersheds, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenyang, and Wuhan. The results also revealed the double-edged effects of industrialization, economic growth, and urbanization on natural environment and human health. The findings provide informative knowledge of heavy metal pollution and cancer outbreaks in China and therefore offer valuable reference for authorities formulating regulations.

A fluidized-bed plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition (FP-ALD) process is reported to fabricate Pd nanoparticles using palladium hexafluoroacetylacetonate and H2 plasma. The process successfully deposits Pd nanoparticles over porous γ-Al2O3 (30 wt. %), amorphous aluminum silicate (50 wt. %), and molecular sieve (20 wt. %) (ASM) powders. Pd loading on ASM is increased linearly with increasing the number of FP-ALD cycle with a growth rate of 0.34 mg/1 g ASM/cycle. Transmission electron microscopy reveals that high-density Pd nanoparticles are uniformly distributed over the entire ASM powders and the average Pd particle size is sensitive to the number of FP-ALD cycle. By increasing the number of FP-ALD cycles from 25 to 150, the average Pd particle size rises from 0.9 to 5.8 nm, indicating the particle size can be tuned easily by varying the number of FP-ALD cycles. The catalytic activities of different particle sizes and Pd loading samples are evaluated for CO oxidation. With the metal loading amount of 2% for Pd and the average particle size of 2.9 nm, the deposited Pd/ASM sample shows an excellent catalytic activity for the oxidation of CO. Under the condition of a gas mixture of 0.5 vol. % CO and 21 vol. % O2 balanced with N2, and gas hourly space velocity of 24 000 h−1, 100% CO conversion temperature is as low as 140 °C.

Cobalt and cobalt carbide films were successfully fabricated via a simple pulsed chemical vapor deposition (PCVD) technique. The PCVD process employs bis(1,4-di-tert-butyl-1,3-diazadienyl) cobalt as a cobalt precursor. The effect of the reducing agent, H2 gas or H2 plasma, on the chemical composition of the resulting films has been carefully investigated. In the presence of H2 gas, polycrystalline hexagonal close-packed Co was obtained through the thermal decomposition of the Co precursor. When H2 plasma was used as a coreactant, the cobalt carbide was successfully deposited instead. The crystal structure of the deposited film is orthorhombic Co2C. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy results show that all the carbon contained in the films were in form of Co–C. The dependence of deposition temperature on cobalt and cobalt carbide characteristics has also been investigated.