科研成果

Quorum quenching (QQ)-based strategies are efficient for biofouling control. However, the feasibility of using QQ bacteria in antibiotic-stressed membrane bioreactors (MBRs) remains unknown. In this study, we isolated three novel QQ strains (Bacillus sp. QX01 and QX03, Delftia sp. QX14) from the activated sludge of an actual MBR. They can degrade 11 N-acyl-homoserine lactones (AHLs) with high efficiencies and rates through intracellular QQ pathways involving putative acylases and lactonases. Running two lab-scale MBRs, we found that introducing antibiotics (sulfamethoxazole, azithromycin, and ciprofloxacin, each at 100 μg/L) shortened the fouling cycle by 71.4 %. However, the immobilized inoculation of QX01 into one MBR extended the fouling cycle by 1.5-2.0 times. Quantitative detection revealed that QX01 significantly reduced the concentrations of two AHLs (C4-HSL and C8-HSL), which were positively correlated with the contents of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) (Pearson's r = 0.62-0.83, P < 0.01). This suggests that QX01 could perform its QQ activity robustly under antibiotic stress, thereby inhibiting EPS production (proteins especially) and biofilm formation. Moreover, QX01 notably altered the succession patterns of both sludge and fouling communities, with more pronounced effects on abundant taxa. Genera associated with AHL synthesis and EPS production, such as Terrimonas and Rhodobacter, were significantly depleted, contributing to the mitigated biofouling. Additionally, QX01 increased the bacterial community diversity (evenness especially), which was inhibited by antibiotics. Overall, we demonstrate that the novel QQ bacteria could be effective for biofouling control in antibiotic-stressed MBRs, though future work is needed to develop practical approaches for prolonging QQ activity.

This study examines the socio-political landscape of the ancient city of Amastris (modern Amasra) through the lens of its road infrastructure, with a particular focus on the construction and significance of Aquila’s roads. Situated in the challenging terrain of northern Anatolia’s Küre Mountains, Amastris served as a vital maritime hub, linking diverse inland and coastal communities within Paphlagonia. Employing a multidisciplinary approach that integrates ancient literary analysis, archaeological evidence, and geospatial modeling, this paper reconstructs the network of primary and secondary Roman roads emanating from Amastris. The research highlights the dual role of these roads in fostering territorial coherence and enhancing regional connectivity, supporting both local autonomy and imperial governance. Key findings demonstrate that Aquila’s roads were not merely infrastructural projects but strategic undertakings that blended private investment with public utility. These projects reflect the intricate interplay between individual agency and state interests in Roman provincial administration. Furthermore, the study explores the broader cultural and economic impacts of road construction on Amastris, illustrating how connectivity shaped civic identity, social integration, and territorial integrity. The paper concludes that Aquila’s road-building initiatives were instrumental in sustaining Amastris’s strategic significance and functionality within the Roman Empire. By examining the dynamic relationship between local and imperial priorities, this study offers insights into how infrastructure functioned as a nexus of governance, economic development, and regional integration in ancient Anatolia.

Solar power is vital for China's future energy pathways to achieve the goal of 2060 carbon neutrality. Previous studies have suggested that China's solar energy resource potential surpass the projected nationwide power demand in 2060, yet the uncertainty quantification and cost competitiveness of such resource potential are less studied. Therefore, we applied an integrated framework to simulate China's solar photovoltaic (PV) technical potential, and incorporated potential uncertainty stemming from climate change, land use dynamics, and technological advancements. In addition, we constructed the solar energy supply curve for each province and calculated the economic potential. According to our results, approximately 78.6 % and 99.9 % of China's technical solar PV potential are priced lower than the benchmark price of coal-fired energy in pessimistic and optimistic scenario. These findings highlight the significant technical and economic potential of solar PV as a cost-effective alternative to coal-fired electricity to meet China's growing electricity demands.

Ocean carbon removal represents a promising pathway for mitigating residual anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2), yet existing methods are constrained by high energy demands and potential ecological risks. Here, inspired by the natural calcification process of corals, we present a bio-inspired capacitive decarbonization (CDC) reactor that sequesters dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) from seawater as CaCO3 using only seawater-derived Ca2+ and renewable electricity. The CDC system integrates a Ca2+-selective electrode with a weak electric field to regulate ion transport and disrupt the hydration shell of Ca2+, enhancing its reaction with CO32−. To address the limited concentration of CO32− relative to Ca2+ in seawater, we introduce an asymmetric electrosorption strategy to preferentially enrich CO32− at the electrode interface, achieving a DIC conversion rate of up to 34% with an ultralow intrinsic electrochemical energy input of 2.5 kJ mol−1 CO2 for the CDC reactor. The reactor exhibits stable continuous operation for over 100 h without fouling, enabled by spatially decoupled CaCO3 precipitation. To mitigate the reduction in seawater alkalinity, we introduce a mineral-assisted re-alkalinization step that effectively restores pH and supports continued CO2 absorption. A global integrated analysis model shows the CDC technology could remove up to 11–438 million tonnes of CO2 by 2050–2100. This work demonstrates a scalable and low-energy solution for durable ocean carbon removal.

Wetlands are major microplastic sinks with a large atmospheric input. However, many details of such deposited atmospheric microplastics entering into wetlands remain unclear, including temporal patterns of input and ecological effects. We monitored the aerial microplastics during four seasons in eleven economically developed cities along the lower reaches of the Yangtze River Basin, China. The average microplastic deposition rate was 512.31 items m−2 d−1, equivalent to an annual contribution of 17.46 metric tons of plastic to the surveyed wetlands with a total area of 1652 km2. These microplastics were predominantly composed of polyamide and polyethylene terephthalate with 61.85 ± 92.29 µm sized pellets, and we obtained similar results for microplastics intercepted on moss in wetlands. Microplastic input varied between wet and dry periods, primarily influenced by wind, rainfall and ozone concentration. Civilian vehicle density and textile industry were the primary socioeconomic factors driving microplastic deposition. Further indoor microcosm experiments revealed that moss phyllosphere bacterial community structure and function were influenced by microplastic abundance and size, exemplifying the unique ecological risks of aerially deposited microplastics to wetlands. These results indicate that mosses and their phyllosphere microbiota could serve as bio-indicators of aerial microplastic characteristics and impacts.

Sound field reproduction with undistorted sound quality and precise spatial localization is desirable for automotiveaudio systems. However, the complexity of the automotive cabin acoustic environment often necessitates a trade-offbetween sound quality and spatial accuracy. To overcome this limitation, we propose Spatial Power Map Net, alearning-based sound field reproduction method that improves both sound quality and spatial localization in complexenvironments. We introduce a spatial power map constraint, which characterizes the angular energy distribution ofthe reproduced field using beamforming. This constraint guides energy toward the intended direction to enhance spatiallocalization, and is integrated into a multi-channel equalization framework to also improve sound quality underreverberant conditions. To address the resulting non-convexity, deep optimization that uses neural networks to solveoptimization problems is employed for filter design. Both in situ objective and subjective evaluations confirm thatour method enhances sound quality and improves spatial localization within the automotive cabin. Furthermore, weanalyze the influence of different audio materials and the arrival angles of the virtual sound source in the reproducedsound field, investigating the potential underlying factors affecting these results.