Recent studies have shown that the lack of ideal anodes with both good activity and stability is still one of the critical problems in electrochemical oxidation for organic wastewater treatment. The electrochemical properties, the activity and stability for anodic oxidation of various phenolic compounds, and the degradation mechanism on a novel β-PbO 2 electrode modified with fluorine resin were investigated. The anode life after modification was greatly improved to be more than 10 yr in common electrochemical current conditions. Such an anode was effective for partial degradation of phenolic compounds, but selective because reactive activities were varied with different substituents. Characterized by SEM and XRD, the crystal form of the anode was verified to be mainly β-PbO 2 , and it hardly changed when used for p-nitrophenol degradation for around 320 h although there existed slow electrode corrosion. The active species generated during anodic oxidation were determined to be mainly hydroxyl radical and little ozone. The reactions between hydroxyl radical and phenolic compounds were proved to be electrophilic reactions, based on which a general electrochemical degradation mechanism for aromatic compounds was proposed. In general, such a novel anode has a good performance for organics degradation with perfect electrode life, showing potential for environmental application.

Ion exchange is widely used for removal and recovery of Cr(VI) from wastewater. Generally, the exhausted ion exchanger is regenerated using chemicals. Although chemical regeneration is efficient, contaminants are introduced, leading to difficulty for the subsequent recovery of Cr(VI). To overcome such a problem, a new regeneration method, namely electrical regeneration, which is carried out on the principle of electrodialysis, is presented in this paper. Experimental results showed that the weak-base resin used could be effectively regenerated electrically. About 93% capacity of the resin was restored under a constant current of 0.25 A over a period of 24 h. The pure chromic acid was recovered in the anode chamber with a concentration of 5.03 g Cr(VI)/L. It was found that the weak-base resin regenerated electrically could remove Cr(VI) from wastewater as effectively as that regenerated chemically. The Cr(VI) concentration was reduced from initial 50 mg/L to lower than the detectable limit, 0.01 mg/L, after treatment.

The speed–accuracy trade-off (SAT) is ubiquitous in decision tasks. While the neural mechanisms underlying decisions are generally well characterized, the application of decision-theoretic methods to the SAT has been difficult to reconcile with experimental data suggesting that decision thresholds are inflexible. Using a network model of a cortical decision circuit, we demonstrate the SAT in a manner consistent with neural and behavioral data and with mathematical models that optimize speed and accuracy with respect to one another. In simulations of a reaction time task, we modulate the gain of the network with a signal encoding the urgency to respond. As the urgency signal builds up, the network progresses through a series of processing stages supporting noise filtering, integration of evidence, amplification of integrated evidence, and choice selection. Analysis of the network's dynamics formally characterizes this progression. Slower buildup of urgency increases accuracy by slowing down the progression. Faster buildup has the opposite effect. Because the network always progresses through the same stages, decision-selective firing rates are stereotyped at decision time.

Oocyte quality has long been considered as a main limiting factor for in vitro fertilization (IVF). In the past decade, extensive observations demonstrated that the mitochondrion plays a vital role in the oocyte cytoplasm, for it can provide adenosine triphosphate (ATP) for fertilization and preimplantation embryo development and also act as stores of intracellular calcium and proapoptotic factors. During the oocyte maturation, mitochondria are characterized by distinct changes of their distribution pattern from being homogeneous to heterogeneous, which is correlated with the cumulus apoptosis. Oocyte quality decreases with the increasing maternal age. Recent studies have shown that low quality oocytes have some age-related dysfunctions, which include the decrease in mitochondrial membrane potential, increase of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) damages, chromosomal aneuploidies, the incidence of apoptosis, and changes in mitochondrial gene expression. All these dysfunctions may cause a high level of developmental retardation and arrest of preimplantation embryos. It has been suggested that these mitochondrial changes may arise from excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS) that is closely associated with the oxidative energy production or calcium overload, which may trigger permeability transition pore opening and subsequent apoptosis. Therefore, mitochondria can be seen as signs for oocyte quality evaluation, and it is possible that the oocyte quality can be improved by enhancing the physical function of mitochondria. Here we reviewed recent advances in mitochondrial functions on oocytes.

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