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This work demonstrates a straightforward method to convert real-world shoe waste midsoles into water remediation sorbents for the removal of cationic organic pollutants. 

This work demonstrates a series of functionalization methods to enhance the utility of thermoplastic-elastomer derived ordered mesoporous carbons, including chemical activation, heteroatom doping, and the introduction of nanoparticles. 

The production of ordered mesoporous carbons (OMCs) can be achieved by direct pyrolysis of self-assembled polymers. Typically, these systems require a majority phase capable of producing carbon, and a minority phase to form pores through a thermal decomposition step. While polyacrylonitrile (PAN)-based block copolymers (BCPs) have been broadly reported as OMC precursors, these materials have a relatively narrow processing window for developing ordered nanostructures and often require sophisticated chemistry for BCP synthesis, followed by long crosslinking times at high temperatures. Alternatively, olefinic thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs) can be convered to large-pore OMCs after two steps of sulfonation-induced crosslinking and carbonization. Building on this platform, this work focuses on the precursor design concept for the efficient synthesis of OMCs through employing low-cost and widely available polystyrene-block-polybutadiene-block-polystyrene (SBS), which contains unsaturated bonds along the polymer backbone. As a result, the presence of alkene groups greatly enhances the kinetics of sulfonation-induced crosslinking reaction, which can be completed within only 20 min at 150 °C, nearly an order of magnitude faster than a recently reported TPE system containing a fully saturated polymer backbone. The crosslinking reaction enables the production of OMCs with pore sizes (∼9.5 nm) larger than most conventional soft-templating systems, while also doping sulfur heteroatoms into the carbon framework of the final products. This work demonstrates efficient synthesis of OMCs from TPE precursors which have a great potential for scaled production, and the resulting products may have broad applications such as for drug delivery and energy storage. 

SUMMARY In the Gulf of California, Mexico, the relative motion across the North America–Pacific boundary is accommodated by a series of marine transform faults and spreading centres. About 40 M> 6 earthquakes have occurred in the region since 1960. On 2009 August 3, an Mw 6.9 earthquake occurred near Canal de Ballenas in the region. The earthquake was a strike-slip event with a shallow hypocentre that is likely close to the seafloor. In contrast to an adjacent M7 earthquake, this earthquake triggered a ground-motion-based earthquake early warning algorithm being tested in southern California (∼600 km away). This observation suggests that the abnormally large ground motions and dynamic strains observed for this earthquake relate to its rupture properties. To investigate this possibility, we image the rupture process and resolve the slip distribution of the event using a P-wave backprojection approach and a teleseismic, finite-fault inversion method. Results from these two independent analyses indicate a relatively simple, unilateral rupture propagation directed along-strike in the northward direction. However, the average rupture speed is estimated around 4 km s−1, suggesting a possible supershear rupture. The supershear speed is also supported by a Rayleigh wave Mach cone analysis, although uncertainties in local velocity structure preclude a definitive conclusion. The Canal de Ballenas earthquake dynamically triggered seismicity at multiple sites in California, with triggering response characteristics varying from location-to-location. For instance, some of the triggered earthquakes in California occurred up to 24 hr later, suggesting that nonlinear triggering mechanisms likely have modulated their occurrence.