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•A visual relative humidity (RH) sensor based on a bioinspired and hygroscopic seed-like robot (I-SeedPel) is reported.•The RH sensor is powered solely by the RH variation itself.•The ...RH sensor is composed of biodegradable polymers that does not need to be retrieved after its function and working period.•The RH sensor works in a wide range of humidity (30–90%), with an accuracy of 97–98%, and a resolution of 0.17–0.52% of RH.
Visual sensors for relative humidity (RH) are of interest for distributed and autonomous environmental monitoring. Most of the visual humidity sensors are based on colorimetric sensing through the employment of hygroscopic inorganic pigments or photonic crystals (PCs). However, the toxicity of some inorganic pigments poses a risk to the environment especially if dispersed during in-situ measurements. On the other hand, the angle-dependent structural colours reading of the PCs, make these devices non suitable for autonomous and in-situ environmental monitoring.
Here, we report the first visual humidity sensor using an artificial and hygroscopic seed-like robot (I-SeedPel) recently (2023) developed by our group for hygro-driven environmental exploration (https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202205146).
The I-SeedPel design is bioinspired to the hygroscopic and layered tissues of the Pelargonium appendiculatum seed and fabricated through additive manufacturing techniques using biodegradable polymers. The hygro-mechanical response of the I-SeedPel generates a reversible change of the geometrical features in the artificial seed structure (i.e., awn’s angular displacement and diameter variation) related to the RH. The variation of the geometric properties can be quantified and correlated to RH in a wide range (30–90 %), with an accuracy of 97–98 %, with a resolution of 0.17–0.52 % of RH and a good reproducibility (average RSD = 14.7 %).
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Energy consumption, environmental impact, and sustainability have risen fast through the ranks, achieving the first places in driving investments, policies, and concerns of all countries at any ...developmental stage. Energy transformation, though, must cope with nonunitary efficiency of devices and processes, which results in a distributed production of waste heat. A reduction of emissions, implying a conversion of waste heat to more noble forms of energy and a concurrent increase in efficiency of the same devices and processes, is of paramount importance. In view of the enthalpy content and distribution of the different sources of waste heat, low‐grade/low‐enthalpy sources below 200 °C are considered the most fertile field for research and development, with an impressive industrial growth rate. Thermodynamic cycles and thermal conversion devices based on the most relevant physical effects are herein introduced and briefly described, including both solutions that already achieved industrial maturity and less developed systems and devices whose study is still in progress. A specific focus on three application domains, selected due to their economic relevance, is done: industrial processes for the vast energy and capital availability, automotive sector for its permeation, and wearable devices for the market size. Limits and opportunities are critically discussed.
The state‐of‐the‐art of waste heat to power solutions and applications in industrial, automotive, and wearable fields is discussed herein. Current and emerging technologies are presented. Each sector is analyzed and the most interesting and promising implementations are proposed. Finally, a comparison in terms of temperature range, efficiency, delivered power, and installation cost is conducted.
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FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Geraniaceae seeds represent a role model in soft robotics thanks to their ability to move autonomously across and into the soil driven by humidity changes. The secret behind their mobility and ...adaptivity is embodied in the hierarchical structures and anatomical features of the biological hygroscopic tissues, geometrically designed to be selectively responsive to environmental humidity. Following a bioinspired approach, the internal structure and biomechanics of Pelargonium appendiculatum (L.f.) Willd seeds are investigated to develop a model for the design of a soft robot. The authors exploit the re‐shaping ability of 4D printed materials to fabricate a seed‐like soft robot, according to the natural specifications and model, and using biodegradable and hygroscopic polymers. The robot mimics the movement and performances of the natural seed, reaching a torque value of ≈30 µN m, an extensional force of ≈2.5 mN and it is capable to lift ≈100 times its own weight. Driven by environmental humidity changes, the artificial seed is able to explore a sample soil, adapting its morphology to interact with soil roughness and cracks.
The internal structure and biomechanics of Pelargonium appendiculatum (L.f.) wild seeds are investigated to develop a model for the design and 4D printing of a soft robot. The robot mimics the movement and performances of the natural seed. Driven by environmental humidity, the artificial seed can explore a sample soil, adapting its morphology to interact with soil roughness and cracks.
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FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Energy consumption levels show a never‐ending increase since the industrial era. Toward sustainability objectives, it is of outstanding importance to reduce the amount of wasted energy, that ...typically comes as waste heat, as a consequence of nonunitary efficiency of any thermodynamic process. Herein, a breakthrough in conversion of low enthalpy heat into electricity is presented, based on a liquid state device that operates through multiphysics effects: thermomagnetic advection, triboelectricity, pyroelectricity, and Ludwig–Sorét effect. A synergistic interaction between ferroelectric surfaces and a complex composition colloidal suspension is evidenced, owing to an enhancement of the generated potential of 365% in comparison with pyroelectric effect and 267% in comparison with triboelectric effect, while the current extracted is 54% higher than the pyroelectric effect only and the power extracted by induction remains substantially unperturbed. The impact of this technology on society is also analyzed, on the basis of a set of practical applications, by means of a computational analysis.
Mixed composition colloidal suspensions enable a breakthrough in conversion of low enthalpy heat into electricity due to a synergistic combination of pyroelectricity, triboelectricity, density waves, and magnetothermal phenomena.
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FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Nowadays, energy-related issues are of paramount importance. Every energy transformation process results in the production of waste heat that can be harvested and reused, representing an ecological ...and economic opportunity. Waste heat to power (WHP) is the process of converting the waste heat into electricity. A novel approach is proposed based on the employment of liquid nano colloids. In this work, the triboelectric characterization of TiO2 nanoparticles dispersed in pure water and flowing in a fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP) pipe was conducted. The idea is to exploit the waste heat to generate the motion of colloidal TiO2 through a FEP pipe. By placing an Al ring electrode in contact with the pipe, it was possible to accumulate electrostatic charges due to the triboelectric effect between the fluid and the inner pipe walls. A peristaltic pump was used to drive and control the flow in order to evaluate the performances in a broad fluid dynamic spectrum. The system generated as output relatively high voltages and low currents, resulting in extracted power ranging between 0.4 and 0.6 nW. By comparing the power of pressure loss due to friction with the extracted power, the electro-kinetic efficiency was estimated to be 20%.
Clinical data indicate that prognostic stratification of radically resected colorectal cancer based on disease stage only may not be always be adequate. Preclinical findings suggest that cancer stem ...cells may influence the biological behaviour of colorectal cancer independently from stage: objective of the study was to assess whether a panel of stemness markers were correlated with clinical outcome in resected stage II and III colon cancer patients. A panel of 66 markers of stemness were analysed and thus patients were divided into two groups (A and B) with most patients clustering in a manner consistent with different time to relapse by using a statistical algorithm. A total of 62 patients were analysed. Thirty-six (58%) relapsed during the follow-up period (range 1.63-86.5 months). Twelve (19%) and 50 (81%) patients were allocated into group A and B, respectively. A significantly different median relapse-free survival was observed between the 2 groups (22.18 vs 42.85 months, p=0.0296). Among of all genes tested, those with the higher "weight" in determining different prognosis were CD44, ALCAM, DTX2, HSPA9, CCNA2, PDX1, MYST1, COL1A1 and ABCG2. This analysis supports the idea that, other than stage, biological variables, such as expression levels of colon cancer stem cell genes, may be relevant in determining an increased risk of relapse in resected colorectal cancer patients.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Background Microbiota composition is fundamental to human health with the intestinal microbiota undergoing critical changes within the first two years of life. The developing intestinal microbiota is ...shaped by maternal seeding, breast milk and its complex constituents, other nutrients, and the environment. Understanding microbiota-dependent pathologies requires a profound understanding of the early development of the healthy infant microbiota. Methods Two hundred and fifty healthy pregnant women (greater than or equal to20 weeks of gestation) from the greater Bern area will be enrolled at Bern University hospital's maternity department. Participants will be followed as mother-baby pairs at delivery, week(s) 1, 2, 6, 10, 14, 24, 36, 48, 96, and at years 5 and 10 after birth. Clinical parameters describing infant growth and development, morbidity, and allergic conditions as well as socio-economic, nutritional, and epidemiological data will be documented. Neuro-developmental outcomes and behavior will be assessed by child behavior checklists at and beyond 2 years of age. Maternal stool, milk, skin and vaginal swabs, infant stool, and skin swabs will be collected at enrolment and at follow-up visits. For the primary outcome, the trajectory of the infant intestinal microbiota will be characterized by 16S and metagenomic sequencing regarding composition, metabolic potential, and stability during the first 2 years of life. Secondary outcomes will assess the cellular and chemical composition of maternal milk, the impact of nutrition and environment on microbiota development, the maternal microbiome transfer at vaginal or caesarean birth and thereafter on the infant, and correlate parameters of microbiota and maternal milk on infant growth, development, health, and mental well-being. Discussion The Bern birth cohort study will provide a detailed description and normal ranges of the trajectory of microbiota maturation in a high-resource setting. These data will be compared to data from low-resource settings such as from the Zimbabwe-College of Health-Sciences-Birth-Cohort study. Prospective bio-sampling and data collection will allow studying the association of the microbiota with common childhood conditions concerning allergies, obesity, neuro-developmental outcomes , and behaviour. Trial registration The trial has been registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov, Identifier: NCT04447742 Keywords: Intestinal microbiome, Microbiota maturation, 16S sequencing, Metagenomic sequencing, Breastfeeding, Immune maturation, High resource environment, Childhood allergies, Child neuro-developmental outcomes, Mode of delivery
Plants have evolved different mechanisms to disperse from parent plants and improve germination to sustain their survival. The study of seed dispersal mechanisms, with the related structural and ...functional characteristics, is an active research topic for ecology, plant diversity, climate change, as well as for its relevance for material science and engineering. The natural mechanisms of seed dispersal show a rich source of robust, highly adaptive, mass and energy efficient mechanisms for optimized passive flying, landing, crawling and drilling. The secret of seeds mobility is embodied in the structural features and anatomical characteristics of their tissues, which are designed to be selectively responsive to changes in the environmental conditions, and which make seeds one of the most fascinating examples of morphological computation in Nature. Particularly clever for their spatial mobility performance, are those seeds that use their morphology and structural characteristics to be carried by the wind and dispersed over great distances (i.e. "winged" and "parachute" seeds), and seeds able to move and penetrate in soil with a self-burial mechanism driven by their hygromorphic properties and morphological features. By looking at their motion mechanisms, new design principles can be extracted and used as inspiration for smart artificial systems endowed with embodied intelligence. This mini-review systematically collects, for the first time together, the morphological, structural, biomechanical and aerodynamic information from selected plant seeds relevant to take inspiration for engineering design of soft robots, and discusses potential future developments in the field across material science, plant biology, robotics and embodied intelligence.
Recently, a new classification for gastric cancer (GC) has been proposed, based on Lauren's histology and on anatomic tumour location, identifying three subtypes of disease: type 1 (proximal non ...diffuse GC), type 2 (diffuse GC) and type 3 (distal non diffuse GC). Aim of our analysis was to compare clinical outcome according to different GC subtypes (1,2,3) in metastatic GC patients receiving first-line chemotherapy.
Advanced GC pts treated with a first-line combination chemotherapy were included in our analysis. Pts were divided in three subgroups (type 1, type 2 and type 3) as previously defined.
A total of 248 advanced GC pts were included: 45.2% belonged to type 2, 43.6% to type 3 and 11.2% to type 1. Patients received a fluoropyrimidine-based chemotherapy doublet or three drugs regimens including a platinum derivate and a fluoropyrimidine with the addition of an anthracycline, a taxane or mytomicin C. RR was higher in type 1 pts (RR = 46.1%) and type 3 (34,3%) compared to type 2 (20,4%), (p = 0.015). Type 2 presented a shorter PFS, median PFS = 4.2 months, compared to type 1, mPFS = 7.2 months, and type 3, mPFS = 5.9 months (p = 0.011) and also a shorter OS (p = 0.022).
Our analysis suggests that GC subtypes may be important predictors of benefit from chemotherapy in advanced GC patients. Future clinical trials should take in account these differences for a better stratification of patients.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
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