Abstract
PbSe-based thermoelectric materials exhibit promising
ZT
values at medium temperature, but its near-room-temperature thermoelectric properties are overlooked, thus restricting its average
ZT
...(
ZT
ave
) value at low-medium temperatures. Here, a high
ZT
ave
of 0.90 at low temperature (300–573 K) is reported in
n
-type PbSe-based thermoelectric material (Pb
1.02
Se
0.72
Te
0.20
S
0.08
−0.3%Cu), resulting in a large
ZT
ave
of 0.96 at low-medium temperatures (300–773 K). This high thermoelectric performance stems from its ultralow lattice thermal conductivity caused by dense dislocations through heavy Te/S alloying and Cu interstitial doping. The dislocation density evaluated by modified Williamson-Hall method reaches up to 5.4 × 10
16
m
−2
in Pb
1.02
Se
0.72
Te
0.20
S
0.08
−0.3%Cu. Moreover, the microstructure observation further uncloses two kinds of dislocations, namely screw and edge dislocations, with several to hundreds of nanometers scale in length. These dislocations in lattice can strongly intensify phonon scattering to minimize the lattice thermal conductivity and simultaneously maintain high carrier transport. As a result, with the reduced lattice thermal conductivity and optimized power factor in Pb
1.02
Se
0.72
Te
0.20
S
0.08
−0.3%Cu, its near-room-temperature thermoelectric performance is largely enhanced and exceeds previous PbSe-based thermoelectric materials.
This research presents an innovative methodology aimed at monitoring jet trajectory during the jetting process using imagery captured by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). This approach seamlessly ...integrates UAV imagery with an offline learnable prompt vector module (OPVM) to enhance trajectory monitoring accuracy and stability. By leveraging a high-resolution camera mounted on a UAV, image enhancement is proposed to solve the problem of geometric and photometric distortion in jet trajectory images, and the Faster R-CNN network is deployed to detect objects within the images and precisely identify the jet trajectory within the video stream. Subsequently, the offline learnable prompt vector module is incorporated to further refine trajectory predictions, thereby improving monitoring accuracy and stability. In particular, the offline learnable prompt vector module not only learns the visual characteristics of jet trajectory but also incorporates their textual features, thus adopting a bimodal approach to trajectory analysis. Additionally, OPVM is trained offline, thereby minimizing additional memory and computational resource requirements. Experimental findings underscore the method’s remarkable precision of 95.4% and efficiency in monitoring jet trajectory, thereby laying a solid foundation for advancements in trajectory detection and tracking. This methodology holds significant potential for application in firefighting systems and industrial processes, offering a robust framework to address dynamic trajectory monitoring challenges and augment computer vision capabilities in practical scenarios.
As one of the main external factors affecting the fire extinguishing accuracy of sprinkler systems, it is necessary to analyze and study random wind. However, in practical applications, there is ...little research on the impact of random wind on sprinkler fire extinguishing points. To address this issue, a new random wind acquisition system was constructed in this paper, and a method for predicting jet trajectory falling points in Random Forest (RF) under the influence of random wind was proposed, and compared with the commonly used prediction model Support Vector Machine (SVM). The method in this article reduces the error in the x direction of the 50 m prediction result from 2.11 m to 1.53 m, the error in the y direction from 0.64 m to 0.6 m, and the total mean absolute error (MAE) from 31.3 to 23.5. Simultaneously, predict the falling points of jet trajectory at different distances under the influence of random wind, to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed method in practical applications. The experimental results show that the system and method proposed in this article can effectively improve the influence of random wind on the falling points of a jet trajectory. In summary, the image acquisition system and error prediction method proposed in this article have many potential applications in fire extinguishing.
In economic unethical decision-making experiments, one important methodological investigation is what types of contexts should be used to frame the instructions. Within the experimental economics ...community, using neutral-context instructions instead of loaded-context instructions is the mainstream practice. Because the loaded contexts may impact behavior in an unpredictable manner and therefore, put experimental control at risk. Nevertheless, using the loaded-context instructions could be advantageous in several ways. A properly framed context can help to facilitate learning and gain ecological validity. The challenge is whether we can identify when and why the loaded context may alter behavior. In this paper, we aim to test if being familiar with a loaded context can systematically influence unethical decisions in a bribery game. We conduct a laboratory bribery game experiment with three different treatments: the neutral-context treatment, the familiar-context treatment, and the unfamiliar-context treatment. Using the neutral-context treatment as a benchmark, we find that participants in the familiar-context treatment express stronger negative attitudes toward corruption. Attitudes toward unethical behavior are the same in the neutral-context treatment and the unfamiliar-context treatment. Behaviorally, the participants in the familiar-context treatment are much less likely to engage in corrupt activities. The neutral-context treatment and the unfamiliar-context treatment produce the same behavioral outcome.
Lead sulfide (PbS) presents large potential in thermoelectric application due to its earth‐abundant S element. However, its inferior average ZT (ZTave) value makes PbS less competitive with its ...analogs PbTe and PbSe. To promote its thermoelectric performance, this study implements strategies of continuous Se alloying and Cu interstitial doping to synergistically tune thermal and electrical transport properties in n‐type PbS. First, the lattice parameter of 5.93 Å in PbS is linearly expanded to 6.03 Å in PbS0.5Se0.5 with increasing Se alloying content. This expanded lattice in Se‐alloyed PbS not only intensifies phonon scattering but also facilitates the formation of Cu interstitials. Based on the PbS0.6Se0.4 content with the minimal lattice thermal conductivity, Cu interstitials are introduced to improve the electron density, thus boosting the peak power factor, from 3.88 μW cm−1 K−2 in PbS0.6Se0.4 to 20.58 μW cm−1 K−2 in PbS0.6Se0.4−1%Cu. Meanwhile, the lattice thermal conductivity in PbS0.6Se0.4−x%Cu (x = 0–2) is further suppressed due to the strong strain field caused by Cu interstitials. Finally, with the lowered thermal conductivity and high electrical transport properties, a peak ZT ~1.1 and ZTave ~0.82 can be achieved in PbS0.6Se0.4 − 1%Cu at 300–773K, which outperforms previously reported n‐type PbS.
Cu interstitial doping is realized in n‐type PbS‐based thermoelectric material by expanding its lattice space, resulting in synergistically optimized carrier and phonon transport properties, thus contributing to a high ZTave value of 0.82 at 300–773 K.
Western Jilin Province is one of the world's three major saline-alkali land distribution areas, and is also an important area of global climate change and carbon cycle research. Rhizosphere soil ...microorganisms and enzymes are the most active components in soil, which are closely related to soil carbon cycle and can reflect soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics sensitively. Soil inorganic carbon (SIC) is the main existing form of soil carbon pool in arid saline-alkali land, and its quantity distribution affects the pattern of soil carbon accumulation and storage. Previous studies mostly focus on SOC, and pay little attention to SIC. Illumina Miseq high-throughput sequencing technology was used to reveal the changes of community structure in three maize fields (M1, M2 and M3) and three rice fields (R1, R2 and R3), which were affected by different levels of salinization during soil development. It is a new research topic of soil carbon cycle in saline-alkali soil region to investigate the effects of soil microorganisms and soil enzymes on the transformation of SOC and SIC in the rhizosphere. The results showed that the root-soil-microorganism interaction was changed by saline-alkali stress. The activities of catalase, invertase, amylase and β-glucosidase decreased with increasing salinity. At the phylum level, most bacterial abundance decreases with increasing salinity. However, the relative abundance of Proteobacteria and Firmicutes in maize field and Firmicutes, Proteobacteria and Nitrospirae in rice field increased sharply under saline-alkali stress. The results of redundancy analysis showed that the differences of rhizosphere soil between the three maize and three rice fields were mainly affected by ESP, pH and soil salt content. In saline-alkali soil region, β-glucosidase activity and amylase were significantly positively correlated with SOC content in maize fields, while catalase and β-glucosidase were significantly positively correlated with SOC content in rice fields. Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes and Verrucomicrobia had significant positive effects on SOC content of maize and rice fields. Proteobacteria, Gemmatimonadetes and Nitrospirae were positively correlated with SIC content. These enzymes and microorganisms are beneficial to soil carbon sequestration in saline-alkali soils.
New architectural forms offered by digital design approaches often appear incompatible with the prescribed precision and control in construction, especially in developing regions where advanced ...implementation means are limited. In response, this paper suggests working with design practice indeterminacy. Named ‘anexact architecture’, the post-digital design practice strategy presents a convergent diagram of seeking the feasible design solution space. It relies on the procedural parametric modelling to constantly integrate computation and humanisation, so that a rigorous built outcome is capable of accommodating project-specific idiosyncrasies and constraints. The demonstrator projects are discussed based on the combination of the Participatory Action Research method and the idea of anexact architecture. This paper aims to illustrate the peculiarity of anexact architecture and its ideology of treating design delivery uncertainties as essentials rather than negatives when practicing in a volatile construction context.
Design practice strategy; Post-digital architecture; Parametric design; Developing region; Non-standard architecture.
Moso bamboo (Phyllostachys edulis) is an economically and ecologically important nontimber forestry species. Further development of this species as a sustainable bamboo resource has been hindered by ...a lack of population genome information. Here, we report a moso bamboo genomic variation atlas of 5.45 million single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from whole-genome resequencing of 427 individuals covering 15 representative geographic areas. We uncover low genetic diversity, high genotype heterozygosity, and genes under balancing selection underlying moso bamboo population adaptation. We infer its demographic history with one bottleneck and its recently small population without a rebound. We define five phylogenetic groups and infer that one group probably originated by a single-origin event from East China. Finally, we conduct genome-wide association analysis of nine important property-related traits to identify candidate genes, many of which are involved in cell wall, carbohydrate metabolism, and environmental adaptation. These results provide a foundation and resources for understanding moso bamboo evolution and the genetic mechanisms of agriculturally important traits.
Eccentric muscle contraction can cause muscle damage, which reduces the efficiency of exercise. Previous evidence suggested that Sodium salicylate (SS) could improve the repair of aged muscle. This ...study intends to investigate whether SS can impact skeletal muscle damage caused by eccentric exercise.
Eccentric treadmill exercise was performed to induce muscle damage in mice. Plasma levels of muscle damage markers were estimated. RT-qPCR was employed for detecting mRNA levels of proinflammatory mediators in murine gastrocnemius muscle. Immunofluorescence staining of laminin/DAPI was utilized for quantifying centrally nucleated myofibers in the gastrocnemius muscle. Western blotting was implemented to examine protein levels of mitsugumin 53 (MG53), matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2/9, and NF-κB signaling-related markers.
SS administration reduced muscle damage marker production in the plasma and decreased the levels of proinflammatory mediators, MG53 and MMP-2/9 in mice after exercise. SS alleviated the severity of muscle damage in the gastrocnemius of mice after eccentric exercise. SS blocked NF-κB signaling pathway in the gastrocnemius muscle.
SS administration ameliorates skeletal muscle damage caused by eccentric exercise in the mouse model.
Bamboo is a perennial and renewable biomass forest resource and its leaf flavonoid is an antioxidant for biological and pharmacological research. The established genetic transformation and gene ...editing systems in bamboo are significantly limited by the dependence on bamboo regeneration capability. The way to improve the flavonoid content in bamboo leaves through biotechnology is still not feasible.
Here, we developed an in-planta, Agrobacterium-mediated gene expression method for exogenous genes via wounding and vacuum in bamboo. We demonstrated that the RUBY served as a reporter efficiently expressed in bamboo leaves and shoots, albeit unable to integrate into the chromosome. We have also developed a gene editing system by creating an in situ mutant of the bamboo violaxanthin de-epoxidase (PeVDE) gene in bamboo leaves, with lower NPQ values under the fluorometer, which can serve as a native reporter for gene editing. Furthermore, the bamboo leaves with increased flavonoid content were achieved by knocking out the cinnamoyl-CoA reductase genes.
Our method can be applied for the functional characterization of novel genes in a short time and is helpful for bamboo leaf flavonoid biotechnology breeding in the future.
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