The seriousness of the energy crisis and the environmental impact of global anthropogenic activities have led to an urgent need to develop efficient and green fuels. Hydrogen, as a promising ...alternative resource that is produced in an environmentally friendly and sustainable manner by a water splitting reaction, has attracted extensive attention in recent years. However, the large‐scale application of water splitting devices is hindered predominantly by the sluggish oxygen evolution reaction (OER) at the anode. Therefore, the design and exploration of high‐performing OER electrocatalysts is a critical objective. Considering their low prices, abundant reserves, and intrinsic activities, NiFe‐based bimetal compounds are widely studied as excellent OER electrocatalysts. Moreover, recent progress on NiFe‐based OER electrocatalysts in alkaline environments is comprehensively and systematically introduced through various catalyst families including NiFe‐layered hydroxides, metal–organic frameworks, NiFe‐based (oxy)hydroxides, NiFe‐based oxides, NiFe alloys, and NiFe‐based nonoxides. This review briefly introduces the advanced NiFe‐based OER materials and their corresponding reaction mechanisms. Finally, the challenges inherent to and possible strategies for producing extraordinary NiFe‐based electrocatalysts are discussed.
This review briefly introduces the advanced NiFe‐based oxygen evolution reaction (OER) materials and their corresponding reaction mechanisms. After providing this background, recent progress on NiFe‐based OER electrocatalysts through various catalyst families is comprehensively and systematically presented, and the inherent challenges and probable strategies for producing extraordinary NiFe‐based electrocatalysts are finally discussed.
A path planning and tracking framework is presented to maintain a collision-free path for autonomous vehicles. For path-planning approaches, a 3-D virtual dangerous potential field is constructed as ...a superposition of trigonometric functions of the road and the exponential function of obstacles, which can generate a desired trajectory for collision avoidance when a vehicle collision with obstacles is likely to happen. Next, to track the planned trajectory for collision avoidance maneuvers, the path-tracking controller formulated the tracking task as a multiconstrained model predictive control (MMPC) problem and calculated the front steering angle to prevent the vehicle from colliding with a moving obstacle vehicle. Simulink and CarSim simulations are conducted in the case where moving obstacles exist. The simulation results show that the proposed path-planning approach is effective for many driving scenarios, and the MMPC-based path-tracking controller provides dynamic tracking performance and maintains good maneuverability.
Alterations in intraocular and external pressure critically involve the pathogenesis of glaucoma, traumatic retinal injury (TRI), and other retinal disorders, and retinal neurons have been reported ...to express multiple mechanical-sensitive channels (MSCs) in recent decades. However, the role of MSCs in visual functions and pressure-related retinal conditions has been unclear. This review will focus on the variety and functional significance of the MSCs permeable to K
, Na
, and Ca
, primarily including the big potassium channel (BK); the two-pore domain potassium channels TRAAK and TREK; Piezo; the epithelial sodium channel (ENaC); and the transient receptor potential channels vanilloid TRPV1, TRPV2, and TRPV4 in retinal photoreceptors, bipolar cells, horizontal cells, amacrine cells, and ganglion cells. Most MSCs do not directly mediate visual signals in vertebrate retinas. On the other hand, some studies have shown that MSCs can open in physiological conditions and regulate the activities of retinal neurons. While these data reasonably predict the crossing of visual and mechanical signals, how retinal light pathways deal with endogenous and exogenous mechanical stimulation is uncertain.
A major portion of the total primary energy consumed by today’s buildings is used in heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC). Conventional heating and cooling systems are having an impact ...on operational cost, energy requirement and carbon dioxide emission. In this regard, Trombe walls are receiving considerable attention because of their potential ability for addressing the environmental and energy crisis. This paper reviews the most pertinent contents of studies on Trombe walls that have been carried out in the recent 15 years. According to utilizing functions of Trombe walls, they are divided into two major types: a heating-based type and a cooling-based type. In terms of content, we emphasize the introduction of three groups of parameters that be considered when designing Trombe walls: the ‘Trombe wall’ parameters, the ‘building’ parameters and the ‘site’ parameters. Then different evaluation indicators on Trombe walls have been summarized from three points of view: energy, environment and economic. We hope that this review is useful to academic researchers and can provide a reference for architects or related engineering designers in the field of passive design.
Retinal fundus diseases can lead to irreversible visual impairment without timely diagnoses and appropriate treatments. Single disease-based deep learning algorithms had been developed for the ...detection of diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration, and glaucoma. Here, we developed a deep learning platform (DLP) capable of detecting multiple common referable fundus diseases and conditions (39 classes) by using 249,620 fundus images marked with 275,543 labels from heterogenous sources. Our DLP achieved a frequency-weighted average F1 score of 0.923, sensitivity of 0.978, specificity of 0.996 and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 0.9984 for multi-label classification in the primary test dataset and reached the average level of retina specialists. External multihospital test, public data test and tele-reading application also showed high efficiency for multiple retinal diseases and conditions detection. These results indicate that our DLP can be applied for retinal fundus disease triage, especially in remote areas around the world.
In this study, a green and fast method was developed to synthesize high-yield carbon dots (CDs) via one-pot microwave treatment of banana peels without using any other surface passivation agents. ...Then the as-prepared CDs was used as the reducing agent and stabilizer to synthesize a Pd-Au@CDs nanocomposite by a simple sequential reduction strategy. Finally, Pd-Au@CDs nanocomposite modified glassy carbon electrode (Pd-Au@CDs/GCE) was obtained as a biosensor for target DNA after being immobilized a single-stranded probe DNA by a carboxyl ammonia condensation reaction. Under the optimal conditions, the sensor could detect target DNA concentrations in the range from 5.0×10–16 to 1.0×10−1°molL−1. The detection limit (LD) was estimated to be 1.82×10–17molL−1, which showed higher sensitivity than other electrochemical biosensors reported. In addition, the DNA sensor was also successfully applied to detect colitoxin DNA in human serum.
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•One-step green synthesis of high-yield carbon dots (CDs) from banana peels.•CDs as reductant and stabilizer for synthesizing Pd-Au@CDs composites.•Development of an ultrasensitive electrochemical DNA biosensor based on Pd-Au@CDs composites with a ultralow detection limit of 1.82×10–17molL−1 for colitoxin DNA.
Rice (Oryza safiva L.) is highly susceptible to the rhizosphere salinity than other cereals. High sensitivity has been ob- served, mainly at vegetative and reproductive stages in rice. It is the duty ...of plant physiologists to comprehend the growth, development, and physiological processes of rice plants under stress. This paper includes the overview of rice growth and developmental processes influenced by salt stress and the regulation pathways involved in these processes. It also includes the promising salt tolerance strategies, i.e., genetic modification techniques, agronomic practices to improve rice growth, yield; and role of phytohormones and their management, especially inhibition of ethylene biosynthesis by using inhibitors 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP). Rice cultivation may be a first choice for improvement of salt tolerance through plant growth regulators and improved cultivation techniques. This study will significantly improve the understanding toward low rice grain yield and poor rice resistance under salt stress and will also stream scientific knowledge for effective utilization of salt affected soils by using different regulating ways.
Liver cancer has become the sixth most diagnosed cancer and the fourth leading cause of cancer death worldwide. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is responsible for up to 75-85% of primary liver ...cancers, and sorafenib is the first targeted drug for advanced HCC treatment. However, sorafenib resistance is common because of the resultant enhancement of aerobic glycolysis and other molecular mechanisms. Aerobic glycolysis was firstly found in HCC, acts as a hallmark of liver cancer and is responsible for the regulation of proliferation, immune evasion, invasion, metastasis, angiogenesis, and drug resistance in HCC. The three rate-limiting enzymes in the glycolytic pathway, including hexokinase 2 (HK2), phosphofructokinase 1 (PFK1), and pyruvate kinases type M2 (PKM2) play an important role in the regulation of aerobic glycolysis in HCC and can be regulated by many mechanisms, such as the AMPK, PI3K/Akt pathway, HIF-1α, c-Myc and noncoding RNAs. Because of the importance of aerobic glycolysis in the progression of HCC, targeting key factors in its pathway such as the inhibition of HK2, PFK or PKM2, represent potential new therapeutic approaches for the treatment of HCC.
Fuzzy Bayesian network (FBN) has been widely used for risk assessment of accidents in process industries to deal with complex causality and uncertainty arise from complex interdependence among risk ...factors, insufficient data and complex environment. The similarity aggregation method (SAM) is a method of aggregating fuzzy opinions considering consensus degree. However, SAM does not take into account the deviations caused by individual differences in dealing with consistency, which will bring a certain degree of uncertainty. Therefore, this work proposes an improved SAM based FBN model to better deal with various types of uncertainty. This methodology makes the prediction results of the storage tank accident more accurate and reliable. The result analysis indicates that the improved SAM is of significance to improving the reliability of the input data of FBN. Then, the critical analysis of the root node shows the effectiveness and reliability of FBN in identifying the critical events of the storage tank accident. The proposed method can predict the probability of storage tank accidents, determine the proportion of main contributing factors and identify the critical causes of storage tank accidents more reliably and accurately. It can provide important supporting information for decision makers to optimize risk management strategies.
For conventional solar PV/T system, the photo-thermal and photo-electrical conversion processes are coupled. The spectral splitting PV/T system based on nanofluids can realize high solar utilization ...efficiency. In this paper, the solar spectral characteristics of Ag, CNT, CNT/Ag nanofluids with different concentrations were tested. Then, the thermal and electical performances of an experimental were measured and a thermal and electrical numerical model was established and validated. Finally, the initial energy performnace on the proposed system applied in Nanjing was analyzed based on the established model. The main results were: (1) Compared with independent Ag or CNT nanofluids, the spectral transmittance in the PV cell response range and the spectral absorbance in the rest range for CNT/Ag nanofluids were increased by 9.3% and 41.8%, respectively. (2) The filtration efficiency of CNT/Ag nanofluid spectral splitting filter reached its highest efficiency of 18.3% at 5 × 106 μg/m³. (3) The electrical and thermal efficiency of PV/T system were 8.2% and 45% in the experiment respectively. (4) When applied in Nanjing, compared with the independent Ag and CNT nanofluids, the thermal efficiency and electrical efficiency of the system based on CNT/Ag nanofluids were increased by 9.9% and 15%, 7.2% and 1.4%, respectively.
•Excellent solar spectral performance of CNT/Ag mixed nanofluids.•Experimental and numerical investigation on a spectral splitting PV/T system.•High solar thermal, electrical and spectral splitting filter efficiency.