The operation of traditional aqueous-electrolyte zinc-ion batteries is adversely affected by the uncontrollable growth of zinc dendrites and the occurrence of side reactions. These problems can be ...avoided by the development of functional hydrogel electrolytes as replacements for aqueous electrolytes. However, the mechanism by which most hydrogel electrolytes inhibit the growth of zinc dendrites on a zinc anode has not been investigated in detail, and there is a lack of a large-scale recovery method for mainstream hydrogel electrolytes. In this paper, we describe the development of a recyclable and biodegradable hydrogel electrolyte based on natural biomaterials, namely chitosan and polyaspartic acid. The distinctive adsorptivity and inducibility of chitosan and polyaspartic acid in the hydrogel electrolyte triggers a double coupling network and an associated synergistic inhibition mechanism, thereby effectively inhibiting the side reactions on the zinc anode. In addition, this hydrogel electrolyte played a crucial role in an aqueous acid-based Zinc/MnO
battery, by maintaining its interior two-electron redox reaction and inhibiting the formation of zinc dendrites. Furthermore, the sustainable biomass-based hydrogel electrolyte is biodegradable, and could be recovered from the Zinc/MnO
battery for subsequent recycling.
In this work, a double-layered three-dimensional (3D) microfluidic paper-based analytical device (μPAD) with high resolution temporally resolved chemiluminescence (CL) emissions were designed for ...multiplexed CL analysis. The temporally resolved CL emissions were obtained by virtue of the 3D branched microfluidic channel design, which create time delays for luminol transported from one detection zone to another. The peak intensity and peak shape of the temporally resolved CL emissions were quite stable and base-line separated with resolution as high as 21.2–24.4. Then, the fabricated μPAD was applied to multiplexed determination of glucose, lactate, cholesterol, and choline as model analytes. The sample was added to four detection zone modified with CL catalyst cobalt ion and different oxidase by virtue of chitosan. When luminol flowed to μPAD, four temporally resolved CL peaks were successively generated from the cobalt ion catalyzed CL reactions between luminol and generated H2O2 from the specific enzymatic reactions between the oxidase and the analytes. The generated four CL emission peaks in the CL kinetic curve increased in proportion to the concentrations of glucose, lactate, cholesterol, and choline, respectively. Finally, four linear calibration curves were obtained for the detection of glucose (0.01–1.0 mmol/L), lactate (0.02–5.0 mmol/L), cholesterol (0.01–0.4 mmol/L), and choline (0.001–1.0 mmol/L). The detection limits were as low as 8 μmol/L, 15 μmol/L, 6 μmol/L, and 0.07 μmol/L for glucose, lactate, choline, and cholesterol detection, respectively. The present work provides a new strategy for the fabrication of simple and sensitive 3D μPAD with high resolution temporally resolved CL emissions for multiplexed CL analysis, which holds great application potential for point-of-care diagnosis.
•A double-layered 3D μPAD with temporally resolved CL emissions was fabricated.•Stable, steep and base-line separated temporally resolved CL emissions with resolution higher than 21.2 were obtained.•Sensitive, selective and simultaneous determination of glucose, lactate, cholesterol, and choline was achieved.•The first example of μPAD based CL biosensor for lactate, cholesterol and choline detection.
This paper reports on large field-of-regard, high-efficiency, and large aperture active optical phased arrays (OPAs) for optical beam steering in LIDAR systems. The fabricated 5 mm-long silicon ...photonic OPA with a 1.3 μm waveguide pitch achieved adjacent waveguide crosstalk below -12dB. A relatively large and uniform emission aperture has been achieved with a low-contrast silicon nitride assisted grating (~20 dB/cm) whose emission profile can be further optimized using an apodized design. The fabricated silicon-photonic OPA demonstrated > 40° lateral beam steering with no sidelobes in a ± 33° field-of-regard and 3.3° longitudinal beam steering via wavelength tuning by 20 nm centered at 1550 nm. We have fully integrated the silicon photonic OPA device with electronic controls and successfully demonstrated 2-dimensional coherent optical beam steering of pre-planned far-field patterns. Future improvements include placement of a distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) underneath the grating emitter in order to achieve nearly a factor of two improvement in emission efficiency.
Most of the available divisible-load scheduling models assume that all servers in networked systems are idle before workloads arrive and that they can remain available online during workload ...computation. In fact, this assumption is not always valid. Different servers on networked systems may have heterogenous available times. If we ignore the availability constraints when dividing and distributing workloads among servers, some servers may not be able to start processing their assigned load fractions or deliver them on time. In view of this, we propose a new multi-installment scheduling model based on server availability time constraints. To solve this problem, we design an efficient heuristic algorithm consisting of a repair strategy and a local search strategy, by which an optimal load partitioning scheme is derived. The repair strategy guarantees time constraints, while the local search strategy achieves optimality. We evaluate the performance via rigorous simulation experiments and our results show that the proposed algorithm is suitable for solving large-scale scheduling problems employing heterogeneous servers with arbitrary available times. The proposed algorithm is shown to be superior to the existing algorithm in terms of achieving a shorter makespan of workloads.
Gastrointestinal tract is the second largest organ in the body that mainly functions in nutrients and minerals intake through the intestinal barrier. Intestinal permeability maintains the circulation ...of minerals and nutrients from digested foods. Life and all the metabolic processes depend either directly or indirectly on proper functioning of GI tract. Compromised intestinal permeability and related disorders are common among all the patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which is a collective term of inflammatory diseases including Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. Many synthetic drugs are currently in use to treat IBD such as 5-aminosalicylic acid corticosteroids. However, they all have some drawbacks as long-term use result in many complications. These problems encourage us to look out for alternative medicine. Numerous in vitro and in vivo experiments showed that the plant-derived secondary metabolites including phenolic compounds, glucosinolates, alkaloids, terpenoids, oligosaccharides, and quinones could reduce permeability, ameliorate-related dysfunctions with promising results. In addition, many of them could modulate enzymatic activity, suppress the inflammatory transcriptional factors, ease oxidative stress, and reduce pro-inflammatory cytokines secretion. In this review, we summarized the phytochemicals, which were proven potent in treating increased intestinal permeability and related complication along with their mechanism of action.
Background Observational studies have suggested a potential relationship between birthweight and telomere length. However, the causal link between these two parameters remains undefined. In this ...study, we use Mendelian Randomization (MR). This method employs genetic variants as instrumental variables, to explore the existence of causal associations and elucidate the causal relationship between birth weight and telomere length. Methods We used 35 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) as instrumental variables for birth weight. These SNPs were identified from a meta-analysis involving 153,781 individuals. Furthermore, we obtained summary statistics for telomere length from a study conducted on 472,174 United Kingdom Biobank participants. To evaluate the causal estimates, we applied the random effect inverse variance weighted method (IVW) and several other MR methods, such as MR-Egger, weighted median, and MR-PRESSO, to verify the reliability of our findings. Results Our analysis supports a significant causal relationship between genetically predicted birth weight and telomer3e length. The inverse variance weighted analysis results for birth weight (Beta = 0.048; 95%CI = 0.023 to 0.073; p < 0.001) corroborate this association. Conclusion Our study provides robust evidence supporting a causal link between higher birth weight and longer telomere length.
•The contact line profile captured by TSP is consistent with that by an infrared camera.•Three stages could be observed during sessile droplet evaporation on a heated substrate.•The occurrence of ...convection cells leads to obvious temperature gradient on interface.•The heat flux at the contact line is higher than that at the centre.
The present work is aimed at analyzing changes in the interfacial temperature distribution and interfacial heat flux distribution during sessile droplet evaporation. In particular, two kinds of nonintrusive measurement techniques, temperature-sensitive paint (TSP) and infrared imaging were used simultaneously. TSP was used to capture the interfacial temperature distribution, and then a one-dimensional unsteady transient model was established to obtain the heat flux distribution. An infrared camera was applied to observe the thermal patterns during droplet evaporation from the top view. Three kinds of liquids, pentane, HFE-7100 and hexane, were used during our experiments, and the experimental results show that the contact line profile captured by TSP was consistent with that captured by an infrared camera. Three stages could be observed during droplet evaporation: initial droplet heating, convection cell evaporation and thin film evaporation. Convection cells could be observed in the infrared images during the second stage, and an obvious temperature gradient at the contact surface could also be seen from the images captured by TSP. In addition, the heat flux at the contact line was higher than that at the centre. Finally, the heat dissipation due to droplet evaporation could also be obtained by double integration of interfacial heat flux data with contact area and evaporation time, which further demonstrated the soundness of the present experimental and calculated methods.
Background Immediately placed implants with immediate provisionalization have become attractive options for patients and clinicians. However, there is no agreement on the esthetic advantages of ...immediately placed implants with immediate provisionalization. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis will be to assess the effect of immediate provisionalization on the clinical esthetic outcomes of immediately placed implants in a single-tooth implant of the esthetic area. Methods An electronic search of MEDLINE/PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, Clinicaltrials.org., Cochrane Library, China Biology Medicine (CBM), Wan Fang Database, China National Knowledge Infrastructure Database (CNKI), and VIP Science Technology Periodical Database will be performed. The search will be carried out in the databases for articles published until May 2021. Two researchers will independently perform the literature selection, data extraction and quality assessment. Only randomized controlled trials (RCTs) reporting on the impact of immediate provisionalization on the clinical esthetic outcomes of implants immediately placed in a single-tooth implant of the aesthetic area will be included. The primary outcome of this study will be the esthetic outcome assessed by the objective index and patient satisfaction. The survival rate of implants and restorations and the changes in mucosa and bone around implants will also be analyzed. The included studies will be analyzed by Review Manager 5.3, and a meta-analysis will be performed. Results The study will evaluate the clinical esthetic outcomes of immediately placed implants with and without immediate provisionalization in single-tooth implants of the esthetic area. The results will provide clinicians with a better treatment approach in their application. Conclusion This systematic review and meta-analysis will provide more reliable, evidence-based data for the impact of immediate provisionalization on the clinical esthetic outcomes of immediately placed implants, which may or may not be beneficial. Registration number PROSPERO registration number: CRD42021221669.
Chronic kidney disease affects approximately 14.3% of people worldwide. Tubulointerstitial fibrosis is the final stage of almost all progressive CKD. To date, the pathogenesis of renal fibrosis ...remains unclear, and there is a lack of effective treatments, leading to renal replacement therapy. Mitophagy is a type of selective autophagy that has been recognized as an important way to remove dysfunctional mitochondria and abrogate the excessive accumulation of mitochondrial-derived reactive oxygen species (ROS) to balance the function of cells. However, the role of mitophagy and its regulation in renal fibrosis need further examination. In this study, we showed that mitophagy was induced in renal tubular epithelial cells in renal fibrosis. After silencing BNIP3, mitophagy was abolished in vivo and in vitro, indicating the important effect of the BNIP3-dependent pathway on mitophagy. Furthermore, in unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO) models and hypoxic conditions, the production of mitochondrial ROS, mitochondrial damage, activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome, and the levels of αSMA and TGFβ1 increased significantly following BNIP3 gene deletion or silencing. Following silencing BNIP3 and pretreatment with mitoTEMPO or MCC950, the protein levels of αSMA and TGFβ1 decreased significantly in HK-2 cells under hypoxic conditions. These findings demonstrated that HIF1α-BNIP3-mediated mitophagy played a protective role against hypoxia-induced renal epithelial cell injury and renal fibrosis by reducing mitochondrial ROS and inhibiting activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome.
Liquid ammonia is an ideal zero-carbon fuel for internal combustion engines. High-pressure injection is a key technology in organizing ammonia combustion. Characteristics of high-pressure liquid ...ammonia injection is lack of research. Spray behaviors are likely to change when a high-pressure diesel injector uses liquid ammonia as its fuel. This study uses high-speed imaging with a DBI method to investigate the liquid penetration, width, and spray tip velocity of high-pressure liquid ammonia injection up to 100 MPa. Non-flash and flash boiling conditions were included in the experimental conditions. Simulation was also used to evaluate the results. In non-flash boiling conditions, the Hiroyasu model provided better accuracy than the Siebers model. In flash boiling conditions, a phenomenon was found that liquid penetration and spray tip velocity were strongly suppressed in the initial stage of the injection process, this being the “spray resistance phenomenon”. The “spray resistance phenomenon” was observed when ambient pressure was below 0.7 MPa during 0–0.05 ms ASOI and was highly related to the superheated degree. The shape of near-nozzle sprays abruptly changed at 0.05 ms ASOI, indicating that strong cavitation inside the nozzle caused by needle lift effects is the key reason for the “spray resistance phenomenon”.
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