Despite the fact that antimony triselenide (Sb2Se3) thin‐film solar cells have undergone rapid development in recent years, the large open‐circuit voltage (VOC) deficit still remains as the biggest ...bottleneck, as even the world‐record device suffers from a large VOC deficit of 0.59 V. Here, an effective interface engineering approach is reported where the Sb2Se3/CdS heterojunction (HTJ) is subjected to a post‐annealing treatment using a rapid thermal process. It is found that nonradiative recombination near the Sb2Se3/CdS HTJ, including interface recombination and space charge region recombination, is greatly suppressed after the HTJ annealing treatment. Ultimately, a substrate Sb2Se3/CdS thin‐film solar cell with a competitive power conversion efficiency of 8.64% and a record VOC of 0.52 V is successfully fabricated. The device exhibits a much mitigated VOC deficit of 0.49 V, which is lower than that of any other reported efficient antimony chalcogenide solar cell.
A heterojunction post‐annealing treatment is utilized to suppress the nonradiative recombination for a highly competitive power conversion efficiency of 8.64% and a record open‐circuit voltage (VOC) of 520 mV in Sb2Se3 thin‐film solar cells. The VOC deficit of the device is lower than that of any other reported efficient antimony chalcogenide solar cells.
As one of the most common chemical materials, titanium dioxide (TiO
2
) has been prepared and widely used for many years. Among all the applications, the biomedical applications of TiO
2
have ...motivated strong interest and intensive experimental and theoretical studies, owing to its unique photocatalytic properties, excellent biocompatibility, high chemical stability, and low toxicity. Advances in nanoscale science suggest that some of the current problems of life science could be resolved or greatly improved through applying TiO
2
. This paper presents a critical review of recent advances in the biomedical applications of TiO
2
, which includes the photodynamic therapy for cancer treatment, drug delivery systems, cell imaging, biosensors for biological assay, and genetic engineering. The characterizations and applications of TiO
2
nanoparticles, as well as nanocomposites and nanosystems of TiO
2
, which have been prepared by different modifications to improve the function of TiO
2
, are also offered in this review. Additionally, some perspectives on the challenges and new directions for future research in this emerging frontier are discussed.
As one of the most common chemical materials, titanium dioxide (TiO
2
) has been prepared and widely used for many years. This paper presents a critical review of recent advances in the biomedical applications of TiO
2
.
Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) due to industrial, military, and recreational noise exposure is a major, but also potentially preventable cause of acquired hearing loss. For the United States it is ...estimated that 26 million people (15% of the population) between the ages of 20 and 69 have a high-frequency NIHL at a detriment to the quality of life of the affected individuals and great economic cost to society. Areas covered: This review outlines the pathology and pathophysiology of hearing loss as seen in humans and animal models. Results from molecular studies are presented that have provided the basis for therapeutic strategies successfully applied to animals. Several compounds emerging from these studies (mostly antioxidants) are now being tested in field trials. Expert opinion: Although no clinically applicable intervention has been approved yet, recent trials are encouraging. In order to maximize protective therapies, future work needs to apply stringent criteria for noise exposure and outcome parameters. Attention needs to be paid not only to permanent NIHL due to death of sensory cells but also to temporary effects that may show delayed consequences. Existing results combined with the search for efficacious new therapies should establish a viable treatment within a decade.
Condition monitoring is desirable for increasing machinery availability, reducing consequential damage, and improving operational efficiency. Model-based methods are efficient monitoring systems for ...providing warning and predicting certain faults at early stages. However, the conventional methods must work with explicit motor models, and cannot be applied effectively for vibration signal diagnosis due to their nonadaptation and the random nature of vibration signal. In this paper, an analytical redundancy method using neural network modeling of the induction motor in vibration spectra is proposed for machine fault detection and diagnosis. The short-time Fourier transform is used to process the quasi-steady vibration signals to continuous spectra for the neural network model training. The faults are detected from changes in the expectation of vibration spectra modeling error. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated through experimental results, and it is shown that a robust and automatic induction machine condition monitoring system has been produced
Thermoelectric devices convert thermal energy, i.e. heat, into electric energy. With no moving parts, the thermoelectric generator has demonstrated its advantage of long-duration operational ...reliability. The IV–VI compound semiconductor PbTe-based materials have been widely adopted for the thermoelectric applications in the medium temperature range of 350–650 °C. In most of the reports, thermoelectric materials were manufactured by a hot pressing or quench and annealing method. The recent advancements in the converting efficiency of thermoelectrics, including PbTe-based materials, have been attributed to the modification on material inhomogeneity of microstructures by hot pressing or simply cooling the melt to reduce the thermal conductivity. On the other hand, due to its time-consuming preparation/processing and unnecessary good crystalline quality (for thermoelectric applications), the processing of thermoelectric materials by crystal growth resulted in very few investigations. In this report, the design and growth of the PbTe-based materials solidified from the melt for thermoelectric applications as well as the results of their thermoelectric characterizations will be reviewed. It shows that, besides its Figure of Merit comparable to other processing methods, the melt grown PbTe material has several additional capabilities, including the reproducibility, thermal stability and the functional gradient characteristics from the variation of properties along the growth length.
In our paper, we consider the positive solutions of the nonlinear n-order m-point semipositive BVP. In this BVP equation, we allow that f can change the symbol for 0<t<1; by using the fixed point ...index theory, the existence of positive solutions and many positive solutions are obtained under the condition that f is superlinear or sublinear.
A nursing experience supporting parents experiencing anxiety related to their 26+2 weeks preterm infant on continued ventilator assistance at home due to bronchopulmonary dysplasia is described in ...this article. Data were collected from March 21st to June 1st, 2021 via observation, interviews, clinical care, medical record reviews, and discharge preparation services. A holistic nursing assessment identified the main health issues as: gas exchange disorder, inefficient infant feeding patterns, and caregiver role stress. The parents were encouraged to participate in care activities, create individualized discharge plans, and view health education videos and caregiving skill demonstrations. Kangaroo care, comfortable positioning and soothing techniques were used to stabilize the emotions of the infant and to strengthen the parent-child bond. Psychological support was provided to alleviate parental anxiety and to enhance parenting ability and confidence. This experience supports the importance of tailoring clinica
Causal reasoning—the ability to reason about causal relations between events—is fundamental to understanding how the world works. This paper reviews two prominent theories on early causal learning ...and offers possibilities for theory bridging. Both theories grow out of computational modeling and have significant areas of overlap while differing in several respects. Explanation‐Based Learning (EBL) focuses on young infants' learning about causal concepts of physical objects and events, whereas Bayesian models have been used to describe causal reasoning beyond infancy across various concept domains. Connecting the two models offers a more integrated approach to clarifying the developmental processes in causal reasoning from early infancy through later childhood. We further suggest that everyday language practices offer a promising space for theory bridging. We provide a review of selective work on caregiver–child conversations, in particular, on the use of scaffolding language including causal talk and pedagogical questions. Linking the research on language practices to the two cognitive theories, we point out directions for further research to integrate EBL and Bayesian models and clarify how causal learning unfolds in real life.
This article is categorized under:
Psychology > Learning
Cognitive Biology > Cognitive Development
How do infants and young children learn causal rules in everyday life? An integrative review of explanation‐based learning and Bayesian models offers a promising space to examine how scaffolding language practices foster early causal learning in culturally diverse ways.
Lithium metal is a promising anode material for next‐generation high‐energy‐density batteries but suffers from low stripping/plating Coulombic efficiency and dendritic growth particularly at sub‐zero ...temperatures. Herein, a poorly‐flammable, locally concentrated ionic liquid electrolyte with a wide liquidus range extending well below 0 °C is proposed for low‐temperature lithium metal batteries. Its all‐anion Li+ solvation and phase‐nano‐segregation solution structure are sustained at low temperatures, which, together with a solid electrolyte interphase rich in inorganic compounds, enable dendrite‐free operation of lithium metal anodes at −20 °C and 0.5 mA cm−2, with a Coulombic efficiency of 98.9 %. As a result, lithium metal batteries coupling thin lithium metal anodes (4 mAh cm−2) and high‐loading LiNi0.8Co0.15Al0.05O2 cathodes (10 mg cm−2) retain 70 % of the initial capacity after 100 cycles at −20 °C. These results, as a proof of concept, demonstrate the applicability of locally concentrated ionic liquid electrolytes for low‐temperature lithium metal batteries.
A locally concentrated ionic liquid electrolyte with a wide liquidus range is proposed for low‐temperature lithium metal batteries (LMBs). Its all‐anion Li+ solvation and phase‐nano‐segregation solution structure are sustained at low temperatures, which, together with a solid electrolyte interphase rich in inorganic compounds on lithium metal anodes, enable stable cycling of LMBs with high‐loading LiNi0.8Co0.15Al0.05O2 cathodes at −20 °C.
Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is a pleiotropic cytokine that not only regulates the immune and inflammatory response but also affects hematopoiesis, metabolism, and organ development. IL-6 can simultaneously ...elicit distinct or even contradictory physiopathological processes, which is likely discriminated by the cascades of signaling pathway, termed classic and trans-signaling. Besides playing several important physiological roles, dysregulated IL-6 has been demonstrated to underlie a number of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, metabolic abnormalities, and malignancies. This review provides an overview of basic concept of IL-6 signaling pathway as well as the interplay between IL-6 and renal-resident cells, including podocytes, mesangial cells, endothelial cells, and tubular epithelial cells. Additionally, we summarize the roles of IL-6 in several renal diseases, such as IgA nephropathy, lupus nephritis, diabetic nephropathy, acute kidney injury, and chronic kidney disease.
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