Interfacial solar evaporation (ISE) is a sustainable and efficient strategy to address the freshwater shortage. Herein, we report the fabrication of a novel polyimide-based porous membrane ...(PI-CB-MHGM) by using synthesized polyamide acid, modified hollow glass microspheres (MHGM), conductive carbon black (CB) and pore-forming agent NaCl particles through spin coating method, followed by hydrophilic modification, and then a bilayer solar evaporator was constructed by using PI-CB-MHGM photothermal membrane as the upper layer and polyurethane (PU) sponge as the bottom layer for ISE. Based on the PI-CB-MHGM photothermal membrane with broadband high light absorption, low thermal conductivity, superhydrophilicity wettability and porous structure, along with the assistance of a porous PU sponge, the as-prepared bilayer solar evaporator exhibits a high evaporation rate of 1.4904 kg m−2 h−1 under 1 sun (1 kW m−2) solar irradiation, as well as excellent evaporation stability and salt resistance. More interestingly, the PI-CB-MHGM membrane possesses self-floating ability, electrical conductivity, superior flexibility, and strong mechanical properties. Furthermore, considering the low cost and simple preparation method, the PI-CB-MHGM based evaporator may hold great potential for a variety of applications, such as, desalination, electricity generation, and wastewater treatment, etc.
Display omitted
Within the realm of computer vision, the task of re-identifying targets across multiple video frames has emerged as a pivotal challenge, particularly in domains like video surveillance, smart ...transportation systems, and pedestrian flow analytics. Conventional re-identification techniques often grapple with constraints stemming from varying camera perspectives, inconsistent lighting conditions, and prevalent occlusions. Addressing these challenges, this research introduces MVF-Re, a sophisticated re-identification approach that synergizes adaptive attention mechanisms with multi-scale feature fusion. Initially, we architect a deep attention-enhanced feature pyramid network, a pioneering framework that dynamically tailors itself to video frame content, thereby capturing intricate target details. Subsequently, we incorporate a multi-input Siamese network, ensuring the derivation of consistent and resilient feature sets across diverse contexts. To augment feature distinctiveness, we conceptualize a context-sensitive dynamic attention mechanism, adept at judiciously allocating weights to individual video frames. Culminating our approach, we deploy an innovative multi-scale feature fusion methodology, offering a holistic and robust target representation. Empirical evaluations on multiple benchmark datasets underscore the superior performance of our methodology, underscoring its proficiency in multi-frame target re-identification.
Magnetic particle testing (MT) has been widely used in nondestructive testing (NDT) of ferromagnetic materials. MT can be divided into wet method and dry method. The wet method is highly sensitive ...for microcracks and easy to operate. But the problem is that magnetic suspension liquid utilized in the wet method pollutes both test objects and environment. Dry magnetic particles utilized in dry method are recyclable and environmentally friendly. But the irrelevant magnet particles must be manually removed to reveal the magnetic particle indication (MPI). This operation limits both the detection efficiency and sensitivity of dry method. To increase the automation in MT, this article proposes a thermography-based dry MT method (TDMT). Specifically, the dry magnetic particles are heated before utilization and then thermal data are utilized for crack identification. TDMT inherits the economic and environmental advantages of the dry method. Additionally, the time-varying thermal data can provide more useful information than conventional MPI, which makes it possible to identify cracks without manual assistance. The mathematical model of TDMT is designed to prove its feasibility and a dimensionality reduction-based algorithm is applied for crack signal enhancement. Experiments on different specimens with artificial and natural cracks have been conducted. The notch with both a depth of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">15~\mu \text{m} </tex-math></inline-formula> on the standard test shim and a width up to 0.8 mm on the steel plate can be successfully detected. The high sensitivity and wide detection range can be seen from TDMT.
Improving solar energy conversion efficiency and salt resistance is particularly important for the practical application of green and sustainable solar steam generation technology. In this work, an ...interfacial evaporation polypyrrole-coated film was fabricated by the mixed-dimensional clay consisting of 1D palygorskite (Pal), 2D montmorillonite (Mt) and mica, etc., that was intercalated using polyaniline (PANI) and then introduced polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) as pore-forming agent and polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) as a base film. The prepared film could efficiently convert light energy to heat under solar irradiation with excellent properties of self-desalination and photothermal conversion efficiency as well as superhydrophilicity and low thermal conductivity. The photothermal conversion efficiency achieved up to 93.6% under the simulated sunlight of 1 kW m
−2
.
The evaporation rate in 15% NaCl brine differed very little from that in pure water, and 0.2 g of NaCl placed on the film would be eliminated in short time at room temperature, which demonstrated that the film had salt resistance and self-cleaning capability. In addition, the resulting film had low thermal conductivity (0.09994 W m
−1
K
−1
) and good mechanical properties (tensile strength of 1.1 MPa) and exhibited superhydrophilicity (water contact angle ~ 0°) which could transport water molecules rapidly.
High-quality oxidized pellets are the basis to achieve high-efficiency utilization of vanadium–titanium magnetite (VTM) ores. Bentonite was used as a binder of VTM. The main phase composition of VTM ...is titanomagnetite and ilmenite. When the amount of bentonite is 1%, the compressive strength and dropping strength of VTM pellets can meet the requirements. To improve metallurgical properties, the pellets need to be roasted. The best conditions for roasting are as follows: calcination temperature of 1523 K and a calcination time of 20 min. The consolidation mechanism, phase transformation, and crystal structure transformation of VTM in the process of oxidation roasting are also explained.
Display omitted
•A multifunctional self-floating photothermal materials (CS-CMPsHM) were synthesized.•The CS-CMPsHM are capable of adsorption antibiotics by interfacial steam generation.•The improved ...adsorption was due to specific π-π electron-donor–acceptor interactions.•Wastewater purification was achieved in simulated and actual water samples.•The inhibitory effect of the collected water on plant growth was significantly reduced.
Solar-driven interfacial evaporation (SDIE) technology holds the promise of purification and removal of organic pollutants from water samples. In this work, an efficient SDIE composed of multifunctional self-floating photothermal materials based on candle soot-coated conjugated microporous polymer hollow spheres (CS-CMPsHM) for treatment of tetracycline (TC) wastewater is reported. By depositing candle soot nanoparticles, CS-CMPsHM achieved excellent interfacial evaporation performance by extending the light absorption. Additionally, the π-π interaction between CMP's unique conjugated network and TC molecules and the well-developed porosity facilitates the capture of target contaminants. The synthesized CS-CMPsHM evaporator demonstrated remarkable properties, i.e., excellent photothermal performance (with superior photothermal conversion efficiency up to 94 % and evaporation rate of 1.55 kg m−2h−1 under one sun irradiation), extremely low wet thermal conductivity (0.075 W m-1K−1), reusability, superior salt resistance, stability, adsorption of pollutants and renewable performance. Furthermore, CS-CMPsHM remains its excellent purification performance from real water samples (the Yellow River) measured by a three-dimensional fluorescence spectrometer. The results of biological toxicity show that the purified water recovered by the SDIE method effectively reduced the phytotoxicity of TC. With its straightforward and scalable manufacturing process, our CS-CMPsHM demonstrates promising potential as advanced photothermal materials for the treatment of various pollutants using SDIE.
Angle-domain common image gathers (ADCIGs) describe the reflectivity variation over reflection angles which are important for seismic exploration. The ADCIGs could be obtained using reverse time ...migration (RTM). However, because of the limitation of seismic frequency band and acquisition geometry, RTM produces the ADCIGs with low fidelity. We propose a reflection angle-domain pseudoextended least-squares RTM method to improve the quality of the ADCIGs in which the Poynting vector is used to efficiently calculate the angles. We first extend the inverted model in the reflection angle domain and derive a feasible pseudoextended Born modeling operator which can map the reflection angle-domain extended model to seismic data. The modeling operator, associated with an adjoint operator, are then used to build a pseudoextended linearized inversion framework for inverting the angle-dependent reflectivity. Taking advantage of the simplicity and coherency of the ADCIGs, we impose a series of low-rank constraints on the extended angle dimension and a sparse constraint on the whole dimension to ensure the production of high-quality ADCIGs. The proposed method is finally solved by a regularized conjugate gradient algorithm. We conduct several numerical examples on a flat layer model, the Marmousi model, and the Sigsbee2A salt model to test the validity and superiority of the proposed method. The results demonstrate that the proposed method could produce the ADCIGs and the stacked image with higher fidelity than RTM, which provides a reliable input for migration velocity analysis, anisotropic model building, and amplitude versus angle analysis.
Neuroinflammation plays a critical role in the development of neurodegenerative diseases. Taraxasterol, a pentacyclic-triterpene isolated from
, has been reported to have anti-inflammatory effect. ...The aim of this study was to investigate the anti-inflammatory effects and mechanism of taraxasterol in LPS-stimulated BV2 microglia cells. BV2 microglia cells were treated with taraxasterol 12 h before LPS stimulation. The effects of taraxasterol on LPS-induced TNF-α and IL-1β production were detected by ELISA. The effects of taraxasterol on LXRα, ABCA1, TLR4, and NF-κB expression were detected by western blot analysis. The results showed that taraxasterol dose-dependently inhibited LPS-induced TNF-α and IL-1β production and NF-κB activation. Taraxasterol also disrupted the formation of lipid rafts and inhibited translocation of TLR4 into lipid rafts. Furthermore, taraxasterol was found to activate LXRα-ABCA1 signaling pathway which induces cholesterol efflux from cells. In addition, our results showed that the anti-inflammatory effect of taraxasterol was attenuated by transfection with LXRα siRNA. In conclusion, these results suggested that taraxasterol inhibits LPS-induced inflammatory response in BV2 microglia cells by activating LXRα-ABCA1 signaling pathway.
Novel Fe3O4/ZnO magnetic nanocomposites with a hierarchical morphology were synthesized by a facile two-step liquid chemical method. The structure, morphology, chemical composition, magnetic behavior ...and optical property of the samples were examined. The as-prepared nanocomposites were composed of discoid-like and chip-like Fe3O4 nanoparticles coated by ZnO nanorods. Meanwhile, the amount of Fe3O4 precursor in composite had significant influence on the microstructure and optical property. The unique Fe3O4/ZnO-2 showed a relatively large specific surface area with 168.01 m2⋅g−1, hierarchical porosity and enhanced optical response. In magnetic measurement, Fe3O4/ZnO-2 had an excellent superparamagnetic property with 44.77 emu/g of saturation magnetization. Furthermore, the magnetic nanocomposite possessed a higher adsorption capacity to Rhodamine B (RhB) dyes compared with bare ZnO, which would contribute to its use for photocatalytic degradation. For the photocatalytic degradation of RhB, the Fe3O4/ZnO-2 sample showed the highest photocatalytic efficiency (76.46%) under a low-power UV light, compared to that of 71.13% by bare ZnO. In addition, the Fe3O4/ZnO photocatalyst provided more efficient magnetic separation and better photoelectrochemical property than individual oxide. The favorable photocatalytic activity can be attributed to synergistic effect of unique microstructure, large surface area, and strong light absorption.
Display omitted
•A novel Fe3O4/ZnO magnetic nanocomposite was fabricated.•Fe3O4/ZnO nanocomposite presented large surface area and excellent superparamagnetic property.•Fe3O4/ZnO photocatalyst showed remarkable photocatalytic activity and high-efficiency magnetic separation.•Fe3O4/ZnO exhibited better photoelectrochemical property than individual oxide.
To investigate the correlation between uric acid (UA) and N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) levels and coronary artery severity in acute coronary syndrome patients of different ...sexes.A total of 134 patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) were investigated. According to sex, there were 96 cases in male group and 38 cases in female group. According to the number of diseased vessels, the degree of coronary artery lesion was determined and divided into negative group (n = 21), single vessel lesion group (n = 43), double vessel lesion group (n = 38), and 3 vessel lesion group (n = 32).Univariate analysis showed that UA, NT-proBNP was correlated with the severity of ACS (P < .05). UA was an independent risk factor for the severity of coronary artery disease in female group (P < .05), but not in male group (P > .05). There was no significant correlation between NT-proBNP and severity of coronary artery disease in different sex (P > .05).UA was significantly correlated with the severity of coronary heart disease, especially in women, but not in men. The level of NT-proBNP was positively correlated with the severity of coronary artery, but no significant difference was found in different sexes.
PDF
