Zn-air batteries, which are cost-effective and have high energy density, are promising energy storage devices for renewable energy and power sources for electric transportation. Nevertheless, limited ...charge and discharge cycles and low round-trip efficiency have long been barriers preventing the large-scale deployment of Zn-air batteries in the marketplace. Technology advancements for each battery component and the whole battery/cell assembly are being pursued, with some key milestones reached during the past 20 years. As an example, commercial Zn-air battery products with long lifetimes and high energy efficiencies are being considered for grid-scale energy storage and for automotive markets. In this review, we present our perspectives on improvements in Zn-air battery technology through the exploration and utilization of different electrolyte systems. Recent studies ranging from aqueous electrolytes to nonaqueous electrolytes, including solid polymer electrolytes and ionic liquids, as well as hybrid electrolyte systems adopted in Zn-air batteries have been evaluated. Understanding the benefits and drawbacks of each electrolyte, as well as the fundamental electrochemistry of Zn and air electrodes in different electrolytes, are the focus of this paper. Further consideration is given to detailed Zn-air battery configurations that have been studied and applied in commercial or nearing commercial products, with the purpose of exposing state-of-the-art technology innovations and providing insights into future advancements.
•New directions in the electrolyte development for Zn-air batteries.•From aqueous electrolytes to nonaqueous and hybrid systems.•Innovations in cell architectures for Zn-air batteries using different electrolytes.•Case studies of commercial Zn-air batteries: cell design and applications.
The quality of soil-moisture simulation using land surface models depends largely on the accuracy of the meteorological forcing data. We investigated how to reduce the uncertainty arising from ...meteorological forcings in a simulation by adopting a multiple meteorological forcing ensemble approach. Simulations by the Community Land Model version 3.5 (CLM3.5) over mainland China were conducted using four different meteorological forcings, and the four sets of soil-moisture data related to the simulations were then merged using simple arithmetical averaging and Bayesian model averaging (BMA) ensemble approaches. BMA is a statistical post-processing procedure for producing calibrated and sharp predictive probability density functions (PDFs), which is a weighted average of PDFs centered on the bias-corrected forecasts from a set of individual ensemble members based on their probabilistic likelihood measures. Compared to in situ observations, the four simulations captured the spatial and seasonal variations of soil moisture in most cases with some mean bias. They performed differently when simulating the seasonal phases in the annual cycle, the interannual variation and the magnitude of observed soil moisture over different subregions of mainland China, but no individual meteorological forcing performed best for all subregions. The simple arithmetical average ensemble product outperformed most, but not all, individual members over most of the subregions. The BMA ensemble product performed better than simple arithmetical averaging, and performed best for all fields over most of the subregions. The BMA ensemble approach applied to the ensemble simulation reproduced anomalies and seasonal variations in observed soil-moisture values, and simulated the mean soil moisture. It is presented here as a promising way for reproducing long-term, high-resolution spatial and temporal soil-moisture data.
Many researchers have reported that obesity is a major risk factor for diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, several forms of cancer (such as breast, colon and prostate), pulmonary, osteoarticular and ...metabolic diseases in the past decades. Recently, the hypolipidemic and anti-obesity effects of green tea in animals and humans have slowly become a hot topic in nutritional and food science research. This review will up-date the information of the anti-obesity effects of green tea in human intervention and animal studies. During recent years, an increasing number of clinical trials have confirmed the beneficial effects of green tea on obesity. However, the optimal dose has not yet been established owing to the very different results from studies with a similar design, which may be caused by differences in the extent of obesity, dietary intake, physical activity intensity, the strength of subjects' compliance to test instruction, the genetic background of populations, body composition and dietary habits. Therefore, further investigations on a larger scale and with longer periods of observation and tighter controls are needed to define optimal doses in subjects with varying degrees of metabolic risk factors and to determine differences in beneficial effects among diverse populations. Moreover, data from laboratory studies have shown that green tea has important roles in fat metabolism by reducing food intake, interrupting lipid emulsification and absorption, suppressing adipogenesis and lipid synthesis and increasing energy expenditure via thermogenesis, fat oxidation and fecal lipid excretion. However, the exact molecular mechanisms remain elusive.
Fracture-related infection (FRI) is a common and serious complication in trauma surgery. Accurately estimating the impact of this complication has been hampered by the lack of a clear definition. The ...absence of a working definition of FRI renders existing studies difficult to evaluate or compare. In order to address this issue, an expert group comprised of a number of scientific and medical organizations has been convened, with the support of the AO Foundation, in order to develop a consensus definition.
The process that led to this proposed definition started with a systematic literature review, which revealed that the majority of randomized controlled trials in fracture care do not use a standardized definition of FRI. In response to this conclusion, an international survey on the need for and key components of a definition of FRI was distributed amongst all registered AOTrauma users. Approximately 90% of the more than 2000 surgeons who responded suggested that a definition of FRI is required. As a final step, a consensus meeting was held with an expert panel. The outcome of this process led to a consensus definition of FRI.
Two levels of certainty around diagnostic features were defined. Criteria could be confirmatory (infection definitely present) or suggestive. Four confirmatory criteria were defined: Fistula, sinus or wound breakdown; Purulent drainage from the wound or presence of pus during surgery; Phenotypically indistinguishable pathogens identified by culture from at least two separate deep tissue/implant specimens; Presence of microorganisms in deep tissue taken during an operative intervention, as confirmed by histopathological examination. Furthermore, a list of suggestive criteria was defined. These require further investigations in order to look for confirmatory criteria.
In the current paper, an overview is provided of the proposed definition and a rationale for each component and decision. The intention of establishing this definition of FRI was to offer clinicians the opportunity to standardize clinical reports and improve the quality of published literature. It is important to note that the proposed definition was not designed to guide treatment of FRI and should be validated by prospective data collection in the future.
The influence of local surface heating and cooling on flow over urban-like roughness is investigated using large-eddy simulations. By adjusting the incoming or outgoing heat flux from the ground ...surface, various degrees of local thermal stratification, represented by a Richardson number
(
R
i
τ
)
, were attained. Drag and heat transfer coefficients, turbulence structure, integral length scales, and the strength of quadrant events that contribute to momentum and heat fluxes were obtained and are compared with locally stable, neutral and unstable flows. With increasing
R
i
τ
, or equivalently as the flow characteristics change from local thermal instability to stability, a gradual decline in the drag and heat transfer coefficients is observed. These values are found to be fairly independent of the type of thermal boundary condition (constant heat flux or constant temperature) and domain size. The maps of anisotropy invariants showed that for the values of
R
i
τ
considered, turbulence structures are almost the same in shape for neutral and unstable cases but differ slightly from those in the stable case. The degree of anisotropy is found to decrease as
R
i
τ
increases from
-
2
to 2.5. Compared to the neutral case, the integral length scales are shortened in the streamwise and vertical direction by ground cooling, but enhanced in the vertical direction with ground heating. Quadrant analysis showed that an increase in floor heating increases the strength of ejections above the canopy. However, the contributions of updrafts or downdrafts to the heat flux are found not to be significantly influenced by the type of local thermal stratification for the values of
R
i
τ
considered. From the octant analysis, the transport mechanisms of momentum and heat above the canopy are found to be very similar in both locally unstable and stable flows.
In the past 10 years, ZnO as a semiconductor has attracted considerable attention due to its unique properties, such as high electron mobility, wide and direct band gap and large exciton binding ...energy. ZnO has been considered a promising material for optoelectronic device applications, and the fabrications of high quality p-type ZnO and p-n junction are the key steps to realize these applications. However, the reliable p-type doping of the material remains a major challenge because of the self-compensation from native donor defects (VO and Zni) and/or hydrogen incorporation. Considerable efforts have been made to obtain p-type ZnO by doping different elements with various techniques. Remarkable progresses have been achieved, both theoretically and experimentally. In this paper, we discuss p-type ZnO materials: theory, growth, properties and devices, comprehensively. We first discuss the native defects in ZnO. Among the native defects in ZnO, VZn and O i act as acceptors. We then present the theory of p-type doping in ZnO, and summarize the growth techniques for p-type ZnO and the properties of p-type ZnO materials. Theoretically, the principles of selection of p-type dopant, codoping method and XZn-2VZn acceptor model are introduced. Experimentally, besides the intrinsic p-type ZnO grown at O-rich ambient, p-type ZnO (MgZnO) materials have been prepared by various techniques using Group-I, IV and V elements. We pay a special attention to the band gap of p-type ZnO by band-gap engineering and room temperature ferromagnetism observed in p-type ZnO. Finally, we summarize the devices based on p-type ZnO materials.
An epidemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) has been associated with an outbreak of atypical pneumonia originating in Guangdong Province, People's Republic of China. We aimed to identify ...the causative agent in the Guangdong outbreak and describe the emergence and spread of the disease within the province.
We analysed epidemiological information and collected serum and nasopharyngeal aspirates from patients with SARS in Guangdong in mid-February, 2003. We did virus isolation, serological tests, and molecular assays to identify the causative agent.
SARS had been circulating in other cities of Guangdong Province for about 2 months before causing a major outbreak in Guangzhou, the province's capital. A novel coronavirus, SARS coronavirus (CoV), was isolated from specimens from three patients with SARS. Viral antigens were also directly detected in nasopharyngeal aspirates from these patients. 48 of 55 (87%) patients had antibodies to SARS CoV in their convalescent sera. Genetic analysis showed that the SARS CoV isolates from Guangzhou shared the same origin with those in other countries, and had a phylogenetic pathway that matched the spread of SARS to the other parts of the world.
SARS CoV is the infectious agent responsible for the epidemic outbreak of SARS in Guangdong. The virus isolated from patients in Guangdong is the prototype of the SARS CoV in other regions and countries.
Understanding organic matter properties in terms of maturity and production potential are crucial for the initial assessment of unconventional plays. This is important since the amount of hydrocarbon ...that can be generated is a function of organic matter type and content in the formation and its thermal maturity. The complexity of shale plays in terms of constituent components has demonstrated that new analytical methods should be acquired to better understand hydrocarbon generation processes. In this study, a few samples from the upper and lower members of the Bakken Formation in the USA were selected from different depths and maturity levels. The samples were analyzed by a high frequency (22 MHz) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR relaxometry) equipment, followed by Rock-Eval pyrolysis (using the Basic/Bulk-Rock method for all samples and a multi-heating rate method, MHR, for the two least mature samples) and bitumen reflectance evaluations. Results showed NMR can detect different hydrogen populations within the samples and distinguish among phases, such as solid organic matter, hydrocarbons (mobile oil), and water by T1-T2 mapping. We were also able to relate different identified areas on NMR T1-T2 maps to geochemical parameters of the organic matter obtained from Rock-Eval pyrolysis (such as S1, S2, and HI) and with thermal maturity (vitrinite reflectance-equivalent).
•Modified pyrolysis methods are needed to determine Oil-In-Place in liquids-rich rocks.•NMR T1-T2 relaxometry and Multi Heating pyrolysis were used to study HC producibility.•HF-NMR at 22 °C ...underestimates the amount of OIP for certain types of organic-rich LRU.•Any chemically ‘extractable’ hydrocarbons are not necessarily ‘producible’
The geochemical and petrophysical complexity of source-rock reservoirs in liquids-rich unconventional (LRU) plays necessitates the implementation of a more expansive analytical protocol for initial play assessment. In this study, original samples from selected source-rock reservoirs in the USA and the UK were analyzed by 22 MHz nuclear magnetic resonance (HF-NMR) T1-T2 mapping, followed by hydrous pyrolysis, and a modified Rock-Eval pyrolysis method (multi-heating step method-MHS). The above methods were complemented by organic petrography under reflected white and UV light excitation of the original and pyrolyzed samples. The analytical protocol presented attempts to better qualify and quantify different petroleum fractions (mobile, heavy hydrocarbons, viscous, solid bitumen), thus provide valuable and refined information about producibility of target intervals during appraisal. Results show how the hydrocarbon fractions interpreted from peak locations and intensities on NMR T1-T2 maps are in good agreement with those from MHS pyrolysis in terms of hydrocarbon mobility/producibility. Results from HP (Hydrous Pyrolysis) experiments show that an exception to this general agreement between NMR and MHS estimates occurs for the Kimmeridge Blackstone Clay samples, where MHS shows an increase of >90% in producible hydrocarbon yields vs. minimal to no presence of mobile hydrocarbons in NMR T1-T2 maps. This study clarifies the role of pore structure and networks in these discrepancies of producible oil estimates when comparing programmed pyrolysis to NMR-based techniques. This novel, multi-step and multidisciplinary approach provides a more advanced screening protocol for identifying zones of higher oil-in-place (OIP) and predicting fluid mobility prior to drilling or completions.
In this paper, novel Nb-containing Ti5Si3 (i.e., Ti56.2Nb6.3Si37.5 and Ti50.0Nb12.5Si37.5) nanocrystalline coatings were deposited onto Ti–6Al–4V substrates by a double glow discharge plasma ...technique. The effects of Nb alloying on the electrochemical behavior of the Ti5Si3 nanocrystalline coatings were systematically investigated in a naturally aerated 5wt.% H2SO4 solution, for which various electrochemical techniques, including potentiodynamic polarization, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), potentiostatic polarization and Mott–Schottky analysis, were employed. Moreover, to evaluate the corrosion performance of the as-deposited coatings over an extended period, their corrosion resistance was analyzed after 7days’ immersion in a 5wt.% H2SO4 solution by EIS measurements and observations of corroded surface morphologies. The results showed that the Ti62.5−xNbxSi37.5 (x=0, 6.3, 12.5) nanocrystalline coatings exhibit superior corrosion resistance compared with Ti–6Al–4V, and their corrosion resistance is enhanced with increasing Nb content, suggesting that Nb alloying is an effective strategy for improving the corrosion protection ability of the Ti5Si3 nanocrystalline coating. The roles of Nb additions in enhancing the corrosion resistance of the Ti5Si3 nanocrystalline coatings can be summarized as: (a) reducing the residual tensile stresses of the as-deposited coatings and (b) tailoring the composition, compactness and electronic structure of the passive films formed. These findings are expected to broaden the application of Ti5Si3 as a highly corrosion-resistant coating for engineering components operating under aggressive conditions.
PDF
