A review of Znln2S4-based photocatalysts for producing hydrogen by water splitting under visible light: Fundamentals and recent advancements

Hydrogen (H₂) is a clean energy carrier widely used in oil refineries, fertilizers, chemicals, and steel manufacturing. Presently, the majority of H₂ is produced from either steam methane reforming of natural gas or coal gasification; however, these technologies result in a massive amount of CO₂ emission. Alternatively, the use of photocatalysts for producing H₂ via water splitting is an eco-friendly and sustainable approach, among which the selection of highly efficient, stable, and cheap photocatalysts is the key. In this review, Znln₂S₄-based photocatalysts are thoroughly described in terms of the fundamentals and thermodynamics of water splitting, fabrication methods, and different heterostructure photocatalytic systems. After this, recent developments in the large-scale implementation of photocatalytic reactors are discussed. Finally, a summary of future research directions and major conclusions is provided. With proper modification, such as heterojunction systems and the selection of proper fabrication methods, Znln₂S₄-based photocatalysts could be superior materials for water splitting. In short, this review article could offer meaningful and useful insights and guidance for the development of Znln₂S₄-based photocatalysts in water splitting for producing H₂ under visible light.     

QuEChERS Method for the Determination of PAH Compounds in Sardinia Sea Urchin (Paracentrotus lividus) Roe, Using Gas Chromatography ITMS-MS Analysis

Sea urchin roe (Paracentrotus lividus) is an excellent biomarker, and it has been used as a test for toxicology study of chemical pollution of restricted marine areas; in fact, unlike mussels which filter water, it feeds mainly on micro- and macroalgae. Therefore, it is not influenced by the sea tide and meets better the situation of local pollution. A modified Quick Easy Cheap Effective Rugged Safe extraction method coupled with gas chromatography ion trap mass spectrometry analysis has been used to set up a method for the determination of 17 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in P. lividus sea urchin roe. A method validation was performed, and the following parameters have been determined: instrument limit of detection (LOD) and of quantification (LOQ), precision, recovery, and linearity. The method carried out showed good LOD under 1.5 μg/kg and LOQ under 5 μg/kg for all PAHs studied, and these values were in close agreement with quality criteria described in the Commission Regulation (EC) no. 333/2007 concerning the PAH benzo[a]pyrene in foodstuffs. Precision and linearity were in accordance with EC SANCO/10684/2009 values. For all PAHs, recoveries ranged from 72% to 119%, with RSD ranging from 3% to 17% in the most unfavorable case.     

A shape analysis framework for neuromorphometry

This paper addresses in an integrated and systematic fashion the relatively overlooked but increasingly important issue of measuring and characterizing the geometrical properties of nerve cells and structures, an area often called neuromorphology. After discussing the main motivation for such an endeavour, a comprehensive mathematical framework for characterizing neural shapes, capable of expressing variations over time, is presented and used to underline the main issues in neuromorphology. Three particularly powerful and versatile families of neuromorphological approaches, including differential measures, symmetry axes/skeletons, and complexity, are presented and their respective potentials for applications in neuroscience are identified. Examples of applications of such measures are provided based on experimental investigations related to automated dendrogram extraction, mental retardation characterization, and axon growth analysis.     

3D Face Recognition Using Simulated Annealing and the Surface Interpenetration Measure

This paper presents a novel automatic framework to perform 3D face recognition. The proposed method uses a Simulated Annealing-based approach (SA) for range image registration with the Surface Interpenetration Measure (SIM), as similarity measure, in order to match two face images. The authentication score is obtained by combining the SIM values corresponding to the matching of four different face regions: circular and elliptical areas around the nose, forehead, and the entire face region. Then, a modified SA approach is proposed taking advantage of invariant face regions to better handle facial expressions. Comprehensive experiments were performed on the FRGC v2 database, the largest available database of 3D face images composed of 4,007 images with different facial expressions. The experiments simulated both verification and identification systems and the results compared to those reported by state-of-the-art works. By using all of the images in the database, a verification rate of 96.5 percent was achieved at a False Acceptance Rate (FAR) of 0.1 percent. In the identification scenario, a rank-one accuracy of 98.4 percent was achieved. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest rank-one score ever achieved for the FRGC v2 database when compared to results published in the literature.     

Characterizing BJTs using the Early voltage in the forward active mode

Bipolar junction transistors (BJTs) have been at the core of linear electronics from its beginnings. Here, we suggest an Early‐based inspired geometric model of BJT devices and its application to derive models of related electronic circuits (more specifically a common‐emitter configuration). The approach involves using a beam of isolines converging at the Early voltage as the model of a BJT. The angles of the isolines are experimentally verified often to vary almost linearly with the base current. A numerical methodology is suggested for the Early voltage estimation and applied to 12 real‐world small signal NPN BJTs. Interesting results are obtained, including the identification of diverse Early voltage values for different BJT types and estimation of transfer functions.     

Effect of olive paste kneading process time on the overall quality of virgin olive oil

The influence of the olive paste malaxation time on the composition and the industrial output of oil was investigated. To this purpose, three Italian olive varieties (Leccino, Dritta, Caroleo) were processed with a centrifugal system for six malaxation periods (0, 15, 30, 45, 60 and 75 min). The concentrations of the majority of the oil constituents changed during the malaxation. However, these changes were not significant for all of them: the contents of β‐carotene, the major xanthophylls, chlorophylls a and b, pheophytins a and b in the oils increased progressively with increasing malaxing times, whereas the contents of simple and hydrolysable phenols (secoiridoid derivatives), o‐diphenols and total phenols decreased. A significant increase in total volatiles and green volatiles of the lipoxygenase cascade (C₆ aldehydes, C₆ alcohols, C₅ alcohols and C₅ carbonyls) was detected. An opposite trend was observed for the green C₆ esters. As a result, the global analytical quality, flavour, aroma and shelf‐life of the oils were negatively affected. The oil yield increased substantially up to 45 min of paste malaxation times. Beyond 60 min, the yields tended to decrease.     

A fast time-domain algorithm for the simulation of switching powerconverters

An efficient algorithm for the simulation of switched-mode power converters is developed. A Chebyshev series expansion is used to effectively solve the differential equations describing the system in each topology. The power of the new simulation technique lies both in the simple, but accurate, polynomial approximation for the state transition matrices and in the ability to explicitly obtain the instants at which the switching of the circuit topology takes place. The simulation technique is illustrated with reference to a simple Buck converter operating at a constant frequency. The derivation of the new algorithm is presented and its performance is analyzed. The case of a rapidly varying input forcing function is analyzed. Examples illustrating the generality and the computational efficiency of the algorithm are presented