A highly active composite electrocatalyst Ni–Fe–P–Nb2O5/NF for overall water splitting

This work demonstrates a facile Nb₂O₅-decorated electrocatalyst to prepare cost-effective Ni–Fe–P–Nb₂O₅/NF and compared HER & OER performance in alkaline media. The prepared electrocatalyst presented an outstanding electrocatalytic performance towards hydrogen evolution reaction, which required a quite low overpotential of 39.05 mV at the current density of ?10 mA cm^?2 in 1 M KOH electrolyte. Moreover, the Ni–Fe–P–Nb₂O₅/NF catalyst also has excellent oxygen evolution efficiency, which needs only 322 mV to reach the current density of 50 mA cm^?2. Furthermore, its electrocatalytic performance towards overall water splitting worked as both cathode and anode achieved a quite low potential of 1.56 V (10 mA cm^?2).     

Rational Designs for Lithium-Sulfur Batteries with Low Electrolyte/Sulfur Ratio

Lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs) are considered a promising next-generation energy storage device owing to their high theoretical energy density. However, their overall performance is limited by several critical issues such as lithium polysulfide (PS) shuttles, low sulfur utilization, and unstable Li metal anodes. Despite recent huge progress, the electrolyte/sulfur ratio (E/S) used is usually very high (≥20 µL mg⁻¹), which greatly reduces the practical energy density of devices. To push forward LSBs from the lab to the industry, considerable attention is devoted to reducing E/S while ensuring the electrochemical performance. To date, however, few reviews have comprehensively elucidated the possible strategies to achieve that purpose. In this review, recent advances in low E/S cathodes and anodes based on the issues resulting from low E/S and the corresponding solutions are summarized. These will be beneficial for a systematic understanding of the rational design ideas and research trends of low E/S LSBs. In particular, three strategies are proposed for cathodes: preventing PS formation/aggregation to avoid inadequate dissolution, designing multifunctional macroporous networks to address incomplete infiltration, and utilizing an imprison strategy to relieve the adsorption dependence on specific surface area. Finally, the challenges and future prospects for low E/S LSBs are discussed.     

Design and synthesis of side-chain optimized poly(2,6-dimethyl-1,4-phenylene oxide)-g-poly(styrene sulfonic acid) as proton exchange membrane for fuel cell applications: Balancing the water-resistance and the sulfonation degree

Side-chain optimized poly (2,6-dimethyl-1,4-phenylene oxide)-g-poly (styrene sulfonic acid) (PPO-g-PSSA) is designed with balanced water-resistance and sulfonation degree. The PPO-g-PSSA is synthesized by controlled atom-transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) from brominated poly (2,6-dimethyl-1,4-phenylene oxide) (PPO-xBr) and ethyl styrene-4-sulfonate and followed by hydrolysis. A series of PPO-g-PSSA are prepared possessing different bromination degree (x) of PPO-xBr and polymerization degree (m) of the side-chains and the water-resistances of the fabricated membranes are investigated. The results show that a PPO-g-PSSA at relatively low x (x < 0.2) and high m (m > 4) exhibits good balance between the water-resistance and the sulfonation degree. Namely, it displays suitable proton conductivity with compromised water-resistance. Moreover, a maximum ion exchange capacity (IEC) of 3.24 mmol g^?1 is reached without the sacrifice of water-resistance. In addition, PPO-g-0.08PSSA-13 and PPO-g-0.14PSSA-4 are chosen characterized by thermogravimetric analysis, proton conductivities and mechanical properties. At 90% RH, the optimized PPO-g-0.08PPSA-13 possesses a proton conductivity of 37.9 mS cm^?1 at 40 °C and 45.5 mS cm^?1 at 95 °C, respectively.     

基于模糊谱聚类的不确定蛋白质相互作用网络功能模块挖掘

针对谱聚类融合模糊C-means（FCM）聚类的蛋白质相互作用（PPI）网络功能模块挖掘方法准确率不高、执行效率较低和易受假阳性影响的问题，提出一种基于模糊谱聚类的不确定PPI网络功能模块挖掘（FSC-FM）方法。首先，构建一个不确定PPI网络模型，使用边聚集系数给每一条蛋白质交互作用赋予一个存在概率测度，克服假阳性对实验结果的影响；第二，利用基于边聚集系数流行距离（FEC）策略改进谱聚类中的相似度计算，解决谱聚类算法对尺度参数敏感的问题，进而利用谱聚类算法对不确定PPI网络数据进行预处理，降低数据的维数，提高聚类的准确率；第三，设计基于密度的概率中心选取策略（DPCS）解决模糊C-means算法对初始聚类中心和聚类数目敏感的问题，并对预处理后的PPI数据进行FCM聚类，提高聚类的执行效率以及灵敏度；最后，采用改进的边期望稠密度（EED）对挖掘出的蛋白质功能模块进行过滤。在酵母菌DIP数据集上运行各个算法可知，FSC-FM与基于不确定图模型的检测蛋白质复合物（DCU）算法相比，F-measure值提高了27.92%，执行效率提高了27.92%；与在动态蛋白质相互作用网络中识别复合物的方法（CDUN）、演化算法（EA）、医学基因或蛋白质预测算法（MGPPA）相比也有更高的F-measure值和执行效率。实验结果表明，在不确定PPI网络中，FSC-FM适合用于功能模块的挖掘。     

Study of haze emission efficiency based on new co-opetition data envelopment analysis

As haze intensifies in China, controlling haze emission has become the country's top priority for environmental protection. Because haze moves across different regions, it is necessary to develop a data envelopment analysis (DEA) model underpinned by both competition and cooperation to evaluate the haze emission efficiency in different provinces. This study innovatively adopts the spatial econometrics to construct the co-opetition matrices of Chinese provinces, then builds the co-opetition DEA model to evaluate the haze emission efficiency of them, and finally uses the haze data of 2015 as an example to assess the applicability of the model. The results of the study include the following: First, compared with the traditional CCR (A. Charnes & W. W. Cooper & E. Rhodes) model, this study constructs the co-opetition DEA cross-efficiency model that integrates haze's feature of cross-border moving; thus, it is more in line with the reality of haze emission and movement. Second, compared with the efficiency value gained from the CCR model, the haze emission efficiency values for Tianjin and Guangdong, two decision-making units, register greater variance when using the DEA model. The reason might lie in that they have a different spatial transportation relationship with their surrounding provinces. Third, the haze emission efficiency of provinces, according to the evaluation based on the co-opetition DEA method, varies greatly: Those with high efficiency are mostly inland provinces with slow economic growth and adverse climatic conditions, whereas many of the provinces with low efficiency are located in the relatively prosperous East China. The specific co-opetition DEA model constructed in this study enriches the research on the DEA model, which can be applied to the emission efficiency evaluation of similar pollutants around the world and can contribute empirical support to the haze reducing efforts of the government with its empirical results.     

Association of solid fuel use with risk of stunting in children living in China

Stunting adversely affects physical and mental outcomes of children. It has not been examined whether household air pollution from solid fuel combustion is a risk factor for stunting in children. In a total of 41,439 children aged 6-17 across China, height was measured using a unified protocol. Multivariable linear regression models and logistic regression models were used to assess the associations of solid fuel use for cooking/heating with stunting in children. Adjusted for covariates, cooking/heating with solid fuel was significantly associated with a lower z-score for height for age and sex (β = −0.21 [−0.32 to −0.09] and −0.17 [−0.31 to −0.03], respectively) and an increased risk of stunting with an estimated ORs of 1.34 [1.07~1.68] and 1.37 [1.02~1.83], respectively. The risk of stunting associated with solid fuel use was statistically significant in high-age children. And the effect was greater on girls than on boys, though the difference was not statistically significant. Our study suggested that Chinese children living in households using solid fuel had a significantly higher risk of stunting than those living in households using cleaner fuel.     

Se doped nickel-molybdenum bimetal sulfide with enhanced electrochemical activity for hydrogen evolution reaction

In this work, we synthesized Se doped MoS₂@Ni₃S₂ with nanosheets coated nanorods structure supported on Ni foam (MoNiSeS). Firstly, MoS₂@Ni₃S₂ (MoNiS) nanorods was synthesized by hydrothermal method. After selenization treatment, MoSe₂ successfully formed on the edge of MoS₂ nanosheets and particle Ni₃S₂ transformed into NiSe, in which MoSe₂ and NiSe acted as new phase in MoNiSeS. The obtained MoNiSeS only needs a low overpotential of 68 mV to reach the current density of 10 mA cm^?2, and has a low Tafel plots of 72.77 mV dec^?1 and good electrochemical durability, whose electrochemical activity is much better than that of MoNiS and NiSeS, implying the introduction of Mo and Se is beneficial to improve the electrocatalytic performance of NiS for HER. In addition, the proper amount of Mo source, which has an effect on the morphology of product, has also been investigated. For MoNiSeS, the typical nanosheets coated nanarods expose more active sites and the synergic effects is good to the improvement of the catalytic activity. Meanwhile, WNiSeS has also been prepared using the same method and the corresponding results show that the electrochemical activity of WNiSeS is much better than that of NiSeS, proving the universality of this strategy.     

Lead-free sodium niobate nanowires with strong piezo-catalysis for dye wastewater degradation

In this work, the hydrothermally-synthesized sodium niobate nanowires were used to decompose Rhodamine B dye solution through the piezo-catalytic effect. With the sodium niobate catalyst, a high piezo-catalytic degradation ratio of ～80% was achieved under the excitation of vibration for the Rhodamine B dye solution (～5?mg/l). These active species in the catalytic process, hydroxyl radicals and superoxide radicals with the strong oxidation ability, were also observed, which confirmed the key role of piezoelectric effect for piezo-catalysis. The piezo-catalysis of sodium niobate nanowires provides a high-efficiency and reusable tool in application in depredating the dye wastewater.     

Deep Integration of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (InE) Education in Chinese University Classrooms

Recently, InE has been regarded as a popular education strategy in Chinese universities. However, problems have been exposed in the adoption of InE, for example, in InE courses and competitions. The purpose of this paper is to provide a possible solution to the problems, which is to organize effective InE courses by integrating InE with Inter-Course-level Problem-Based Learning (ICPBL). A detailed case is demonstrated by an ICPBL elective course design with deep integration of InE in the teaching, learning, and assessments. This paper contributes to a new curriculum design for promoting InE education in practically for Chinese universities.     

Chest X-ray images super-resolution reconstruction via recursive neural network

Multimedia Tools and Applications - To address the problems of insufficient detail extraction and long training time in the super-resolution reconstruction of chest X-ray images, a method of chest...