2D Porous TiO2 Single‐Crystalline Nanostructure Demonstrating High Photo‐Electrochemical Water Splitting Performance

Porous single crystals are promising candidates for solar fuel production owing to their long range charge diffusion length, structural coherence, and sufficient reactive sites. Here, a simple template‐free method of growing a selectively branched, 2D anatase TiO₂ porous single crystalline nanostructure (PSN) on fluorine‐doped tin oxide substrate is demonstrated. An innovative ion exchange–induced pore‐forming process is designed to successfully create high porosity in the single‐crystalline nanostructure with retention of excellent charge mobility and no detriment to crystal structure. PSN TiO₂ film delivers a photocurrent of 1.02 mA cm^?2 at a very low potential of 0.4 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) for photo‐electrochemical water splitting, closing to the theoretical value of TiO₂ (1.12 mA cm^?2). Moreover, the current–potential curve featuring a small potential window from 0.1 to 0.4 V versus RHE under one‐sun illumination has a near‐ideal shape predicted by the Gartner Model, revealing that the charge separation and surface reaction on the PSN TiO₂ photoanode are very efficient. The photo‐electrochemical water splitting performance of the films indicates that the ion exchange–assisted synthesis strategy is effective in creating large surface area and single‐crystalline porous photoelectrodes for efficient solar energy conversion.     

Effects of dried longan seed (Euphoria longana Lam.) extract on VEGF secretion and expression in colon cancer cells and angiogenesis in human umbilical vein endothelial cells

Angiogenesis is a critical event in cancer metastasis, via delivery of needed oxygen and nutrients to tumor cells. Anti-angiogenesis is one strategy for controlling cancer progression. We herein report anti-angiogenesis activity of dried longan seeds using colon adenocarcinoma cells (SW480 cells) and human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). Sephadex LH-20 column chromatography was used for separate three dried longan seed fractions. We firstly evaluated vascular endothelial cell growth factor (VEGF) secretion, expression and colony formation of SW480 cells, using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), Western blot analysis and soft agar assays. Meanwhile cell proliferation, gelatinase activity and tube formation of HUVECs were determined via proliferation assay, gelatin zymography and in vitro tube formation assay, respectively. The results suggest that dried longan seed fractions could be potential angiogenic inhibitors not only interruption of VEGF secretion and expression in SW480 cells but also abrogation of cell proliferation, the activity of gelatinase and tube formation of HUVECs.     

Biohydrogen production from crude glycerol by immobilized Klebsiella sp. TR17 in a UASB reactor and bacterial quantification under non-sterile conditions

Biohydrogen production from crude glycerol by immobilized Klebsiella sp. TR17 was investigated in an up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor. The reactor was operated under non-sterile conditions at 40^○C and initial pH 8.0 at different hydraulic retention times (HRTs) (2–12 h) and glycerol concentrations (10–30 g/L). Decreasing the HRT led to an increase in hydrogen production rate (HPR) and hydrogen yield (HY). The highest HPR of 242.15 mmol H₂/L/d and HY of 44.27 mmol H₂/g glycerol consumed were achieved at 4 h HRT and glycerol concentrations of 30 and 10 g/L, respectively. The main soluble metabolite was 1,3-propanediol, which implies that Klebsiella sp. was dominant among other microorganisms. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) revealed that the microbial community was dominated by Klebsiella sp. with 56.96, 59.45, and 63.47% of total DAPI binding cells, at glycerol concentrations of 10, 20, and 30 g/L, respectively.     

Statistical optimization of medium components affecting simultaneous fermentative hydrogen and ethanol production from crude glycerol by thermotolerant Klebsiella sp. TR17

A thermotolerant Klebsiella sp. TR17 for production of hydrogen from crude glycerol was investigated. Results from Plackett–Burman design indicated that the significant variables, which influenced hydrogen production, were KH₂PO₄ and NH₄Cl (for buffer capacity and nitrogen source). Subsequently, the two selected variables and crude glycerol were optimized by the Central Composite design for achieving maximum hydrogen and ethanol yield. The concentration of crude glycerol, KH₂PO₄, and NH₄Cl had an individual effect on both hydrogen and ethanol yield (p < 0.05), while KH₂PO₄ and NH₄Cl had an interactive effect on ethanol yield (p < 0.05). The optimum medium components were 11.14 g/L crude glycerol, 2.47 g/L KH₂PO₄, and 6.03 g/L NH₄Cl. The predicted maximum simultaneous hydrogen and ethanol yield were 0.27 mol H₂/mol glycerol and 0.63 mol EtOH/mol glycerol, respectively. Validation of the predicted optimal conditions exhibited similar hydrogen and ethanol yield of 0.26 mol H₂/mol glycerol and 0.58 mol EtOH/mol glycerol, respectively.     

Camera operation estimation from video shot using 2D motion vector histogram

Multimedia Tools and Applications - This paper presents a novel technique for classifying several camera operations in videos. First of all, we obtain a series of 2D motion vector (MV) fields by...     

Comparative evaluation of physicochemical properties of Lingzhi (Ganoderma lucidum) as affected by drying conditions and extraction methods

Lingzhi (Ganoderma lucidum) is a high-potential mushroom which is used as a dietary supplement or a source of nutrients and antioxidant agents. The aims were to investigate the effect of drying conditions (hot air and vacuum dry) and to compare the extraction methods of microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) and pulsed electric field extraction (PEF) for obtaining triterpenes, flavonoid and polysaccharides. The favourable drying condition was 80 °C for 1 h and 37 min, which achieved 1.17 ± 0.05 mg quercetin/g of flavonoids and 11.49 ± 0.87 mg ursolic acid/g of triterpenes. The MAE condition was 800 W, 1 min 30 s extraction time and 65.35% ethanol, achieving polysaccharides of 13.08 mg glucose/g and triterpenes of 9.15 mg ursolic acid/g. Additionally, MAE was significantly more efficient than reflux and PEF methods. The application of microwave radiation is beneficial in saving time and solvent and also provides high extraction efficiency for dried Lingzhi.     

Head direction estimation from low resolution images with scene adaptation

This paper presents an appearance-based method for estimating head direction that automatically adapts to individual scenes. Appearance-based estimation methods usually require a ground-truth dataset taken from a scene that is similar to test video sequences. However, it is almost impossible to acquire many manually labeled head images for each scene. We introduce an approach that automatically aggregates labeled head images by inferring head direction labels from walking direction. Furthermore, in order to deal with large variations that occur in head appearance even within the same scene, we introduce an approach that segments a scene into multiple regions according to the similarity of head appearances. Experimental results demonstrate that our proposed method achieved higher accuracy in head direction estimation than conventional approaches that use a scene-independent generic dataset.