Enhanced electrocatalytic oxygen reduction reaction from organic-inorganic heterostructure

Herein, molybdenum disulfide nanoflakes decorated copper phthalocyanine microrods (CuPc-MoS₂) are synthesized via two step simple hydrothermal method. The as synthesized hybrid along with pure molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) nanoflower and pure copper phthalocyanine (CuPc) microrods are well characterized by various techniques that confirm phase, morphology, elemental compositions etc. Next, electrocatalytic oxygen reduction reaction towards fuel cell is investigated in alkaline medium and obtained results proclaim that our CuPc-MoS₂ heterostructure outperforms the other two constituent materials. Efficient oxygen reduction is achieved following four electron pathway by CuPc-MoS₂ whereas partial reduction is done through two electron process by CuPc and MoS₂ separately. Long-time durability test reveals almost 97.6% retention after 8000s that eventually dictate us that CuPc-MoS₂ heterostructure can be the efficient cathode electrocatalyst for future generation fuel cell.     

Shared human–robot path following control of an unmanned ground vehicle

This paper considers the shared path following control of an unmanned ground vehicle by a single person. A passive measure of human intent is used to blend the human and machine inputs in a mixed initiative approach. The blending law is combined with saturated super-twisting sliding mode speed and heading controllers, so that exogenous disturbances can be counteracted via equivalent control. It is proven that when the proposed blending law is used, the combined control signals from both the human and automatic controller respect the actuator magnitude constraints of the machine. To demonstrate the approach, shared control experiments are performed using an unmanned ground vehicle, which follows a lawn mower pattern shaped path.     

Newly Isolated Animal Pathogen Corynebacterium silvaticum Is Cytotoxic to Human Epithelial Cells

Corynebacterium silvaticum is a newly identified animal pathogen of forest animals such as roe deer and wild boars. The species is closely related to the emerging human pathogen Corynebacterium ulcerans and the widely distributed animal pathogen Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis. In this study, Corynebacterium silvaticum strain W25 was characterized with respect to its interaction with human cell lines. Microscopy, measurement of transepithelial electric resistance and cytotoxicity assays revealed detrimental effects of C. silvaticum to different human epithelial cell lines and to an invertebrate animal model, Galleria mellonella larvae, comparable to diphtheria toxin-secreting C. ulcerans. Furthermore, the results obtained may indicate a considerable zoonotic potential of this newly identified species.     

Metal chlorides-promoted ammonia absorption of deep eutectic solvent

Ammonia is considered as a promising hydrogen or energy carrier. Ammonia absorption or adsorption is an important aspect for both ammonia removal, storage and separation applications. To these ends, a wide range of solid and liquid sorbents have been investigated. Among these, the deep eutectic solvent (DES) is emerging as a promising class of ammonia absorbers. Herein, we report a novel type of DES, i.e., metal-containing DESs for ammonia absorption. Specifically, the NH₃ absorption capacity is enhanced by ca. 18.1–36.9% when a small amount of metal chlorides, such as MgCl₂, MnCl₂ etc., are added into a DES composed of resorcinol (Res) and ethylene glycol (EG). To our knowledge, the MgCl₂/Res/EG (0.1:1:2) DES outperforms most of the reported DESs. The excellent NH₃ absorption performances of metal–containing DESs have been attributed to the synergy of Lewis acid–base and hydrogen bonding interactions. Additionally, good reversibility and high NH₃/CO₂ selectivity are achieved over the MgCl₂/Res/EG (0.1:1:2) DES, which enables it to be a potential NH₃ absorber for further investigations.     

Quantifying co-creative writing experiences

Collaboration with artificial intelligence (AI) is a growing trend even in the field of creativity. This paper examines which quantitative metrics can be used to comparatively analyse human-computer co-creativity with children. To study this question, 24 schoolchildren of age 10–11 wrote a poem with three co-creative poetry writing processes: a human-computer, a human-human, and a human-human-computer process. The computational participant in the processes was an AI-based application called the Poetry Machine. The children were asked to evaluate their user experience with a 5-point Likert-type questionnaire after each writing process and a comparative questionnaire after finishing all processes. The metrics used in the evaluation were immediate fun, long-term enjoyment, creativity, self-expression, outcome satisfaction, ease of starting and finishing writing, quality of ideas and support from others, and ownership.

Significant differences were found in fun, long-term enjoyment, quality of ideas, support, and ownership. The high number of statistically relevant results was enabled by exposing all participants to all writing processes, and the comparative questionnaire. The human-human-computer process was evaluated the best in long-term enjoyment and the human-computer process the weakest in support and idea quality. Creativity and ease of finishing writing turned out to be outlining metrics for the co-creative processes.     

飞机撞击下高温气冷堆乏燃料厂房损伤研究

本文针对典型高温气冷堆乏燃料厂房在双发商用飞机撞击载荷下的响应及结构完整性开展研究，并探讨结构特性对撞击损伤的影响。对乏燃料厂房及飞机分别建立有限元模型，通过弹体-目标相互作用分析模拟了飞机撞击过程，综合IAEA与NRC的评价准则对乏燃料厂房在飞机撞击下的损伤程度进行评估。数值结果表明：厂房上对应于机身及发动机的撞击位置发生可接受的局部损伤；乏燃料贮存井墙体对于提高构筑物抗飞机撞击能力有重要作用。此外，构筑物外形对损伤有很大影响，圆柱形壳体的抗飞机撞击能力显著强于方形厂房，是核电厂厂房设计的优化方向之一。     

Science fiction reduces the eeriness of android robots: A field experiment

As suggested by the uncanny valley hypothesis, robots that resemble humans likely elicit feelings of eeriness. Based on the psychological model of meaning maintenance, we expected that the uncanny valley experience could be mitigated through a fictional story, due to the meaning-generating function of narratives. A field experiment was conducted, in which 75 participants interacted with the humanlike robot Telenoid. Prior to the interaction, they either read a short story, a non-narrative leaflet about the robot, or they received no preliminary information. Eeriness ratings were significantly lower in the science fiction condition than in both other conditions. This effect was mediated by higher perceived human-likeness of the robot. Our findings suggest that science fiction may provide meaning for otherwise unsettling future technologies.     

The Electron–Phonon Interaction of Low-Dimensional and Multi-Dimensional Materials from He Atom Scattering

Atom scattering is becoming recognized as a sensitive probe of the electron–phonon interaction parameter λ at metal and metal-overlayer surfaces. Here, the theory is developed, linking λ to the thermal attenuation of atom scattering spectra (in particular, the Debye–Waller factor), to conducting materials of different dimensions, from quasi-1D systems such as W(110):H(1 × 1) and Bi(114), to quasi-2D layered chalcogenides, and high-dimensional surfaces such as quasicrystalline 2ML-Ba(0001)/Cu(001) and d-AlNiCo(00001). Values of λ obtained using He atoms compare favorably with known values for the bulk materials. The corresponding analysis indicates in addition, the number of layers contributing to the electron–phonon interaction, which is measured in an atom surface collision.     

Using a Discrete-Event System Specifications (DEVS) for designing a Modelica compiler

We introduce a new architecture for the design of a tool for modeling and simulation of continuous and hybrid systems. The environment includes a compiler based on Modelica, a modular and a causal standard specification language for physical systems modeling (the tool supports models composed using certain component classes defined in the Modelica Standard Library, and the instantiation, parameterization and connection of these MSL components are described using a subset of Modelica). Models are defined in Modelica and are translated into DEVS models. DEVS theory (originally defined for modeling and simulation of discrete event systems) was extended in order to permit defining these of models. The different steps in the compiling process are show, including how to model these dynamic systems under the discrete event abstraction, including examples of model simulation with their execution results.