Bioinspired supramolecular macrocycle hybrid membranes with enhanced proton conductivity

Enhancing the proton conductivity of proton exchange membranes(PEMs)is essential to expand the applications of proton exchange membrane fuel cells(PEMFCs).Inspired by the proton conduction mechanism of bacteriorhodopsin,cucurbit[n]urils(CB[n],where n is the number of glycoluril units,n=6,7,or 8)are introduced into sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone)(SPEEK)matrix to fabricate hybrid PEMs,employing a nature-inspired chemical engineering(NICE)methodology.The carbonyl groups of CB[n]act as proton-conducting sites,while the host–guest interaction between CB[n]and water molecules offers extra protonconducting pathways.Additionally,the molecular size of CB[n]aids in their dispersion within the SPEEK matrix,effectively bridging the unconnected proton-conducting sulfonic group domains within the SPEEK membrane.Consequently,all hybrid membranes exhibit significantly enhanced proton conductivity.Notably,the SPEEK membrane incorporating 1 wt.%CB[8](CB[8]/SPEEK-1%)demonstrates the highest proton conductivity of 198.0 mS·cm^(−1) at 60°C and 100%relative humidity(RH),which is 228%greater than that of the pure SPEEK membrane under the same conditions.Moreover,hybrid membranes exhibit superior fuel cell performance.The CB[8]/SPEEK-1%membrane achieves a maximum power density of 214 mW·cm^(−2),representing a 140%improvement over the pure SPEEK membrane(89 mW·cm^(−2))at 50°C and 100%RH.These findings serve as a foundation for constructing continuous proton-conducting pathways within membranes by utilizing supramolecular macrocycles as fuel cell electrolytes and in other applications.

Bioinspired Stable Single‑Layer Janus Fabric with Directional Water/Moisture Transport Property for Integrated Personal Cooling Management

Extensive progress has been achieved regarding Janus fabric for directional water transport due to its excellent and feasible personal cooling management ability,which has great significance for energy conservation,pollution reduction,and human health.However,existing Janus asymmetric multilayer fabrics for directional water transport are still limited by their com-plicated syntheses and poor stabilities.Inspired by the compositionally graded architecture of leaf cuticles,we propose a single-layer Janus personal cooling management fabric(JPCMF)via a one-step electrospinning method.The JPCMF shows not only great directional bulk water transport ability but also asymmetry moisture(water vapor)transport ability with a high asymmetry factor(1.49),water vapor transmission value(18.5 kg^(-1) m-2 D-1),and water evaporation rate(0.735 g h^(-1)).Importantly,the JPCMF exhibits outstanding durability and stability thanks to a novel electrostatic adsorption-assisted self-adhesion strategy for resisting abrasion,peeling and pulling.With these characteristics,the JPCMF can achieve a 4.0°C personal cooling management effect,better than taht of cotton fabric,on wet skin.The good biocompatibility and nontoxic-ity also endow the JPCMF with the potential to be a self-pumping dressing.Our strategy should facilitate a new method for developing next-generation intelligent multifunctional fabrics.

Structural Engineering of Hierarchical Magnetic/Carbon Nanocomposites via In Situ Growth for High-Efficient Electromagnetic Wave Absorption

Materials exhibiting high-performance electromagnetic wave absorption have garnered considerable scientific and technological attention,yet encounter significant challenges.Developing new materials and innovative structural design concepts is crucial for expanding the application field of electromagnetic wave absorption.Particularly,hierarchical structure engineering has emerged as a promising approach to enhance the physical and chemical properties of materials,providing immense potential for creating versatile electromagnetic wave absorption materials.Herein,an exceptional multi-dimensional hierarchical structure was meticulously devised,unleashing the full microwave attenuation capabilities through in situ growth,selfreduction,and multi-heterogeneous interface integration.The hierarchical structure features a three-dimensional carbon framework,where magnetic nanoparticles grow in situ on the carbon skeleton,creating a necklace-like structure.Furthermore,magnetic nanosheets assemble within this framework.Enhanced impedance matching was achieved by precisely adjusting component proportions,and intelligent integration of diverse interfaces bolstered dielectric polarization.The obtain Fe_(3)O_(4)-Fe nanoparticles/carbon nanofibers/Al-Fe_(3)O_(4)-Fe nanosheets composites demonstrated outstanding performance with a minimum reflection loss(RLmin)value of−59.3 dB and an effective absorption bandwidth(RL≤−10 dB)extending up to 5.6 GHz at 2.2 mm.These notable accomplishments offer fresh insights into the precision design of high-efficient electromagnetic wave absorption materials.

New‑Generation Ferroelectric AlScN Materials

Ferroelectrics have great potential in the field of nonvolatile memory due to programmable polarization states by external electric field in nonvolatile manner.However,complementary metal oxide semiconductor compatibility and uniformity of ferroelectric performance after size scaling have always been two thorny issues hindering practical application of ferroelectric memory devices.The emerging ferroelectricity of wurtzite structure nitride offers opportunities to circumvent the dilemma.This review covers the mechanism of ferroelectricity and domain dynamics in ferroelectric AlScN films.The performance optimization of AlScN films grown by different techniques is summarized and their applications for memories and emerging in-memory computing are illustrated.Finally,the challenges and perspectives regarding the commercial avenue of ferroelectric AlScN are discussed.

Mixed-decomposed convolutional network:A lightweight yet efficient convolutional neural network for ocular disease recognition

Eye health has become a global health concern and attracted broad attention.Over the years,researchers have proposed many state-of-the-art convolutional neural networks(CNNs)to assist ophthalmologists in diagnosing ocular diseases efficiently and precisely.However,most existing methods were dedicated to constructing sophisticated CNNs,inevitably ignoring the trade-off between performance and model complexity.To alleviate this paradox,this paper proposes a lightweight yet efficient network architecture,mixeddecomposed convolutional network(MDNet),to recognise ocular diseases.In MDNet,we introduce a novel mixed-decomposed depthwise convolution method,which takes advantage of depthwise convolution and depthwise dilated convolution operations to capture low-resolution and high-resolution patterns by using fewer computations and fewer parameters.We conduct extensive experiments on the clinical anterior segment optical coherence tomography(AS-OCT),LAG,University of California San Diego,and CIFAR-100 datasets.The results show our MDNet achieves a better trade-off between the performance and model complexity than efficient CNNs including MobileNets and MixNets.Specifically,our MDNet outperforms MobileNets by 2.5%of accuracy by using 22%fewer parameters and 30%fewer computations on the AS-OCT dataset.

Permeability and selectivity synergistically enhanced nanofluidic membrane for osmotic energy harvesting

For the porous‐membrane‐based osmotic energy generator,the potential synergistic enhancement mechanism of various key parameters is still controversial,especially because optimizing the trade‐off between permeability and selectivity is still a challenge.Here,to construct a permeability and selectivity synergistically enhanced osmotic energy generator,the twodimensional porous membranes with tunable charge density are prepared by inserting sulfonated polyether sulfone into graphene oxide.Influences of charge density and pore size on the ion transport are explored,and the ionic behaviors in the channel are calculated by numerical simulations.The mechanism of ion transport in the process is studied in depth,and the fundamental principles of energy conversion are revealed.The results demonstrate that charge density and pore size should be matched to construct the optimal ion channel.This collaborative enhancement strategy of permeability and selectivity has significantly improved the output power in osmotic energy generation;compared to the pure graphene oxide membrane,the composite membrane presents almost 20 times improvement.

Entanglement and Volume Monogamy Features of Permutation Symmetric N-Qubit Pure States with N-Distinct Spinors: GHZ and States

We explore the entanglement features of pure symmetric N-qubit states characterized by N-distinct spinors with a particular focus on the Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) states and , an equal superposition of W and obverse W states. Along with a comparison of pairwise entanglement and monogamy properties, we explore the geometric information contained in them by constructing their canonical steering ellipsoids. We obtain the volume monogamy relations satisfied by states as a function of number of qubits and compare with the maximal monogamy property of GHZ states.

Recent progress of tree frog toe pads inspired wet adhesive materials

Wet adhesion has widespread applications in the fields of wearable electronics,medical devices and intelligent robots.In nature,many organisms have evolved with unique wet adhesion properties to adapt to complex habitats and climb in wet environments without falling.Tree frogs,as crawling masters in tropical rain forests,are representative of wet adhesion and give novel inspirations to design artificial wet adhesive materials by mimicking their specialised hexagonal structures and/or mucus composition.In this review,we first overview the research progress of tree frog toe pads from the perspective of toe pad structure and adhesion mechanism.Then,wet adhesive materials inspired by tree frog toe pads are systematically summarised from(i)the typical polymers,(ii)the preparation approaches,(iii)the adhesion test methods and(iv)the typical artificial adhesion surfaces.Third,various applications of bioinspired wet adhesive surfaces are highlighted.Finally,we present future challenges and opportunities to develop tree frog-inspired wet adhesive materials.

Engineering Multi‑field‑coupled Synergistic Ion Transport System Based on the Heterogeneous Nanofluidic Membrane for High‑Efficient Lithium Extraction

The global carbon neutrality strategy brings a wave of rechargeable lithium‐ion batteries technique development and induces an ever-growing consumption and demand for lithium(Li).Among all the Li exploitation,extracting Li from spent LIBs would be a strategic and perspective approach,especially with the low energy consumption and eco-friendly membrane separation method.However,current membrane separation systems mainly focus on monotonous membrane design and structure optimization,and rarely further consider the coordination of inherent structure and applied external field,resulting in limited ion transport.Here,we propose a heterogeneous nanofluidic membrane as a platform for coupling multi-external fields(i.e.,lightinduced heat,electrical,and concentration gradient fields)to construct the multi-field-coupled synergistic ion transport system(MSITS)for Li-ion extraction from spent LIBs.The Li flux of the MSITS reaches 367.4 mmol m^(−2)h^(−1),even higher than the sum flux of those applied individual fields,reflecting synergistic enhancement for ion transport of the multi-field-coupled effect.Benefiting from the adaptation of membrane structure and multi-external fields,the proposed system exhibits ultrahigh selectivity with a Li^(+)/Co^(2+)factor of 216,412,outperforming previous reports.MSITS based on nanofluidic membrane proves to be a promising ion transport strategy,as it could accelerate ion transmembrane transport and alleviate the ion concentration polarization effect.This work demonstrated a collaborative system equipped with an optimized membrane for high-efficient Li extraction,providing an expanded strategy to investigate the other membrane-based applications of their common similarities in core concepts.

Identification of Dynamic Active Sites Among Cu Species Derived from MOFs@CuPc for Electrocatalytic Nitrate Reduction Reaction to Ammonia

Direct electrochemical nitrate reduction reaction(NITRR)is a promising strategy to alleviate the unbalanced nitrogen cycle while achieving the electrosynthesis of ammonia.However,the restructuration of the high-activity Cu-based electrocatalysts in the NITRR process has hindered the identification of dynamical active sites and in-depth investigation of the catalytic mechanism.Herein,Cu species(single-atom,clusters,and nanoparticles)with tunable loading supported on N-doped TiO_(2)/C are successfully manufactured with MOFs@CuPc precursors via the pre-anchor and post-pyrolysis strategy.Restructuration behavior among Cu species is co-dependent on the Cu loading and reaction potential,as evidenced by the advanced operando X-ray absorption spectroscopy,and there exists an incompletely reversible transformation of the restructured structure to the initial state.Notably,restructured CuN_(4)&Cu_(4) deliver the high NH_(3) yield of 88.2 mmol h^(−1)g_(cata)^(−1) and FE(~94.3%)at−0.75 V,resulting from the optimal adsorption of NO_(3)^(−) as well as the rapid conversion of^(*)NH_(2)OH to^(*)NH_(2) intermediates originated from the modulation of charge distribution and d-band center for Cu site.This work not only uncovers CuN_(4)&Cu_(4) have the promising NITRR but also identifies the dynamic Cu species active sites that play a critical role in the efficient electrocatalytic reduction in nitrate to ammonia.

Reconfigurable Mott electronics for homogeneous neuromorphic platform

To simplify the fabrication process and increase the versatility of neuromorphic systems,the reconfiguration concept has attracted much attention.Here,we developed a novel electrochemical VO_(2)(EC-VO_(2))device,which can be reconfigured as synapses or LIF neurons.The ionic dynamic doping contributed to the resistance changes of VO_(2),which enables the reversible modulation of device states.The analog resistance switching and tunable LIF functions were both measured based on the same device to demonstrate the capacity of reconfiguration.Based on the reconfigurable EC-VO_(2),the simulated spiking neural network model exhibited excellent performances by using low-precision weights and tunable output neurons,whose final accuracy reached 91.92%.

The Bell Inequality, Inviolable by Data Used Consistently with Its Derivation, Is Satisfied by Quantum Correlations Whose Probabilities Satisfy the Wigner Inequality

It is not generally known that the inequality that Bell derived using three random variables must be identically satisfied by any three corresponding data sets of ±1’s that are writable on paper. This surprising fact is not immediately obvious from Bell’s inequality derivation based on causal random variables, but follows immediately if the same mathematical operations are applied to finite data sets. For laboratory data, the inequality is identically satisfied as a fact of pure algebra, and its satisfaction is independent of whether the processes generating the data are local, non-local, deterministic, random, or nonsensical. It follows that if predicted correlations violate the inequality, they represent no three cross-correlated data sets that can exist, or can be generated from valid probability models. Reported data that violate the inequality consist of probabilistically independent data-pairs and are thus inconsistent with inequality derivation. In the case of random variables as Bell assumed, the correlations in the inequality may be expressed in terms of the probabilities that give rise to them. A new inequality is then produced: The Wigner inequality, that must be satisfied by quantum mechanical probabilities in the case of Bell experiments. If that were not the case, predicted quantum probabilities and correlations would be inconsistent with basic algebra.

回归自然 巴厘岛乌拉曼生态豪华度假村

乌拉曼(Ulaman)生态豪华度假村位于巴厘岛塔巴南的卡巴卡巴(Kaba-Kaba),其令人惊叹的二期工程融合了许多关键设施,统一了度假村的整个复杂结构。度假村的一期工程受到了媒体和公众的高度评价,并荣获了多项国际设计奖项,其中最具价值的当属联合国教科文组织颁发的“凡尔赛奖”(Prix Versailles)。度假村的二期工程除了延续一期工程中所运用的夯土、竹材、天然石材和回收木材等材料,还增加了新的关键元素,如在建筑屋顶结构和水疗中心建筑中均能发现的复合SIP面板。

Iliac vein compression syndrome: Clinical, imaging and pathologic findings

May-Thurner syndrome(MTS) is the pathologic compression of the left common iliac vein by the right common iliac artery, resulting in left lower extremity pain, swelling, and deep venous thrombosis. Though this syndrome was first described in 1851, there are currently no standardized criteria to establish the diagnosis of MTS. Since MTS is treated by a wide array of specialties, including interventional radiology, vascular surgery, cardiology, and vascular medicine, the need for an established diagnostic criterion is imperative in order to reduce misdiagnosis and inappropriate treatment. Although MTS has historically been diagnosed by the presence of pathologic features, the use of dynamic imaging techniques has led to a more radiologic based diagnosis. Thus, imaging plays an integral part in screening patients for MTS, and the utility of a wide array of imaging modalities has been evaluated. Here, we summarize the historical aspects of the clinical features of this syndrome. We then provide a comprehensive assessment of the literature on the efficacy of imaging tools available to diagnose MTS. Lastly, we provide clinical pearls and recommendations to aid physicians in diagnosing the syndrome through the use of provocative measures.

氧化钛和氧化铝陶瓷的骨诱导作用

蛋白质吸附、钙磷离子释放和表面生物矿化是钙磷材料诱导异位骨生成的可能材料机制。对比了非表面微孔羟基磷灰石陶瓷(HA-S)、表面微孔羟基磷灰石陶瓷(HA-R)和表面微孔生物惰性非钙磷陶瓷(TiO_2陶瓷;Al_2O_3陶瓷;两者无钙磷释放,无表面生物矿化能力)的异位骨诱导能力。研究发现,不同化学成分的陶瓷材料对蛋白质有选择性吸附。即使不吸附骨形态发生蛋白-2(rhBMP-2),具有表面微孔的非钙磷陶瓷也能诱导异位骨组织生成。结果表明,钙磷离子释放和表面生物矿化在磷酸钙生物材料骨诱导中不起关键作用,表面微孔也不一定通过蛋白质吸附而在异位骨诱导中起作用。

Applications of stem cells and bioprinting for potential treatment of diabetes

Currently, there does not exist a strategy that can reduce diabetes and scientists are working towards a cure and innovative approaches by employing stem cellbased therapies. On the other hand, bioprinting technology is a novel therapeutic approach that aims to replace the diseased or lost β-cells, insulin-secreting cells in the pancreas, which can potentially regenerate damaged organs such as the pancreas. Stem cells have the ability to differentiate into various cell lines including insulinproducing cells. However, there are still barriers that hamper the successful differentiation of stem cells into β-cells. In this review, we focus on the potential applications of stem cell research and bioprinting that may be targeted towards replacing the β-cells in the pancreas and may offer approaches towards treatment of diabetes. This review emphasizes on the applicability of employing both stem cells and other cells in 3 D bioprinting to generate substitutes for diseased β-cells and recover lost pancreatic functions. The article then proceeds to discuss the overall research done in the field of stem cell-based bioprinting and provides future directions for improving the same for potential applications in diabetic research.

Sampling Methods for Efficient Training of Graph Convolutional Networks:A Survey

Graph convolutional networks(GCNs)have received significant attention from various research fields due to the excellent performance in learning graph representations.Although GCN performs well compared with other methods,it still faces challenges.Training a GCN model for large-scale graphs in a conventional way requires high computation and storage costs.Therefore,motivated by an urgent need in terms of efficiency and scalability in training GCN,sampling methods have been proposed and achieved a significant effect.In this paper,we categorize sampling methods based on the sampling mechanisms and provide a comprehensive survey of sampling methods for efficient training of GCN.To highlight the characteristics and differences of sampling methods,we present a detailed comparison within each category and further give an overall comparative analysis for the sampling methods in all categories.Finally,we discuss some challenges and future research directions of the sampling methods.

Hybrid lipopolymer vesicle drug delivery and release systems

Hybrid lipopolymer vesicles are membrane vesicles that can be self-assembled on both the micro-and nano-scale.On the nanoscale,they are potential novel smart materials for drug delivery systems that could combine the relative strengths of liposome and polymersome drug delivery systems without their respective weaknesses.However,little is known about their properties and how they could be tailored.Currently,most methods of investigation are limited to the microscale.Here we provide a brief review on hybrid vesicle systems with a specific focus on recent developments demonstrating that nanoscale hybrid vesicles have different properties from their macroscale counterparts.

Exploiting Virtual Elasticity of Production Systems for Respecting OTD-Part 1: Post-Optimality Conditions for Ergodic Order Arrivals in Fixed Capacity Regimes

Respecting the on-time-delivery (OTD) for manufacturing orders is mandatory. This depends, however, on the probability distribution of incoming order rate. The case of non-equal distribution, such as aggregated arrivals, may compromise the observance of on-time supplies for some orders. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the conditions of post-optimality for stochastic order rate governed production systems in order to observe OTD. Instead of a heuristic or a simulative exploration, a Cartesian-based approach is applied to developing the necessary and sufficient mathematical condition to solve the problem statement. The research result demonstrates that increasing speed of throughput reveals a latent capacity, which allows arrival orders above capacity limits to be backlog-buffered and rescheduled for OTD, exploiting the virtual manufacturing elasticity inherent to all production systems to increase OTD reliability of non JIT-based production systems.

Local sum uncertainty relations for angular momentum operators of bipartite permutation symmetric systems

We show that violation of the variance based local sum uncertainty relation(LSUR)for angular momentum operators of a bipartite system,proposed by Hofmann and Takeuchi[Phys.Rev.A 68032103(2003)],reflects entanglement in the equal bipartitions of an N-qubit symmetric state with even qubits.We establish the one-to-one connection with the violation of LSUR with negativity of covariance matrix[Phys.Lett.A 364203(2007)]of the two-qubit reduced system of a permutation symmetric N-qubit state.