Improved thermoelectric generator performance using high temperature thermoelectric materials

Thermoelectric generator (TEG) has received more and more attention in its application in the harvesting of waste thermal energy in automotive engines. Even though the commercial Bismuth Telluride thermoelectric material only have 5% efficiency and 250°C hot side temperature limit, it is possible to generate peak 1kW electrical energy from a heavy-duty engine. If being equipped with 500W TEG, a passenger car has potential to save more than 2% fuel consumption and hence CO2 emission reduction. TEG has advantages of compact and motionless parts over other thermal harvest technologies such as Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) and Turbo-Compound (TC). Intense research works are being carried on improving the thermal efficiency of the thermoelectric materials and increasing the hot side temperature limit. Future thermoelectric modules are expected to have 10% to 20% efficiency and over 500°C hot side temperature limit. This paper presents the experimental synthesis procedure of both p-type and n-type skutterudite thermoelectric materials and the fabrication procedure of the thermoelectric modules using this material. These skutterudite materials were manufactured in the chemical lab in the University of Reading and then was fabricated into modules in the lab in Cardiff University. These thermoelectric materials can work up to as high as 500°C temperature and the corresponding modules can work at maximum 400°C hot side temperature. The performance loss from materials to modules has been investigated and discussed in this paper. By using a validated TEG model, the performance improvement using these modules has been estimated compared to commercial Bisemous Telluride module

Synthesis and gelation property of amino acids-based dendronised oligomers

<div><p>The first- and second-generation dendrons constructed from alanine and aspartic acids were synthesised and further modified with a polymerisable acrylamide group at the focal point (MG1 and MG2). The corresponding dendronised oligomers were obtained by polymerisation, and then hydrolysed to afford them with multi-carboxyl groups on the periphery of branched side chains (PG1-COOH and PG2-COOH). The structures of the oligomers were characterised by ¹H NMR, Fourier transform infrared and gel permeation chromatograph, and their gelation behaviour was examined. It was found that PG1-COOH and PG2-COOH could form two-component gels, especially, PG1-COOH showed better gelation property. For example, it could gel with aliphatic primary or secondary amines in dimethylformamide and with melamine in acidic aqueous solution. Transmission electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy images showed that the gelators self-assembled into the fibrous networks.</p></div

Table_1_Development and Validation of Prognostic Nomogram for Primary Peritoneal Serous Carcinoma Compared With FIGO Staging System: A Population-Based Study.doc

BackgroundPrimary peritoneal serous carcinoma (PPSC) is a rare tumor that lacks a prognostic prediction model. Our study aims to develop a nomogram to predict overall survival (OS) of PPSC patients.MethodsPatients confirmed to have PPSC between 2004 and 2012 were selected from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. LASSO and multivariate Cox regression analyses were used to screen for meaningful independent prognostic factors to construct a nomogram model for 3-, 5-, and 10-year OS among patients with PPSC. The nomogram compared the discrimination, calibration, and net benefits with the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) staging system of PPSC patients.ResultsEight variables were selected to establish the nomogram for PPSC. The established nomogram performed significantly better than the FIGO staging system (p ConclusionsPPSC patients have distinct characteristics with respect to their presentation and survival outcomes. A prognostic nomogram constructed by various clinical indicators can provide better and more accurate predictions for patients with PPSC.</p

Additional file 1 of The chromatin architectural regulator SND1 mediates metastasis in triple-negative breast cancer by promoting CDH1 gene methylation

Additional file 1. Supplementary Fig. S1. SND1 expression correlates to lymphatic metastasis and patient survival of TNBC. (A) Compare SND1 expression level between patients with (Met) or without (non Met) lymphatic metastasis from the TCGA TNBC (*, P = 0.016, n = 142). (B) K-M survival was plotted based on SND1 level in TNBC patients of TCGA. The low SND1 subgroup (n=71) showed more favourable prognosis than SND1 highly expression group (n = 71; P = 0.029)

Image_1_Development and Validation of Prognostic Nomogram for Primary Peritoneal Serous Carcinoma Compared With FIGO Staging System: A Population-Based Study.tif

BackgroundPrimary peritoneal serous carcinoma (PPSC) is a rare tumor that lacks a prognostic prediction model. Our study aims to develop a nomogram to predict overall survival (OS) of PPSC patients.MethodsPatients confirmed to have PPSC between 2004 and 2012 were selected from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. LASSO and multivariate Cox regression analyses were used to screen for meaningful independent prognostic factors to construct a nomogram model for 3-, 5-, and 10-year OS among patients with PPSC. The nomogram compared the discrimination, calibration, and net benefits with the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) staging system of PPSC patients.ResultsEight variables were selected to establish the nomogram for PPSC. The established nomogram performed significantly better than the FIGO staging system (p ConclusionsPPSC patients have distinct characteristics with respect to their presentation and survival outcomes. A prognostic nomogram constructed by various clinical indicators can provide better and more accurate predictions for patients with PPSC.</p

Image_3_Development and Validation of Prognostic Nomogram for Primary Peritoneal Serous Carcinoma Compared With FIGO Staging System: A Population-Based Study.tif

BackgroundPrimary peritoneal serous carcinoma (PPSC) is a rare tumor that lacks a prognostic prediction model. Our study aims to develop a nomogram to predict overall survival (OS) of PPSC patients.MethodsPatients confirmed to have PPSC between 2004 and 2012 were selected from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. LASSO and multivariate Cox regression analyses were used to screen for meaningful independent prognostic factors to construct a nomogram model for 3-, 5-, and 10-year OS among patients with PPSC. The nomogram compared the discrimination, calibration, and net benefits with the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) staging system of PPSC patients.ResultsEight variables were selected to establish the nomogram for PPSC. The established nomogram performed significantly better than the FIGO staging system (p ConclusionsPPSC patients have distinct characteristics with respect to their presentation and survival outcomes. A prognostic nomogram constructed by various clinical indicators can provide better and more accurate predictions for patients with PPSC.</p

Image_2_Development and Validation of Prognostic Nomogram for Primary Peritoneal Serous Carcinoma Compared With FIGO Staging System: A Population-Based Study.tif

BackgroundPrimary peritoneal serous carcinoma (PPSC) is a rare tumor that lacks a prognostic prediction model. Our study aims to develop a nomogram to predict overall survival (OS) of PPSC patients.MethodsPatients confirmed to have PPSC between 2004 and 2012 were selected from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. LASSO and multivariate Cox regression analyses were used to screen for meaningful independent prognostic factors to construct a nomogram model for 3-, 5-, and 10-year OS among patients with PPSC. The nomogram compared the discrimination, calibration, and net benefits with the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) staging system of PPSC patients.ResultsEight variables were selected to establish the nomogram for PPSC. The established nomogram performed significantly better than the FIGO staging system (p ConclusionsPPSC patients have distinct characteristics with respect to their presentation and survival outcomes. A prognostic nomogram constructed by various clinical indicators can provide better and more accurate predictions for patients with PPSC.</p

Long Range Functionalization of h‑BN Monolayer by Carbon Doping

Adsorption and catalytic activation of the molecular oxygen on the hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) monolayer doped with carbon atom have been studied theoretically using density functional theory. It is demonstrated that C doping in B position of h-BN (CB@h-BN) produces n-type semiconductor BN material with noticeable catalytic activity for O2 activation in the large area extended far away from the C impurity. The adsorption energy of O2 on CB@h-BN decreasing slowly with the increase in distance from the CB defect, while O2 remains highly activated. No such effect is observed for monolayer h-BN doped with different atoms of group III, IV and V and transition-metal elements, such as B, N, Al, Si, Ge, Ni, Pt, Pd, and Au, where O2 adsorbs only in the close vicinity of the dopant. It is shown that even small concentration of C dopants can functionalize the large surface area of monolayer BN making it promising catalytic material for oxygen activation and oxygen reduction reaction

Management Modalities for Traumatic Macular Hole: A Systematic Review and Single-Arm Meta-Analysis

<p><i>Purposes</i>: The purposes of this study were to (i) determine macular hole (MH) closure rates and visual outcomes by comparing two methods of managing traumatic MH (TMH)—an event resulting in severe loss of visual acuity (VA); (ii) characterize patients who undergo spontaneous TMH closure; (iii) determine which TMH patients should be observed before resorting to surgical repair; and (iv) elucidate factors that influence postoperative visual outcomes.</p> <p><i>Methods</i>: Studies (n=10) of patients who were managed by surgery or observation for TMH were meta-analyzed retrospectively. Management modalities included <i>surgical repair</i> (surgery group) and <i>observation</i> for spontaneous hole closure (observation group). In addition, a 12-case series of articles (1990–2014) on spontaneous hole closure was statistically summarized. SAS and Comprehensive Meta-Analysis (CMA) (version 3.0) were used for analysis.</p> <p><i>Results</i>: For surgery group patients, the fixed-model pooled event rate for hole closure was 0.919 (range, 0.861–0.954) and for observation group patients, 0.368 (range, 0.236–0.448). The random-model pooled event rate for improvement of visual acuity (VA) for surgery group patients was 0.748 (range, 0.610–0.849) and for observation group patients, 0.505 (range, 0.397–0.613). For patients in both groups, the mean age of spontaneous closure was 18.71±10.64 years; mean size of TMHs, 0.18±0.06 decimal degrees (DD); and mean time for hole closure, 3.38±3.08 months. The pooled event rate for visual improvement was 0.748 (0.610–0.849).</p> <p><i>Conclusions</i>: Hole closure and VA improvement rates of surgery group patients were significantly higher than those for observation group patients. Patients of ≤ 24 years of age with MH sizes of ≤ 0.2DD were more likely to achieve spontaneous hole closure. The interval of time from injury to surgery was statistically significantly associated with the level of visual improvement.</p