Recent progress in rechargeable alkali metal–air batteries

AbstractRechargeable alkali metal–air batteries are considered as the most promising candidate for the power source of electric vehicles (EVs) due to their high energy density. However, the practical application of metal–air batteries is still challenging. In the past decade, many strategies have been purposed and explored, which promoted the development of metal–air batteries. The reaction mechanisms have been gradually clarified and catalysts have been rationally designed for air cathodes. In this review, we summarize the recent development of alkali metal–air batteries from four parts: metal anodes, electrolytes, air cathodes and reactant gases, wherein we highlight the important achievement in this filed. Finally problems and prospective are discussed towards the future development of alkali metal–air batteries

TOAST: Transfer Learning via Attention Steering

Transfer learning involves adapting a pre-trained model to novel downstream tasks. However, we observe that current transfer learning methods often fail to focus on task-relevant features. In this work, we explore refocusing model attention for transfer learning. We introduce Top-Down Attention Steering (TOAST), a novel transfer learning algorithm that keeps the pre-trained backbone frozen, selects task-relevant features in the output, and feeds those features back to the model to steer the attention to the task-specific features. By refocusing the attention only, TOAST achieves state-of-the-art results on a number of transfer learning benchmarks, while having a small number of tunable parameters. Compared to fully fine-tuning, LoRA, and prompt tuning, TOAST substantially improves performance across a range of fine-grained visual classification datasets (e.g., 81.1% -> 86.2% on FGVC). TOAST also outperforms the fully fine-tuned Alpaca and Vicuna models on instruction-following language generation. Code is available at https://github.com/bfshi/TOAST.Comment: Code is available at https://github.com/bfshi/TOAS

Infusion Monitoring Communication Model of Smart Home Based on Coloured Petri Net

When patients need to be for infusion at home, there is no central control server in hospital, and it is not possible to add additional monitoring equipment; at the same time, there may not be a special person to care for patients. The infusion monitoring communication model of smart home based on coloured Petri net, which is proposed in this paper, can use smart mobile phone to construct an adaptive infusion monitoring system at home. The model can make infusion alarm module automatically search for smart mobile phone terminals in a WiFi network, complete the search, identification, monitoring and other functions. It will constitute a smart phone infusion monitoring network so that infusion online monitoring could effectively be completed at home without adding additional equipment. The simulation result shows that regardless of whether there is a packet loss, as long as there is a smart mobile phone terminal and the corresponding infusion alarm module in the network, the model can make the infusion alarm module to realize automatic search function and infusion monitoring function, and provide better medical service for the smart home

Supercontinuum generation in the mid-infrared from a dispersion-engineered As2S3 glass rib waveguide

We report the generation of a mid-infrared supercontinuum created by ≈7.5 ps duration pulses at 3260 nm passing through a dispersion engineered As 2 S 3 rib waveguide. The threshold for a 6.6 cm long waveguide was around 800 W and at 1700 W the spectrum extended from ≈ 2.9 – 4.2     μm and was limited on the long wavelength side by absorption in the cladding of this particular waveguideThis research was conducted by the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Ultrahigh bandwidth Devices for Optical Systems (project CE110001018). Dr Zhiyong Yang is supported by ARC DECRA project DE120101036 and Dr Duk-Yong Choi by ARC Future Fellowship FT110100853

Identifying the best chalcogenide glass compositions for the application in mid-infrared waveguides

We prepared numbers of GeAsSe glasses and investigated their thermal stability and optical properties in order to search the best glasses with relatively high glass transition temperature Tg, strong structural stability, low optical loss and high optical nonlinearity. Through our systematical measurements, we concluded that the glasses with a mean coordination number around 2.45-2.5 are the best for the applications in photonics with Tg of 450K, low optical loss of 0.2dB/cm, high optical nonlinearity 7.5×10-14cm2/W and less photosensitivity. © (2015) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only

High-resolution chalcogenide fiber bundles for infrared imaging

An ordered chalcogenide fiber bundle with a high resolution for infrared imaging was fabricated using a stack-and-draw approach. The fiber bundle consisted of about 810,000 single fibers with an As2S3 glass core of 9 μm in diameter and a polyetherimide (PEI) polymer cladding of 10 μm in diameter. The As2S3 fibers showed good transparency in the 1.5–6.5 μm spectral region. It presented a resolution of ~45 lp/mm and a crosstalk of ~2.5%. Fine thermal images of a hot soldering iron tip were delivered through the fiber bundle

A Role for a Dioxygenase in Auxin Metabolism and Reproductive Development in Rice

SummaryIndole-3-acetic acid (IAA), the natural auxin in plants, regulates many aspects of plant growth and development. Extensive analyses have elucidated the components of auxin biosynthesis, transport, and signaling, but the physiological roles and molecular mechanisms of auxin degradation remain elusive. Here, we demonstrate that the dioxygenase for auxin oxidation (DAO) gene, encoding a putative 2-oxoglutarate-dependent-Fe (II) dioxygenase, is essential for anther dehiscence, pollen fertility, and seed initiation in rice. Rice mutant lines lacking a functional DAO display increased levels of free IAA in anthers and ovaries. Furthermore, exogenous application of IAA or overexpression of the auxin biosynthesis gene OsYUCCA1 phenocopies the dao mutants. We show that recombinant DAO converts the active IAA into biologically inactive 2-oxoindole-3-acetic acid (OxIAA) in vitro. Collectively, these data support a key role of DAO in auxin catabolism and maintenance of auxin homeostasis central to plant reproductive development

Enhancing androgen ablation response in metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer: the benefits of transurethral resection of the prostate

Presently, there is limited data on the potential survival benefits of transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) in patients with metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (mHSPCa). In this study, we aimed to assess the effects of TURP on the survival of mHSPCa patients. Of the 59 patients diagnosed with mHSPCa included, 28 received androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) alone, and the remaining received TURP plus ADT. Their time to biochemical progression (TBCP) and progression-free survival (PFS) were analyzed. Our results showed that for a median follow-up time of 15 (range, 3–40) months and 21 (range, 6–39) months for the ADT group and the TURP group, respectively, the TURP group exhibited significantly longer TBCP than the ADT group (p = 0.020). In addition, patients in the TURP group had numerically longer PFS, although the difference between the two groups was not significantly different (p = 0.110). Cox multivariate analysis indicated that longer TBCP was independently associated with TURP (p = 0.032) and lower Gleason scores (p = 0.001). Altogether this study showed that TURP could prolong TBCP and potentially improve the PFS of mHSPCa patients. However, further studies with a larger sample size are needed to confirm these findings

MiR-9-1 Suppresses Cell Proliferation and Promotes Apoptosis by Targeting UHRF1 in Lung Cancer

Lung cancer is listed as the most common reason for cancer-related death all over the world despite diagnostic improvements and the development of chemotherapy and targeted therapies. MicroRNAs control both physiological and pathological processes including development and cancer. A microRNA-9 to 1 (miR-9 to 1) overexpression model in lung cancer cell lines was established and miR-9 to 1 was found to significantly suppress the proliferation rate in lung cancer cell lines, colony formation in vitro, and tumorigenicity in nude mice of A549 cells. Ubiquitin-like containing PHD and RING finger domains 1 (UHRF1) was then identified to direct target of miR-9 to 1. The inhibition of UHRF1 by miR-9 to 1 causes G1 arrest and p15, p16, and p21 were re-expressed in miR-9 to 1 group in mRNA level and protein level. Silence of UHRF1 expression in A549 cells resulted in the similar re-expression of p15, p16, p21 which is similar with miR-9 to 1 infection. Therefore, we concluded that UHRF1 is a new target for miR-9 to 1 to suppress cell proliferation by re-expression of tumor suppressors p15, p16, and p21 mediated by UHRF1