Nickel hydroxide-supported ru single atoms and Pd nanoclusters for enhanced electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution and ethanol oxidation

The rational fabrication of Pt-free catalysts for driving the development of practical applications in alkaline water electrolysis and fuel cells is promising but challenging. Herein, a promising approach is outlined for the rational design of multimetallic catalysts comprising multiple active sites including Pd nanoclusters and Ru single atoms anchored at the defective sites of Ni(OH)2 to simultaneously enhance hydrogen evolution reactions (HER) and ethanol oxidation reactions (EOR). Remarkably, Pd12Ru3/Ni(OH)2/C exhibits a remarkably reduced HER overpotential (16.1 mV@10 mA cm−2 with a Tafel slope of 21.8 mV dec−1) as compared to commercial 20 wt.% Pt/C (26.0 mV@10 mA cm−2, 32.5 mV dec−1). More importantly, Pd12Ru3/Ni(OH)2/C possesses a self-optimized overpotential to 12.5 mV@10 mA cm−2 after 20 000 cycles stability test while a significantly decreased performance for commercial 20wt.% Pt/C (64.5 mV@10 mA cm−2 after 5000 cycles). The mass activity of Pd12Ru3/Ni(OH)2/C for the EOR is up to 3.724 A mgPdRu−1, ≈20 times higher than that of commercial Pd/C. Electrochemical in situ Fourier transform infrared measurements confirm the enhanced CO2 selectivity of Pd12Ru3/Ni(OH)2/C while synergistic and electronic effects of adjacent Ru, Pd, and OHad adsorption on Ni(OH)2 at low potential play a key role during EOR

Natural hazard risks on railway turnout systems

As an essential feature to enable rail operational flexibility, railway turnouts are special track systems used to divert a train from a particular direction or a particular track onto other directions or other tracks. Railway turnout is constructed on a complex geometry and grade, which makes it one of the most critical railway infrastructures. These characteristics pose various risks in rail operations. A considerable number of derailment incidents have occurred every year. Not only do these incidents yield operational downtime and financial losses, but they also give rise to the casualties and sometimes the loss of lives across the world. One of fundamental reasons is that railway industry barely pays attention to risk elements on railway turnouts. This paper thus presents how turnout components work as a system, the diversity of emerging risks considering natural hazards and global warming potential to the system. Additionally, in order to perform a well-designed quantitative-based risk analysis method for appropriate risk management of railway turnouts and crossings, focusing on aging, degradation and signalling faults on the systems, the research develops a number of new ideas

Creativity stimulation by idea generation: a resting-state fmri study on effective connectivity

Studies on creativity have bloomed in the past decade. However, little is known about the effective connectivity (EC) between default-mode network (DMN) regions after creativity stimulation. This study aimed to measure the brain connectivity induced by creativity stimulation and to relate it with creativity score. A total of 50 participants were recruited and assigned to control and experimental groups. The experimental participants underwent a two-day creativity stimulation session. Resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) scans were performed on all participants after the session. The rs-fMRI data were analysed using statistical parametric mapping and spectral dynamic causal modelling. A fully connected model comprising angular gyrus (AG), medial pre-frontal cortex (mPFC) and pre-cuneus (PCU) as regions-of-interest (ROIs) was fitted for every participant’s data. The model underwent Bayesian parameter averaging to determine the average strength of connection between ROIs. There was a significant increase in creativity score for the experimental group in the aspect of fluency (p=0.018) and flexibility (p=0.048) except in originality (p>0.05). No difference in brain activation was observed between groups. All the EC between ROIs in the left and right hemisphere for both groups were significant (P>0.9). Symmetrical EC networks for the experimental group were observed with left hemisphere PCU→PCU, PCU→mPFC and AG→PCU connections which were more significant in the experimental group. These findings suggested that creativity stimulation as short as two days was able to evoke changes in creativity score and network connectivity but insufficient to cause convincing differences in the brain activation

Ultrafiltration versus diuretics on prognostic cardiac and renal biomarkers in acute decompensated heart failure : a systematic review and meta-analysis

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Charged domain walls as quantum strings living on a lattice

A generic lattice cut-off model is introduced describing the quantum meandering of a single cuprate stripe. The fixed point dynamics is derived, showing besides free string behavior a variety of partially quantum disordered phases, bearing relationships both with quantum spin-chains and surface statistical physics.Comment: 22 page, 17 figure

Allergic Rhinitis and its Associated Co-Morbidities at Bugando Medical Centre in Northwestern Tanzania; A Prospective Review of 190 Cases.

Allergic rhinitis is one of the commonest atopic diseases which contribute to significant morbidity world wide while its epidemiology in Tanzania remains sparse. There was paucity of information regarding allergic rhinitis in our setting; therefore it was important to conduct this study to describe our experience on allergic rhinitis, associated co-morbidities and treatment outcome in patients attending Bugando Medical Centre. This was descriptive cross-sectional study involving all patients with a clinical diagnosis of allergic rhinitis at Bugando Medical Centre over a three-month period between June 2011 and August 2011. Data was collected using a pre-tested coded questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS statistical computer software version 17.0. A total of 190 patients were studied giving the prevalence of allergic rhinitis 14.7%. The median age of the patients was 8.5 years. The male to female ratio was 1:1. Adenoid hypertrophy, tonsillitis, hypertrophy of inferior turbinate, nasal polyps, otitis media and sinusitis were the most common co-morbidities affecting 92.6% of cases and were the major reason for attending hospital services. Sleep disturbance was common in children with adenoids hypertrophy (χ2 = 28.691, P = 0.000). Allergic conjunctivitis was found in 51.9%. The most common identified triggers were dust, strong perfume odors and cold weather (P < 0.05). Strong perfume odors affect female than males (χ2 = 4.583, P = 0.032). In this study family history of allergic rhinitis was not a significant risk factor (P =0.423). The majority of patients (68.8%) were treated surgically for allergic rhinitis co morbidities. Post operative complication and mortality rates were 2.9% and 1.6% respectively. The overall median duration of hospital stay of in-patients was 3 days (2 - 28 days). Most patients (98.4%) had satisfactory results at discharge. The study shows that allergic rhinitis is common in our settings representing 14.7% of all otorhinolaryngology and commonly affecting children and adolescent. Sufferers seek medical services due to co-morbidities of which combination of surgical and medical treatment was needed. High index of suspicions in diagnosing allergic rhinitis and early treatment is recommended

Formation of silicon nanodots via ion beam sputtering of ultrathin gold thin film coatings on Si

Ion beam sputtering of ultrathin film Au coatings used as a physical catalyst for self-organization of Si nanostructures has been achieved by tuning the incident particle energy. This approach holds promise as a scalable nanomanufacturing parallel processing alternative to candidate nanolithography techniques. Structures of 11- to 14-nm Si nanodots are formed with normal incidence low-energy Ar ions of 200 eV and fluences above 2 × 1017 cm-2. In situ surface characterization during ion irradiation elucidates early stage ion mixing migration mechanism for nanodot self-organization. In particular, the evolution from gold film islands to the formation of ion-induced metastable gold silicide followed by pure Si nanodots formed with no need for impurity seeding

Sex differences in the impact of ozone on survival and alveolar macrophage function of mice after Klebsiella pneumoniae infection

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Sex differences have been described in a number of pulmonary diseases. However, the impact of ozone exposure followed by pneumonia infection on sex-related survival and macrophage function have not been reported. The purpose of this study was to determine whether ozone exposure differentially affects: 1) survival of male and female mice infected with <it>Klebsiella pneumoniae</it>, and 2) the phagocytic ability of macrophages from these mice.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Male and female C57BL/6 mice were exposed to O₃or to filtered air (FA) (control) and then infected intratracheally with <it>K. pneumoniae </it>bacteria. Survival was monitored over a 14-day period, and the ability of alveolar macrophages to phagocytize the pathogen <it>in vivo </it>was investigated after 1 h.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>1) Both male and female mice exposed to O₃are significantly more susceptible to <it>K. pneumoniae </it>infection than mice treated with FA; 2) although females appeared to be more resistant to <it>K. pneumoniae </it>than males, O₃exposure significantly increased the susceptibility of females to <it>K. pneumoniae </it>infection to a greater degree than males; 3) alveolar macrophages from O₃-exposed male and female mice have impaired phagocytic ability compared to macrophages from FA-exposed mice; and 4) the O₃-dependent reduction in phagocytic ability is greater in female mice.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>O₃exposure reduces the ability of mice to survive <it>K. pneumoniae </it>infection and the reduced phagocytic ability of alveolar macrophages may be one of the contributing factors. Both events are significantly more pronounced in female mice following exposure to the environmental pollutant, ozone.</p

Diagnostic Tests for Female Bladder Outlet Obstruction : A Systematic Review from the European Association of Urology Non-neurogenic Female LUTS Guidelines Panel

Acknowledgements Jae Hung Jung, Murat Gul, Ege Can Serefoglu (translation of foreign language articles) and Karin Plass for administrative support.Peer reviewedPostprin