Challenges arising from the use of TiO2/rGO/Pt photocatalysts to produce hydrogen from crude glycerol compared to synthetic glycerol

ABSTRACT: Photoreforming has emerged as a novel technology expected to obtain chemical energy through solar energy transformation. In this way, sustainable valorization of glycerol, a biodiesel by-product, to clean fuels is a promising alternative to help meet the world's growing energy demand. In this work, TiO2/rGO(x)/Pt(y) photocatalysts have been developed for hydrogen production from synthetic and crude glycerol solutions. The effect of several key operating parameters (including vol% of glycerol, pH, catalyst loading, wt% of GO, wt% of Pt, temperature, and light source) on hydrogen production rate has been studied. The results indicated different optimal operating parameters depending on glycerol origin, achieving up to 70.8 and 12.7 mmol h(-1) g(-1) of hydrogen using synthetic glycerol and crude glycerol, respectively. Additionally, GO nanosheets and Pt nanoparticles strongly influenced the hydrogen production rate but not the overall reaction mechanism. Impurities contented in crude glycerol are key factors in developing realistic hydrogen production processes.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A Comprehensive Study on Pain Assessment from Multimodal Sensor Data

Pain assessment is a critical aspect of healthcare, influencing timely interventions and patient well-being. Traditional pain evaluation methods often rely on subjective patient reports, leading to inaccuracies and disparities in treatment, especially for patients who present difficulties to communicate due to cognitive impairments. Our contributions are three-fold. Firstly, we analyze the correlations of the data extracted from biomedical sensors. Then, we use state-of-the-art computer vision techniques to analyze videos focusing on the facial expressions of the patients, both per-frame and using the temporal context. We compare them and provide a baseline for pain assessment methods using two popular benchmarks: UNBC-McMaster Shoulder Pain Expression Archive Database and BioVid Heat Pain Database. We achieved an accuracy of over 96% and over 94% for the F1 Score, recall and precision metrics in pain estimation using single frames with the UNBC-McMaster dataset, employing state-of-the-art computer vision techniques such as Transformer-based architectures for vision tasks. In addition, from the conclusions drawn from the study, future lines of work in this area are discussed

Tunable electroactive oligothiophene-naphthalimide semiconductors via end-capped engineering: cumulative effects beyond the linker

Aiming to obtain novel functional semiconducting materials for their use in organic electronics, the combination of strong donor moieties with electron-withdrawing units is one of the most useful strategies to obtain ambipolar semiconductors with tunable properties. Nowadays most of the efforts headed to efficient materials are based on small changes in the alkyl pendant chains or by replacing single atoms. However, a precise design of new functional materials is still challenging. For this reason, in this work we present a new synthetic approach for achieving redox amphoteric organic semiconductors by tuning their opto-electrochemical properties via rational chemical modifications. All these materials present low-lying LUMO levels, lower than −4.00 eV with broad absorption up to 800 nm in the UV-Vis-NIR spectra. In addition, they have been characterized by DFT, absorption and Raman vibrational spectroscopies, while their charge stabilization abilities are studied by means of spectroelectrochemical techniques. The results point out to a quite complex electronic scenario that goes beyond the expected cumulative effects of the independent molecular units constituting the final molecular assembly.Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Málaga / CBU

Ladder-type bithiophene imide-based organic semiconductors: understanding charge transport mechanisms in organic field effect transistors

Different charge transport mechanisms at the device interface are found for a series of ladder-type semiconductors with increasing chain length

SIV-specific CD8+ T cells are clonotypically distinct across lymphoid and mucosal tissues

CD8+ T cell responses are necessary for immune control of simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV). However, the key parameters that dictate antiviral potency remain elusive, conceivably because most studies to date have been restricted to analyses of circulating CD8+ T cells. We conducted a detailed clonotypic, functional, and phenotypic survey of SIV-specific CD8+ T cells across multiple anatomical sites in chronically infected rhesus macaques with high (>10,000 copies/mL plasma) or low burdens of viral RNA (<10,000 copies/mL plasma). No significant differences in response magnitude were identified across anatomical compartments. Rhesus macaques with low viral loads (VLs) harbored higher frequencies of polyfunctional CXCR5+ SIV-specific CD8+ T cells in various lymphoid tissues and higher proportions of unique Gag-specific CD8+ T cell clonotypes in the mesenteric lymph nodes relative to rhesus macaques with high VLs. In addition, public Gag-specific CD8+ T cell clonotypes were more commonly shared across distinct anatomical sites than the corresponding private clonotypes, which tended to form tissue-specific repertoires, especially in the peripheral blood and the gastrointestinal tract. Collectively, these data suggest that functionality and tissue localization are important determinants of CD8+ T cell–mediated efficacy against SIV

Widespread distribution of a unique marine protistan lineage

Unicellular eukaryotes (protists) are key components of marine food webs, yet knowledge of their diversity, distributions and respective ecologies is limited. We investigated uncultured protists using 18S rRNA gene sequencing, phylogenetic analyses, specific fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) probes and other methods. Because few studies have been conducted in warm water systems, we focused on two Atlantic subtropical regions, the Sargasso Sea and the Florida Current. Cold temperate waters were also sampled. Gene sequences comprising a unique eukaryotic lineage, herein termed 'biliphytes', were identified in most samples, whether from high- (30°C) or from low- (5°C) temperature waters. Sequences within this uncultured group have previously been retrieved from high latitudes. Phylogenetic analyses suggest biliphytes are a sister group to the cryptophytes and katablepharids, although the relationship is not statistically supported. Bootstrap-supported subclades were delineated but coherence was not obvious with respect to geography or physicochemical parameters. Unlike results from the initial publication on these organisms (therein 'picobiliphytes'), we could not detect a nucleomorph, either visually, or by targeted primers. Phycobilin-like fluorescence associated with biliphyte-specific FISH-probed cells supports the hypothesis that they are photosynthetic. Our data indicate the biliphytes are nanoplanktonic in size, averaging 4.1 ± 1.0 × 3.5 ± 0.8 μm (±SD) for one probed group, and 3.5 ± 0.9 × 3.0 ± 0.9 μm (±SD) for another. We estimate biliphytes contributed 28 (±6) of the phytoplanktonic biomass in tropical eddy-influenced surface waters. Given their broad thermal and geographic distribution, understanding the role these protists play in biogeochemical cycling within different habitats is essential. © 2008 The Authors

Loss of CD103+ DCs and Mucosal IL-17+ and IL-22+ Lymphocytes is Associated with Mucosal Damage in SIV Infection

HIV/SIV disease progression is associated with multifocal damage to the GI tract epithelial barrier that correlates with microbial translocation and persistent pathological immune activation but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Investigating alterations in mucosal immunity during SIV infection, we found that damage to the colonic epithelial barrier was associated with loss of multiple lineages of IL-17-producing lymphocytes, cells that microarray analysis showed express genes important for enterocyte homeostasis, including IL-22. IL-22-producing lymphocytes were also lost after SIV infection. Potentially explaining coordinate loss of these distinct populations, we also observed loss of CD103+ DCs after SIV infection which associated with loss of IL-17 and IL-22-producing lymphocytes. CD103+ DCs expressed genes associated with promotion of IL-17/IL-22+ cells, and co-culture of CD103+ DCs and naïve T-cells led to increased IL17A and RORc expression in differentiating T-cells. These results reveal complex interactions between mucosal immune cell subsets providing potential mechanistic insights into mechanisms of mucosal immune dysregulation during HIV/SIV infection, and offer hints for development of novel therapeutic strategies to address this aspect of AIDS virus pathogenesis

Synthesis and electronic properties of nitrogen-doped π-extended polycyclic aromatic dicarboximides with multiple redox processes

In this work, a series of nitrogen-doped polycyclic aromatic mono and dicarboximides was designed, and their synthesis is reported by an innovative synthetic procedure that avoids metal-based cross-coupling reactions. A combined theoretical, electrochemical, optical spectroscopy and material characterization study allows the investigation of the interplay of different effects such as (i) the type of solubilizing chain, (ii) the all-acceptor vs. donor–acceptor nature of the novel systems, and (iii) the molecular ordering, on the ability to stabilize multiple charges and on the OTFT device response characteristics. The amphoteric redox behavior of some of the novel systems allow to obtain ambipolar mobilities while the electron mobility values of the three all-acceptor systems can be rationalized in terms of supramolecular aggregation and enhanced film-forming ability.Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Málaga. This work was financially supported by MICINN (PID2019-106268GB-C33) and the UCM (INV.GR.00.1819.10759). MJAN gratefully acknowledges Universidad Rey Juan Carlos for a predoctoral contract. The university of Ma´laga acknowledges support from Junta de Andalucı´a (projects UMA18-FEDERJA080 and P18-FR-4559) and MICINN (PID2019-110305GB-I00). RPO and AH also thank the Research Central Services (SCAI) of the University of Ma´laga and especially the Vibrational Spectroscopy Laboratory