Waste to sustainable energy based on TENG technology: A comprehensive review

The generation of waste materials is an inevitable byproduct of various human and ecological activities. Inadequate management of waste materials can have detrimental effects on the environment, leading to long-lasting harm to both living organisms and the broader ecosystem. A waste-to-sustainable energy concept based on TENGs is a new research technology added to the other green and renewable energy technologies. It is highly efficient technology in using a wide range of waste materials to convert chaotic environmental energies into green electricity for various intelligent applications. In this review, waste materials are classified into non-degradable waste (plastic waste), bio-degradable waste, and a combined waste. These types of waste materials showed great capability in converting low frequency wasted mechanical energies into electrical pulses for various applications, including healthcare, IoT and wireless technologies, and smart buildings. It is worth noting that utilizing plastic waste as tribo-pairs doe does not compromise the performance efficiency of the fabricated TENGs. For instance, a non-modified X-ray waste filmwas used as a positive tribo-layer for force sensing application. The TENG showed great performance with maximum power density of 1.39 W/m2 which is comparable to the TENGs fabricated using prepared tribo-materials. We propose waste-to-sustainable energy technology based on TENGs as a promising and sustainable alternative for the generation of renewable energy and the upcycling of waste materials.Other Information Published in: Journal of Cleaner Production License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/See article on publisher's website: https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2024.141354</p

Influence of Left Ventricular Hypertrophy on In-Hospital Outcomes in Acute Exacerbation of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

<p>Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is associated with worse outcomes in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD); however, its role in an acute exacerbation of COPD (AECOPD) has not been reported. This was a retrospective cohort study during 2008–2012 at an academic medical center. AECOPD patients >18 years with available echocardiographic data were included. LVH was defined as LV mass index (LVMI) >95 g/m² (women) and >115g/m² (men). Relative wall thickness was used to classify LVH as concentric (>0.42) or eccentric (<0.42). Outcomes included need for and duration of non-invasive ventilation (NIV) and mechanical ventilation (MV), NIV failure, intensive care unit (ICU) and total length of stay (LOS), and in-hospital mortality. Two-tailed p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Of 802 patients with AECOPD, 615 patients with 264 (42.9%) having LVH were included. The LVH cohort had higher LVMI (141.1 ± 39.4 g/m² vs. 79.7 ± 19.1 g/m²; p < 0.001) and lower LV ejection fraction (44.5±21.9% vs. 50.0±21.6%; p ≤ 0.001). The LVH cohort had statistically non-significant longer ICU LOS, and higher NIV and MV use and duration. Of the 264 LVH patients, concentric LVH (198; 75.0%) was predictive of greater NIV use [82 (41.4%) vs. 16 (24.2%), p = 0.01] and duration (1.0 ± 1.9 vs. 0.6 ± 1.4 days, p = 0.01) compared to eccentric LVH. Concentric LVH remained independently associated with NIV use and duration. In-hospital outcomes in patients with AECOPD were comparable in patients with and without LVH. Patients with concentric LVH had higher NIV need and duration in comparison to eccentric LVH.</p