Facile synthesis of silver/silver thiocyanate (Ag@AgSCN) plasmonic nanostructures with enhanced photocatalytic performance

A nanostructured plasmonic photocatalyst, silver/silver thiocyanate (Ag@AgSCN), has been prepared by a simple precipitation method followed by UV-light-induced reduction. The ratio of Ag to silver thiocyanate (AgSCN) can be controlled by simply adjusting the photo-induced reduction time. The formation mechanism of the product was investigated based on the time-dependent experiments. Further experiments indicated that the prepared Ag@AgSCN nanostructures with an atomic ratio of Ag/AgSCN = 0.0463 exhibited high photocatalytic activity and long-term stability for the degradation of oxytetracycline (84%) under visible-light irradiation. In addition to the microstructure and high specific surface area, the enhanced photocatalytic activity was mainly caused by the surface plasmon resonance of Ag nanoparticles, and the high stability of AgSCN resulted in the long-term stability of the photocatalyst product

Outlier Detection for Spotting Micro-expressions

Facial expression, as a basic communication method, is an important way of emotion expression and cognition. Facial emotional expression impairment seriously affects interpersonal communication and social life. Micro-expressions (MEs) are involuntary and instant facial dynamics that occurs when the subject failed to suppress their genuine emotions, especially in high-stake situations. Psychological research has shown that MEs can reflect people&rsquo;s true emotions, which is of great help to the treatment of Facial emotional expression impairment. ME spotting aims to locate the apex frame positions of MEs from long videos, which is the first step in ME analysis. Unlike previous researches that used binary classification or maximum feature difference for analysis, in this paper, we apply the idea of outlier detection to spot ME for the first time. MEs are unusual facial dynamics whose movement patterns diverge from others, so they can be regarded as outliers in the feature space of long videos. Our proposed method uses Gaussian model to estimate the probability density function and locates outliers by analyzing the statistical features of long videos to achieve ME spotting. This method was evaluated on CASME I, CASME II and SAMM datasets that only include spontaneous MEs in long videos. The results show that this method can efficiently locate apex frames of ME efficiently in long videos and also provide a new perspective for ME spotting.</p

Value of C-ROSE During EBUS-TBNA to Obtain the Tissue Sample in the Diagnosis of Lung Cancer

Background and objective Most of the patients with lung and (or) mediastinal occupying lesions are considered to be primary lung cancer clinically, and endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) is a commonly useful operation to obtain the tissue sample and get definitive diagnosis of pathological tissues. In the EBUS-TBNA process, cytological rapid on-site evaluation (C-ROSE) is a useful technology. The purpose of our study is to discuss the value of C-ROSE in the diagnosis of lung cancer by EBUS-TBNA sampling. Methods Retrospective analysis of 141 cases clinical data who were performed with EBUS-TBNA and suspected diagnosis primary lung cancer, which were found have mediastinal and (or) lung lesions (including the enlargement of the lymph nodes/mass) by computed tomography (CT). Among these patients, 81 patients were in the C-ROSE group and 60 patients were in the No C-ROSE group. The message of puncture and complication of EBUS-TBNA with or without C-ROSE were compared. At the same time, we analysis the sensitivity and specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value of C-ROSE combined with EBUS-TBNA in that of the diagnosis of lung cancer. Results We found no statistical difference of the needle passes between C-ROSE group and No C-ROSE group. But in C-ROSE group, specimen qualified rate and diagnostic yields were signicantly higher than No C-ROSE group (98.77% vs 90.00%, 88.89% vs 75.00%, P<0.05), the incidence of complications in the C-ROSE group was signicantly lower than that in the No C-ROSE group (1.23% vs 11.67%, P<0.05). The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of C-ROSE combined with EBUS-TBNA in the diagnosis of lung cancer are 92.21%, 100.00%, 100.00% and 40.00%. Conclusion EBUS-TBNA combined with C-ROSE can improve the specimen qualified rate and diagnostic rate, also can reduce the complications thus worthy of further promotion

Porous Copper/Zinc Bimetallic Oxides Derived from MOFs for Efficient Photocatalytic Reduction of CO2 to Methanol

A novel metal organic framework (MOF)-derived porous copper/zinc bimetallic oxide catalyst was developed for the photoreduction of CO2 to methanol at a very fast rate of 3.71 mmol gcat&minus;1 h&minus;1. This kind of photocatalyst with high activity, selectivity and a simple preparation catalyst provides promising photocatalyst candidates for reducing CO2 to methanol

Ultrathin Photonic Polymer Gel Films Templated by Non-Close-Packed Monolayer Colloidal Crystals to Enhance Colorimetric Sensing

Responsive polymer-based sensors have attracted considerable attention due to their ability to detect the presence of analytes and convert the detected signal into a physical and/or chemical change. High responsiveness, fast response speed, good linearity, strong stability, and small hysteresis are ideal, but to gain these properties at the same time remains challenging. This paper presents a facile and efficient method to improve the photonic sensing properties of polymeric gels by using non-close-packed monolayer colloidal crystals (ncp MCCs) as the template. Poly-(2-vinyl pyridine) (P2VP), a weak electrolyte, was selected to form the pH-responsive gel material, which was deposited onto ncp MCCs obtained by controlled O2 plasma etching of close-packed (cp) MCCs. The resultant ultrathin photonic polymer gel film (UPPGF) exhibited significant improvement in responsiveness and linearity towards pH sensing compared to those prepared using cp MCCs template, achieving fast visualized monitoring of pH changes with excellent cyclic stability and small hysteresis loop. The responsiveness and linearity were found to depend on the volume and filling fraction of the polymer gel. Based on a simple geometric model, we established that the volume increased first and then decreased with the decrease of template size, but the filling fraction increased all the time, which was verified by microscopy observations. Therefore, the responsiveness and linearity of UPPGF to pH can be improved by simply adjusting the etching time of oxygen plasma. The well-designed UPPGF is reliable for visualized monitoring of analytes and their concentrations, and can easily be combined in sensor arrays for more accurate detection