Correlative Analysis of TOEFL IBT Scores of Listening Skill Versus Scores of Business English Speaking Skill Among Binus University Sophomores

Article found out whether BINUS university sophomore\u27s TOEFL iBT scores of Listening skill are correlated with those of speaking skill. The research project was expected to result in the best teaching technique of delivering conversational tasks at BINUS University by using alternative approaches of integrated, isolated, or mixed skills. The research project applied the descriptive approach of quantitative method, and thus depends on numerical data. The research project examined the set of data under two skills of the same class groups, which were to compare the listening scores with the speaking ones. Then, the degree of correlation of the two skills was tested so as to find its significance. Interpretation and explanation of data was made based on the statistical results by using correlation research analysis. Based on the statistical results, the listening scores significantly correlated with those of the speaking skill, and there is a moderately linear relationship between these paired scores

Additional file 2: Figure S2. of A study to compare the efficacy of polyether ether ketone rod device with titanium devices in posterior spinal fusion in a canine model

Schematic diagram of the novel posterior spinal arthrodesis demonstrates the position of split bone and the site of bone graft. (Adapted from [12]). (TIF 912 kb

Photocatalytic Oxidation of Aqueous Ammonia Using Atomic Single Layer Graphitic‑C₃N₄

Direct utilization of solar energy for photocatalytic removal of ammonia from water is a topic of strong interest. However, most of the photocatalysts with effective performance are solely metal-based semiconductors. Here, we report for the first time that a new type of atomic single layer graphitic-C₃N₄ (SL g-C₃N₄), a metal-free photocatalyst, has an excellent photocatalytic activity for total ammonia nitrogen (TAN) removal from water. The results demonstrated that over 80% of TAN (initial concentration 1.50 mg·L^–1) could be removed in 6 h under Xe lamp irradiation (195 mW·cm^–2). Furthermore, the SL g-C₃N₄ exhibited a higher photocatalytic activity in alkaline solution than that in neutral or acidic solutions. The investigation suggested that both photogenerated holes and hydroxyl radicals were involved the TAN photocatalytic oxidation process and that the major oxidation product was NO₃^–-N. In addition, SL g-C₃N₄ exhibited good photocatalytic stability in aqueous solution. This work highlights the appealing application of an inexpensive metal-free photocatalyst in aqueous ammonia treatment

In-Situ-Grown Cu Dendrites Plasmonically Enhance Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution on Facet-Engineered Cu2 O.

Funder: Imperial College London; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000761Funder: China Scholarship Council; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100004543Funder: National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100017223Herein, facet-engineered Cu2 O nanostructures are synthesized by wet chemical methods for electrocatalytic HER, and it is found that the octahedral Cu2 O nanostructures with exposed crystal planes of (111) (O-Cu2 O) has the best hydrogen evolution performance. Operando Raman spectroscopy and ex-situ characterization techniques showed that Cu2 O is reduced during HER, in which Cu dendrites are grown on the surface of the Cu2 O nanostructures, resulting in the better HER performance of O-Cu2 O after HER (O-Cu2 O-A) compared with that of the as-prepared O-Cu2 O. Under illumination, the onset potential of O-Cu2 O-A is ca. 52 mV positive than that of O-Cu2 O, which is induced by the plasmon-activated electrochemical system consisting of Cu2 O and the in-situ generated Cu dendrites. Incident photon-to-current efficiency (IPCE) measurements and the simulated UV-Vis spectrum demonstrate the hot electron injection (HEI) from Cu dendrites to Cu2 O. Ab initio nonadiabatic molecular dynamics (NAMD) simulations revealed the transfer of photogenerated electrons (27 fs) from Cu dendrites to Cu2 O nanostructures is faster than electron relaxation (170 fs), enhancing its surface plasmons activity, and the HEI of Cu dendrites increases the charge density of Cu2 O. These make the energy level of the catalyst be closer to that of H+ /H2 , evidenced by the plasmon-enhanced HER electrocatalytic activity

Partially Oxidized SnS₂ Atomic Layers Achieving Efficient Visible-Light-Driven CO₂ Reduction

Unraveling the role of surface oxide on affecting its native metal disulfide’s CO₂ photoreduction remains a grand challenge. Herein, we initially construct metal disulfide atomic layers and hence deliberately create oxidized domains on their surfaces. As an example, SnS₂ atomic layers with different oxidation degrees are successfully synthesized. <i>In situ</i> Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy spectra disclose the COOH* radical is the main intermediate, whereas density-functional-theory calculations reveal the COOH* formation is the rate-limiting step. The locally oxidized domains could serve as the highly catalytically active sites, which not only benefit for charge-carrier separation kinetics, verified by surface photovoltage spectra, but also result in electron localization on Sn atoms near the O atoms, thus lowering the activation energy barrier through stabilizing the COOH* intermediates. As a result, the mildly oxidized SnS₂ atomic layers exhibit the carbon monoxide formation rate of 12.28 μmol g^–1 h^–1, roughly 2.3 and 2.6 times higher than those of the poorly oxidized SnS₂ atomic layers and the SnS₂ atomic layers under visible-light illumination. This work uncovers atomic-level insights into the correlation between oxidized sulfides and CO₂ reduction property, paving a new way for obtaining high-efficiency CO₂ photoreduction performances