Formation of artificial pores in nano-TiO2 photo-electrode films using acetylene-black for high-efficiency, dye-sensitized solar cells

Acetylene-black paste without a light scattering layer was applied to meso-porous TiO2 photo-electrode films with a crystalline framework, a low residual carbon, and a tunable morphological pore size. The thermal-treated TiO2 photo-electrode films had an increased acetylene-black concentration with an increase in artificial pores and a decrease in residual carbon. The performance of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) was enhanced by the use of the TiO2 photo-anode pastes at various acetylene-black concentrations. The photo-conversion efficiency of the DSSCs using TiO2 photo-electrode films with 1.5 wt% acetylene-black was enhanced from 7.98 (no acetylene-black) to 9.75% without the integration of a light-scattering layer.open5

An International Study on Psychological Coping During COVID-19: Towards a Meaning-Centered Coping Style

Background/Objective This study examined the role of different psychological coping mechanisms in mental and physical health during the initial phases of the COVID-19 crisis with an emphasis on meaning-centered coping. Method A total of 11,227 people from 30 countries across all continents participated in the study and completed measures of psychological distress (depression, stress, and anxiety), loneliness, well-being, and physical health, together with measures of problem-focused and emotion-focused coping, and a measure called the Meaning-centered Coping Scale (MCCS) that was developed in the present study. Validation analyses of the MCCS were performed in all countries, and data were assessed by multilevel modeling (MLM). Results The MCCS showed a robust one-factor structure in 30 countries with good test-retest, concurrent and divergent validity results. MLM analyses showed mixed results regarding emotion and problem-focused coping strategies. However, the MCCS was the strongest positive predictor of physical and mental health among all coping strategies, independently of demographic characteristics and country-level variables. Conclusions The findings suggest that the MCCS is a valid measure to assess meaning-centered coping. The results also call for policies promoting effective coping to mitigate collective suffering during the pandemic

Characterization of heat transfer and artificial neural networks prediction on overall performance index of a channel installed with arc-shaped baffle turbulators

Influences of baffle pitch ratio (p/w) and attached angle of arc-shaped baffles (AB) on the overall performance index (OPI) of a channel installed with AB have been carefully studied. In addition, an artificial neural network (ANN) model for predicting the OPI of the channel was reported. The arc-shaped baffle (AB) showed a significant effect on the augmented heat transfer and friction loss penalty as compared to a smooth channel. As the attached arc shaped angle (θ) increased, both Nusselt number and friction factor intensified. The Nusselt number values at θ = 90° were higher than those at θ = 20°, 40°, 60°, and 80° by up to 5.8%, 3.9%, 2.3% and 2.5%, respectively. The Nusselt number increased when the p/w was raised from 4.0 to 8.0 while the opposite trend was observed when the p/w was raised from 8.0 to 12.0. The maximum OPI of 1.43 was achieved by using the baffles with θ = 90° and pitch ratio of 8.0 at Re = 4000. For the development of ANN models for predicting the OPI, it was found that the best predictive performance was (R2) of 0.99843407 for ANN model of 3-50-50-1 with Tanh-Tanh activation function at epoch of 1200