35 research outputs found
NICE 2023 Zero-shot Image Captioning Challenge
In this report, we introduce NICE
project\footnote{\url{https://nice.lgresearch.ai/}} and share the results and
outcomes of NICE challenge 2023. This project is designed to challenge the
computer vision community to develop robust image captioning models that
advance the state-of-the-art both in terms of accuracy and fairness. Through
the challenge, the image captioning models were tested using a new evaluation
dataset that includes a large variety of visual concepts from many domains.
There was no specific training data provided for the challenge, and therefore
the challenge entries were required to adapt to new types of image descriptions
that had not been seen during training. This report includes information on the
newly proposed NICE dataset, evaluation methods, challenge results, and
technical details of top-ranking entries. We expect that the outcomes of the
challenge will contribute to the improvement of AI models on various
vision-language tasks.Comment: Tech report, project page https://nice.lgresearch.ai
Application of deep eutectic solvents in biomass pretreatment and conversion
Biomass is renewable, abundant, cheap, biocompatible, and biodegradable materials and has been used to produce chemicals, materials, energy, and fuels. However, most of the biomass, especially most of the biomass polymers are not soluble in common solvents, which hinders their pretreatment and conversion. Deep eutectic solvents (DESs) are environmental-friendly, cheap, and highly tunable, with high solubility, which renders them potential applications in biomass pretreatment and conversion. They could be used as solvents or catalysts and so on. This paper intends to review the application of DESs for the pretreatment of biomass and conversion of biomass to value-added products. We focus on the following topics related to biomass and DESs: (1) DESs for the pretreatment of biomass; (2) DESs for the dissolution and separation of biomass or extraction of chemicals from biomass; (3) DESs for biomass conversion; (4) Drawbacks, and recyclability of DESs for pretreatment and conversion of biomass. Keywords: Deep eutectic solvents, Biomass, Pretreatment, Conversio
Revisiting greenness of ionic liquids and deep eutectic solvents
Green solvents are one of the hot topics of green chemistry. Ionic liquids (ILs) and deep eutectic solvents (DESs) are deemed as green solvents to a certain extent, and they have been applied in many areas, such as dissolution, separation, catalysis, electrochemistry and material synthesis. However, the greenness of ILs and DESs should be revisited because more and more evidences have shown that they are not always green. In this perspective, besides the reported merits, the disadvantages and problems of some ILs and DESs, such as instability, volatility, hygroscopicity, toxicity, flammability, regenerability, cost, energy consumption and impurities are discussed. Moreover, 13 strategies to avoid the disadvantages of ILs and DESs and to increase the greenness are proposed. Comparison of the greenness of ILs and DESs is further conducted. This perspective provides some new viewpoints on the greenness of ILs and DESs
Comprehensive Investigation on the Thermal Stability of 66 Ionic Liquids by Thermogravimetric Analysis
The
thermal stabilities of 66 ionic liquids (ILs) were investigated
using the thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) method. Isothermal TGA
studies on the ILs showed that ILs exhibit decomposition at temperatures
lower than the onset decomposition temperature (<i>T</i><sub>onset</sub>), which is determined from ramped temperature TGA
experiments. Thermal decomposition kinetics of ILs was analyzed using
pseudo-zero-order rate expression and their activation energy was
obtained. Parameter <i>T</i><sub>0.01/10h</sub>, the temperature
at which 1% mass loss occurs in 10 h, was used to evaluate the long-term
thermal stability of ILs. The thermal stability of the ILs was classified
to five levels according to <i>T</i><sub>onset</sub>. The
ILs thermal stability is dependent on the structure of ILs, i.e.,
cation modification, cation and anion type. The correlations between
the stability and the hydrophilicity of ILs were discussed. Finally,
the thermal stabilities of acetate-based ILs, amino acid ILs, and
dicyanamide ILs were analyzed
A Simple Strategy for the Simultaneous Determination of Dopamine, Uric Acid, L-Tryptophan and Theophylline Based on a Carbon Nano-Onions Modified Electrode
In this work, carbon nano-onions (CNOs) with particle sizes of 5–10 nm were prepared by the multi-potential step method. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy, infrared spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy characterize the effective synthesis of CNOs. CNOs/GCEs were prepared by depositing the prepared CNOs onto glassy carbon electrodes (GCEs) by a drop-coating method. Examination of the electrocatalytic activity of the CNOs/GCE sensor by simultaneously detecting dopamine (DA), uric acid (UA), L-tryptophan (Trp) and theophylline (TP) using a differential pulse voltammetry technique. The results showed that the linear ranges of DA, UA, Trp and TP were DA 0.01–38.16 μM, UA 0.06–68.16 μM, Trp 1.00–108.25 μM, and TP 8.16–108.25 μM, and the detection limits (S/N = 3) were 0.0039 μM, 0.0087 μM, 0.18 μM and 0.35 μM, respectively. The CNOS/GCE sensor had good stability and could be used for the detection of actual samples
Comparison of the a Priori COSMO-RS Models and Group Contribution Methods: Original UNIFAC, Modified UNIFAC(Do), and Modified UNIFAC(Do) Consortium
A comparison of the performances of the COSMO-SAC, COSMO-RSÂ(Ol),
original UNIFAC, modified UNIFACÂ(Do), and modified UNIFACÂ(Do) Consortium
for activity coefficients at infinite dilution and binary VLE data
is presented. The σ-profiles used in performing COSMO-SAC and
COSMO-RSÂ(Ol) calculations were taken from the published σ-profile
database VT 2005. The predicted results were compared with the experimental
data stored in the Dortmund Data Bank and analyzed with respect to
the types of components in the mixture. The results show that the
UNIFAC models based on experimental data are superior to the a priori
COSMO-RS models
An Environmentally Benign Cycle To Regenerate Chitosan and Capture Carbon Dioxide by Ionic Liquids
A new cycle platform has been built
to provide an efficient method
for biomass utilization and greenhouse gas control simultaneously
via the interplay of interactions between ionic liquids (ILs), chitosan,
and CO<sub>2</sub>. All samples, including chitosan/IL solutions,
chitin/IL solutions, and pure ILs, were employed to perform experiments
on CO<sub>2</sub> capture/release. The results indicated that chitosan
with a high degree of deacetylation can capture CO<sub>2</sub> in
a nearly 2:1 stoichiometry. In the meantime, different mechanisms
of chitosan regeneration from acetate-based ILs and others were explored.
For the acetate-based ILs, <sup>1</sup>H and <sup>13</sup>C NMR spectroscopy
implied the formation of new species of [imida<sup>+</sup>–COO<sup>–</sup>] after the chemical CO<sub>2</sub> capture, while
only the changes of volume expansion and solvatochromic UV–vis
parameters can give rise to chitosan regeneration for the ILs with
less basic anions. In addition, raw chitosan was used to demonstrate
the cycle by selective capture of CO<sub>2</sub> and precipitation
from [Bmim]ÂOAc using compressed CO<sub>2</sub>