Recent advances in carbon-based nanomaterials for multivalent-ion hybrid capacitors: a review

Hybrid capacitors are emerging because of their ability to store large amounts of energy, cycle through charges quickly, and maintain stability even in harsh environments or at extreme temperatures. Hybrid capacitors with monovalent cations such as Li+, Na+, and K+ have been extensively studied. However, the flammable nature of organic electrolytes and the reactive alkali metallic electrodes have raised safety concerns. This has prompted the development of novel aqueous multivalent cation storage systems, which can provide several benefits, including high capacity and energy density, rapid charge transfer, and low cost. With these advantages and the energy storage properties, multivalent cations such as Zn2+, Mg2+, Ca2+, and Al3+ have been applied to multivalent-ion hybrid capacitors (MIHCs), and the latest developments and design ideas for these have been recently reviewed. However, an overview from the perspective of materials with unique advantages and experimental designs remains limited. Carbon-based nanomaterials are leading candidates for next-generation energy storage devices due to their outstanding properties in MIHCs. The use of carbon-based nanomaterials is attractive because these materials are inexpensive, scalable, safe, and non-toxic. They are also bioactive at the anode interface, allowing them to promote electrochemical reactions with redox species that would otherwise not take place. This paper reviews recent advances in MIHCs and related carbon-based materials and discusses the utilization of carbon materials in MIHCs and ideas for material design, electrochemical behavior, energy storage mechanisms, electrode design, and future research prospects. Based on the integration of related challenges and development, we aim to provide insights and commercialization reference for laboratory research. For the first time, combined with global intellectual property analysis, this paper summarizes the current main research institutions and enterprises of various hybrid capacitors, and provides important technical competition information and development trends for researchers and practitioners in the field of energy storage. Simultaneously, we provide a perspective for the development of MIHCs, a description of the existing research, and guidelines for the design, production, commercialization, and advancement of unique high-performance electrochemical energy storage devices

A coating-free superhydrophobic sensing material for full-range human motion and microliter droplet impact detection

Traditional waterproofing strategies (e.g. plastic seals, superhydrophobic coatings) of strain sensors greatly limit their sensing performance (e.g., sensitivity, working-range, and working-life). Here a unique ultra-stretchable, coating-free superhydrophobic material is developed for high-performence strain sensing in harsh environments. This material integrates high sensitivity (GF of 2.1 to 214), wide sensing range (up to 447% strain), low resolution (<0.2% strain), dynamic durability (over 10,000 stretching cycles at 50% strain), and ultra-robust superhydrophobicity (mechanically, chemically, thermally, and UV impervious) in a single system, outperforming most of reported waterproof sensors. Such remarkable sensing materials can detect full range human movement, pulse rate and vocal fold vibration. The sensing material is designed to be superhydrophobic throughout its bulk material for work in harsh environments (water, corrosive liquid, high humidity, etc.). More importantly, the superhydrophobicity enables the highly sensitive sensor to detect microliter droplets impact with minimized energy loss. Thus, this sensing material should find many potential applications in wearable electronics, measurement platform, rainfall monitoring and intelligent irrigation system

Surveying adjustment datum and relative deformation accuracy analysis

In the surveying adjustment, unknown parameters are usually not direct observations, but the elements related to these direct observations. In order to determine the unknown parameters adequate known data should be provided, and these necessarily required known data are used to form the adjustment datum. Under different datums, different results will be obtained even with the same direct observations. However, in the practical adjustment calculation, the datum and its effect on the results are always ignored. In this paper, the adjustment datum is firstly discussed and defined as datum equations. Then an adjustment method based on the datum equations and least squares is presented. This method is a generic one, not only suited for the case in an ordinary datum but also in the gravity centre datum or a quasi-datum, and can be easily used to analyse different deformations. Based on this method, the transformation between different reference frames is derived. It shows that the calculation results, deformation and positioning accuracy under one kind of datum are relative and generic. A case study is further introduced and used to test this new method. Based on the case study, the conclusions are reached. It is found that the relative positional root mean square error of each point becomes bigger as the distance between the point and the datum increases, and the relative deformation offsets under different kinds of datum are helpful for reliable deformation analysis

Transgenic expression of the dicotyledonous pattern recognition receptor EFR in rice leads to ligand-dependent activation of defense responses

Plant plasma membrane localized pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) detect extracellular pathogen-associated molecules. PRRs such as Arabidopsis EFR and rice XA21 are taxonomically restricted and are absent from most plant genomes. Here we show that rice plants expressing EFR or the chimeric receptor EFR::XA21, containing the EFR ectodomain and the XA21 intracellular domain, sense both Escherichia coli- and Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo)-derived elf18 peptides at sub-nanomolar concentrations. Treatment of EFR and EFR::XA21 rice leaf tissue with elf18 leads to MAP kinase activation, reactive oxygen production and defense gene expression. Although expression of EFR does not lead to robust enhanced resistance to fully virulent Xoo isolates, it does lead to quantitatively enhanced resistance to weakly virulent Xoo isolates. EFR interacts with OsSERK2 and the XA21 binding protein 24 (XB24), two key components of the rice XA21-mediated immune response. Rice-EFR plants silenced for OsSERK2, or overexpressing rice XB24 are compromised in elf18-induced reactive oxygen production and defense gene expression indicating that these proteins are also important for EFR-mediated signaling in transgenic rice. Taken together, our results demonstrate the potential feasibility of enhancing disease resistance in rice and possibly other monocotyledonous crop species by expression of dicotyledonous PRRs. Our results also suggest that Arabidopsis EFR utilizes at least a subset of the known endogenous rice XA21 signaling components

Dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase deficiency and fluorouracil-related toxicity

Dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD) is the initial and rate-limiting enzyme of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) catabolism. We report lymphocytic DPD data concerning a group of 53 patients (23 men, 30 women, mean age 58, range 36–73), treated by 5-FU-based chemotherapy in different French institutions and who developed unanticipated 5-FU-related toxicity. Lymphocyte samples (standard collection procedure) were sent to us for DPD determination (biochemical method). Among the whole group of 53 patients, 19 had a significant DPD deficiency (DD; below 150 fmol min−1 mg−1 protein, i.e. less than 70% of the mean value observed from previous population study). There was a greater majority of women in the DD group (15 out of 19, 79%) compared with the remaining 34 patients (15 out of 34, 44%, P<0.014). Toxicity was often severe, leading to patient death in two cases (both women). The toxicity score (sum of WHO grading, theoritical range 0–20) was twice as high in patients with marked DD (below 100 pmol min−1 mg−1 protein, n = 11, mean score = 13.2) compared with patients with moderate DD (between 150 and 100 pmol min−1 mg−1 protein, n = 8, mean score = 6.8), P = 0.008. In the DD group, there was a high frequency of neurotoxic syndromes (7 out of 19, 37%). The two deceased patients both had severe neurotoxicity. The occurrence of cardiac toxicity was relatively rare (1 out of 19, 5%). These data suggest that women are particularly prone to DPD deficiency and allow a more precise definition of the DD toxicity profile. © 1999 Cancer Research Campaig

Midday measurements of leaf water potential and stomatal conductance are highly correlated with daily water use of Thompson Seedless grapevines

A study was conducted to determine the relationship between midday measurements of vine water status and daily water use of grapevines measured with a weighing lysimeter. Water applications to the vines were terminated on August 24th for 9 days and again on September 14th for 22 days. Daily water use of the vines in the lysimeter (ETLYS) was approximately 40 L vine−1 (5.3 mm) prior to turning the pump off, and it decreased to 22.3 L vine−1 by September 2nd. Pre-dawn leaf water potential (ΨPD) and midday Ψl on August 24th were −0.075 and −0.76 MPa, respectively, with midday Ψl decreasing to −1.28 MPa on September 2nd. Leaf g s decreased from ~500 to ~200 mmol m−2 s−1 during the two dry-down periods. Midday measurements of g s and Ψl were significantly correlated with one another (r = 0.96) and both with ETLYS/ETo (r = ~0.9). The decreases in Ψl, g s, and ETLYS/ETo in this study were also a linear function of the decrease in volumetric soil water content. The results indicate that even modest water stress can greatly reduce grapevine water use and that short-term measures of vine water status taken at midday are a reflection of daily grapevine water us

Disparities and risks of sexually transmissible infections among men who have sex with men in China: a meta-analysis and data synthesis.

BACKGROUND: Sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including Hepatitis B and C virus, are emerging public health risks in China, especially among men who have sex with men (MSM). This study aims to assess the magnitude and risks of STIs among Chinese MSM. METHODS: Chinese and English peer-reviewed articles were searched in five electronic databases from January 2000 to February 2013. Pooled prevalence estimates for each STI infection were calculated using meta-analysis. Infection risks of STIs in MSM, HIV-positive MSM and male sex workers (MSW) were obtained. This review followed the PRISMA guidelines and was registered in PROSPERO. RESULTS: Eighty-eight articles (11 in English and 77 in Chinese) investigating 35,203 MSM in 28 provinces were included in this review. The prevalence levels of STIs among MSM were 6.3% (95% CI: 3.5-11.0%) for chlamydia, 1.5% (0.7-2.9%) for genital wart, 1.9% (1.3-2.7%) for gonorrhoea, 8.9% (7.8-10.2%) for hepatitis B (HBV), 1.2% (1.0-1.6%) for hepatitis C (HCV), 66.3% (57.4-74.1%) for human papillomavirus (HPV), 10.6% (6.2-17.6%) for herpes simplex virus (HSV-2) and 4.3% (3.2-5.8%) for Ureaplasma urealyticum. HIV-positive MSM have consistently higher odds of all these infections than the broader MSM population. As a subgroup of MSM, MSW were 2.5 (1.4-4.7), 5.7 (2.7-12.3), and 2.2 (1.4-3.7) times more likely to be infected with chlamydia, gonorrhoea and HCV than the broader MSM population, respectively. CONCLUSION: Prevalence levels of STIs among MSW were significantly higher than the broader MSM population. Co-infection of HIV and STIs were prevalent among Chinese MSM. Integration of HIV and STIs healthcare and surveillance systems is essential in providing effective HIV/STIs preventive measures and treatments. TRIAL REGISTRATION: PROSPERO NO: CRD42013003721

Quantifying predictors for the spatial diffusion of avian influenza virus in China

BACKGROUND: Avian influenza virus (AIV) causes both severe outbreaks and endemic disease among poultry and has caused sporadic human infections in Asia, furthermore the routes of transmission in avian species between geographic regions can be numerous and complex. Using nucleotide sequences from the internal protein coding segments of AIV, we performed a Bayesian phylogeographic study to uncover regional routes of transmission and factors predictive of the rate of viral diffusion within China. RESULTS: We found that the Central area and Pan-Pearl River Delta were the two main sources of AIV diffusion, while the East Coast areas especially the Yangtze River delta, were the major targets of viral invasion. Next we investigated the extent to which economic, agricultural, environmental and climatic regional data was predictive of viral diffusion by fitting phylogeographic discrete trait models using generalised linear models. CONCLUSIONS: Our results highlighted that the economic-agricultural predictors, especially the poultry population density and the number of farm product markets, are the key determinants of spatial diffusion of AIV in China; high human density and freight transportation are also important predictors of high rates of viral transmission; Climate features (e.g. temperature) were correlated to the viral invasion in the destination to some degree; while little or no impacts were found from natural environment factors (such as surface water coverage). This study uncovers the risk factors and enhances our understanding of the spatial dynamics of AIV in bird populations. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12862-016-0845-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

The intensification of metallic layered phenomena above thunderstorms through the modulation of atmospheric tides

We present a multi-instrument experiment to study the effects of tropospheric thunderstorms on the mesopause region and the lower ionosphere. Sodium (Na) lidar and ionospheric observations by two digital ionospheric sounders are used to study the variation in the neutral metal atoms and metallic ions above thunderstorms. An enhanced ionospheric sporadic E layer with a downward tidal phase is observed followed by a subsequent intensification of neutral Na number density with an increase of 600 cm−3 in the mesosphere. In addition, the Na neutral chemistry and ion-molecule chemistry are considered in a Na chemistry model to simulate the dynamical and chemical coupling processes in the mesosphere and ionosphere above thunderstorms. The enhanced Na layer in the simulation obtained by using the ionospheric observation as input is in agreement with the Na lidar observation. We find that the intensification of metallic layered phenomena above thunderstorms is associated with the atmospheric tides, as a result of the troposphere-mesosphere-ionosphere coupling

Electrostatic-Assembly-Driven Formation of Supramolecular Rhombus Microparticles and Their Application for Fluorescent Nucleic Acid Detection

In this paper, we report on the large-scale formation of supramolecular rhombus microparticles (SRMs) driven by electrostatic assembly, carried out by direct mixing of an aqueous HAuCl4 solution and an ethanol solution of 4,4′-bipyridine at room temperature. We further demonstrate their use as an effective fluorescent sensing platform for nucleic acid detection with a high selectivity down to single-base mismatch. The general concept used in this approach is based on adsorption of the fluorescently labeled single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) probe by SRM, which is accompanied by substantial fluorescence quenching. In the following assay, specific hybridization with its target to form double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) results in desorption of ssDNA from SRM surface and subsequent fluorescence recovery