Assistant Strategy Research Articles

DCoMA: A dynamic coordinative merging assistant strategy for on-ramp vehicles with mixed traffic conditions

Merging sections on highways are identified as traffic bottlenecks, leading to congestion and accidents. The emergence of Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAVs) technology promises an optimized solution to on-ramp merging issues. Existing cooperative merging strategies typically focus on determining the merging sequence of vehicles in specific merging areas, overlooking the influence of the macroscopic traffic flow conditions on the merging process. In this paper, we innovatively introduce the Dynamic Cooperative Merging Assistance (DCoMA) strategy, a traffic management approach designed to enhance merging operations under variable traffic demands. At the macroscopic level, DCoMA employs the fundamental diagram of traffic flow to develop a platoon formation algorithm for mainline vehicles, tailored to the dynamic macroscopic states of traffic. The algorithm adaptively adjusts the size of platoons based on the volumes of both the mainline and the on-ramp. Subsequently, the spatio-temporal dynamics of these platoons function as the ’red phase’ of traffic signals, with the intervals between platoons analogous to the ’green phase’. This information is then converted into a time-series format and transmitted to all vehicles on the on-ramp. At the microscopic level, vehicles on the on-ramp alter their driving strategies in response to this time-series data, ensuring a seamless merging into the mainline flow without causing halting. Through simulations and comparative analysis with three existing strategies (i.e., CoopMA, ALINEA, and X-ALINEAQ), the proposed DCoMA strategy exhibits considerable potential for application across diverse traffic volumes and CAV penetration rates. The results indicate that the proposed approach can significantly improve the efficiency of the mainline and on-ramp, achieving a maximum improvement of 18.32%. More importantly, the DCoMA strategy effectively enlarges merging gaps and, coupled with the speed control capabilities of CAVs, significantly mitigates the risk of accidents and reduces exhaust emissions.

Salt assistant bimetallic sludge-derived porous carbon for efficient peroxymonosulfate activation

The development of cost-effective, environmentally benign, and high-performance peroxymonosulfate (PMS) activation towards wastewater treatment is still considered a challenge. In this work, the sludge-derived porous carbon loaded with bimetal oxides (DSC-FeMn) was fabricated by molten salt assistant strategy using the combination of zinc chloride, metal ions and Fe containing sludge. The obtained DSC-FeMn exhibited high catalytic activity for nearly 100 % 4-chlorophenol (4-CP) removal within 30 min with the k of 0.304 min−1, which was 1.07 and 11.94 times that of the single Fe and Mn-sludge-derived carbon (DSC-Fe, DSC-Mn), respectively. Quenching experiments, electron paramagnetic resonance tests (EPR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), H2-temperature programmed reduction (H2-TPR) and electrochemical experiments proved that the radical pathway, dominated by OH and SO4−, led to the excellent degradation performance of DSC-FeMn, which was attributed to the redox cycling between Fe and Mn. This study provides a new idea for sludge resource utilization, and it deepens the understanding of the mechanism of PMS activation by the synergistic interaction between bimetal.

Using k-means assistant event selection strategy to study anomalous quartic gauge couplings at muon colliders

The search for new physics beyond the Standard Model is one of the central problems of current high energy physics interest. As the luminosities of current and near-future colliders continue to increase, the search for new physics has increased the requirements for processing large amounts of data. Meanwhile, quantum computing which is rapidly evolving, has great potential to become a powerful tool to help search for new physics signals. Since the k-means algorithm is known to be able to be accelerated with the help of quantum computing, we investigate and propose an event selection strategy based on k-means algorithm to search for new physics signals. Taking the case of tri-photon processes at the muon colliders as an example, the event selection strategy is shown to be effective in helping to search for the signals of dimension-8 operators contributing to anomalous quartic gauge couplings. Compared with traditional event selection strategy, the expected constraints are generally tighter.

커넥티드 환경에서 자율-비자율차 혼재교통 관리를 위한 인프라 협력형 선제적 차로변경지원 정보 제공 전략

커넥티드 환경에서 자율-비자율차 혼재교통 관리를 위한 인프라 협력형 선제적 차로변경지원 정보 제공 전략

Metal ion assistant transformation strategy to synthesize catechol-based metal–organic frameworks from Ti3C2Tx precursors

Chemical transformation strategy is capable of fabricating nanomaterials with well-defined structures and fascinating performance via controllable crystallization kinetics in the phase transformation. V2CTx MXene has been used as precursors to fabricate vanadium porphyrin metal–organic frameworks (V-PMOFs) via the coordination of deprotonated carboxylic acid ligands. However, the rational and in-depth exploration of synthesis mechanism with the aim of enriching the variety of MXene (i.e., Ti3C2Tx) and organic ligands (i.e., catechol-based) to design new MOFs is rarely reported. Herein, we have first developed a metal ion assistant transformation strategy to synthesize three-dimensional catechol-based TiCu-HHTP (HHTP = 2,3,6,7,10,11-hexahydroxytriphenylene) MOFs with a non-interpenetrating SrSi2 (srs) framework using two-dimensional Ti3C2Tx as precursors. The unique synergetic transformation mechanism involves the electron transfer from Ti3C2Tx to electrostatically adsorbed Cu2+ ion for redox reaction, the subsequent Ti–C bond rupture for Ti4+ ion release, and the continuous chelation coordination between Ti4+/Cu2+ and HHTP. Ti3C2Tx precursors and auxiliary metal ion could be rationally substituted by V2CTx and Mn+ (e.g., Ni2+, Co2+, Mn2+, and Zn2+), respectively. This strategy lays the foundation for the design and synthesis of innovative and multifarious MOFs derived from MXene or other unconventional metal precursors.

Enhanced performance of all solution-processed perovskite light-emitting diodes using phenylpropylammonium bromide-additive assistant strategy

Enhanced performance of all solution-processed perovskite light-emitting diodes using phenylpropylammonium bromide-additive assistant strategy

Rapid fabrication of FexNi2−xP4O12 and graphene hybrids as electrocatalyst for highly efficient oxygen evolution reaction

Transition metal phosphates have been considered as a kind of promising electrocatalysts towards oxygen evolution reaction (OER), however, the unsatisfactory OER activity and tedious preparation process greatly restrict their further application. Herein, we report a novel microwave assistant strategy to fabricate graphene supported FexNi2−xP4O12 (FexNi2−xP4O12/RGO) hybrids as OER electrocatalyst. In alkaline solution, the optimized FexNi2−xP4O12/RGO merely needs low overpotential of 277, 340 and 380 mV to achieve 100, 500 and 1000 mA cm−2, respectively. Moreover, the electrolytic cell assembled by FexNi2−xP4O12/RGO and Pt/C only requires voltage of 1.549, 1.678 and 1.773 V to generate 100, 500 and 1000 mA cm−2, respectively, outperforming the electrolytic cell assembled by IrO2 and Pt/C. Durability test at 100 mA cm−2 for 100 h displays no obvious degradation of activity, confirming its outstanding stability. The strategy presented in this work affords a new avenue to fabricate high performance electrocatalysts.

Collision Risk Assessment and Operation Assistant Strategy for Teleoperation System

Teleoperation robots remain superior to fully automated robots in complicated and unstructured environments (e.g., in-orbit assembly). However, the collision risk is also greatly increased in these environments. Therefore, the teleoperation robot should possess the capability of collision risk perception and be configured with security assistance strategy to improve safety and efficiency. With this objective in mind, this paper proposes a collision risk assessment system based on fuzzy theory, which comprehensively considers the effects of shortest distance, operation speed, and delay time. The introduction of fuzzy theory makes the risk assessment results more accurate. Furthermore, this paper also proposes a creative discrete expandable bounding box method to make the calculation of the nearest distance between complicated obstacles and the robot more efficient and faster. Secondly, to improve the safety and efficiency of teleoperation, this paper proposes a set of teleoperation assistance strategies for teleoperation robots based on collision risk. The strategies include partial view highlighting, variation in the motion mapping ratio, and haptic risk warning, all of which are achieved in the graphical interactive interface. Finally, this paper verifies the proposed collision risk model and the operation assistant strategy through experiments. The results show that the proposed fuzzy collision risk model has a correct trend with risk factors, and the proposed operation assistance strategies can effectively reduce the robot collision risk and improve the safety of teleoperation robots. In conclusion, this research contributes to the collision risk assessment and obstacle avoidance assistance strategy of teleoperation robots.

Dual-wavelength responsive CuS@COF nanosheets for high-performance photothermal/photodynamic combination treatments.

Photothermal therapy (PTT) makes it difficult to achieve good performance on tumor treatments due to insufficient photothermal conversion efficiency, etc. Combining PTT with photodynamic therapy (PDT) and other therapeutic tools can significantly enhance the tumor-killing ability and has been widely used in the development of therapeutic platforms. Copper sulfide nanoparticle (CuS NP) photothermal reagents have the advantages of low toxicity and simple synthesis; therefore, combining CuS NPs with PDT photosensitizers is an effective strategy to construct a PTT/PDT combination therapeutic platform. However, PDT photosensitizers and photothermal agents generally assembled through hydrophobic interaction, suffer from low coating efficiency or the risk of drug leakage, thus seriously restricting their applications. To address these challenges, CuS NPs with excellent photothermal conversion performance were selected as the core material to prepare CuS@COF nanosheets through a dual-ligand assistant strategy with 4,7-bis(4-aminophenyl)-2,1,3-benzothiadiazole (BTD) and 2,4,6-trihydroxybenzene-1,3,5-tricarbaldehyde (TP). As a PTT/PDT combination therapeutic platform, CuS@COF nanosheets possess a porous TP-BDT-based COF shell, and it can sufficiently contact oxygen to provide high singlet oxygen (1O2) yield under 505 nm laser irradiation. Upon illumination with a 1064 nm laser, CuS@COF nanosheets can effectively convert the photon energy into thermal energy with a photothermal conversion efficiency of 63.4%. The results of the CCK8 experiment showed that the phototoxicity of the PTT/PDT combination treatment reached 85.1%, which was much higher than the effect of a single treatment. It was also confirmed in vivo that the tumor inhibition effect of the PDT/PTT combination treatment group was much greater than that of the single treatment group.

Reconsidering operation pattern for cation-exchange resin assistant anaerobic fermentation of waste activated sludge: Shorting residence period towards dosage-reduction and anti-fouling

Short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) generation through anaerobic fermentation has been regarded as a promising pathway to achieve carbon recovery and economic benefits in waste activated sludge management. Despite the cation exchange resin (CER) assistant anaerobic fermentation strategy has been previously reported for enhancing anaerobic fermentation, the overlarge CER usage and serious CER pollution have limited its engineering application. This study provided a reconsideration for the operation pattern modification. Through 4-day anaerobic fermentation with CER residence period shrinking to 1 day, 40.9% sludge VSS solubilization and reduction were achieved, triggering a considerable sludge hydrolysis rate of 28.4%. Thereby, SCFAs production was improved to 264.8 mg COD/g VSS. Such performances were approximately 80.2–87.8% of those with conventional CER residence period (8 days). The organic composition distribution and parallel factor analysis demonstrated that similar biodegradability and utilizability of fermentative liquid were achievable with various operation patterns. Compared with the conventional operation pattern, the modified operation pattern with shortened CER residence period (1 day) also displayed satisfying anaerobic fermentation efficiency and numerous engineering bene fits, e.g. decreased CER usage, reduced engineering footprint, relieved CER fouling, and increased operation convenience. The findings might provide sustainable development for CER assistant anaerobic fermentation strategy and enlighten the direction of anaerobic fermentation process.

Modulated construction of Fe-based MOF via formic acid modulator for enhanced degradation of sulfamethoxazole：Design, degradation pathways, and mechanism

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have attracted more attention because of their excellent environmental catalytic capabilities. Modulation approach as an advanced assistant strategy is vital essential to enhancing the performance of MOFs. In this study, the modulated method was used to successfully synthesize a group of Fe-based MOFs, with formic acid as the modulator on the synthesis mixture. The most modulated sample Fe-MOFs-2 exhibit high specific surface areas and higher catalytic activity, which could effectively degrade SMX via PS activation, with almost 95% removal efficiency within 120 min. The results revealed that the % RSE of modulated Fe-MOFs-2 increased from 2.31 to 3.27 when compared with the origin Fe-MOFs. This may be due to the addition of formic acid induces the formation of more coordinatively unsaturated metal sites in the catalyst, resulting in structural defects. In addition, the quenching experiment and EPR analysis verified SO4-·and·OH as the major active free radicals in the degradation process. Modulated Fe-MOFs-2 demonstrated good reusability and stability under fifth cycles. Finally, four possible degradation pathways and catalytic mechanism of Fe-MOFs-2 was tentatively proposed. Our work provides insights into the rational design of modulated Fe-MOFs as promising heterogeneous catalysts for advanced wastewater treatment.

A many-objective particle swarm optimisation algorithm based on convergence assistant strategy

A many-objective particle swarm optimisation algorithm based on convergence assistant strategy

A many-objective particle swarm optimisation algorithm based on convergence assistant strategy

A many-objective particle swarm optimisation algorithm based on convergence assistant strategy

A gram-scale fabrication of core–shell copper nanoparticles for efficient hydrogenation of nitroarenes

Herein, a series of core–shell catalysts (defined as Cu@NC/PC) has been designed and synthesized for the first time using a functional polymer assistant strategy.

Simple Strategy for Scalable Preparation Carbon Dots: RTP, Time-Dependent Fluorescence, and NIR Behaviors.

Transforming carbon dots (CDs) fluorescent materials into smart materials with complex functions is a topic of great interest to nanoscience. However, designing CDs with regulating fluorescence/phosphorescence that can be visually monitored with the environment changes in real‐time remains a challenge. Here, a very simple strategy, one‐step solvent‐free catalytic assistant strategy, which is low cost, facile, environment‐friendly, and high throughput, is put forward. Hydrogen bond is used to manipulate nanostructure of CDs, and the obtained carbon dots (M‐CDs) show a series of attractive properties including matrix‐free room‐temperature phosphorescence, time‐dependent fluorescence, and near‐infrared emissive characteristics. Different from the traditional aggregation caused quenching or aggregation‐induced emission fluorescent materials, M‐CDs exhibit unprecedented and unique dispersion induced redshift fluorescence phenomenon, promoting the studies of fluorescence from static to dynamic. The causes of this phenomenon are further analyzed in detail. As a kind of intelligent fluorescent materials, this new designed CDs greatly enrich the basic recognition of CDs by illustrating the relationship between redshift fluorescence behaviors and the dispersion states, and may provide with an opportunity for solid‐state fluorescent materials, anti‐counterfeiting, cellular imaging, and hopefully many others.

A novel inpatient PA staffing model for a community hospital.

ABSTRACTObjective:We sought to create a novel physician assistant (PA) and physician hospital medicine co-management strategy, employing a 3:1 PA:physician structure, under which the physician oversees all PA patients, but without a separate independent panel.Methods:This is a retrospective cohort pre-post design, comparing metrics for a traditional physician-only hospitalist model with a PA-physician team model. Outcomes included length of stay (LOS), readmissions, discharge destination, patient satisfaction, and in-hospital mortality.Results:LOS for patients under the PA-physician model (74 hours) was lower than for the physician-only model (83 hours; P < .001). The PA-physician model team discharged more patients home than to another facility (PA-physician 77.6%, physician-only 74.3%; P = .03). Thirty-day readmissions were about 10% (P = .97) and patients reported respectful treatment in about 80% (P = .53) of cases in each cohort.Conclusions:Our 3:1 PA-physician model team showed equal to superior outcomes compared with the physician-only hospitalist model.

The phytochemical vitexin and syringic acid derived from foxtail fillet bran inhibit breast cancer cells proliferation via GRP78/SREBP-1/SCD1 signaling axis

• BPIS specifically inhibited breast cancer via blocking the conversion of SFA to MUFA. • VT and SA were the anti-breast cancer active ingredients of BPIS. • GRP78 was the target of VT and SA and mediated the conversion of SFA to MUFA. Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed malignant tumor in women. Foxtail millet is an important cereal food and exhibits a wide range of nutrition. We previously extracted total polyphenols composed of 12 compounds from foxtail millet bran (named BPIS). In this study, we find that BPIS inhibits the proliferation of breast cancer cells by restraining the cellular membrane synthesis via suppressing the conversion of saturated fatty acids (SFA) to monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA). Mechanically, BPIS decreases the glucose regulated protein 78 (GRP78) level, which further inhibits the expression of SREBP-1 and downstream-target SCD1. Combining molecular docking, MTT screening and in vivo model, we ultimately identify that vitexin and syringic acid are the main active ingredients. Our data showed that the combination of vitexin and syringic acid suppress the proliferation of breast cancer cells, which support further study of BPIS as a new dietary assistant strategy to improve breast cancer.

Hydrated electrons mediated in-situ construction of cubic phase CdS/Cd thin layer on a millimeter-scale support for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution

In this study, non-noble metal Cd decorated cubic phase CdS (CdS/Cd) thin layer on a millimeter-scale chitosan-Mg(OH)2 xerogel beads (CMB) were elaborately designed and successfully synthesized via facile hydrated electrons (eaq•−) assistant strategy. The in-situ formation of metallic Cd was driven by eaq•− generated from UV/Na2SO3 process. Owing to metallic Cd, CMB@CdS/Cd exhibited better visible-light absorption ability and more efficient separation capability for photo-induced carriers, its hydrogen production efficiency was about threefold improved compared to CMB@CdS. Both characterization methods and density functional theory calculations determined a built-in electric field from metallic Cd to CdS and Ohmic-contact between Cd and CdS, which largely promoted the carriers transfer efficiency. Moreover, the introduction of metallic Cd on the CdS could reduce the ΔGH*, thus greatly boosting the photocatalytic hydrogen production efficiency. This work provides a simple and green approach to construct metallic Cd coupled semiconductor to achieve efficient photocatalytic applications.

Eco-Friendly and Scalable Synthesis of Fullerenols with High Free Radical Scavenging Ability for Skin Radioprotection.

Radiation dermatitis is a common but torturous side effect during radiotherapy, which greatly decreases the life quality of patients and potentially results in detrimental cessation of tumor treatment. Fullerenol, known as "free radical sponge," is a great choice for skin radioprotection because of its broad-spectrum free radical scavenging performance, good chemical stability, and biosafety. In this work, a facile scalable and eco-friendly synthetic method of fullerenols by catalyst assistant mechanical chemistry strategy is provided. As no organic solvent or high concentration of acid and alkali is introduced to this synthetic system, large-scale (>20g) production of fullerenols with high yield (>95%) is obtained and no complicated purification is required. Then, the skin radioprotective performance of fullerenols is systematically explored for the first time. In vitro results indicate that fullerenols significantly block the reactive oxygen species-induced damage and enhance the viability of irradiated human keratinocyte cells. In vivo experiments suggest that medical sodium hyaluronate hydrogels loaded with fullerenols are suitable for skin administration and powerfully mitigate radiodermatitis via effectively protecting epidermal stem cells. The work not only provides an efficient gram-scale and eco-friendly synthetic method of fullerenols, but also promotes the development of fullerenols as potential skin radioprotectors.

Imparting multi-functionality to covalent organic framework nanoparticles by the dual-ligand assistant encapsulation strategy

The potential applications of covalent organic frameworks (COFs) can be further developed by encapsulating functional nanoparticles within the frameworks. However, the synthesis of monodispersed core@shell structured COF nanocomposites without agglomeration remains a significant challenge. Herein, we present a versatile dual-ligand assistant strategy for interfacial growth of COFs on the functional nanoparticles with abundant physicochemical properties. Regardless of the composition, geometry or surface properties of the core, the obtained core@shell structured nanocomposites with controllable shell-thickness are very uniform without agglomeration. The derived bowl-shape, yolk@shell, core@satellites@shell nanostructures can also be fabricated delicately. As a promising type of photosensitizer for photodynamic therapy (PDT), the porphyrin-based COFs were grown onto upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs). With the assistance of the near-infrared (NIR) to visible optical property of UCNPs core and the intrinsic porosity of COF shell, the core@shell nanocomposites can be applied as a nanoplatform for NIR-activated PDT with deep tissue penetration and chemotherapeutic drug delivery.