High Performance Research Articles

Superamphiphilic aerogels with 2D lamellar structure of gelatin-tuned 3D supramolecular network of collagen fibers for high-performance separation of surfactant-stabilized emulsified oily wastewater

Superwetting aerogel is a promising alternative for the remediation of emulsified oily wastewater for its high porosity combined with extreme wettability enabled high separation performances to emulsion wastewater. However, it remains challenging for superwetting aerogels to accomplish high-performance dual separation to surfactant-stabilized oil-in-water (O/W) and water-in-oil (W/O) emulsions with high stability. Herein, an environmentally benign superamphiphilic composite aerogel was prepared by a green synthesis route that relied on the utilization of natural amphiphilic biomass. Collagen fibers (CFs) were utilized to construct the three-dimensional (3D) supramolecular skeleton of aerogel to provide high storage capacity of water/oil and outstanding capillary effect to boost the mass transfer. The two-dimensional (2D) lamellar structure of gelatin (Gel) was further grown on the skeleton of CFs aerogel to play the role for simultaneously enhanced demulsifying capability and spreading of emulsions. The as-prepared superamphiphilic aerogel enabled the separation of highly stable surfactant-stabilized O/W and W/O emulsions with high separation efficiency and flux. Excellent recycling performances and anti-fouling performance were also confirmed. Our investigations therefore demonstrated that the structural engineering of superamphiphilic aerogel is a promising way to realize high-performance dual separation of surfactant-stabilized O/W and W/O emulsion wastewater.Graphical

Building extraction from remote sensing imagery: advanced squeeze-and-excitation residual network based methodology

Extracting buildings from remote sensing imagery (RSI) is an essential task in a wide range of applications, such as urban and monitoring. Deep learning has emerged as a powerful tool for this purpose, and in this research, we propose an advanced building extraction method based on SE-ResNet18 and SE-ResNet34 architectures. These models were selected through a rigorous comparative analysis of various deep learning models, including variations of residual networks (ResNet), squeeze-and-excitation residual networks (SE-ResNet), and visual geometry group (VGG), for their high performance in all metrics and their computational efficiency. Our proposed methodology outperformed all other models under consideration by a significant margin, demonstrating its robustness and efficiency. It achieved superior results with less computational effort and time, a testament to its potential as a powerful tool for semantic segmentation tasks in remote sensing applications. An extensive comparative evaluation involving a wide range of state-of-the-art works further validated our method’s effectiveness. Our method achieved an unparalleled intersection over union (IoU) score of 88.51%, indicative of its exceptional accuracy in identifying and segmenting buildings within the Wuhan University (WHU) building dataset. The overall performance of our method, which offers an excellent balance between high performance and computational efficiency, makes it a compelling choice for researchers and practitioners in the field.

High-performance 4-nm-resolution X-ray tomography using burst ptychography.

Advances in science, medicine and engineering rely on breakthroughs in imaging, particularly for obtaining multiscale, three-dimensional information from functional systems such as integrated circuits or mammalian brains. Achieving this goal often requires combining electron- and photon-based approaches. Whereas electron microscopy provides nanometre resolution through serial, destructive imaging of surface layers1, ptychographic X-ray computed tomography2 offers non-destructive imaging and has recently achieved resolutions down to seven nanometres for a small volume3. Here we implement burst ptychography, which overcomes experimental instabilities and enables much higher performance, with 4-nanometre resolution at a 170-times faster acquisition rate, namely, 14,000 resolution elements per second. Another key innovation is tomographic back-propagation reconstruction4, allowing us to image samples up to ten times larger than the conventional depth of field. By combining the two innovations, we successfully imaged a state-of-the-art (seven-nanometre node) commercial integrated circuit, featuring nanostructures made of low- and high-density materials such as silicon and metals, which offer good radiation stability and contrast at the selected X-ray wavelength. These capabilities enabled a detailed study of the chip's design and manufacturing, down to the level of individual transistors. We anticipate that the combination of nanometre resolution and higher X-ray flux at next-generation X-ray sources will have a revolutionary impact in fields ranging from electronics to electrochemistry and neuroscience.

Security-based low-density parity check encoder for 5G communication

The fifth generation (5G) of mobile telecommunication standards is intended to offer better performance and efficiency. One of the most significant difficulties in delivering safe data transfer through the transmission channel in the emerging 5G technology is channel-coding security. This research primarily focused on offering information transmission that is secure in the place of novel assaults such as side-channel attacks. In this research, we present a low-density parity check (LDPC) encoder that is constructed using the multiplicative masking method to overcome side-channel attacks, one of the most significant security concerns for the upcoming 5G system. As a result, it offers greater security, reduced complexity, and higher performance. Power, area, and delay can all be calculated using LDPC codes. Comparing multiplicative masking implemented LDPC encoders to ordinary channel coding techniques in terms of security seen that multiplicative masking implemented LDPC encoders offer more security. The program Xilinx ISE 14.7 can synthesize the analysis. The advantage of multiplicative masking is that it offers a promising level of security through the principle of randomization, which is the foundation of the procedure. According to the analysis, the secured transmission of the data by the proposed multiplicative masking implemented LDPC encoder is increased.

Antitumor immunity and prognosis value elicited by FAT3 and LRP1B co-mutation in endometrial cancer

Objective: FAT3 and LRP1B are two tumor suppressor genes with high mutation frequency in multiple cancer types, we sought to investigate the prognostic and immunological significance of these two genes in EC.Methods: Based on a cohort of 502 EC samples, we conducted a comprehensive analysis of its multidimensional data types including genomic, transcriptomic, and clinical information, the potential impact of FAT3 and LRP1B co-mutation on antitumor immune response and prognosis were systematically discussed.Results: We observed that FAT3 and LRP1B co-mutation was not only defined a dataset with prominently increased TMB, decreased tumor aneuploidy, and specially enriched in MSI-H subtype, but also manifested increased expression of immune-related markers, especially exclusive upregulation of PD-L1 levels and higher PD-L1+/CD8A+ proportion. Further analysis focused on lymphocyte infiltration and pathway enrichment explored the immune cell composition of the microenvironment and underlying molecular mechanisms affecting tumor development. Furthermore, EC patients with FAT3 and LRP1B co-mutation possessed significantly prolonged PFS and OS, and the co-mutation status was proved to be an independent prognostic factor. And a nomogram with high predictive performance was constructed by incorporating co-mutation with clinical features. More strikingly, the prognosis of MSI-H patients in EC with co-mutation was significantly improved, and their survival reached a level consistent with the POLE subtype.Conclusions: In endometrial cancer, co-mutation of FAT3 and LRP1B not only leads to activation of the immune state, but also represents a subgroup with an improved prognosis, particularly in the MSI-H subtype.

Realization of valence band convergence for high thermoelectric performance p-type PbS

PbS is an attractive thermoelectric material with low cost, high thermostability, and large abundance in the Earth’s crust. However, its largest energy difference between the light and heavy valence bands (ΔEv) leads to a huge challenge in achieving valence band convergence (VBC), resulting in the lowest power factor (PF) compared to PbSe and PbTe. This low PF impedes the output power density of thermoelectric devices. In this work, the Ag dopant can reduce ΔEv from 0.34 eV to 0.20 eV, achieving VBC in p-type PbS for the first time, significantly improving the Seebeck coefficient. Additionally, Pb0.98Ag0.02S exhibits semiconductor-like electrical conductivity caused by the grain boundaries scattering below 473 K. With coarse-graining, the mobility improves substantially from 4.6 cm2 V−1 s−1 to 241 cm2 V−1 s−1 at room temperature. Consequently, the PF of Pb0.98Ag0.02S increases from 0.3 μW cm−1 K−2 to 12.2 μW cm−1 K−2 with the figure of merit ZT value rising from 0.0027 to 0.10 at 300 K. More importantly, Pb0.98Ag0.02S crystal maintains a high PF from 300 K to 823 K, giving a record-high average PF of 13.0 μW cm−1 K−2 and an increased ZT. This work certifies Ag as an effective p-type dopant for weakening electron transport coupling for PbS-based thermoelectric materials.

An efficient intrusion detection systems in fog computing using forward selection and BiLSTM

Intrusion detection systems (IDS) play a pivotal role in network security and anomaly detection and are significantly impacted by the feature selection (FS) process. As a significant task in machine learning and data analysis, FS is directed toward pinpointing a subset of pertinent features that primarily influence the target variable. This paper proposes an innovative approach to FS, leveraging the forward selection search algorithm with hybrid objective/fitness functions such as correlation, entropy, and variance. The approach is evaluated using the BoT-IoT and TON_IoT datasets. By employing the proposed methodology, our bidirectional long-short term memory (BiLSTM) model achieved an accuracy of 98.42% on the TON_IoT dataset and 98.7% on the BoT-IoT dataset. This superior classification accuracy underscores the efficacy of the synergized BiLSTM deep learning model and the innovative FS approach. The study accentuates the potency of the proposed hybrid approach in FS for IDS and highlights its substantial contribution to achieving high classification performance in internet of things (IoT) network traffic analysis.

Anchoring NiSx (x=0, 1, 2) on porous g-C3N4 (PCN) to enhance photocatalytic H2 production: The effect of S element on H2 evolution

Constructing effective active sites on photocatalysts is key to promoting H2 evolution activity. Although nickel sulfides are found to be non-noble cocatalysts with high cocatalytic performance, the effect of the S element on H2 evolution still needs to be clarified. Herein, NiSx (x= 0, 1 and 2) cocatalysts are successfully anchored respectively on the surface of porous g-C3N4via the same solid-state method. The combined experimental and theoretical calculations reveal that an intimate Schottky junction constructed between metallic NiSx and PCN impels the rapid transfer of electrons from PCN to NiSx., which promotes a charge separation efficiency and enhances photocatalytic activity. Furthermore, the introduction of the S in the NiSx lattice regulates the adsorption and desorption energies of reactant (H+) and product (H2), determining the H2-evolving performance. Among the Ni, NiS and NiS2 cocatalysts, the S element in the NiS adjusts the equilibrium of adsorption and desorption for H+/H2, resulting in the most favorable thermodynamics of H2 evolution. The maximum H2-rate of NiS/PCN reaches 142.9 μmol h-1, which is 4.3 and 1.6 times of Ni/PCN and NiS2/PCN. Our results gain a deeper understanding of the mechanism that transition metal dichalcogenide based cocatalysts promote photocatalytic activity.

Design of an optimized energy-efficient routing protocol for reliable wireless body area networks

Energy limitation is one of the essential parameters in the design of a Wireless body area networks (WBANs) as it is important to improve the lifetime of the network. WBAN routing is an effective approach for establishing energy efficiency sets and assign time slots for the network. Many algorithms that deal with interference model treats the whole WBAN as a minimum interference unit and increase their lifetime cycle. In this research, we report an effective low-energy adaptive clustering hierarchy (LEACH) routing protocol using MATLAB simulation and related C++ simulation codes to enhance the overall performance of the network by improving the energy efficiency and network lifetime cycles. Furthermore, the study sheds light up on the comparison of the protocol and proposes a modified protocol for WBAN. Based on the results obtained from conducting different configurations in the proposed design, the base station should be situated near the network to insure high network performance.

Architectural Decoration of Bioleached NiFeP Surfaces by Co3O4 Flowers for Efficient Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Generation.

In the quest for sustainable hydrogen production via water electrolysis, the development of high-performance, noble-metal-free catalytic systems is highly desired. Herein, we proposed an innovative strategy for the development of an electrocatalyst by refining the surface characteristics of a NiFeP alloy through microbiological techniques and subsequent enrichment of active sites by tailoring 3D hierarchical flower-like structures with intact and interconnected two-dimensional (2D) Co3O4. The resultant 3D Co3O4@NiFeP-5/24h has a porous structure comprised of intercrossed nanoparticles covering the entirety of the catalytic surface. This design ensures comprehensive electrolyte ion penetration and facilitates the release of gas bubbles while reducing bubble adhesion rates. Remarkably, the Co3O4@NiFeP-5/24h electrode demonstrates superior hydrogen evolution (HER) performance in an alkaline medium, characterized by its high stability, low overpotential (106 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm-2), and reduced Tafel slope (98 mV dec-1). Besides, the minimized interfacial contact resistance among the phases of electrode and electrolyte emphasizes the high HER performance of the 3D Co3O4@NiFeP-5/24h electrode. The innovative design and fabrication strategy employed herein holds significant potential for advancing the field of water-splitting electrocatalysis, offering a promising path toward the rational design and development of noble-metal-free electrocatalysts.

Benchmarking the Match of Porous Carbon Substrate Pore Volume on Silicon Anode Materials for Lithium-Ion Batteries.

Silicon (Si) is one of the most promising anode materials for high-energy-density lithium-ion batteries. However, the huge volume expansion hinders its commercial application. Embedding amorphous Si nanoparticles in a porous carbon framework is an effective way to alleviate Si volume expansion, with the pore volume of the carbon substrates playing a pivotal role. This work demonstrates the impact of pore volume on the electrochemical performance of the silicon/carbon porous composites from two perspectives: 1) pore volume affects the loadings of Si particles; 2) pore volume affects the structural stability and mechanical properties. The smaller pore volume of the carbon substrate cannot support the high Si loadings, which results in forming a thick Si shell on the surface, thereby being detrimental to cycling stability and the diffusion of electrons and ions. On top of that, the carbon substrate with a larger pore volume has poor structural stability due to its fragility, which is also not conducive to realizing long cycle life and high rate performance. Achieving excellent electrochemical performances should match the proper pore volume with Si content. This study will provide important insights into the rational design of the silicon/carbon porous composites based on the pore volume of the carbon substrates.

Highly Stretchable, Tissue-like Ag Nanowire-Enhanced Ionogel Nanocomposites as an Ionogel-Based Wearable Sensor for Body Motion Monitoring.

The development of wearable electronic devices for human health monitoring requires materials with high mechanical performance and sensitivity. In this study, we present a novel transparent tissue-like ionogel-based wearable sensor based on silver nanowire-reinforced ionogel nanocomposites, P(AAm-co-AA) ionogel-Ag NWs composite. The composite exhibits a high stretchability of 605% strain and a moderate fracture stress of about 377 kPa. The sensor also demonstrates a sensitive response to temperature changes and electrostatic adsorption. By encapsulating the nanocomposite in a polyurethane transparent film dressing, we address issues such as skin irritation and enable multidirectional stretching. Measuring resistive changes of the ionogel nanocomposite in response to corresponding strain changes enables its utility as a highly stretchable wearable sensor with excellent performance in sensitivity, stability, and repeatability. The fabricated pressure sensor array exhibits great proficiency in stress distribution, capacitance sensing, and discernment of fluctuations in both external electric fields and stress. Our findings suggest that this material holds promise for applications in wearable and flexible strain sensors, temperature sensors, pressure sensors, and actuators.

Balancing the performance benefits and health costs of leader high performance expectations: the role of servant leadership

Balancing the performance benefits and health costs of leader high performance expectations: the role of servant leadership

Application of ion chromatographic fingerprint analysis for quality evaluation of tobacco flavors

Tobacco flavor, an important tobacco additive, is an essential raw material in cigarette production that can effectively improve the quality of tobacco products, add aroma and taste, and increase the suction flavor. The quality consistency of tobacco flavors affects the quality stability of branded cigarettes. Therefore, the quality control of tobacco flavors is a major concern for cigarette and flavor manufacturers. Physical and chemical indices, odor similarity, and sensory efficacy are employed to evaluate the quality of tobacco flavors, and the analysis of chemical components in tobacco flavors is usually conducted using gas chromatography (GC) and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). However, because the composition of tobacco flavors is complex, their quality cannot be fully reflected using a single component or combination of components. Therefore, establishing an objective analytical method for the quality control of tobacco flavors is of extreme importance. Chromatographic fingerprint analysis is routinely used for the discriminative analysis of tobacco flavors. Chromatographic fingerprints refer to the general characteristics of the concentration profiles of different chemical compounds. In the daily procurement process, fingerprints established by GC and HPLC are effective for the evaluation and identification of tobacco flavors. However, given continuous improvements in aroma-imitation technology, some flavors with high similarity cannot be directly distinguished using existing methods. In this study, a method for the determination of organic acids and inorganic anions in tobacco flavors based on ion chromatography (IC) was developed to ensure the quality consistency of tobacco flavors. A 1.0 g sample of tobacco flavors and 10 mL of deionized water were mixed and vibrated for 30 min. The aqueous sample solution was passed through a 0.45 μm membrane filter and RP pretreatment column in succession to eliminate interferences and then subjected to IC. Standard solutions containing nine organic acids and seven inorganic anions were used to identify the anions in the tobacco flavors, and satisfactory reproducibility was obtained. The relative standard deviations (RSDs) for retention times and peak areas were <0.71% and <6.02%, respectively. The chromatographic fingerprints of four types of tobacco flavors (samples A-D) from five different batches were obtained. Nine tobacco flavor samples from different manufacturers (samples AY1-AY3, BY1-BY2, CY1-CY2, DY1-DY2) were also analyzed to obtain their chromatographic fingerprints. Hierarchical cluster and similarity analyses were used to evaluate the quality of tobacco flavors from different manufacturers. Hierarchical clustering refers to the process of subdividing a group of samples into clusters that exhibit a high degree of intracluster similarity and intercluster dissimilarity. The dendrograms obtained using SPSS 12.0 indicated good quality consistency among the samples in different batches. Samples AY3, BY2, CY2, and DY1 clustered with the batches of standard tobacco flavors. Therefore, hierarchical cluster analysis can effectively distinguish the quality of products from different manufacturers. The Similarity Evaluation System for Chromatographic Fingerprint of Traditional Chinese Medicine (version 2.0) was used to evaluate the similarity between the standard tobacco flavors and products from different manufacturers. Among the samples analyzed, samples AY3, BY2, CY2, and DY1 showed the highest similarity values (>97.7%), which was consistent with the results of the hierarchical cluster analysis. This finding indicates that IC combined with chromatographic fingerprint analysis could accurately determine the quality of tobacco flavors. GC combined with ultrasonic-assisted liquid-liquid extraction was also used to analyze the tobacco flavors and verify the accuracy of the proposed method. Compared with GC coupled with ultrasonic-assisted liquid-liquid extraction, IC demonstrated more significant quality differences among certain tobacco flavors.

Favipiravir pharmacokinetics in COVID-19 patients with moderate to severe kidney dysfunction: Lessons learned.

There is limited information on favipiravir pharmacokinetics in critically ill patients and no studies on pharmacokinetics in patients with moderate and severe kidney dysfunction. The aim was to determine favipiravir pharmacokinetics (oral, 1,600 mg, q12h on day 1, then 600 mg, q12h for 4 days) in critically ill COVID-19 patients with kidney dysfunction and to compare those with observations reported in healthy adults. In a descriptive study, blood samples taken from patients meeting the relevant criteria (estimated glomerular filtration rate <60mL/min) were collected and analyzed. Analysis of blood samples was done by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and the maximal concentration (Cmax), the time of maximal concentration (tmax), half-life (T1/2) and area under the curve (AUC0-12h) of favipiravir were calculated (WinNonlin) and compared to reported data in healthy subjects after first administration. Based on analysis of samples collected in 7 patients, the Cmax (29.99 vs. 64.5 µg/mL) of favipiravir was decreased, T1/2 (5.8 vs. 4.8 hours) longer, tmax delayed, while total exposure was lower (AUC0-12: 192.53 vs. 446.09 μg/mL) compared to reported data in healthy subjects after first administration. Exposure remained lower up to day 5. In patients with kidney dysfunction related to COVID-19, favipiravir did not reach the expected exposure. This may be due to poorer and delayed absorption, and subsequent altered disposition. Population pharmacokinetic and mechanistic studies are needed to better explore the relevant covariates and to determine the optimal dose in these patients, as this drug is likely of relevance for other indications.

Unraveling the Ethical, Prosocial, and Performance Outcomes of Leader High Performance Expectations

Unraveling the Ethical, Prosocial, and Performance Outcomes of Leader High Performance Expectations

Endorsement of High Performers’ Voice: The Role of Voice Tactic and Supervisor’s Power Motivation

Endorsement of High Performers’ Voice: The Role of Voice Tactic and Supervisor’s Power Motivation

Comparison of different derivatisation for amino acids determination of foie gras by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)

ABSTRACT 1. In order to compare the difference between different derivatisations for amino acids determination of foie gras via, reversed phase high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), O-phthalaldehyde and 9-fluorenyl-methyl chloroformate (OPA-FMOC group), phenylisothiocyanate (PITC group) and 6-Aminoquinolyl-N-hydrox-ysuccinimidyl Carbamate (AQC group) were applied to derivatisation reagent in this current experiment. The determination results of automatic amino acid analyser were applied, and 17 amino acids were detected by these three derivatisation methods. 2. The running times of OPA-FMOC group, PITC group and AQC group were 18, 45 and 35 min, respectively. There was a large difference between the results of OPA-FMOC group and results from the automatic amino acid analyser, although the difference between the results from PITC and the automatic amino acid analyser was minimal. 3. In conclusion, the running time of OPA-FMOC group was shorter than that of PITC group and AQC group; the accuracy of the former was better than the OPA-FMOC group and AQC group for the determination of amino acid of foie gras.

The Costs of the Win-at-all-Cost Culture in High Performance Sport

The Costs of the Win-at-all-Cost Culture in High Performance Sport

Rapid determination of nine preservatives in tobacco flavor by three phase-hollow fiber-liquid phase microextraction-high performance liquid chromatography

Tobacco flavors are extensively utilized in traditional tobacco products, electronic nicotine, heated tobacco products, and snuff. To inhibit fungal growth arising from high moisture content, preservatives such as benzoic acid (BA), sorbic acid (SA), and parabens are often incorporated into tobacco flavors. Nonetheless, consuming preservatives beyond safety thresholds may pose health risks. Therefore, analytical determination of these preservatives is crucial for both quality assurance and consumer protection. For example, BA and SA can induce adverse reactions in susceptible individuals, including asthma, urticaria, metabolic acidosis, and convulsions. Parabens, because of their endocrine activity, are classified as endocrine-disrupting chemicals. Despite extensive research, the concurrent quantification of trace-level hydrophilic (BA and SA) and hydrophobic (methylparaben, ethylparaben, isopropylparaben, propylparaben, butylparaben, isobutylparaben, and benzylparaben) preservatives in tobacco flavors remains challenging. Traditional liquid phase extraction coupled with high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) often results in high false positive rates and inadequate sensitivity. In contrast, tandem mass spectrometry offers high sensitivity and specificity; however, its widespread application is limited by laborious sample preparation and significant operational costs. Therefore, it is crucial to establish a fast and sensitive sample pretreatment and analysis method for the nine preservatives in tobacco flavors. In this study, a method for the simultaneous determination of the nine preservatives (SA, BA and seven parabens) in tobacco flavor was established based on three phase-hollow fiber-liquid phase microextraction (3P-HF-LPME) technology combined with HPLC. To obtain the optimal pretreatment conditions, extraction solvent type, sample phase pH, acceptor phase pH, sample phase volume, extraction time, and mass fraction of sodium chloride, were examined. Additionally, the HPLC parameters, including UV detection wavelength and mobile phase composition, were refined. The optimal extraction conditions were as follows: dihexyl ether was used as extraction solvent, 15 mL sample solution (pH 4) was used as sample phase, sodium hydroxide aqueous solution (pH 12) was used as acceptor phase, and the extraction was carried out at 800 r/min for 30 min. Chromatographic separation was accomplished using an Agilent Poroshell 120 EC-C18 column (100 mm×3 mm, 2.7 μm) and a mobile phase comprising methanol, 0.02 mol/L ammonium acetate aqueous solution (containing 0.5% acetic acid), and acetonitrile for gradient elution. Under the optimized conditions, the nine target analytes showed good linear relationships in their respective linear ranges, the correlation coefficients (r) were ≥0.9967, limits of detection (LODs) and quantification (LOQs) were 0.02-0.07 mg/kg and 0.08-0.24 mg/kg, respectively. Under two spiked levels, the enrichment factors (EFs) and extraction recoveries (ERs) of the nine target analytes were 30.6-91.1 and 6.1%-18.2%, respectively. The recoveries of the nine target analytes ranged from 82.2% to 115.7% and the relative standard deviations (RSDs) (n=5) were less than 14.5% at low, medium and high levels. The developed method is straightforward, precise, sensitive, and well-suited for the rapid screening of preservatives in tobacco flavor samples.