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In this paper, hierarchical three-dimensional porous flower of ZnCohydrotalcite non-planar nanosheets were prepared on the surface of Ni foam by in-situ hydrothermal method. Within this material, the foam Ni acted as structural support and nickel sources providing additional active components. This ZnCohydrotalcite demonstrated to have an high specific capacitance reaching 5437.6 mF cm-2 at 10 mA cm-2 when the ratio of Zn:Co was 2:8 in precursors. Moreover, an asymmetric supercapacitor with obtained ZnCohydrotalcite as anode while activated carbon as cathode exhibited high electrochemical property (30.1 F g-1) and 84.3 % capacitance retention after 20000 cycles at 1 A g-1.

This study develops a traffic-responsive control technique for fully-actuated coordinated signals (TCT) to minimize investment in data collection and engineering judgment for signal timing. The operating process of TCT in a day is divided into consecutive cycle sets with N cycles for each. A vehicle detector is placed on every approach lane to detect time headways and actuate the coordinated and uncoordinated phases. Control center creates the background plans for all the intersections once per cycle set. The fully-actuated logic settings are directly determined by the timing parameters of the background plans in signal controllers. Signal controllers operate the fully-actuated logic and yield the expected greens of the 1st through the (N-1)th cycles of the current cycle set for the coordinated and uncoordinated phases. After the Nth cycle starts, the expected greens are sent to control center. Control center processes the expected greens generated in the past cycles of the day and feeds them into Brown's double exponential smoothing to predict the expected base greens of the next cycle set. They pave the way to stepwise creating the new background plan without using any optimization models. The simulation results indicated that the TCT-enabled intersections could reactively vary their vehicle handling capacity to accommodate the variation in the vehicle demand. In contrast to the conventional control technique for fully-actuated coordinated signals, TCT could provide more progression opportunities to the coordinated movement and serve vehicles with less number of stops and equivalent delay from a system-wide perspective.

The formation of negative zinc dendrite and the deformation of zinc electrode are the important factors affecting nickel–zinc battery life. In this study, three-dimensional (3D) network carbon felt via microwave oxidation was used as ZnO support and filled with 30% H2O2-oxidised activated carbon to improve the performance of the battery. The energy density and power density of the nickel–zinc battery reached 81.8 and 181.7 Wh kg−1, respectively, at the first cycle of the charge and discharge. The coulomb efficiency and voltage efficiency of the battery were respectively 85% and 65.5% at the 921st cycle. The coulomb efficiency and voltage efficiency of the battery filled with 30% H2O2-oxidised activated carbon were respectively increased by 0.8% and 2.6% compared with those of the nickel–zinc battery filled with activated carbon, and by 31.2% and 6.9% compared with those of the nickel–zinc battery without the activated carbon. The adhesion between carbon felt and zinc was strengthened by polar groups, and the specific capacitance and hydrophilicity of zinc electrode were improved by filling the zinc electrode with 30% H2O2-oxidised activated carbon. Moreover, the hydrophilicity of carbon felt support and activated carbon capacitor material can promote the penetration and diffusion of electrolyte in the electrode and help eliminate zinc dendrite. The carbon felt electrode has the flexibility to avoid deformation of zinc electrode. The cycle stability of the battery was considerably improved by 935 times.

Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) have been attracting considerable attention due to their large specific surface area and excellent adjustable voids. A one-step solvothermal method is proposed herein to fabricate 3D hollow cage copper cobalt sulfide CuCo2S4via sulfuration and cation exchange reaction based on MOF ZIF-67. The ternary bimetallic material CuCo2S4 not only retains the spatial structure of ZIF-67 but also adjusts the hierarchical hollow structure by adding a Cu “shell”. The hollow cage CuCo2S4 can typically exhibit large specific surface areas, expose additional electroactive sites, and shorten ion/electron diffusion paths. The physicochemical characteristics are comprehensively determined using basic characterization techniques. As an electrode material for supercapacitors, CuCo2S4 has a high specific capacitance of 1096.27 F g−1 at a current density of 0.5 A g−1. Furthermore, an asymmetric supercapacitor (CuCo2S4//AC ASC) device is assembled to prove the practical applicability, and the energy and power densities, respectively, reached 87.59 W h kg−1 and 399.65 W kg−1 at 0.5 A g−1. This device retains 95.83% capacity over 5000 cycles at a current density of 10 A g−1. The proposed method provides an optional protocol for designing and fabricating electrode materials with superior electrochemical energy storage properties and exceptional cyclic stability, presenting additional options for future energy storage devices.

Recently the driving force for economic growth in China's port cities is insufficient, and ports are suffering from the capacity surplus in the context of the global recession. To find out whether the problem could be relieved by adjusting port and city development strategy, the present study examined the relationship between economic indicators of the port city and the port throughput. Panel data regression models were estimated to examine the extent of impact between port throughput and city economy with the second-generation panel data analysis methods, with panel data for 16 port-city pairs in China over the period 2000–2016. Results suggest that port throughput imposes a non-negligible impact on GDP while it has an opposite effect on the amount of total retail sales of consumer goods (TRSCG). Regarding the economic structure indicators, the port throughput increases synchronously with the added value of the secondary industry (SI) but negatively with that of the primary industry (PI) and the tertiary industry (TI). The causality test confirms an interactive mechanism between the port city economy and the port throughput in the sampled city-port pairs. The underlying reasons were discussed, and several policy suggestions to respond to the research question were proposed.

Through the network pharmacology thought, the action target of the active ingredients of Drynariae Rhizoma was predicted, and the mapping was combined with the related targets of ONFH, and the key nodes of interaction were identified for enrichment analysis, so as to comprehensively explore the pharmacological mechanism of Drynariae Rhizoma against ONFH. The main active ingredients of Drynariae Rhizoma were screened based on pharmacokinetic characteristics in pharmacokinetic database and analysis platform of TCM system (TCMSP). We used the organic small molecule bioactivity database (PubChem) and Swiss target prediction database to predict related targets based on 2D or 3D structural similarity and then mined the known ONFH therapeutic targets through the Human Mendelian Genetic Database (OMIM) and Pubmed texts. Combined with the predicted targets, String database was imported to construct the OP target interaction network diagram of bone fracture therapy. CytoNCA software was used to topology the key nodes of interaction according to relevant node parameters, and String was imported again to construct the protein interaction network diagram. Finally, biological functions and metabolic pathways of key nodes were analyzed through DAVID database. It was revealed that Drynariae Rhizoma may regulate stem cells, osteoblasts, osteoclasts, and immune cells through multiple pathways, including proliferation, differentiation, immunity, and oxidative stress. Conclusion: Pharmacological studies based on network indicate that Drynariae Rhizoma may participate in the regulation of several major signaling pathways through direct or indirect action targets and affect the proliferation and differentiation of multiple types of cells, thus playing an anti-ONFH role, which provides a scientific basis for explaining the material basis and mechanism of its anti- ONFH.

Fuzi (Aconitum carmichaelii Debx) has been traditionally used for the treatment of ulcerative colitis (UC) in China for thousands of years. The total alkaloids of A. carmichaelii (AAC) have been considered as the main medicinal components of fuzi, whereas its underlying anti-UC mechanisms remain elusive. In the present study, the dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced UC mice model, which was consistent with the symptoms and pathological features of human UC, was established to comprehensively evaluate the anti-UC effects of AAC. The results indicated that AAC effectively improved the weight loss, disease activity index (DAI), spleen hyperplasia, and colon shortening, and thus alleviated the symptoms of UC mice. Meanwhile, AAC not only inhibited the MPO enzyme and the abnormal secretion of inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, IFN-γ, and IL-17A) and suppressed the overexpression of inflammatory mediators (TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6) of mRNA but also reduced the phosphorylation of p38 MAPK, ERK, and JNK, and the protein expressions of NF-κB, IκB-α, STAT3, and JAK2 in the colon tissue. Furthermore, the LC-MS/MS quantitative determination suggested that the three low toxic monoester alkaloids were higher in both contents and proportion than that of the three high toxic diester alkaloids. Additionally, molecular docking was hired to investigate the interactions between alkaloid-receptor complexes, and it suggested the three monoester alkaloids exhibited higher binding affinities with the key target proteins of MAPK, NF-κB, and STAT3. Our finding showcased the noteworthy anti-UC effects of AAC based on the MAPK/NF-κB/STAT3 signaling pathway, which would provide practical and edge-cutting background information for the development and utilization of A. carmichaelii as a potential natural anti-UC remedy.

In this paper, we propose an extended-aperture Hartmann wavefront sensor (HWFS) based on raster scanning. Unlike traditional HWFS, where there is a trade-off between the dynamic range and spatial resolution of wavefront measurement, our extended-aperture HWFS breaks the trade-off and thus could achieve a large dynamic range and high spatial resolution simultaneously. By applying a narrow-beam raster-scanning scheme, the detection aperture of our HWFS is extended to 40 × 40 mm2 without using the enlarging 4f relay system. The spatial resolution of our setup depends on the scanning step, the pinhole size, and the wavelength. The sensitivity and dynamic range can be adjusted flexibly by varying the axial distance between the pinhole plane and the imaging sensor plane, because our decoupled large dynamic range could be reasonable traded-off to achieve better sensitivity. Furthermore, compared with tradition HWFS, our method does not need to compute the positions of a two-dimensional spots array where complicated spots tracking algorithms are necessary to achieve high dynamic range, thus remarkably reduces the spots aliasing issue and the computational cost. It should be noted that this scheme is not only applicable for HWFS but also for Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor (SHWFS) with microlens array to achieve higher accuracy and better power efficiency. Experiments were performed to demonstrate the capability of our method.

Electrode material is one of the most important factors affecting the performance of supercapacitors, and electrolyte solution is another. In this work, electrochemical properties of hydroxide zinc carbonate composite electrode (HZC) in KOH + K3[Fe(CN)6] electrolyte were studied. It was proved that [Fe(CN)6]3− in electrolyte participated in electrochemical reactions and promoted electron transfer. The specific capacitance of HZC electrode was as high as 920.5 F·g−1 at 1.0 A·g−1 in 1 mol·L−1 KOH and 0.04 mol·L−1 K3[Fe(CN)6] electrolyte, which is 172.9% higher than that in KOH. The combination of HZC electrode and low alkalinity aqueous electrolyte provided the supercapacitor system with good capacitance performance, safety, and environmentally friendly.

Supercapacitor is considered as one of the most promising energy storage systems because of its high power density, long life and low production cost. Electrode materials play important roles in the performance of Supercapacitor (SC). In this study, Zn-based hydrotalcite structure materials are prepared by hydrothermal method. The influence of Zn/Al ratio in precursors on electrochemical properties of electrode materials is investigated. The results show that Al(III) promotes the formation of relatively ordered active substances and participates in redox reaction on electrode surface. Specific capacitance of Zn-based electrode reaches 2557 F·g-1 (1.0 A·g-1) at Zn/Al molar ratio of 1:1 in precursors. This method is simple and environmentally friendly. The electrode exhibits excellent electrochemical activity and stability, showing this material application prospect for supercapacitor.

Due to their unique physical and chemical properties, nanostructured metal sulfide materials have shown excellent electrochemical performance. Among them, the natural semiconductor cobalt disulfide (CoS) is a promising electrode material for supercapacitors owing to its two-dimensional layered structure and fast carrier transmission. However, the curling of the CoS layers and the structural stability of CoS materials should be improved. In this context, we developed a facile solvothermal method to fabricate CoS-AC composite to solve the inherent defects of individual materials. The AC both increased the electrical conductivity of the electrode and supported the active species, thus improving the stability of the composite during the charge–discharge processes. Furthermore, the addition of K3Fe(CN)6 to the electrolyte to form a redox electrolyte largely enhanced the pseudocapacitance. The CoS-AC composite exhibited a high specific capacitance of 797.79 F g−1 at a high current density of 10 A g−1. The as-prepared CoS-AC//AC asymmetric supercapacitor device showed a superior cycling stability (77.53% maintained after 2000 cycles). The synergy between the electrode and the redox electrolyte was crucial for improving the supercapacitor performance. The CoS-AC composites were simply synthesized using solvothermal approach with enhanced electrochemical properties.

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We first propose a line-scanning Hartmann wavefront sensor (LS-HWS) with extended aperture. In the LS-HWS, a line-scanning imaging sensor was driven by a motor and scanning behind a large-area Hartman mask. Compared to the traditional Hartman wavefront sensor with two-dimensional imaging sensors, our method can significantly enlarge the aperture because of the larger imaging area with line-scanning imaging sensors. Cross correlation registration was adopted to reduce the scanning error. Experiments on two single spherical lenses and a free-form lens were performed to demonstrate the capability of the LS-HWS method. The results show that our method can achieve an aperture of 17.5 × 37.5 m m 2 with the prototype system, which could be further extended easily and is limited only by the size of the line-scanning imaging sensor and the scanning range of the motor. We believe that the LS-HWS method is promising for many wavefront sensing applications where a large aperture is preferred.

Metro travelers’ travel experience is highly influenced by fellow passengers’ misbehaviors such as eating or littering in the carriage and sound blaster, which are common in the metro carriage. Although operators have implemented various regulations to reduce misbehavior, little theoretical research has investigated such behavior motivators to provide targeted guidelines for specific passenger segments. To this end, this study explores how demographic and perceived social norms of university students affect their misbehaviors, i.e., eating in the carriage, public display of affection, sound blaster, cross-legged sitting, leaning against the pole, and littering, in the metro carriage of Shanghai, China. With the structural equation model, it is revealed that both injunctive and descriptive norms impose significant impacts on passengers’ inappropriate behaviors, with the effect of the former generally to a greater degree. Gender heterogeneity in passenger misbehavior is also observed, where males significantly perform better in eating in the carriage and cross-legged sitting. These findings may decode the underlying motivation of passenger misbehaviors and provide guidelines for effective intervention with targeted policy design and implementation.

Background: Liver fibrosis is a common consequence of chronic liver diseases resulting from multiple etiologies. Early clinical application shows that Ruangan Xiaoji Decoction (RGXJD) has a very obvious effect on the treatment of liver fibrosis. However, the mechanism of RGXJD cures liver fibrosis requires further elucidation.Methods: In this work, the therapeutic effect of RGXJD on CCl4-induced liver fibroses serum and liver tissue metabolite changes in rat was analyzed by 1H-NMR metabolomics. Meanwhile, histopathology examinations and serum clinical chemistry analysis verified the experimental results of metabolomics.Results: RGXJD treatment could reverse the increase in ALT and AST induced by CCl4 and attenuate the pathological changes in liver tissue. In the 1H-NMR metabolomic analysis, PLS-DA score plots demonstrated that the serum and liver tissue metabolic profiles in rats of the RGXJD groups were similar those of the control group, yet remarkably apart from the CCl4 group. The mechanism may be related to the endogenous metabolites including energy metabolism, amino acid metabolism, TCA cycle and purine metabolism in rats. Correlation analysis were then performed to further confirm the metabolites involved in Isoleucine, Tyrosine, UDP-Glucose, Glutathione and Leucine, etc.Conclusions: These findings may provided new insights into the mechanism of the hepatoprotection of RGXJD.

The increasing demand of high-performance supercapacitors has aroused great interest in developing specific capacitance and energy density. Active carbon (AC) has attracted much attention as a promising electrode material for electric double-layer capacitors (EDLCs). Here, a facile strategy has been employed to fabricate high-performance EDLCs using the surface-oxygen functionalized active carbon (FAC) as an electrode and 2 M KOH with K 3 Fe(CN) 6 as an electrolyte. In this system, K 3 Fe(CN) 6 was used as a redox additive to enhance the performance of EDLCs. A 38.5% increase in specific capacitance (207.7 F g −1 ) was achieved compared with the KOH electrolyte without adding K 3 Fe(CN) 6 (152.9 F g −1 ), due to the synergistic effects between oxygenic functional groups and redox electrolyte. These findings provide an alternative route to improve the performance of EDLCs, which are promising candidates for the broad applications of high-performance supercapacitors.

C–MnO2 is an alternative catalyst support in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells. In this study, C–MnO2 was prepared by hydrothermal method using KMnO4 as the Mn source. Meanwhile, Pt/C–MnO2 electrocatalyst was prepared by impregnation chemical reduction using ethylene glycol as reducing agent and H2PtCl6 as Pt precursor. The structure and morphology of C–MnO2 and Pt/C–MnO2 were characterized by X-ray diffraction energy-dispersive spectroscopy and transmission electronic microscopy analyses. Electrochemical performance was investigated by cyclic voltammetry analyses. A rotating disk electrode (RDE) was used to examine catalytic oxygen reduction reactions (ORRs) to explore the oxygen reduction of Pt/C–MnO2. The Pt/C–MnO2 exhibited better activity and stability than those of Pt/C. In contrast to Pt/C, MnO2 possessed unique characteristics; the oxide functions as an effective Pt support and hence enhances ORR activity and durability. The RDE results for the ORR indicated that the main reaction of the Pt/C–MnO2 catalyst was the direct reduction of O2–H2O. This reaction is similar to the mechanism of the Pt/C catalyst and both with a four-electron charge transfer. The results of the single cell polarization experiment and the ON–OFF cycling test revealed that MnO2 improves proton exchange membrane fuel cells performance and durability. This paper also investigated the mechanism through which MnO2 promotes oxygen reduction.

We propose a phase-only asymmetric optical cryptosystem based on random modulus decomposition (RMD). The cryptosystem is presented for effectively improving the capacity to resist various a...

Signal control strategy has a huge effect not only on intersection operations but also on traffic emissions. The basic assumptions are first proposed. Using the second-by-second data of vehicular velocity and acceleration, the mathematical expressions are then presented to calibrate the emission factors during green/red on the basis of vehicle-specific power. Given some necessary constraints, a single-objective optimisation model and a bi-objective optimisation model are formulated with the concern of traffic emissions. Considering three levels of traffic demands and two methods of signal timing, the numerical examples are carried out by utilising the VISSIM and MATLAB software packages. The findings indicate that the emission factors during green are explicitly greater than those during red and they are all stable for each pollutant and for each lane group; a scientific signal control system can simultaneously reduce vehicle delay and traffic emissions for isolated intersections.