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Long lifespan Li-Se battery:Advances, challenges and prospects
No full textLithium-selenium (Li-Se) batteries have attracted increasing attention as one of the next-generation battery systems due to much higher electronic conductivity and comparable volumetric capacity of Se compared to the popular sulfur cathode. However, its practical application still faces great challenges, especially the rapid capacity decay triggered by the loss of active Se species. A comprehensive review to uncover the in-depth failure mechanism and provide targeted solutions to promote the stable operation of Li-Se batteries is urgently needed. This review systematically summarizes the strategies in the new perspective, focusing on the optimization of Se utilization in Li-Se batteries by keeping a high Se maintenance in the cathode and accelerating the electrochemical kinetics of lithium polyselenides (LiPSe) conversion. On the basis of structural design and Li2Se active material introduction to accommodate volume expansion, blocking shuttle transport of LiPSe by physical/chemical adsorption, bonding Se with polymers or cathode electrolyte interphase (CEI) construction, and catalytic design to accelerate the conversion of LiPSe, different strategies for improving the utilization of Se have been evaluated and discussed. To address the inevitable loss of Se, prospects on inactive Se reactivation and Li protection are detailedly proposed and analyzed referring to the chemistry and corrosion science. Additionally, the perspectives on the future design and comprehensive parameter evaluations for the optimization of Li-Se batteries are recommended. This review comprehensively explains the causes and solutions of capacity fading and provides potential efforts for lifespan expansion of batteries, shedding light on the future development of Li-Se batteries.</p
Tailoring fast mass transfer membrane:Zero discharge of wastewater using visible light
No full textThe imperative to combat pollution and recover vital resources in complex industrial environments has sparked a pioneering approach — the integration of separation membranes and advanced photocatalysts. In this study, we unveil a catalyzed mass-transfer membrane to revolutionize the treatment of heavy metal salts and dyes in wastewater. Our research presents a game-changing development — the introduction of aminomalononitrile (AMN) into a polydopamine (pDA)/piperazine (PIP) selective layer, reshaping the layer's structure and significantly enhancing membrane permeance. Notably, the AMN-pDA/PIP selective layer showcases exceptional self-cleaning and anti-biofouling properties, sustaining its effectiveness over extended real-world applications. The Cu–TiO2/CuO heterojunction photocatalyst introduced a concurrent membrane modification, concomitantly diminishing Cr6+ levels during the oxidative degradation of dye species, thereby yielding impressive removal rates of Cr6+ and dye (in the context of authentic textile wastewater) approximating 70 % and 100 %, respectively. The mechanism underlying the exceptional photocatalytic performance was probed through comprehensive simulations and pollutant filtration tests.</p
Aid allocation with optimal monitoring:Theory and policy
Get PDFWe explore the implications of allowing a poverty-averse donor to monitor aid use within the familiar context of the needs vs. aid effectiveness tradeoff. The paper focuses on the optimal aid allocation between two countries when the donor simultaneously decides about aid shares and country-specific monitoring effort aimed at increasing the amount reaching the poor. Endogenizing aid effectiveness is shown to raise the poor's income in the worse-governed country, yet not necessarily in the better-governed one, whereas the effect on country aid shares is essentially ambiguous. Those results still hold when the basic model is extended in various directions. Conventional aid allocation rules should be re-examined in their light.</p
Zwischen Idylle und Grausamkeit: die ambivalente Welt der Postapokalypse in Hannelore Valencaks Roman ›Die Höhlen Noahs‹ (1961)
No full textData Access-centered Understanding of Microservices Architectures
Get PDFRecent studies show that developers encounter difficulties when evolving microservices architectures, especially from a code and data management perspective. Specifically, they struggle to recover a high-level view, although essential for understanding and maintaining complex interactions across various microservices codebases and their databases. This paper introduces an approach for systematically analyzing data access code fragments in complex applications composed of multiple microservices and distributed across several codebases. By combining heuristic-based code analysis with natural language processing, the approach holistically identify, extracts, interprets, and documents the interactions between these microservices and their databases. The resulting report is designed to support software evolution tasks, such as locating or visualizing linked data access code fragments. A preliminary evaluation on 5 JavaScript microservices architectures with MongoDB and Redis provides emerging results.</p
Embodiment and simulated interaction in online stance expression
Get PDFThe expression and exchange of stance drives much social media discourse, including internet memes. We demonstrate how, even in the absence of actual face-to-face communication, online discourse and memes rely on the dynamics of embodiment and dialogue in comparable ways, while also developing specific constructional forms for this with no direct face-to-face equivalent. We introduce the notion of simulated interaction to refer to the combinations of embodied expression, images, and the structures of (apparent) quotation and dialogue allowing online communicators to vividly represent experience and signal stance
Evaluating the pragmatism of sarcopenia clinical trials using PRECIS-2:a systematic review
No full textObjective: This study aims to review interventional clinical trials in sarcopenia to assess their level of pragmatism and identify gaps to improve the clinical relevance and feasibility of future trials in the real world.Methods: A systematic review was conducted using MEDLINE (via Ovid), Embase, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (PRISMA guidelines; PROSPERO: CRD42024571027). Eligible studies included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on sarcopenia treatment using a consensus definition. The PRECIS-2 tool was used to assess the level of pragmatism of these RCTs across nine standard domains (eligibility, recruitment, setting, organisation, flexibility of delivery, flexibility of adherence, follow-up, primary outcome, and primary analysis), with an additional "control" domain. Total PRECIS-2 scores were calculated, and subgroup analyses were conducted by intervention type, geographical location, sample size, study duration, and sarcopenia definition.Results: Of the 3,985 references reviewed, 58 RCTs met the inclusion criteria. The mean PRECIS-2 score across its 10 domains was 2.92 (SD 1.30), reflecting a balance of explanatory and pragmatic characteristics. Organisation, recruitment, and primary outcome were identified as the most pragmatic domains, whereas eligibility, adherence, and follow-up were the most explanatory. Subgroup analyses revealed that geographical location and sarcopenia definitions impacted significantly the overall PRECIS-2 score. More precisely, studies conducted in Asia achieved higher pragmatism scores, with significant differences in setting (p = 0.016), follow-up (p = 0.009), and control (p = 0.011). Studies using Asian sarcopenia criteria (e.g. AWGS) were also more pragmatic, particularly in the setting (p = 0.036) and control (p = 0.010).Conclusion: Due to the reversible nature of sarcopenia, clinical trials in this area have increased significantly in recent years. Although some methodological aspects of these RCTs follow pragmatic approaches, this systematic review highlights the need for improvements in areas such as exclusion criteria, follow-up and adherence. Specifically, there is an urgent need to design RCTs that more accurately reflect the complexity of real-world interventions in the multifaceted landscape of sarcopenia
Putting the European Parliament's gender exceptionalism to the test:MEPs’ specialisation in masculine and feminine policy domains in parliamentary questions
No full textThe European Parliament is often presented as a success story regarding women's representation. Yet, recent studies observe gendered patterns in parliamentary behaviour. This article contributes to this scholarship by studying gender differences in MEPs’ parliamentary behaviour on ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ policy domains. Analysing 136,787 parliamentary questions over 25 years (1994–2019), the study reveals moderate gender differences in MEPs’ behaviour. Moreover, gender differences are influenced by seniority and women's numerical presence in the European Parliament's political groups. Gender-stereotypical policy foci are more pronounced among newcomers and disappear for experienced MEPs. In political groups with fewer women, seniority is key for women MEPs seeking engagement in masculine policy domains. Overall, our findings underscore the interplay between gender, seniority, and women's presence in shaping MEPs’ parliamentary behaviour within the European Parliament’s gendered context.</p
Multivariate generalized Pareto distributions along extreme directions
No full textWhen modeling a vector of risk variables, extreme scenarios are often of special interest. The peaks-over-thresholds method hinges on the notion that, asymptotically, the excesses over a vector of high thresholds follow a multivariate generalized Pareto distribution. However, existing literature has primarily concentrated on the setting when all risk variables are always large simultaneously. In reality, this assumption is often not met, especially in high dimensions. In response to this limitation, we study scenarios where distinct groups of risk variables may exhibit joint extremes while others do not. These discernible groups are derived from the angular measure inherent in the corresponding max-stable distribution, whence the term extreme direction. We explore such extreme directions within the framework of multivariate generalized Pareto distributions, with a focus on their probability density functions in relation to an appropriate dominating measure. Furthermore, we provide a stochastic construction that allows any prespecified set of risk groups to constitute the distribution’s extreme directions. This construction takes the form of a smoothed max-linear model and accommodates the full spectrum of conceivable max-stable dependence structures. Additionally, we introduce a generic simulation algorithm tailored for multivariate generalized Pareto distributions, offering specific implementations for extensions of the logistic and Hüsler-Reiss families capable of carrying arbitrary extreme directions.</p