102 research outputs found
Serum ACTH and Cortisol Level is Associated with the Acute Gastrointestinal Injury Grade in ICU Patients [Erratum]
No full textXu W, Qiu Y, Qiu H, Zhong M, Li L. Int J Gen Med. 2024;17:127–134.
On page 127, the third author’s name should read from “Hongping Qiu” to “Hongping Qu”.
This error was introduced by the Editorial staff during the publication process
Biolubrication enhancement for tissues and biomaterials:Restoration of natural lubricant function by biopolymers
No full textInsufficient biolubrication leads to a drastic decrease in the quality of life associated with chronic pain, irritation, and restricted mobility. With the increasing aging population, more and more people worldwide suffer from lubrication dysfunction-related conditions like dry mouth, dry eye, and osteoarthritis, yielding severe discomfort. Currently, the strategy used to restore biolubrication is to overwhelm the natural lubrication system with exogenous viscosity enhancer, which shows limited effect. To improve the quality of life of patients, it is urgent to develop a new strategy to enhance biolubrication. This thesis presents a new approach of utilizing the existing impaired lubricants to repair the lubrication systems with the help of biopolymers. This thesis provides new insights in restoring the lubrication functionality in the living system
Financial viability of standalone wood pellet production using pine beetle fibre
No full textNorthern British Columbia is experiencing an infestation of epidemic proportions from the mountain pine beetle. The British Columbia provincial and Canada federal governments have proposed that uses other than dimensional lumber should be encouraged to maximize the economic value of the dying and dead lodgepole pine. Future wood pellet production facilities would need to become standalone and utilise whole trees as a source of wood fibre inputs. The primary objective of this study was to examine the financial viability of a Northern British Columbia standalone wood pellet production facility located in Prince George when fibre input comes from primary harvesting using a whole mountain pine beetle-killed lodgepole pine tree. The secondary objective was to understand whether incentives by way of stumpage relief provided by the government of British Columbia would provide financial viability of a standalone wood pellet production facility. Data obtained from the British Columbia Ministry of Forests and Range, Wood Pellets Association of Canada, and European Pellet Centre was used to project cash flow for five, seven, and ten-year baseline, realistic, pessimistic, and optimistic scenarios. Analysis was done using net present value of cash flows with an annual 8.9% return requirement. In all but the optimistic scenario it was proven that a standalone wood pellet production facility was not financially viable. It was further determined that mountain pine beetle-killed lodgepole pine was already assessed the lowest stumpage rate and further relief would have no bearing on the financial viability of a standalone wood pellet production facility. Government encouragement of additional wood pellet production facilities would require direct or indirect subsidies aimed at capital costs and taxation relief.The original print copy of this thesis may be available here: http://wizard.unbc.ca/record=b143506
Large-Area and Visible-Light-Driven Heterojunctions of In<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>/Graphene Built for ppb-Level Formaldehyde Detection at Room Temperature
No full textAchieving convenient and accurate detection of indoor ppb-level formaldehyde is an urgent requirement to ensure a healthy working and living environment for people. Herein, ultrasmall In2O3 nanorods and supramolecularly functionalized reduced graphene oxide are selected as hybrid components of visible-light-driven (VLD) heterojunctions to fabricate ppb-level formaldehyde (HCHO) gas sensors (named InAG sensors). Under 405 nm visible light illumination, the sensor exhibits an outstanding response toward ppb-level HCHO at room temperature, including the ultralow practical limit of detection (pLOD) of 5 ppb, high response (Ra/Rg = 2.4, 500 ppb), relatively short response/recovery time (119 s/179 s, 500 ppb), high selectivity, and long-term stability. The ultrasensitive room temperature HCHO-sensing property is derived from visible-light-driven and large-area heterojunctions between ultrasmall In2O3 nanorods and supramolecularly functionalized graphene nanosheets. The performance of the actual detection toward HCHO is evaluated in a 3 m3 test chamber, confirming the practicability and reliability of the InAG sensor. This work provides an effective strategy for the development of low-power-consumption ppb-level gas sensors.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Bio-Electronic
Study of adsorption and desorption of flavonoids from compound hawthorn extract by polymide resin static bed
No full textCoating Layer Characterization of Laser Deposited AlSi Coating over Laser Weld Bead
No full textAbstractCorrosion protection of steel components is an important topic in automotive industry. Laser beam welding makes a narrow weld bead, thus minimizing the damage to the original coating on the steel material. However, the weld bead loses its original coating and is vulnerable to corrosive attack. It was demonstrated in this study that laser beam generated AlSi coating is an effective way to apply a protective coating on the weld bead. Coatings with different thickness and topography have been deposited under different laser power and processing speed. The microstructure of the as-deposited coating and its evolution after heat treatment has been studied. EDS was employed to analyze the distribution of chemical compositions of the laser generated coatings. Several metallic compounds of Al and iron have been identified. It was found that the type of metallic compounds can be influenced by the laser processing parameters
Classification of hydrometeors based on polarimetric radar measurements: development of fuzzy logic and neuro-fuzzy systems, and in situ verification
No full textA fuzzy logic and neuro-fuzzy system for classification of hydrometeor type based on polarimetric radar measurements is described in this paper. The hydrometeor classification system is implemented by using fuzzy logic and a neural network, where the fuzzy logic is used to infer hydrometeor type, and the neural network learning algorithm is used for automatic adjustment of the parameters of the fuzzy sets in the fuzzy logic system according to prior knowledge. Five radar measurements, namely, horizontal reflectivity (ZH), differential reflectivity (ZDR), differential propagation phase shift (KDP), correlation coefficient [ρHV(0)], and linear depolarizationratio (LDR), and corresponding altitude, have been used as input variables to the neuro-fuzzy network. The output of the neuro-fuzzy system is one of the many possible hydrometeor types: 1) drizzle, 2) rain, 3) dry and low density snow, 4) dry and high-density crystals, 5) wet and melting snow, 6) dry graupel, 7) wet graupel, 8)small hail, 9) large hail, and 10) a mixture of rain and hail. The neuro-fuzzy classifier is more advantageous than a simple neural network or a fuzzy logic classifier because it is more transparent (instead of a "black box") and can learn the parameter of the system from the past data (unlike a fuzzy logic system). The hydrometeor classifier has been applied to several case studies and the results are compared against in situ observations
A Plant-inspired Light Transducer for High-performance Near-infrared Light Mediated Gas Sensing
No full textConstructing near-infrared light (NIR) light-enhanced room temperature gas sensors is becoming more promising for practical application. In this study, learning from the structure and photosynthetic process of chlorophyll thylakoid membranes in plants, the first “Thylakoid membrane” structural formaldehyde (HCHO) sensor is constructed by matching the upconversion emission of the lanthanide-doped upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) and the UV–vis adsorption of the as-prepared nanocomposites. The NIR-mediated sensor exhibits excellent performances, including ultra-high response (Ra / Rg = 2.22, 1 ppm), low practical limit of detection (50 ppb), reliable repeatability, high selectivity, and broadband spectral response. The practicality of the NIR-mediated gas sensor is confirmed through the remote and external stimulation test. A study of sensing mechanism demonstrates that it is the UCNPs-based light transducer produces more light-induced oxygen species for gas response in the process of non-radiative/radiative energy transfer, playing a key role in significantly improving the sensing properties of the sensor. The universality of NIR-mediated gas sensors based on UCNPs is verified using ZnO, In2O3, and SnO2 systems. This work paves a way for fabricating high-performance NIR-mediated gas sensors and will expand the application fields of NIR light.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Bio-Electronic
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