ABSTRACT
Invited for this month's cover is the group of Javier Pérez-Ramírez at ETH Zürich, which collaborated with the group of Tsvetelina Merdzhanova at Forschungszentrum Jülich. The image shows how artificial leaves, able to recycle carbon dioxide into syngas of variable composition, could be integrated with chemical plants. The Research Article itself is available at 10.1002/cssc.202301398.
ABSTRACT
Artificial leaves (a-leaves) can reduce carbon dioxide into syngas using solar power and could be combined with thermo- and biocatalytic technologies to decentralize the production of valuable products. By providing variable CO : H2 ratios on demand, a-leaves could facilitate optimal combinations and control the distribution of products in most of these hybrid systems. However, the current design procedures of a-leaves concentrate on achieving high performance for a predetermined syngas composition. This study demonstrates that incorporating the electrolyte flow as a design variable enables flexible production without compromising performance. The concept was tested on an a-leaf using a commercial cell, a Cu2 O:Inx cathodic catalyst, and an inexpensive amorphous silicon thin-film photovoltaic module. Syngas with CO : H2 ratio in the range of 1.8-2.3 could be attained with only 2 % deviation from the optimal cell voltage and controllable solely by catholyte flow. These features could be beneficial for downstream technologies such as Fischer-Tropsch synthesis and anaerobic fermentation.
ABSTRACT
3D-polarized light imaging (3D-PLI) reconstructs nerve fibers in histological brain sections by measuring their birefringence. This study investigates another effect caused by the optical anisotropy of brain tissue - diattenuation. Based on numerical and experimental studies and a complete analytical description of the optical system, the diattenuation was determined to be below 4 % in rat brain tissue. It was demonstrated that the diattenuation effect has negligible impact on the fiber orientations derived by 3D-PLI. The diattenuation signal, however, was found to highlight different anatomical structures that cannot be distinguished with current imaging techniques, which makes Diattenuation Imaging a promising extension to 3D-PLI.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To assess, on a national level, the views of chartered physiotherapists with regard to the psychological content of physiotherapy practice. DESIGN: A postal survey to a national list of sport injury and physiotherapy clinics was employed. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 361 responses were included in the descriptive statistical and qualitative analyses. MEASUREMENTS: The Physiotherapist and Sport Psychology Questionnaire (PSPQ). RESULTS: On average, physiotherapists felt that athletes were psychologically affected 83% of the time when injured. Key psychological characteristics were also identified in athletes who cope/do not cope successfully with their injuries. Physiotherapists reported using psychological techniques in their work and expressed the need for further training in the field. Only 24.1% of the physiotherapists stated having accesses to accredited sport psychologists. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest that UK physiotherapists possess practical experiences and good awareness for psychological aspects of injuries and acknowledge the importance of treating a range of psychological conditions.
