A General Strategy Based on Hetero-Charge Coupling Effect for Constructing Single-Atom Sites.

Single-atom catalysts have emerged as cutting-edge hotspots in the field of material science owing to their excellent catalytic performance brought about by well-defined metal single-atom sites (M SASs). Herein, we report a novel synthesis strategy based on the hetero-charge coupling effect (HCCE) to prepare M SASs loaded on N and S co-doped porous carbon (M1/NSC). The proposed strategy was widely applied to prepare 17 types of M1/NSC composed of single or multi-metal with the integrated regulation of the coordination environment and electronic structure, exhibiting good universality and flexible adjustability. Furthermore, this strategy provided a low-cost method of efficiently synthesizing M1/NSC with high yields, that can produce more than 50 g catalyst at one time, which is key to large-scale production. Among various as-prepared unary M1/NSC catalysts, Fe1/NSC delivered excellent performance for electrocatalytic nitrate reduction to NH3 with high NH3 Faradaic efficiency of 86.6% and high NH3 yield rate of 1.50 mg h-1 mgcat.-1 at -0.6 V vs. RHE. Even using Fe1/NSC as a cathode in a Zn-nitrate battery, it exhibited a high open circuit voltage of 1.756 V and high energy density of 4.42 mW cm-2 with good cycling stability.

Simultaneous Oxidative Cleavage of Lignin and Reduction of Furfural via Efficient Electrocatalysis by P-Doped CoMoO4.

Electrochemical oxidative lignin cleavage and coupled 2-furaldehyde reduction provide a promising approach for producing high-value added products. However, developing efficient bifunctional electrocatalysts with noble-metal-like activity still remains a challenge. Here, an efficient electrochemical strategy is reported for the selective oxidative cleavage of Cα -Cß bonds in lignin into aromatic monomers by tailoring the electronic structure through P-doped CoMoO4 spinels (99% conversion, highest monomer selectivity of 56%). Additionally, the conversion and selectivity of 2-furaldehyde reduction to 2-methyl furan reach 87% and 73%, respectively. In situ Fourier transform infrared and density functional theory analysis reveal that an upward shift of the Ed upon P-doping leads to an increase in the antibonding level, which facilitates the Cα -Cß adsorption of the lignin model compounds, thereby enhancing the bifunctional electrocatalytic activity of the active site. This work explores the potential of a spinel as a bifunctional electrocatalyst for the oxidative cracking of lignin and the reductive conversion of small organic molecules to high-value added chemicals via P-anion modulation.

Walking Step Monitoring with a Millimeter-Wave Radar in Real-Life Environment for Disease and Fall Prevention for the Elderly.

We studied the use of a millimeter-wave frequency-modulated continuous wave radar for gait analysis in a real-life environment, with a focus on the measurement of the step time. A method was developed for the successful extraction of gait patterns for different test cases. The quantitative investigation carried out in a lab corridor showed the excellent reliability of the proposed method for the step time measurement, with an average accuracy of 96%. In addition, a comparison test between the millimeter-wave radar and a continuous-wave radar working at 2.45 GHz was performed, and the results suggest that the millimeter-wave radar is more capable of capturing instantaneous gait features, which enables the timely detection of small gait changes appearing at the early stage of cognitive disorders.

Investigation of an Ultra Wideband Noise Sensor for Health Monitoring.

Quick on-scene assessment and early intervention is the key to reduce the mortality of stroke and trauma patients, and it is highly desirable to develop ambulance-based diagnostic and monitoring devices in order to provide additional support to the medical personnel. We developed a compact and low cost ultra wideband noise sensor for medical diagnostics and vital sign monitoring in pre-hospital settings. In this work, we demonstrated the functionality of the sensor for respiration and heartbeat monitoring. In the test, metronome was used to manipulate the breathing pattern and the heartbeat rate reference was obtained with a commercial electrocardiogram (ECG) device. With seventeen tests performed for respiration rate detection, sixteen of them were successfully detected. The results also show that it is possible to detect the heartbeat rate accurately with the developed sensor.

A reanalysis dataset of the South China Sea.

Ocean reanalysis provides a temporally continuous and spatially gridded four-dimensional estimate of the ocean state for a better understanding of the ocean dynamics and its spatial/temporal variability. Here we present a 19-year (1992-2010) high-resolution ocean reanalysis dataset of the upper ocean in the South China Sea (SCS) produced from an ocean data assimilation system. A wide variety of observations, including in-situ temperature/salinity profiles, ship-measured and satellite-derived sea surface temperatures, and sea surface height anomalies from satellite altimetry, are assimilated into the outputs of an ocean general circulation model using a multi-scale incremental three-dimensional variational data assimilation scheme, yielding a daily high-resolution reanalysis dataset of the SCS. Comparisons between the reanalysis and independent observations support the reliability of the dataset. The presented dataset provides the research community of the SCS an important data source for studying the thermodynamic processes of the ocean circulation and meso-scale features in the SCS, including their spatial and temporal variability.