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Sodium titanate (NTO)/rGO electrode from Ti-MXene beautifully solved NTO’s poor conductivity, slow ion deintercalation reaction kinetics, and lattice expansion during charging/discharging, which achieved a good desalination performance.

V-doped T-Nb2O5 possesses reduced band gap, boosted ionic transportation and superior structural stability, resulting in excellent rate performance and cycling stability.

Combining the high operational security of magnesium-ion batteries (MIBs) and the fast Li intercalation mechanism of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), Li+/Mg2+ hybrid-ion batteries (LMIBs) have been developed and are regarded as a promising source of stored power for applications. However, pristine MoS2 with an interplanar distance of 0.62 nm only allows Li+ intercalation, leading to limited energy densities and mediocre electrochemical performance. Herein, we designed and prepared a material consisting of hierarchical interlayer-expanded MoS2 nanosheets/hollow N-doped carbon nanofibers (O–MoS2/HN-CNFs) with interplanar expanded O–MoS2 (0.94 nm). HN-CNFs adequately conduct electrons, and the expanded interlayer spacing of O–MoS2 ensures that Mg2+ and Li+ simultaneously intercalate into the host, even at 1000 mA g−1. Additionally, O–MoS2/HN-CNFs can significantly reduce the ion diffusion barrier and increase the number of intercalated active sites. As a result, O–MoS2/HN-CNFs exhibited superior rate capabilities, good cycling performance, and long-term cycling stability, with a reversible capacity of 134.4 mA h g−1 at 1000 mA g−1 after 2000 cycles.

Mg2+/Li+ hybrid ion batteries (MLIBs) are regarded as an emerging candidate for next generation rechargeable batteries. However, realizing superior high-rate performance is still an unremitting challenge for further development of MLIBs. Herein, a rational design of the T-Nb2O5@MoO2 nanorod array heterostructure as the cathode of MLIBs is presented. The resulting heterostructure reinforces structural stability and induces the generation of a built-in electric field, which facilitates ionic transport kinetics, as verified by reaction kinetics analysis, ex situ characterization techniques and density functional theory calculations. As expected, the T-Nb2O5@MoO2 heterostructure delivers a reversible capacity of 250.3 mA h g−1 at 0.5C, excellent rate performance (68.8 mA h g−1 at 10C) and long cycling life (capacity retention of 76.0% at 5C after 1500 cycles). Thus, this strategy paves the way for designing advanced electrode materials with excellent electrochemical performance.

Undesirable lithium dendrite growth limits the application of lithium metal anodes in high-energy storage batteries. Here, multifunctional SnSe–C composite modified 3D scaffolds are constructed to achieve dendrite-free lithium deposition. During the initial lithiation stage, the porous SnSe–C composite converts into a Li–Sn alloy and Li2Se by lithium reduction. The lithiophilic Li–Sn alloy exhibits a low nucleation barrier and realizes homogeneous lithium nucleation. The reductive product Li2Se with a high ionic conductivity facilitates lithium ion transport, which helps realizing the homogeneous lithium ion flux and reducing concentration polarization. Benefitting from the synergistic effect of the Li–Sn alloy and Li2Se, the Li/SnSe–C anode exhibits an ultralong lifespan over 1100 h with a low overpotential of 18 mV. In full-cell configurations with LiFePO4 cathodes, the Li/SnSe–C anode demonstrates enhanced rate capability and cycle stability with a high-capacity retention of 85% over 750 cycles. This work prepares multifunctional SnSe–C composite modified 3D scaffolds to regulate lithium nucleation and transport, which offers new insights and opportunities for developing dendrite-free lithium metal battery technology.

Compared with the strategy of expanding MoS2 interlayer spacing, constructing van der Waals heterostructures of MoS2 and graphene (MoS2/G) has proven to be a more effective method to facilitate the ion diffusion rate in host materials. However, the reduced adsorption energy of intercalated metal ions at the active sites of MoS2/G interlamination causes a rapid voltage drop during discharge processes, resulting in an inferior energy density. Herein, we constructed anion vacancy-rich MoSSe and graphene van der Waals heterostructures (v-MoSSe/G). By adjusting the Se doping amount, v-MoSSe/G with an S : Se ratio of 1 : 1 exhibits the most anion vacancies. Compared with MoS2/G heterostructures, density functional theory calculations proved that more anion vacancies in v-MoSSe/G can further reduce the ion diffusion barriers and increase the adsorption energy of the intercalated ions, thereby greatly enhancing the ion diffusion rate and suppressing the rapid voltage drop during discharge processes. Therefore, for rechargeable Mg–Li hybrid-ion batteries, v-MoSSe/G realizes a Mg2+/Li+ co-intercalation even at 1000 mA g−1, and also delivers excellent cycling performance, rate capability, and long-term cycling stability with a reversible capacity of 164.6 mA h g−1 at 1000 mA g−1 after 3000 cycles.

The effects of the different content of Si3N4 particles and Al2O3 particles in the plating solution and the different ratios on the wear resistance, microhardness, corrosion resistance and other properties of the coating were analyzed by using the centre composite surface design of response surface method (RSM). Meanwhile the phase composition, appearance, microhardness, friction coefficient and corrosion resistance of the electroless coating were tested. The results show that the addition of Al2O3 and Si3N4 particles in the bath can increase the microhardness of the electroless composite coating. In a certain range, the increase of Al2O3 or Si3N4 particles in the bath causes the microhardness of the coating to increase, but the excessive addition of particles makes microhardness decrease; the electroless coating with two particles added will have a low coefficient of friction; and with respect to corrosion resistance, the addition of Al2O3 or Si3N4 particles will increase the corrosion resistance of the coating. Overall, the electroless coating with the Al2O3 content of 16 g/L and the Si3N4 content of 12.63 g/L has the better comprehensive performance.

2D-Ti3C2Tx MXene flake restacking and the small interlayer spacing of these MXenes limit their application in capacitive deionization. Here, we designed an all-MXene-based (L-S-Ti3C2Tx) flexible film electrode, enabled by large-size Ti3C2Tx (lateral dimensions of ⩾1 μm) MXene (L-Ti3C2Tx) nanosheets, which provided conductive pathways and were active substances, and by small-size Ti3C2Tx (500 nm) MXene (S-Ti3C2Tx) nanosheets, which were used as intercalation materials and active substances, for high-performance desalination in capacitive deionization applications. The as-synthesized L-S-Ti3C2Tx electrode achieved an excellent capacitance (169 F/g at 5 mV/s) and long-term cycling stability (maintained 91.7% of the initial capacitance after 5000 cycles). Additionally, these electrodes exhibited a high electroadsorption capacity (72 mg NaCl/g L-S-Ti3C2Tx, 10 mM NaCl solution). The improved electrochemical and desalination performance and outstanding long-term cycling stability can be attributed to the small Ti3C2Tx sheets that were introduced, which could be beneficial in exposing more active sites, facilitating electron transport, and shortening the diffusion path of Na ions. Our work opens up a new design space for the development of high-performance anode materials.

The most critical issue hindering the practical application of lithium metal anodes in secondary batteries is the uncontrollable growth of dendrites, which is caused by the uneven supply of lithium ions transported from the inevitably inhomogeneous solid electrolyte interface (SEI) layer on the electrode surface. During lithium deposition, the intrinsically uneven distribution of lithium ions on the anode surface causes the lithium to be liable to deposit at tips and humps, and this results in uncontrollable dendrite growth. Herein, CuO–C modified glass fiber films with a mixed ion and electron-conducting network are proposed to realize homogenized lithium ion flux via providing widespread inner lithium ion transport channels in the skeleton. The improved lithium ion transport in the anodes can remarkably weaken the polarization of lithium plating, further contributing to uniform lithium deposition and high cycling stability. Owing to the high-performance mixed ion and electron transport frameworks, the resultant half cells achieve a long lifespan of over 500 cycles at 1 mA cm−2. Moreover, a full battery coupled with LiFePO4 shows enhanced rate capabilities and high cycle stability, with retention of 81.1% at 1C over 400 cycles compared with a Cu–C modified glass fiber film scaffold.

To realize the industrial feasibility of capacitive deionization (CDI), many efforts have been made to improve the desalination performance. Since investment and daily maintenance issues have to be considered in the actual operation of CDI, which are related to the long-term operational stability of the system, the decline in the performance of electrode materials in long-term operation has seriously impeded the practical application of CDI systems. In this paper, we propose a binder-free Alk-Ti3C2Tx MXene (Alk-Ti3C2Tx-M) using 2D delaminated Ti3C2Tx MXene (d-Ti3C2Tx) nanosheets and 3D porous Alk-Ti3C2Txvia a simple vacuum-assisted filtration strategy. The alkali induces MXene to form a three-dimensional (3D) porous structure, which improves the stability of the electrode with open interconnected pores, while the high surface area guarantees fast ionic diffusion and high Na+ loading. Moreover, d-Ti3C2Tx sheets as a conductive binder replaces traditional conductive adhesives, which enhance the capacity and stability of the electrode by effectively accommodating the volume change and eliminating electrochemically inactive components of traditional conductive binders. As a result, the integrated Alk-Ti3C2Tx-M cathode could be directly used for CDI and exhibited a high capacity (50 ± 3 mg g−1 at 30 mA g−1) and a long-life cycle stability (∼250 cycles, over more than 10 days). Therefore, this strategy of assembling electrodes can be readily extended to constructing a large number of 2D-derived materials for electrochemical applications.

Fast and accurate microseismic locating methods, such as the virtual field optimization method (VFOM), are increasingly used by researchers and mine management personnel. The VFOM can accurately locate a microseismic source under a large picking error. However, due to the complexity of the objective function of the VFOM, especially when a large number of sensors are involved, this method may require substantial time for the locating process. To overcome this problem, heuristic algorithms were used to increase the locating speed of the VFOM, and the performances of two heuristic algorithms (particle swarm optimization algorithm (PSO) and genetic algorithm (GA)) for the VFOM were evaluated. In general, the performances of these algorithms are affected by many factors, such as the Number of generations (NG) and Number of populations (NP). To enhance the performance of heuristic algorithms, a parameter tuning method was used to determine the relevant parameters for these algorithms. In contrast to the traditional gradient-based algorithm, heuristic algorithms can greatly improve the location efficiency of the VFOM with almost no loss of accuracy and can avoid falling into the local optimal value. The results showed that the PSO can provide better location accuracy and computational efficiency for the VFOM than those obtained with the GA. Furthermore, the VFOM and traditional methods were compared to discuss the influence of the number of sensors and positioning of the source on the location identification and the superiority of the VFOM-based location identification was verified.

The operators' poor adaptability on photos and difficulties of removing background point and noise point and other problems make the conventional focusing synthesis techniques difficult to get better application and promotion in the field of three-dimensional reconstruction. In this paper, a modified Laplacian operator was used as an evaluation basis to select focus points and the theory of three-dimensional reconstruction was discussed from the perspectives of image multilayer composite algorithm and height interpolation. To solve the problem of removing noise point and background point, a double threshold selection technique was proposed, which greatly improved the adaptability of focusing evaluation operator. Finally, a test on three-dimensional reconstruction of the tool wear's surface topography was conducted.

Capacitive deionization (CDI) is a novel technology for desalinating feed water because of its low cost and easy regeneration and in spite of its low desalination capacity and charge efficiency. One of the most promising methods to address these issues is replacing traditional carbon materials with materials that can store ions via faradaic reactions (here known as faradaic electrode materials). Faradaic electrode materials have three main advantages over carbon materials: high capacity, low energy loss, and selective separation; thus, faradaic materials have attracted the interest of many scholars. However, there has not been a comprehensive review of the advances in faradaic materials in desalination and ion separation. In this paper, we present an overview of three kinds of architectures of faradaic deionization cells and analyze their advantages and disadvantages. A variety of faradaic materials are introduced in terms of their structures, merits, drawbacks, and methods to address their deficiencies are discussed. The performance of faradaic electrode materials in desalination, the removal of heavy metals and ion separation is also presented. The issues related to performance are identified, and ways to address them are proposed.

Power system network is an important guarantee for the smooth operation of power enterprises. Considering the current automatic network vulnerability scanning method of power system, the detection rate of network vulnerability scanning is low due to its poor scheduling ability. Therefore, this paper designs a new automatic scanning method for network vulnerabilities in power system. According to the infrastructure of power system network vulnerability scanner, the power system web page interaction behavior recognition model is constructed to complete the power system web page interaction behavior recognition. On this basis, the power system network scanning scheduling algorithm is designed. Combined with genetic algorithm, the variation process of power system network vulnerabilities is determined, the power system network security situation is determined, the power system network scanning scheduling and vulnerability mining are realized, and the design of power system network leakage automatic scanning method is completed. The experimental link is constructed to verify this method. The verification shows that this method can effectively improve the detection rate of network vulnerability scanning and the efficiency of vulnerability scanning to a certain extent.

Three-dimensional molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) nanosheets grew on reduced graphene oxide/single-walled carbon nanotubes (GNTs). The resulting reduced graphene oxide/single-walled carbon nanotube/MoS...

Powder metallurgy gears are often accompanied by broken teeth, abrasion, scratches and crack defects. In order to eliminate the defective gears in gear production and improve the yield of gears, this paper presents an improved GA–PSO algorithm, called the SHGA–PSO algorithm. Firstly, the gear images were preprocessed by bilateral filtering, and the images were segmented by the Sobel operator. Then, the geometrical shape, texture feature and color features of the sample were extracted. Next, the BP neural network was reconstructed and SHGA–PSO algorithm was used optimize its structure and weights. Finally, four different gear defect samples were brought into the neural network for calculation, and the performance of the SHGA–PSO algorithm was compared with the GA, PSO and GA–PSO algorithms. Compared with GA–BP algorithm, PSO–BP algorithm, and GA–PSO–BP algorithm, the defect diagnosis of SHGA–PSO–BP algorithm not only enhanced generalization ability, but also improved recognition accuracy.

Coatings prepared by different electrolyte additives were investigated on AZ31 magnesium alloy by plasma electrolytic oxidation. In this study, scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis were employed to assess the morphologies, chemical and phase compositions of the plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) coatings, respectively. Furthermore, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy was used to evaluate the corrosion behavior of the composite coating. The investigation of the effect of electrolyte additives in the base electrolyte showed that the PEO specimens exhibit different surface and cross-sectional morphologies, and phase compositions. The results showed that SiO32&minus, was conducive to the growth of the ceramic layer, and the ceramic layer developing in the electrolyte which contained AlO2&minus, showed a typical double-layer structure. The corrosion resistance of coating formed in a phosphate bath was higher than that of the coating formed in silicate bath and coating formed in an aluminate bath. Moreover, the corrosion resistance of the coating formed in the fluoride bath was the highest.

The effects of the different content of Si³N⁴ particles and Al²O³ particles in the plating solution and the different ratios on the wear resistance, microhardness, corrosion resistance and other properties of the coating were analyzed by using the centre composite surface design of response surface method (RSM). Meanwhile the phase composition, appearance, microhardness, friction coefficient and corrosion resistance of the electroless coating were tested. The results show that the addition of Al²O³ and Si³N⁴ particles in the bath can increase the microhardness of the electroless composite coating. In a certain range, the increase of Al²O³ or Si³N⁴ particles in the bath causes the microhardness of the coating to increase, but the excessive addition of particles makes microhardness decrease; the electroless coating with two particles added will have a low coefficient of friction; and with respect to corrosion resistance, the addition of Al²O³ or Si³N⁴ particles will increase the corrosion resistance of the coating. Overall, the electroless coating with the Al²O³ content of 16 g/L and the Si³N⁴ content of 12.63 g/L has the better comprehensive performance.

The turning test of stainless steel was carried out by using the central composite surface design of response surface method (RSM) and Taguchi design method of central combination design. The influence of cutting parameters (cutting speed, feed rate, and cutting depth) on the surface roughness was analyzed. The surface roughness prediction model was established based on the second-order RSM. According to the test results, the regression coefficient was estimated by the least square method, and the regression equation was curve fitted. Meanwhile, the significance analysis was conducted to test the fitting degree and response surface design and analysis, in addition to establishing a response surface map and three-dimensional surface map. The life of the machining tool was analyzed based on the optimized parameters. The results show that the influence of feed rate on the surface roughness is very significant. Cutting depth is the second, and the influence of cutting speed is the least. Therefore, the cutting parameters are optimized and tool life is analyzed to realize the efficient and economical cutting of difficult-to-process materials under the premise of ensuring the processing quality.

With the increased availability of motion capture data, the volume of motion library grows so large that it is difficult for animators to manually browse the dataset to search desired motions for reuse. To address this issue, we implement a framework, which allows the user to retrieve motions via Labanotation. For each motion clip in the library, we generate a corresponding Labanotation sequence as additional motion property. A similarity metric for Labanotation sequences is proposed and used to search the motions that have similar Laban descriptions. Our search algorithm is able to retrieve motion segments that only match part of the query Laban sequence. Then based on dynamic programming, these segments are stitched together to form a smooth output motion that is in an optimal sense of matching query Laban sequence. Experimental results demonstrate our method could effectively improve the utilization of motion data. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

In diabetic nephropathy (DN), podocyte cytoskeletal rearrangement occurs followed by podocyte effacement and the development of proteinuria. PTEN (phosphatase and tensin homologue) is a ubiquitously expressed phosphatase that plays a critical role in cell proliferation, cytoskeletal rearrangement, and motility. In mouse models of diabetes mellitus, PTEN expression is reportedly decreased in mesangial cells, contributing to expansion of the mesangial matrix, but how PTEN in the podocyte influences the development of DN is unknown. We observed that PTEN expression is down-regulated in the podocytes of diabetic db/db mice and patients with DN. In cultured podocytes, PTEN inhibition caused actin cytoskeletal rearrangement and this response was associated with unbalanced activation of the small GTPases Rac1/Cdc42 and RhoA. In mice treated with PTEN inhibitor, actin cytoskeletal rearrangement occurred in podocytes and was accompanied by increased albumin excretion. We also created mice with an inducible deletion of PTEN selectively in podocytes. These mice exhibited increased albumin excretion and moderate foot process effacement. When the mice were challenged with a high fat diet, podocyte-specific knockout of PTEN resulted in substantially increased proteinuria and glomeruloclerosis compared to control mice fed a high fat diet or mice with PTEN deletion fed a normal diet. These results indicate that PTEN is involved in the regulation of cytoskeletal rearrangement in podocytes and that loss of PTEN predisposes to the development of proteinuria and DN.

In most motion editing approaches, the users often make changes on mocap data by specifying numerical parameters. However, it is not intuitive for a novice to edit motion sequences in motion planning tasks. In this paper, we present a method of notation-based motion editing, in which Labanotation, a well-developed notation language for human movements, is employed as the editing interface. It allows the user to specify the editing requirements via notation score, and the system will semi-automatically generate the desired motion data. The algorithmic steps of its pipeline and the core issues of converting Labanotation into motion sequences are discussed in detail. We show the results of our systems using martial arts motion as its testing data.

Motion choreography is a design process of creating, structuring and forming body movements. We proposed and implemented a notation-based motion choreography system, LabanChoreographer version 0.1. Given the user specified movement notations, it will firstly perform Laban-based motion retrieval to find the most similar motions from a motion capture database notated with Labanotation, and snap together these retrieved motion clips into a continuous rough motion sequence that match the input Laban sequence as much as possible. Secondly, Laban-based motion editing algorithm is employed to semi-automatically revise and refine this candidate motion sequence such that the resulting motion data can best approximate the desired motion in the user’s mind. The choreographer is able to move flexibly back and forth between Labanotations and its rapid-prototyped motion data. It well supports the iterative and interactive development of movement ideas at a conceptual level.