Trends on the Development of Hybrid Supercapacitor Electrodes from the Combination of Graphene and Polyaniline

The high demand for efficient energy devices leads to the rapid development of energy storage systems with excellent electrochemical properties, such as long life cycles, high cycling stability, and high power density. SC is postulated as a potential candidate to fulfill this demand. The combination of graphene and polyaniline can create SC electrodes with excellent electrical conductivity, high specific surface area, and high capacitance. The graphene/polyaniline hybrid electrodes represent an attractive means to overcome the major drawbacks of graphene or polyaniline non-hybrid (single) electrode materials. In this review article, the trend in the development of various graphene/polyaniline hybrid electrodes is summarized, which includes the zero-dimension graphene-quantum-dots/polyaniline hybrid, one-dimension graphene/polyaniline hybrid, two-dimension graphene/polyaniline hybrid, and three-dimension hydrogel-shaped graphene/polyaniline hybrid. Several strategies and approaches to enhance the capacitance value and cycling stability of graphene/polyaniline hybrid electrodes are discussed in this review article, such as the addition of transition metal oxides and metal-organic frameworks, and modification of graphene into functionalized-graphene. The performance of the electrodes prepared from the combination of graphene with other conducting polymers (i.e., polypyrrole, polythiophene, and polythiophene-derivatives) is also discussed.

Lessons from the design, development and implementation of a three-dimensional (3D) neonatal resuscitation training smartphone application: Life-saving Instruction for Emergencies (LIFE app)

Neonatal mortality remains disproportionately high in sub-Saharan Africa partly due to insufficient numbers of adequately trained and skilled front-line health workers. Opportunities for improving neonatal care may result from upskilling frontline health workers using innovative technological approaches. This practice paper describes the key steps involved in the design, development and implementation of an innovative smartphone-based training application using an agile, human-centred design approach. The Life-saving Instruction for Emergencies (LIFE) app is a three-dimension (3D) scenario-based mobile app for smartphones and is free to download. Two clinical modules are currently included with further scenarios planned. Whilst the focus of the practice paper is on the lessons learned during the design and development process, we also share key learning related to project management and sustainability plans, which we hope will help researchers working on similar projects.

Target Classification of Similar Spatial Characteristics in Complex Urban Areas by Using Multispectral LiDAR

With the rapid modernization, many remote-sensing sensors were developed for classifying urban land and environmental monitoring. Multispectral LiDAR, which serves as a new technology, has exhibited potential in remote-sensing monitoring due to the synchronous acquisition of three-dimension point cloud and spectral information. This study confirmed the potential of multispectral LiDAR for complex urban land cover classification through three comparative methods. Firstly, the Optech Titan LiDAR point cloud was pre-processed and ground filtered. Then, three methods were analyzed: (1) Channel 1, based on Titan data to simulate the classification of a single-band LiDAR; (2) three-channel information and the digital surface model (DSM); and (3) three-channel information and DSM combined with the calculated three normalized difference vegetation indices (NDVIs) for urban land classification. A decision tree was subsequently used in classification based on the combination of intensity information, elevation information, and spectral information. The overall classification accuracies of the point cloud using the single-channel classification and the multispectral LiDAR were 64.66% and 93.82%, respectively. The results show that multispectral LiDAR has excellent potential for classifying land use in complex urban areas due to the availability of spectral information and that the addition of elevation information to the classification process could boost classification accuracy.

BALANCE MOTION PLANNING FOR HUMANOID ROBOT BASED ON 3D INVERTED PENDULUM MODEL

Researches on humanoid robots are alway attractive to many researchers in robotics field. One of considerable challenges of humanoid robots is to keep balance and stability of their movement. Because a humanoid robot moves by two legs, most of time of the step period of the humanoid robot is be in one leg touching on the floor and the other leg swinging forward. This posture is similar to a three dimension (3D) inverted pendulum model. This papers presents the dynamic model of a 3D inverted pendulum model and applies to balanced motion planning for a humanoid robot. The obtained results show that the robot is able to keep balance during its movements

Tailoring Peptide Self-Assembly and Formation of 2D Nanoribbons on Mica and HOPG Surface

Studying the interactions between biomolecules and material interfaces play a crucial role in the designing and synthesizing of functional bionanomaterials with tailored structure and function. Previously, a lot of studies were performed on the self-assembly of peptides in solution through internal and external stimulations, which mediated the creation of peptide nanostructures from zero-dimension to three-dimension. In this study, we demonstrate the self-assembly behavior of the GNNQQNY peptide on the surface of mica and highly oriented pyrolytic graphite through tailoring the self-assembly conditions. Various factors, such as the type of dissolvent, peptide concentration, pH value, and evaporation period on the formation of peptide nanofibers and nanoribbons with single- and bi-directional arrays are investigated. It is found that the creation of peptide nanoribbons on both mica and HOPG can be achieved effectively through adjusting and optimizing the experimental parameters. Based on the obtained results, the self-assembly and formation mechanisms of peptide nanoribbons on both material interfaces are discussed. It is expected that the findings obtained in this study will inspire the design of motif-specific peptides with high binding affinity towards materials and mediate the green synthesis of peptide-based bionanomaterials with unique function and application potential.

A statistics and physics-based tropical cyclone full track model for catastrophe risk modeling

Catastrophe (CAT) risk modeling of perils such as typhoon and earthquake has become a prevailing practice in the insurance and reinsurance industry. The event generation model is the key component of the CAT modeling. In this paper, a physics-based tropical cyclone (TC) full track model is introduced to model typhoons events in the western North Pacific basin. At the same time, a comprehensive test of the model is presented from the perspective of CAT risk modeling for insurance and reinsurance applications. The full track model includes the genesis, track, intensity, and landing models. Driven by the global environmental circulations, the model employs the advection and beta drift theory in atmospheric dynamics to model the track of typhoons. The proposed model is novel in the way of modeling the genesis of TCs with three-dimension kernel distributions in space and time. This enables the simulation of seasonal characteristics of TCs. By generating 10,000-year TC events, we comprehensively test the model from the standpoint of CAT insurance and reinsurance applications. The typhoon hazard model and the generated events can serve as the inputs for assessing the typhoon risk and insured loss caused by winds, rains, floods, and storm surges.