PSO-XnB: a proposed model for predicting hospital stay of CAD patients.

Coronary artery disease poses a significant challenge in decision-making when predicting the length of stay for a hospitalized patient. This study presents a predictive model-a Particle Swarm Optimized-Enhanced NeuroBoost-that combines the deep autoencoder with an eXtreme gradient boosting model optimized using particle swarm optimization. The model uses a fuzzy set of rules to categorize the length of stay into four distinct classes, followed by data preparation and preprocessing. In this study, the dimensionality of the data is reduced using deep neural autoencoders. The reconstructed data obtained from autoencoders is given as input to an eXtreme gradient boosting model. Finally, the model is tuned with particle swarm optimization to obtain optimal hyperparameters. With the proposed technique, the model achieved superior performance with an overall accuracy of 98.8% compared to traditional ensemble models and past research works. The model also scored highest in other metrics such as precision, recall, and particularly F1 scores for all categories of hospital stay. These scores validate the suitability of our proposed model in medical healthcare applications.

Direct Synthesis of Intermetallic Platinum-Alloy Nanoparticles Highly Loaded on Carbon Supports for Efficient Electrocatalysis.

Compared to nanostructured platinum (Pt) catalysts, ordered Pt-based intermetallic nanoparticles supported on a carbon substrate exhibit much enhanced catalytic performance, especially in fuel cell electrocatalysis. However, direct synthesis of homogeneous intermetallic alloy nanocatalysts on carbonaceous supports with high loading is still challenging. Herein, we report a novel synthetic strategy to directly produce highly dispersed MPt alloy nanoparticles (M = Fe, Co, or Ni) on various carbon supports with high catalyst loading. Importantly, a unique bimetallic compound, composed of [M(bpy)3]2+ cation (bpy = 2,2'-bipyridine) and [PtCl6]2- anion, evenly decomposes on carbon surface and forms uniformly sized intermetallic nanoparticles with a nitrogen-doped carbon protection layer. The excellent oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity and stability of the representative reduced graphene oxide (rGO)-supported L10-FePt catalyst (37 wt %-FePt/rGO), exhibiting 18.8 times higher specific activity than commercial Pt/C catalyst without degradation over 20 000 cycles, well demonstrate the effectiveness of our synthetic approach toward uniformly alloyed nanoparticles with high homogeneity.

Synthesis of nanostructured P2-Na2/3MnO2 for high performance sodium-ion batteries.

We report a facile two-step method to synthesize nanostructured P2-Na2/3MnO2via ligand exchange and intercalation of sodium ions into ultrathin manganese oxide nanoplates. Sodium storage performance of the synthesized material shows a high capacity (170 mA h g-1) and an excellent rate performance.

Large-Scale Synthesis of Carbon-Shell-Coated FeP Nanoparticles for Robust Hydrogen Evolution Reaction Electrocatalyst.

A highly active and stable non-Pt electrocatalyst for hydrogen production has been pursued for a long time as an inexpensive alternative to Pt-based catalysts. Herein, we report a simple and effective approach to prepare high-performance iron phosphide (FeP) nanoparticle electrocatalysts using iron oxide nanoparticles as a precursor. A single-step heating procedure of polydopamine-coated iron oxide nanoparticles leads to both carbonization of polydopamine coating to the carbon shell and phosphidation of iron oxide to FeP, simultaneously. Carbon-shell-coated FeP nanoparticles show a low overpotential of 71 mV at 10 mA cm-2, which is comparable to that of a commercial Pt catalyst, and remarkable long-term durability under acidic conditions for up to 10 000 cycles with negligible activity loss. The effect of carbon shell protection was investigated both theoretically and experimentally. A density functional theory reveals that deterioration of catalytic activity of FeP is caused by surface oxidation. Extended X-ray absorption fine structure analysis combined with electrochemical test shows that carbon shell coating prevents FeP nanoparticles from oxidation, making them highly stable under hydrogen evolution reaction operation conditions. Furthermore, we demonstrate that our synthetic method is suitable for mass production, which is highly desirable for large-scale hydrogen production.

Sulfur-Modified Graphitic Carbon Nitride Nanostructures as an Efficient Electrocatalyst for Water Oxidation.

There is an urgent need to develop metal-free, low cost, durable, and highly efficient catalysts for industrially important oxygen evolution reactions. Inspired by natural geodes, unique melamine nanogeodes are successfully synthesized using hydrothermal process. Sulfur-modified graphitic carbon nitride (S-modified g-CN x ) electrocatalysts are obtained by annealing these melamine nanogeodes in situ with sulfur. The sulfur modification in the g-CN x structure leads to excellent oxygen evolution reaction activity by lowering the overpotential. Compared with the previously reported nonmetallic systems and well-established metallic catalysts, the S-modified g-CN x nanostructures show superior performance, requiring a lower overpotential (290 mV) to achieve a current density of 10 mA cm-2 and a Tafel slope of 120 mV dec-1 with long-term durability of 91.2% retention for 18 h. These inexpensive, environmentally friendly, and easy-to-synthesize catalysts with extraordinary performance will have a high impact in the field of oxygen evolution reaction electrocatalysis.

Solid-state transformation of single precursor vanadium complex nanostructures to V2O5 and VO2: catalytic activity of V2O5 for oxidative coupling of 2-naphthol.

A vanadium complex, [(C5H5N)2V2O3·H2O], of different morphologies has been obtained via a modified hydrothermal procedure using pyridine and VOSO4 salt as the starting material. The evolved [(C5H5N)2V2O3·H2O] nanobelts are of 50-200 nm in width and of a length up to several millimeters. At higher temperatures (600 °C), the solid [(C5H5N)2V2O3·H2O] nanostructures are converted to vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) and vanadium dioxide (VO2) when heated in air and nitrogen atmosphere, respectively. During growth, the mechanism of the evolution of octahedra, truncated octahedra, and hollow truncated octahedra of [(C5H5N)2V2O3·H2O] are reported for the first time. These types of well-structured morphology are also isolated while V2O5 and VO2 are evolved. The as-grown belt-like and octahedral morphologies of [(C5H5N)2V2O3·H2O] are retained during the solid-state transformation, suggesting a route to evolve crystalline nanomaterials. Again, the morphological evolution of the [(C5H5N)2V2O3·H2O] nanostructures has been examined to be pyridine and precursor vanadyl sulfate (VS) concentration dependent. Thus, we are able to isolate truncated octahedra as an intermediate during the formation of [(C5H5N)2V2O3·H2O] nanobelts and nanoflowers with a high pyridine (Py) concentration. Interestingly, longer reaction times successively featured the transformation of truncated octahedra into nanobelts. Nanobelt evolution is not observed at low pyridine concentrations. However, the formation of octahedral morphology takes place at low pyridine concentration. All of the nanostructures were critically examined and characterized thoroughly by various physical techniques to ascertain their purity, structure and composition. An interesting, thermodynamically stable, single crystalline product from DMF soluble [(C5H5N)2V2O3·H2O] has been characterized, which indirectly supports the composition of [(C5H5N)2V2O3·H2O]. Selectively, vanadium pentoxide nanobelts have been found to be an efficient catalyst for the oxidative coupling of 2-naphthol to binaphthols under a molecular oxygen atmosphere.

Evolution of amorphous selenium nanoballs in silicone oil and their solvent induced morphological transformation.

Selenium generally exhibits preferential habitual 1D growth as a result of redox reactions of selenium compounds. Commercial Se powder melts in silicone oil under refluxing conditions and upon subsequent cooling evolve amorphous Se nanoballs (SNBs). Further ultrapure crystalline 1D Se grows from SNBs due to solvent mediated oriented attachment.

Fabrication of superhydrophobic copper surface on various substrates for roll-off, self-cleaning, and water/oil separation.

Superhydrophobic surfaces prevent percolation of water droplets and thus render roll-off, self-cleaning, corrosion protection, etc., which find day-to-day and industrial applications. In this work, we developed a facile, cost-effective, and free-standing method for direct fabrication of copper nanoparticles to engender superhydrophobicity for various flat and irregular surfaces such as glass, transparency sheet (plastic), cotton wool, textile, and silicon substrates. The fabrication of as-prepared superhydrophobic surfaces was accomplished using a simple chemical reduction of copper acetate by hydrazine hydrate at room temperature. The surface morphological studies demonstrate that the as-prepared surfaces are rough and display superhydrophobic character on wetting due to generation of air pockets (The Cassie-Baxter state). Because of the low adhesion of water droplets on the as-prepared surfaces, the surfaces exhibited not only high water contact angle (164 ± 2°, 5 µL droplets) but also superb roll-off and self-cleaning properties. Superhydrophobic copper nanoparticle coated glass surface uniquely withstands water (10 min), mild alkali (5 min in saturated aqueous NaHCO3 of pH ≈ 9), acids (10 s in dilute HNO3, H2SO4 of pH ≈ 5) and thiol (10 s in neat 1-octanethiol) at room temperature (25-35 °C). Again as-prepared surface (cotton wool) was also found to be very effective for water-kerosene separation due to its superhydrophobic and oleophilic character. Additionally, the superhydrophobic copper nanoparticle (deposited on glass surface) was found to exhibit antibacterial activity against both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria.

Multifunctional Au-ZnO plasmonic nanostructures for enhanced UV photodetector and room temperature NO sensing devices.

In this study we report the enhancement of UV photodetection and wavelength tunable light induced NO gas sensing at room temperature using Au-ZnO nanocomposites synthesized by a simple photochemical process. Plasmonic Au-ZnO nanostructures with a size less than the incident wavelength have been found to exhibit a localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) that leads to a strong absorption, scattering and local field enhancement. The photoresponse of Au-ZnO nanocomposite can be effectively enhanced by 80 times at 335 nm over control ZnO. We also demonstrated Au-ZnO nanocomposite's application to wavelength tunable gas sensor operating at room temperature. The sensing response of Au-ZnO nancomposite is enhanced both in UV and visible region, as compared to control ZnO. The sensitivity is observed to be higher in the visible region due to the LSPR effect of Au NPs. The selectivity is found to be higher for NO gas over CO and some other volatile organic compounds (VOCs), with a minimum detection limit of 0.1 ppb for Au-ZnO sensor at 335 nm.

Fabrication of Si/ZnS radial nanowire heterojunction arrays for white light emitting devices on Si substrates.

Well-separated Si/ZnS radial nanowire heterojunction-based light-emitting devices have been fabricated on large-area substrates by depositing n-ZnS film on p-type nanoporous Si nanowire templates. Vertically oriented porous Si nanowires on p-Si substrates have been grown by metal-assisted chemical etching catalyzed using Au nanoparticles. Isolated Si nanowires with needle-shaped arrays have been made by KOH treatment before ZnS deposition. Electrically driven efficient white light emission from radial heterojunction arrays has been achieved under a low forward bias condition. The observed white light emission is attributed to blue and green emission from the defect-related radiative transition of ZnS and Si/ZnS interface, respectively, while the red arises from the porous surface of the Si nanowire core. The observed white light emission from the Si/ZnS nanowire heterojunction could open up the new possibility to integrate Si-based optical sources on a large scale.

Mn oxide-silver composite nanowires for improved thermal stability, SERS and electrical conductivity.

Redox transformation reaction between aqueous AgNO3 and Mn(CH3COO)2 at low temperature (∼80 °C) has been adopted for industrial-scale production of uniform Ag-MnOOH composite nanowires for the first time. Varying amounts of incorporated Ag in the composite retain the 1D morphology of the composite. Nanowires upon annealing evolve Ag-MnO2 nanocomposites, once again with the retention of the parental morphology. Just 4 % of silver incorporation in the composite demonstrates metal-like conducting performance from the corresponding semiconducting material. Transition of MnO2 to Mn2O3 to Mn3O4 takes place upon heat treatment in relation to successive increase in Ag concentrations in the nanowires. The composites offer resistance to the observed oxide transformation. This is evidenced from the progressive increase in transition temperature. In situ Raman, ex situ thermal and XRD analysis corroborate the fact. The composite with 12 % Ag offers resistance to the transformation of MnO2, which is also verified from laser heating. Importantly, Ag nanoparticle incorporation is proved to offer a thermally stable and better surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) platform than the individual components. Both the Ag-MnOOH and Ag-MnO2 nanocomposites with 8 atomic % Ag show the best SERS enhancement (enhancement factor ∼10(10)). The observed enhancement relates to charge transfer as well as electromagnetic effects.

Design, economical synthesis and antiplasmodial evaluation of vanillin derived allylated chalcones and their marked synergism with artemisinin against chloroquine resistant strains of Plasmodium falciparum.

The in vitro blood stage antiplasmodial activity of a series of allylated chalcones based on the licochalcone A as lead molecule was investigated against chloroquine (CQ) sensitive Pf3D7 and CQ resistant PfINDO strains of Plasmodium falciparum using SYBR Green I assay. Of the forty two chalcones tested, eight showed IC50 ≤ 5 µM. Structure-activity relationship (SAR) studies revealed 9 {1-(4-Chlorophenyl)-3-[3-methoxy-4-(prop-2-en-1-yloxy)phenyl]-prop-2-en-1-one} as the most potent (IC50: 2.5 µM) against Pf3D7 with resistance indices of 1.2 and 6.6 against PfDd2 and PfINDO strains, respectively. Later on, the synergistic effects 9 with standard antimalarials {artemisinin (ART) and chloroquine (CQ)} were studied in order to provide the basis for the selection of the best partner drug. In vitro combinations of 9 with ART showed strong synergy against PfINDO (ΣFIC50: 0.31-0.72) but additive to slight antagonistic effects (ΣFIC50: 1.97-2.64) against Pf3D7. ΣFIC50 0.31 of ART+9 combination corresponded to a 320 fold and 3 fold reduction in IC50 of 9 and ART, respectively. Similar combinations of 9 with CQ showed synergy to additivity to mild antagonism against the two strains {ΣFIC50: 0.668-2.269 (PfINDO); 1.45-2.83 (Pf3D7)}. Drug exposure followed by drug withdrawal indicated that 9 taken alone at IC100 killed rings, trophozoites and schizonts of P. falciparum. The combination of ART and 9 (1X ΣFIC100) selectively inhibited the growth of rings while the 2X ΣFIC100 combination of the same caused killing of rings without affecting trophozoites and schizonts. In contrast, the 1X combination of CQ and 9 (ΣFIC100: 0.5) killed rings and trophozoites. DNA fragmentation and loss of mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm) in the 9 treated P. falciparum culture indicated apoptotic death in malaria parasites. Prediction of ADME properties revealed that most of the molecules did not violate Lipinski's parameters and have low TPSA value suggesting good absorption. The results suggest the promising drug-like properties of 9 against CQ resistant Pf and propensity for synergy with classical antimalarial drugs together with easy and economical synthesis.

Optical photoresponse of CuS-n-Si radial heterojunction with Si nanocone arrays fabricated by chemical etching.

The paper deals with the fabrication of a p-CuS-n-Si nanocone heterojunction based highly sensitive broad band photodetector. Cone-like one dimensional Si nanostructures formed by metal assisted chemical etching, with superior antireflection characteristics have been used as templates for fabrication of the heterojunction. Covellite CuS material was synthesized by a simple chemical reaction for used as target material for the fabrication of p-CuS-n-Si nanocone heterojunctions via pulsed laser ablation. The effect of surface texturing of Si (cone like nanostructure vs. planar) on spectral photoresponse and detection is reported.

Pure inorganic gel: a new host with tremendous sorption capability.

In aqueous medium at room temperature Ag(I) forms a metallogel with vanadate ions which doesn't have any carbon in the gel skeleton. The serendipitously discovered inorganic gel, which involves a reasonably large volume of water, is capable of sequestering gas, dye and toxic pollutants from water bodies.

Synthesis of gold nanochains via photoactivation technique and their catalytic applications.

The article reports a simple photoactivation technique for the synthesis of chain like assembly of spherical Au nanocrystals using a nontoxic biochemical, ß-cyclodextrin under ~365 nm UV-light irradiation. Under UV irradiation, ß-cyclodextrin acts as a reducing as well as capping agent and eventually becomes a stabilizing linker for Au nanoparticles. The UV-visible spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), selected area electron diffraction (SAED), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic techniques are employed to systematically characterize the Au nanochains. Additionally, it is shown that the Au nanocrystals act as an effective catalyst for the reduction in nitrobenzene to aniline and methylene blue to leuco methylene blue in presence of suitable reducing agent. The catalytic reduction reactions and kinetic parameters are evaluated from UV-visible spectroscopy.

Large-scale solid-state synthesis of Sn-SnO2 nanoparticles from layered SnO by sunlight: a material for dye degradation in water by photocatalytic reaction.

Phase pure spherical Sn-SnO2 nanoparticles (∼ 50 nm) in gram level have been synthesized from well-defined SnO microplates (∼ 2.0 µm) using focused solar irradiation. The first step of the reaction involves simple stirring of a strong NaOH solution with fine SnCl2·2H2O powder. Precipitated blue black microplates of SnO are finally transformed into high band gap Sn-SnO2 nanoparticles with sunlight. During the solid-state photodecomposition of microplates, spherical SnO2 nanoparticles along with tiny Sn(0) particles are evolved simultaneously. Tiny Sn(0) particles, improved surface area, stability toward adverse environmental conditions, and inherited negative surface charge electrostatically stabilize the Sn-SnO2 particle rendering it excellent water dispersible. The presence of Sn(0) nanoparticles in spherical SnO2 nanoparticles improves the charge (electrons and holes) separation efficiency. Then, the as-prepared particles selectively invite cationic dye molecules to the particle surface due to negative surface charge and degrade the dyes at a faster rate under UV light.

Selective and sensitive recognition of Cu2+ in an aqueous medium: a surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS)-based analysis with a low-cost Raman reporter.

In the present study, surface-enhanced Raman spectra of a bifunctional Raman reporter, 2-mercaptobenzimidazole, has been found to be responsive exclusively towards Cu(2+) ions while the reporter remains anchored on the Au nanoparticle surface. Thus a specific Cu(2+)-ion-detection protocol emerges. The simplicity, sensitivity, and reproducibility of the method allow routine and quantitative detection of Cu(2+) ions. An interference study involving a wide number of other metal ions shows the procedure to be uniquely selective and analytically rigorous. A theoretical study was carried out to corroborate the experimental results. Finally, the method is promising for real-time assessment of Cu(2+) ions in aqueous samples and also has the ability to discriminate Cu(I) and Cu(II) ions in solution.

Palladium-catalyzed dehydrative heck olefination of secondary aryl alcohols in ionic liquids: towards a waste-free strategy for tandem synthesis of stilbenoids.

All in one: a tandem strategy has been developed wherein secondary aryl alcohols are directly coupled with aryl halides to provide stilbenoids through a dehydrative Heck sequence in the ionic liquid [hmim]Br, and with water as a by-product under microwave irradiation. Classical methods do not permit this sequence to proceed in one pot, and some methods require multiple steps. hmim=1-n-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium.

Redox-switchable superhydrophobic silver composite.

Unique packaging of Ag(2)O on the surface of polycrystalline AgCl allows fabrication of a new useful, superhydrophobic composite material. This pure inorganic material with surface porosity of submicrometer aperture size fabricates air pockets, which make the composite material superhydrophobic. The new material behaves like lotus leaves, butterfly wings, or water strider's leg in relation to superhydrophobicity. Visible light induces photoreduction of solid Ag(2)O surface layer and generates Ag(0), making the composite surface superhydrophilic. Reoxidation of Ag(0) on the composite surface gives back the hydrophobicity that represents the redox-switchable wetting property of the material.

Solvent effect on the optical property of uranyl acetylacetonate monohydrate.

The lability of the [UO2(acac)2H2O] complex has been exploited to decipher solvent composition of a medium. Successive blue shift of the π-π* band (λmax=282 nm) is observed due to alcohol substitution of increasing chain length in place of water. This observation helps to quantify the chain lengths of normal alcohol. The result has been accounted theoretically. However, in non-coordinating solvent, irregular red shift of the π-π* band is observed because of the molecular complexity. Again, charge transfer (CT) band at 211 nm has been identified employing polar-polar and polar coordinating-non-coordinating solvent systems.