Effect of 12-week SPARQ training on the ability of youth football players.

AIM: To evaluate the effect of a 12-week physical training regime comprising five components - speed, power, agility, reaction, quickness - on young football players' performance in terms of their capacity to move quickly in different phases. METHODS: The football players were randomly divided into an experimental group (n = 12) and a control group (n = 12). The rapid change of direction mobility was systematically investigated by using outdoor tests, the Illinois 505 Agility Test, the Square Pace Test, the Nebraska Agility Test, and the T-Shape Agility Test. RESULTS: With the intervention of training, considerable improvements were detected in all indicators, with the SPARQ training approach outperforming. CONCLUSION: The combined results indicate that SPARQ training can deliver favourable efficiency in terms of enhancing the agility of young football players.

Unveiling high-power and high-safety lithium-ion battery separator based on interlayer of ZIF-67/cellulose nanofiber with electrospun poly(vinyl alcohol)/melamine nonwoven membranes.

Due to the poor thermal stability of conventional separators, lithium-ion batteries require a suitable separator to maintain system safety for long-term cycling performance. It must have high porosity, superior electrolyte uptake ability, and good ion-conducting properties even at high temperatures. In this work, we demonstrate a novel composite membrane based on sandwiching of zeolitic imidazole frameworks-67 decorated cellulose acetate nanofibers (ZIF-67@CA) with electrospun poly(vinyl alcohol)/melamine (denoted as PVAM) nonwoven membranes. The as-prepared sandwich-type membranes are called PVAM/x%ZIF-67@CA/PVAM. The middle layer of composite membranes is primarily filled with different weight percentages of ZIF-67 nanoparticles (x = 5, 15, and 25 wt%), which both reduces the non-uniform porous structure of CA and increases its thermal stability. Therefore, our sandwich-type PVAM/x%ZIF-67@CA/PVAM membrane exhibits a higher thermal shrinkage effect at 200 °C than the commercial polyethylene (PE) separator. Due to its high electrolyte uptake (646.8%) and porosity (85.2%), PVAM/15%ZIF-67@CA/PVAM membrane achieved high ionic conductivity of 1.46 × 10-3 S cm-1 at 70 °C, as compared to the commercial PE separator (ca. 6.01 × 10-4 S cm-1 at 70 °C). Besides, the cell with PVAM/15%ZIF-67@CA/PVAM membrane shows an excellent discharge capacity of about 167.5 mAh g-1after 100 cycles at a 1C rate with a capacity retention of 90.3%. The ZIF-67 fillers in our sandwich-type composite membrane strongly attract anions (PF6-) through Lewis' acid-base interaction, allowing uniform Li+ ion transport and suppressing Li dendrites. As a result, we found that the PVAM/15%ZIF-67@CA/PVAM composite nonwoven membrane is applicable to high-power, high-safety lithium-ion battery systems that can be used in electric vehicles (EVs).

Psychometric validation of the Pyruvate Kinase Deficiency Diary and Pyruvate Kinase Deficiency Impact Assessment in adults in the phase 3 ACTIVATE trial.

BACKGROUND: Pyruvate kinase (PK) deficiency is a rare hereditary disorder characterized by chronic hemolytic anemia and serious sequalae which negatively affect patient quality of life. This study aimed to psychometrically validate the first disease-specific patient-reported outcome (PRO) instruments: the 7-item PK Deficiency Diary (PKDD) and 12-item PK Deficiency Impact Assessment (PKDIA), designed to assess signs, symptoms, and impacts of PK deficiency in patients enrolled in the ACTIVATE global phase 3 study of mitapivat versus placebo (NCT03548220). METHODS: All validation analyses for the PKDD and PKDIA were performed on blinded data, with analyses on item integrity, scoring, reliability, and validity conducted on data from screening and baseline. Completion rates and baseline response distributions were characterized using descriptive statistics. Item response modelling was used to inform a weighted scoring system. Reliability was assessed by internal consistency and test-retest reliability; and validity by convergent and known-groups analyses. RESULTS: Of the 80 adults enrolled, baseline data were available for 77 (96.3%) and 78 (97.5%) patients for the PKDD and PKDIA, respectively. Item responses skewed right, indicating that mean values exceeded median values, especially for items utilizing a 0-10 numeric scale, which were subsequently recoded to a 0-4 scale; 4 items were removed from the PKDIA due to redundancy or low relevance to the trial population. Both the PKDD and PKDIA demonstrated high internal consistency (McDonald's coefficient ω = 0.86 and 0.90, respectively), test-retest reliability (intra-class coefficients of 0.94 and 0.87, respectively), and convergent validity with other PROs (linear correlation coefficients [|r|] between 0.30-0.73 and 0.50-0.82, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: The findings provide evidence of validity and reliability for the PKDD and PKDIA, the first disease-specific PRO measures for PK deficiency, and can therefore increase understanding of, and more accurately capture, the wider impact of PK deficiency on health-related quality of life. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03548220. Registered June 07, 2018; https://www. CLINICALTRIALS: gov/ct2/show/NCT03548220 .

Pyruvate kinase (PK) deficiency is a rare genetic blood disorder with a wide range of signs and symptoms that may have a negative impact on patients' quality of life. Patient-reported outcome (PRO) instruments are tools that assess how a disease affects a patient from the patient's perspective. These instruments must go through a validation process to make sure they truly capture the patient's experience with their condition or its treatment. This study aimed to validate two new PRO instruments in adult patients enrolled in the ACTIVATE clinical trial (NCT03548220), where patients with PK deficiency received the drug mitapivat or a placebo. These two new PRO instruments are the first to be developed specifically for PK deficiency: the PK Deficiency Diary (PKDD), a daily diary that asks 7 questions to measure the core signs and symptoms of PK deficiency, and the PK Deficiency Impact Assessment (PKDIA), a weekly questionnaire with 12 questions to assess the impact of PK deficiency on a patient's life. The results of this study showed that the PKDD and PKDIA properly and reliably measured the signs, symptoms, and impacts of PK deficiency that they aimed to capture. These findings indicate that the PKDD and PKDIA are the first validated PROs specifically for PK deficiency and can help improve the understanding of the impact of PK deficiency on patients' quality of life.

Method for extracting pigment characteristic spectra from the phytoplankton absorption spectrum.

The extraction of pigment characteristic spectra from the phytoplankton absorption spectrum has high application value in phytoplankton identification and classification and in quantitative extraction of pigment concentrations. Derivative analysis, which has been widely used in this field, is easily interfered with by noisy signals and the selection of the derivative step, resulting in the loss and distortion of the pigment characteristic spectra. In this study, a method based on the one-dimensional discrete wavelet transform (DWT) was proposed to extract the pigment characteristic spectra of phytoplankton. DWT and derivative analysis were applied simultaneously to the phytoplankton absorption spectra of 6 phyla (Dinophyta, Bacillariophyta, Haptophyta, Chlorophyta, Cyanophyta, and Prochlorophyta) to verify the effectiveness of DWT in the extraction of pigment characteristic spectra.

Improving Dental Implant Outcomes: CNN-Based System Accurately Measures Degree of Peri-Implantitis Damage on Periapical Film.

As the popularity of dental implants continues to grow at a rate of about 14% per year, so do the risks associated with the procedure. Complications such as sinusitis and nerve damage are not uncommon, and inadequate cleaning can lead to peri-implantitis around the implant, jeopardizing its stability and potentially necessitating retreatment. To address this issue, this research proposes a new system for evaluating the degree of periodontal damage around implants using Periapical film (PA). The system utilizes two Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) models to accurately detect the location of the implant and assess the extent of damage caused by peri-implantitis. One of the CNN models is designed to determine the location of the implant in the PA with an accuracy of up to 89.31%, while the other model is responsible for assessing the degree of Peri-implantitis damage around the implant, achieving an accuracy of 90.45%. The system combines image cropping based on position information obtained from the first CNN with image enhancement techniques such as Histogram Equalization and Adaptive Histogram Equalization (AHE) to improve the visibility of the implant and gums. The result is a more accurate assessment of whether peri-implantitis has eroded to the first thread, a critical indicator of implant stability. To ensure the ethical and regulatory standards of our research, this proposal has been certified by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) under number 202102023B0C503. With no existing technology to evaluate Peri-implantitis damage around dental implants, this CNN-based system has the potential to revolutionize implant dentistry and improve patient outcomes.

In Situ Construction of Nitrogen-Doped and Zinc-Confined Microporous Carbon Enabling Efficient Na+-Storage Abilities.

Benefiting from the additional active sites for sodium-ion (Na+) adsorption and porous architecture for electrolyte accessibility, nitrogen-doped porous carbon has been considered the alternative anode material for Na+-storage applications. In this study, nitrogen-doped and zinc-confined microporous carbon (N,Z-MPC) powders are successfully prepared by thermally pyrolyzing the polyhedral ZIF-8 nanoparticles under an argon atmosphere. Following the electrochemical measurements, the N,Z-MPC not only delivers good reversible capacity (423 mAh/g at 0.02 A/g) and comparable rate capability (104 mAh/g at 1.0 A/g) but also achieves a remarkable cyclability (capacity retention: 96.6% after 3000 cycles at 1.0 A/g). Those can be attributed to its intrinsic characteristics: (a) 67% of the disordered structure, (b) 0.38 nm of interplanar distance, (c) a great proportion of sp2-type carbon, (d) abundant microporosity, (e) 16.1% of nitrogen doping, and (f) existence of sodiophilic Zn species, synergistically enhancing the electrochemical performances. Accordingly, the findings observed here support the N,Z-MPC to be a potential anode material enabling exceptional Na+-storage abilities.

Intra-Tumoral Secondary Follicle-like Tertiary Lymphoid Structures Are Associated with a Superior Prognosis of Overall Survival of Perihilar Cholangiocarcinoma.

Ectopic lymphoid structures termed tertiary lymphoid structures (TLSs) have an immunomodulatory function and positively affect prognosis in certain cancers. However, their clinical relevance and prognostic utility in perihilar cholangiocarcinoma (pCCA) are unknown. Therefore, determining the involvement and prognostic utility of TLSs in pCCA is the aim of this study. Ninety-three patients with surgically resected pCCA were included retrospectively. Hematoxylin and eosin and immunohistochemical staining identified and classified the TLSs, and multiplex immunofluorescence determined the TLS composition in the pCCA sample. The correlations between clinical features and TLSs were analyzed using either Fisher's exact test or the Chi-squared test. Recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) correlations with TLSs were analyzed using Cox regression and Kaplan-Meier analyses. We identified TLSs in 86% of patients with pCCA, including lymphoid aggregates (6.45%), primary (13.98%) and secondary follicles (65.59%). Patients with intra-tumoral secondary follicle-like TLSs (S-TLSs) had better OS (p = 0.003) and RFS (p = 0.0313). The multivariate analysis identified the presence of S-TLSs as a good independent prognostic indicator for OS but not for RFS. Interestingly, the presence of S-TLS only indicated better 5-year OS in 54 patients without lymph node metastasis (LNM-, p = 0.0232) but not in the 39 patients with lymph node metastasis (LNM+, p = 0.1244). Intra-tumoral S-TLSs predicted longer OS in patients with surgically resected pCCA, suggesting intra-tumoral S-TLSs' contribution to effective antitumor immunity and that S-TLSs hold promise for diagnostic and therapeutic development in pCCA.

Long-term Follow-up of Patients With Hernia Using the Hernia-Specific Quality-of-Life Mobile App: Feasibility Questionnaire Study.

BACKGROUND: Hernia repair is one of the most common surgical procedures; however, the long-term outcomes are seldom reported due to incomplete follow-up. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to examine the use of a mobile app for the long-term follow-up of hernia recurrence, complication, and quality-of-life perception. METHODS: A cloud-based corroborative system drove a mobile app with the HERQL (Hernia-Specific Quality-of-Life) questionnaire built in. Patients who underwent hernia repair were identified from medical records, and an invitation to participate in this study was sent through the post. RESULTS: The response rate was 11.89% (311/2615) during the 1-year study period, whereas the recurrence rate was 1.0% (3/311). Causal relationships between symptomatic and functional domains of the HERQL questionnaire were indicated by satisfactory model fit indices and significant regression coefficients derived from structural equational modeling. Regarding patients' last hernia surgeries, 88.7% (276/311) of the patients reported them to be satisfactory or very satisfactory, 68.5% (213/311) of patients reported no discomfort, and 61.1% (190/311) of patients never experienced mesh foreign body sensation. Subgroup analysis for the most commonly used mesh repairs found that mesh plug repair inevitably resulted in worse symptoms and quality-of-life perception from the group with groin hernias. CONCLUSIONS: The mobile app has the potential to enhance the quality of care for patients with hernia and facilitate outcomes research with more complete follow-up.

Atypical Biliary Adenofibroma of the Liver: Related Treatment and Performance.

Biliary adenofibroma is an extremely rare benign liver tumor, but it may be a precancerous lesion of cholangiocarcinoma. So far, only 29 cases have been reported in the literature. A 30-year-old woman was admitted to our department for upper abdomen mass. The computed tomography scan showed a huge cystic and partly substantial mass between the left lobe of the liver and the descending duodenum, which was considered to be an exophytic tumor derived from the left lobe of the liver. Laparoscopic liver segment IVb resection and cholecystectomy were performed. Microscopic examination showed that the tumor was composed of glandular cavities of varying sizes and fibrous interstitium. The glandular cavity was covered with cubic or columnar epithelium without atypia. Some of the mesenchymal cells are myofibroblast-like and spindle-shaped with red-stained cytoplasm. The mesenchymal cells in some areas proliferate densely with moderate atypia. It was considered to be an atypical biliary adenofibroma with focal necrosis and active cell proliferation which may have malignant transformation potential. There was no recurrence and metastasis at a 6-month follow-up. Biliary adenofibroma is a rare benign tumor derived from the bile duct, but it may progress to malignancy and develop distant metastasis. It is difficult to distinguish it from other liver tumors through imaging examination and the gold standard of diagnosis is histopathological examination. Close clinical follow-up is recommended.

Major League Baseball Marketing Strategies and Industry Promotion Approaches.

The sport of baseball is one of the chief pillars of the American sports industry. Major League Baseball (MLB) is the oldest professional sports league in the United States. It has long since formulated comprehensive marketing strategies and global industry promotion approaches that have proved exceptionally successful. Accordingly, the study of MLB's marketing strategies and industry promotion approaches will be crucial for the development of baseball in China and the establishment of an industrial chain. This study employed the literature consultation method, the comparative analysis method, and the inductive method to analyze MLB's localized marketing strategies and development trends in China and obtained the following insights concerning MLB's promotion and industry development efforts in China: (1) MLB has used a "family sport" concept to promote baseball culture and employed a project culture approach to promoting the universal spread of the sport of baseball; (2) MLB has sought to join baseball with school sports as a means of developing baseball talent; (3) MLB has promoted its brand, established a baseball industry chain, and engaged in comprehensive market cultivation; and (4) MLB has strengthened baseball infrastructure and encouraged baseball's rapid development.

Constructing a Carbon-Encapsulated Carbon Composite Material with Hierarchically Porous Architectures for Efficient Capacitive Storage in Organic Supercapacitors.

Hierarchical porous activated carbon (HPAC) materials with fascinating porous features are favored for their function as active materials for supercapacitors. However, achieving high mass-loading of the HPAC electrodes remains challenging. Inspired by the concepts of carbon/carbon (C/C) composites and hydrogels, a novel hydrogel-derived HPAC (H-HPAC) encapsulated H-HPAC (H@H) composite material was successfully synthesized in this study. In comparison with the original H-HPAC, it is noticed that the specific surface area and pore parameters of the resulting H@H are observably decreased, while the proportions of nitrogen species are dramatically enhanced. The free-standing and flexible H@H electrodes with a mass-loading of 7.5 mg/cm2 are further prepared for electrochemical measurements. The experiments revealed remarkable reversible capacitance (118.6 F/g at 1 mA/cm2), rate capability (73.9 F/g at 10 mA/cm2), and cycling stability (76.6% of retention after 30,000 cycles at 5 mA) are delivered by the coin-type symmetric cells. The cycling stability is even better than that of the H-HPAC electrode. Consequently, the findings of the present study suggest that the nature of the HPAC surface is a significant factor affecting the corresponding capacitive performances.

Breakdancing Movement Based on Image Recognition Promotes Preschool Children's Executive Function and Intervention Plan.

With the continuous development of science and technology, people can apply more and more technology to the cultivation of children's abilities. In the process of cultivating children's ability, the most fancy is the study of executive function, and this is the research topic of this article. In the past, training methods such as music, mindfulness, and exercise have been used in the study of children's executive abilities to promote the development of preschool children's executive functions. While various approaches have had some effect, researchers have been exploring more comprehensive approaches to effective training. This article is aimed at studying how to use image recognition technology to conduct an intervention analysis of breakdancing in promoting the executive function of preschool children. For this reason, this paper proposes image recognition technology based on deep learning neural network and conducts research, analysis, and improvement on related technologies obtained from deep learning. This makes it more suitable for the research topic of this article and design-related experiments and analysis to explore its related performance. The experimental results in this paper show that the improved image recognition technology has improved accuracy by 31.2%. And the performance of its algorithm is also improved by 21%, which can be very effective in monitoring preschool children during breakdancing.

Rapid, Label-Free Prediction of Antibiotic Resistance in Salmonella typhimurium by Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy.

The rapid identification of bacterial antibiotic susceptibility is pivotal to the rational administration of antibacterial drugs. In this study, cefotaxime (CTX)-derived resistance in Salmonella typhimurium (abbr. CTXr-S. typhimurium) during 3 months of exposure was rapidly recorded using a portable Raman spectrometer. The molecular changes that occurred in the drug-resistant strains were sensitively monitored in whole cells by label-free surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). Various degrees of resistant strains could be accurately discriminated by applying multivariate statistical analyses to bacterial SERS profiles. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values showed a positive linear correlation with the relative Raman intensities of I990/I1348, and the R2 reached 0.9962. The SERS results were consistent with the data obtained by MIC assays, mutant prevention concentration (MPC) determinations, and Kirby-Bauer antibiotic susceptibility tests (K-B tests). This preliminary proof-of-concept study indicates the high potential of the SERS method to supplement the time-consuming conventional method and help alleviate the challenges of antibiotic resistance in clinical therapy.

MoO3 Nanoparticle Coatings on High-Voltage 5 V LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 Cathode Materials for Improving Lithium-Ion Battery Performance.

To reduce surface contamination and increase battery life, MoO3 nanoparticles were coated with a high-voltage (5 V) LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 cathode material by in-situ method during the high-temperature annealing process. To avoid charging by more than 5 V, we also developed a system based on anode-limited full-cell with a negative/positive electrode (N/P) ratio of 0.9. The pristine LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 was initially prepared by high-energy ball-mill with a solid-state reaction, followed by a precipitation reaction with a molybdenum precursor for the MoO3 coating. The typical structural and electrochemical behaviors of the materials were clearly investigated and reported. The results revealed that a sample of 2 wt.% MoO3-coated LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 electrode exhibited an optimal electrochemical activity, indicating that the MoO3 nanoparticle coating layers considerably enhanced the high-rate charge-discharge profiles and cycle life performance of LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 with a negligible capacity decay. The 2 wt.% MoO3-coated LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 electrode could achieve high specific discharge capacities of 131 and 124 mAh g-1 at the rates of 1 and 10 C, respectively. In particular, the 2 wt.% MoO3-coated LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 electrode retained its specific capacity (87 mAh g-1) of 80.1% after 500 cycles at a rate of 10 C. The Li4Ti5O12/LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 full cell based on the electrochemical-cell (EL-cell) configuration was successfully assembled and tested, exhibiting excellent cycling retention of 93.4% at a 1 C rate for 100 cycles. The results suggest that the MoO3 nano-coating layer could effectively reduce side reactions at the interface of the LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 cathode and the electrolyte, thus improving the electrochemical performance of the battery system.

Deciphering Genetic Alterations of Taiwanese Patients with Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma through Targeted Sequencing.

Pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PAC) is the 8th leading cause of cancer-related deaths in Taiwan, and its incidence is increasing. The development of PAC involves successive accumulation of multiple genetic alterations. Understanding the molecular pathogenesis and heterogeneity of PAC may facilitate personalized treatment for PAC and identify therapeutic agents. We performed tumor-only next-generation sequencing (NGS) with targeted panels to explore the molecular changes underlying PAC patients in Taiwan. The Ion Torrent Oncomine Comprehensive Panel (OCP) was used for PAC metastatic lesions, and more PAC samples were sequenced with the Ion AmpliSeq Cancer Hot Spot (CHP) v2 panel. Five formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) metastatic PAC specimens were successfully assayed with OCP, and KRAS was the most prevalent alteration, which might contraindicate the use of anti-EGFR therapy. One PAC patient harbored a FGFR2 p. C382R mutation, which might benefit from FGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors. An additional 38 samples assayed with CHP v2 showed 100 hotspot variants, collapsing to 54 COSMID IDs. The most frequently mutated genes were TP53, KRAS, and PDGFRA (29, 23, 10 hotspot variants), impacting 11, 23, and 10 PAC patients. Highly pathogenic variants, including COSM22413 (PDGFRA, FATHMM predicted score: 0.88), COSM520, COSM521, and COSM518 (KRAS, FATHMM predicted score: 0.98), were reported. By using NGS with targeted panels, somatic mutations with therapeutic potential were identified. The combination of clinical and genetic information is useful for decision making and precise selection of targeted medicine.

Detection of Synthetic Cannabinoid CUMYL-PEGACLONE in E-Cigarette Oil and Hair.

OBJECTIVES: To establish a combined high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) method to detect the synthetic cannabinoid CUMYL-PEGACLONE in e-cigarette oil and hair. METHODS: HPLC-MS/MS and GC-MS were used to establish the detection method of CUMYL-PEGACLONE, and the hair of drug-involved persons and the seized e-cigarette oil were detected. RESULTS: The main mass spectrometry characteristic ions m/z of CUMYL-PEGACLONE measured by GC-MS were 91, 179, 197, 254 and 372. CUMYL-PEGACLONE had a good linear relationship in the mass concentration range of 2-50 ng/mL, and the linear correlation coefficient (r) was greater than 0.99. The limit of detection (LOD) of CUMYL-PEGACLONE in hair was 0.01 ng/mg, and the limit of quantitation (LOQ) was 0.02 ng/mg. The LOD of CUMYL-PEGACLONE in e-cigarette oil was 1 ng/mg, and the LOQ was 2 ng/mg. The average recoveries of CUMYL-PEGACLONE under the attempt at high, intermediate and low levels in blank human hair and e-cigarette oil matrix were 98.2%-132.4% and 93.5%-110.6%, and the intraday and intraday precision were 1.2%-12.9% and 0.7%-2.9%. CUMYL-PEGACLONE was detected in the hair of 15 drug-involved persons. Except for 1 person who was lower than LOQ, the concentration of CUMYL-PEGACLONE in the hair of other 14 persons was 0.035-0.563 ng/mg. The mass fraction of CUMYL-PEGACLONE in 2 e-cigarette oil were 0.17% and 0.21%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The established HPLC-MS/MS and GC-MS methods are applied to the detection of HPLC-MS/MS in drug-related cases, which provides strong evidence support for the handling authority to quickly investigate these cases, and also provides a reference for the identification of such substances in future.

A Comparative Study of the Influence of Nitrogen Content and Structural Characteristics of NiS/Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Nanocomposites on Capacitive Performances in Alkaline Medium.

Supercapacitors (SCs) have been regarded as alternative electrochemical energy storage devices; however, optimizing the electrode materials to further enhance their specific energy and retain their rate capability is highly essential. Herein, the influence of nitrogen content and structural characteristics (i.e., porous and non-porous) of the NiS/nitrogen-doped carbon nanocomposites on their electrochemical performances in an alkaline electrolyte is explored. Due to their distinctive surface and the structural features of the porous carbon (A-PVP-NC), the as-synthesized NiS/A-PVP-NC nanocomposites not only reveal a high wettability with 6 M KOH electrolyte and less polarization but also exhibit remarkable rate capability (101 C/g at 1 A/g and 74 C/g at 10 A/g). Although non-porous carbon (PI-NC) possesses more nitrogen content than the A-PVP-NC, the specific capacity output from the latter at 10 A/g is 3.7 times higher than that of the NiS/PI-NC. Consequently, our findings suggest that the surface nature and porous architectures that exist in carbon materials would be significant factors affecting the electrochemical behavior of electrode materials compared to nitrogen content.