Nanoflower-like P-doped Nickel Oxide as a Catalytic Counter Electrode for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells.

Flower-like phosphorus-doped nickel oxide (P-NiO) is proposed as a counter electrode (CE) for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The flower-like nickel oxide essentially serves as the matrix for the CE, which is expected to promote a two-dimensional electron transport pathway. The phosphorus is intended to improve the catalytic ability by creating more active sites in the NiO for the catalysis of triiodide ions (I3-) to iodide ions (I-) on the surface of the CE. The P-NiO is controlled by a sequencing of precursor concentration, which allows the P-NiO to possess different features. The debris aggregation occurs in the P-NiO-1, while the P-NiO-0.75 leads to the incomplete flower-like nanosheets. The complete flower-like morphology can be observed in the P-NiO-0.5, P-NiO-0.25 and P-NiO-0.1 catalytic electrodes. The DSSC with the P-NiO-0.5 CE achieves a power conversion efficiency (η) of 9.05%, which is better than that of the DSSC using a Pt CE (η = 8.51%); it also performs better than that with the Pt CE, even under rear illumination and dim light conditions. The results indicate the promising potential of the P-NiO CE to replace the expensive Pt CE.

Implications of food and nutrition security on household food expenditure: the case of Malaysia.

Introduction: Food security is attracting more attention in Malaysia not only at the national level that concern toward the enhancement of food self-sufficiency but also at the individual level which concerns more on nutrition and health. The economic recession triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic has brought the food and nutrition security challenge to the higher priority. In this study, we assessed the feasibility of encouraging a healthy eating plan by taking into account two important elements, food cost and nutrient intake, to help tackle the food and nutrition insecurity challenges at the individual level. Method and materials: This study used a goal programming model with dietary intake data from Malaysian Adult Nutrition Survey reports to develop food plans that can improve nutrition quality without increasing food cost. Missing data, such as nutrient compositions and food prices, were collected separately from existing governmental and non-governmental sources. Benchmark nutrient intakes were derived from Malaysian Dietary Guidelines and Malaysian Recommended Nutrient Intakes reports, whereas benchmark costs were estimated by mapping food prices to dietary intake. The cost of healthier diets was also assessed to examine the acceptability of dietary changes for the low-income population. Results: The results showed that healthier diets following national dietary guidelines are achievable with reasonable food choices shift without changing the cost of meal plan. Greater intake of milk and vegetables (for more calcium) and smaller intake of seafood and egg products (for less protein) will contribute to raise diet quality and achieve more adequate nutrition. However, the cost attached to healthier food plan is still likely to be burdensome for the food-insecure and low-income population. Conclusions: Our results suggest that policymakers should implement income-relevant laws to cut poverty and improve the population's dietary intake. Income growth as a result of better skills and education is needed to ensure that the real incomes of Malaysian are well sustained, and increased to help low-income population make better and healthier food choices.

Threshold Effects of PM2.5 Exposure on Particle-Related Mortality in China.

Ambient air pollution from energy use and other sources is a major environmental risk factor in the incidence and progression of serious diseases, such as cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. This study elucidates the health effects of energy consumption from air pollution in China based on multiple threshold effects of the population-weighted exposure to PM2.5 (fine particles less than 2.5 microns in diameter) on particle-related mortality rate. We firstly estimate the causal relationship between coal consumption and PM2.5 in China for 2004-2010 using a panel regression model. Panel threshold models are applied to access the non-linear relationships between PM2.5 and cause-specific mortality rates that indicate the health effects are dependent on the PM2.5 ranges. By combining these steps, we calculate the health impacts of coal consumption based on threshold effects of PM2.5. We find that a 1% coal consumption increase induces a 0.23% increase in PM2.5. A triple threshold effect is found between PM2.5 and cardiovascular mortality; for example, increasing PM2.5 exposure causes cardiovascular mortality rate to increase when PM2.5 lies in 17.7-21.6 µg/m3 and 21.6-34.3 µg/m3, with the estimated increments being 0.81% and 0.26%, respectively, corresponding to 1% PM2.5 increase. A single threshold effect of SO2 on respiratory mortality rate is identified and allows the estimation of the mortality effects of PM2.5 regarding the two regimes of SO2. Finally, we access the health impacts of coal consumption under specific estimated thresholds. This study provides a better understanding of sources contributing to related-air pollution mortality. The multi-threshold effect of PM2.5 could be considered for further applications in harmonizing emission standards in China and other developing countries.

Combination of radiation and interleukin 12 eradicates large orthotopic hepatocellular carcinoma through immunomodulation of tumor microenvironment.

Immunotherapies have shown promising results in certain cancer patients. For hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the multiplicity of an immunotolerant microenvironment within both the tumor, and the liver per se may limit the efficacy of cancer immunotherapies. Since radiation induces immunogenic cell death and inflammatory reactions within the tumor microenvironment, we hypothesized that a combination therapy of radiation and lasting local immunostimulating agents, achieved by intratumoral injection of an adenoviral vector encoding interleukin 12, may reverse the immunotolerant microenvironment within a well-established orthotopic HCC toward a state favorable for inducing antitumor immunities. Our data showed that radiation and IL-12 combination therapy (RT/IL-12) led to dramatic tumor regression in animals bearing large subcutaneous or orthotopic HCC, induced systemic effect against distant tumor, and significantly prolonged survival. Radiation monotherapy induced tumor regression at early times but afterwards most tumors regained exponential growth, while IL-12 monotherapy only delayed tumor growth. Mechanistic studies revealed that RT/IL-12 increased expression of MHC class II and co-stimulatory molecules CD40 and CD86 on tumor-infiltrating dendritic cells, suggesting an improvement of their antigen presentation activity. RT/IL-12 also significantly reduced accumulation of tumor-infiltrating myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) and impaired their suppressive functions by reducing production of reactive oxygen species. Accordingly, tumor-infiltrating CD8+ T cells and NK cells were significantly activated toward the antitumor phenotype, as revealed by increased expression of CD107a and TNF-α. Together, our data showed that RT/IL-12 treatment could reset the intratumoral immunotolerant state and stimulate activation of antitumor cellular immunity that is capable of eliminating large established HCC tumors.

Performance measurement for incineration plants using multi-activity network data envelopment analysis: The case of Taiwan.

This study proposes the use of multi-activity network data envelopment analysis to appraise how incineration plants in Taiwan perform. Sample data from 2006 is used to examine the trade-offs between efficiency enhancement and pollution abatement. The respective efficiencies of the waste treatment and electricity generation are also assessed in a unified framework. The empirical results indicate that it is more important to improve the efficiency of waste treatment activity than of electricity generation activity in order to enhance the overall performance of Taiwan's incinerators. Since ownership, location and length of operations do not in general affect their performance, any improvement has to come from the careful monitoring of each process of the waste treatment operations. Furthermore, given that the policy in Taiwan has moved away from incineration to recycling, the problem of an over-supply of incinerators may become apparent in the near future. Our results indicate that the availability of capacity size may be an important factor when policy-makers consider whether to close down some existing incinerators.