LEAD-YOLO: A Lightweight and Accurate Network for Small Object Detection in Autonomous Driving.

The accurate detection of small objects remains a critical challenge in autonomous driving systems, where improving detection performance typically comes at the cost of increased model complexity, conflicting with the lightweight requirements of edge deployment. To address this dilemma, this paper proposes LEAD-YOLO (Lightweight Efficient Autonomous Driving YOLO), an enhanced network architecture based on YOLOv11n that achieves superior small object detection while maintaining computational efficiency. The proposed framework incorporates three innovative components: First, the Backbone integrates a lightweight Convolutional Gated Transformer (CGF) module, which employs normalized gating mechanisms with residual connections, and a Dilated Feature Fusion (DFF) structure that enables progressive multi-scale context modeling through dilated convolutions.

Topological Transformation of MXenes to Non-Van Der Waals Artificial Solids with Well-Defined Structure.

Two-dimensional (2D) transition metal carbides, nitrides, or carbonitrides (MXenes) have become an ideal platform to produce some derivatives with tunable chemical compositions and structures, possessing unique physical and chemical properties beyond their counterparts. Here, a well-defined non-van der Waals artificial solid is developed on the basis of the topological transformation of Cl-terminated MXenes, which involves the substitution of -Cl with -S terminations to enlarge the interlayer spacing of MXenes and subsequent configuration with transition-metal (Cu, Fe, Co, Ni, and Sn) atoms. After the topological transformation, the MXene layers are chemically bonded, showing a higher thermal stability up to 550 °C in air than that of MXenes.

Achieving Ultrafast Monovalent ZnCl Ion Transport in MOF-Based Zn Ion Solid-State Electrolyte through Polyanion Strategy.

Solid-state transport of high-valence ions is a huge challenge, such as the transport of divalent zinc ions. Herein, a polyanion strategy is proposed to decrease divalent Zn to monovalent ZnCl, realizing ultrafast ion transport in solid-state electrolyte. An amorphous metal-organic framework (ZGB-MOF) is designed and constructed as the matrix for solid-state electrolyte.

Analogue Molecular Doping Engineering Enables High Ionic Conductivity of Polyvinylidene Fluoride-Based Polymer Electrolytes.

Solid polymer electrolytes (SPEs) based on polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) are promising candidates due to their outstanding mechanical properties and intrinsic safety features. Unfortunately, the crystalline α phase of PVDF limits the mobility of lithium ions, thus leading to low lithium ion conductivity. Herein, a molecular doping strategy is proposed to achieve high lithium ion conductivity of the PVDF-based electrolyte (PVDF) via introducing polyvinylidene dichloride (PVDC) to reduce the generation of the harmful α phase of PVDF.

High-Entropy Modulation on Na-O Configuration Toward Ultrastable Sodium Layered Oxide.

Although O3-type layered oxides are promising candidates as cathode materials in sodium-ion batteries (SIBs), it is still plagued by poor stabilities owing to the inevitable degradation of Na-O bond and subsequent side reactions as exposed to moist atmosphere. Here, a new O3-type high-entropy layered oxide NaMnFeNiMO (HE-NaMFN, M = Cu/Ti/Zn/Sn/Sb) is developed by high-entropy modulation on NaMnFeNiO. This process involves the implantation of five metal atoms with different d -orbital electron numbers into the layered oxide, increasing the energy gap between O 2p and metal d orbitals (Δp-d) from 0.

The mechanism underlying of Zuoguiyin on liver and kidney in D-gal-induced subacute aging female rats: A perspective on SIRT1-PPARγ pathway regulation of oxidative stress, inflammation and apoptosis.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Aging is a complex biological metabolic process. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) theory posits that deficiencies in the liver and kidneys in women is closely associated with aging. Zuoguiyin (ZGY), originating from the Jing Yue Quan Shu (A.

Solid Intercalation and Exfoliation of Cl-Terminated Multilayered MXenes toward O-Functionalized Single Layers.

Although ion intercalation is becoming a powerful strategy to produce expanded layered materials and atomic layers in aqueous or organic systems, it usually suffers from sluggish kinetics with a long intercalating time of several days. Here, we present a facile approach to produce O-functionalized single-layer MXenes by solid intercalation of Cl-terminated accordion-like MXenes in molten salts and subsequent exfoliation. The process involves the intercalation of metal cations (Li, Na and K) and anions (CO) in molten salts, resulting in substitution with -O surface groups and formation of gases (CO).

Flexible MXene/Laser-Induced Porous Graphene Asymmetric Supercapacitors: Enhanced Energy Density of Lateral and Sandwich Architectures Under Different Electrolytes.

Deployment of 2D layered materials beyond graphene, i.e., MXene (TiCT, T = ─OH, F, O) is rigorously explored for generation-II electrochemical energy storage systems.

Clinically applicable semi-supervised learning framework for multiple organs at risk and tumor delineation in lung cancer brachytherapy.

Purpose: The generalization ability of deep learning-based automatic segmentation techniques for lung cancer in practical clinical applications remains under-validated. We reported an investigation that validated a robust semi-supervised conditional nnU-Net (SSC-nnUNet) model in multiple organs at risk (OARs) and tumor segmentation in lung cancer brachytherapy, also explored its potential in robot-assisted puncture diagnosis and treatment.

Materials And Methods: Six hundred seventy-four patients with CT data from four partially labeled datasets were divided into training and validation sets at a ratio of 4:1, 181 patients from multiple centers (private dataset) with fully annotated data provided by 3 experienced radiation experts were used for testing comparison.

High-Entropy 1T-Phase Quantum Sheets of Transition-Metal Disulfides.

Quantum sheets of transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are promising nanomaterials owing to the combination of both 2D nanosheets and quantum dots with distinctive properties. However, the quantum sheets usually possess semiconducting behavior associated with 2H phase, it remains challenging to produce 1T-phase quantum sheets due to the easy sliding of the basal plane susceptible to the small lateral sizes. Here, an efficient high-entropy strategy is developed to produce 1T-phase quantum sheets of transition-metal disulfides based on controllable introduction of multiple metal atoms with large size differences to retard the sliding of basal plane.

The impact of artificial intelligence on corporate green innovation: Can "increasing quantity" and "improving quality" go hand in hand?

In the current era of digitalization and greenization, it is of great importance to explore how enterprises utilize artificial intelligence (AI) to promote green innovation. This paper explores the green innovation effects of AI and its underlying mechanisms from the perspective of corporate governance, using a sample of Chinese A-share listed companies from 2007 to 2021. Our results show that AI has a significant positive impact on corporate green innovation, in terms of both quantity and quality.

How to Evaluate the Chemical Affinity of -OH and -COOH Functional Groups Toward U(VI).

Which functional group shows a stronger affinity for U(VI) and can be introduced into material to enhance selective enrichment? This is crucial for U(VI) capture material design and evaluation. Following these questions, we herein compared and analyzed bare graphene, graphene oxide (GO), and carboxylated graphene oxide (GO-COOH) through experimental and theoretical calculations. Experiments show that U(VI) adsorption on GO-COOH ( = 344.

Bubbling Chemical Vapors in Molten Metal toward XIV-Group Nanosheets.

Two-dimensional (2D) XIV-group nanosheets (germanene, silicene, and stannene) possess unique physical and chemical features promising in fields of electronics, energy storage, and conversions. However, preparing these nanosheets is challenging owing to their non van der Waals structure with strong chemical bonds inside. Herein, a bubbling chemical-vapor growth method is proposed to synthesize these XIV-group nanosheets by bubbling XIV-group-element chlorides in molten sodium.

Bimetal Fluorides with Adjustable Vacancy Concentration Reinforcing Ion Transport in Poly(ethylene oxide) Electrolyte.

The poor ambient ionic transport properties of poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO)-based SPEs can be greatly improved through filler introduction. Metal fluorides are effective in promoting the dissociation of lithium salts via the establishment of the Li-F bond. However, too strong Li-F interaction would impair the fast migration of lithium ions.

Multi-Task Environmental Perception Methods for Autonomous Driving.

In autonomous driving, environmental perception technology often encounters challenges such as false positives, missed detections, and low accuracy, particularly in detecting small objects and complex scenarios. Existing algorithms frequently suffer from issues like feature redundancy, insufficient contextual interaction, and inadequate information fusion, making it difficult to perform multi-task detection and segmentation efficiently. To address these challenges, this paper proposes an end-to-end multi-task environmental perception model named YOLO-Mg, designed to simultaneously perform traffic object detection, lane line detection, and drivable area segmentation.

Heteroatom Immobilization Engineering toward High-Performance Metal Anodes.

Heteroatom immobilization engineering (HAIE) is becoming a forefront approach in materials science and engineering, focusing on the precise control and manipulation of atomic-level interactions within heterogeneous systems. HAIE has emerged as an efficient strategy to fabricate single-atom sites for enhancing the performance of metal-based batteries. Despite the significant progress achieved through HAIE in metal anodes for metal-based batteries, several critical challenges such as metal dendrites, side reactions, and sluggish reaction kinetics are still present.

Uncovering Temperature-Insensitive Feature of Phase Change Thermal Storage Electrolyte for Safe Lithium Battery.

Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have emerged as highly promising energy storage devices due to their high energy density and long cycle life. However, their safety concern, particularly under thermal shock, hinders their widespread applications. Herein, a temperature-insensitive electrolyte (TI-electrolyte) with exceptional resistance to thermal stimuli is presented to address the safety issues arising from the lack of thermal abuse tolerance in LIBs.

Deciphering and Integrating Functionalized Side Chains for High Ion-Conductive Elastic Ternary Copolymer Solid-State Electrolytes for Safe Lithium Metal Batteries.

A critical challenge in solid polymer lithium batteries is developing a polymer matrix that can harmonize ionic transportation, electrochemical stability, and mechanical durability. We introduce a novel polymer matrix design by deciphering the structure-function relationships of polymer side chains. Leveraging the molecular orbital-polarity-spatial freedom design strategy, a high ion-conductive hyperelastic ternary copolymer electrolyte (CPE) is synthesized, incorporating three functionalized side chains of poly-2,2,2-Trifluoroethyl acrylate (PTFEA), poly(vinylene carbonate) (PVC), and polyethylene glycol monomethyl ether acrylate (PEGMEA).

Recent Progress in Modular Electrochemical Synthesis of Hydrogen and High-Value-added Chemicals based on Solid Redox Mediator.

Electrochemical synthesis of H and high-value-added chemicals is an efficient and cost-effective approach that can be powered using renewable electricity. Compared to a conventional electrochemical production system, the modular electrochemical production system (MEPS) based on a solid redox mediator (SRM) can separate the anodic and cathodic reactions in time and space. The MEPS can avoid the use of membranes and formation of useless products, as well as eliminate the mutual dependence of production rates at anode and cathode.

Mechanistic insights into photoinduced energy and charge transfer dynamics between magnesium-centered tetrapyrroles and carbon nanotubes.

Functionalizing single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) with light-harvesting molecules is a facile way to construct donor-acceptor nanoarchitectures with intriguing optoelectronic properties. Magnesium-centered bacteriochlorin (MgBC), chlorin (MgC), and porphyrin (MgP) are a series of tetrapyrrole macrocycles comprising a central metal and four coordinated aromatic or antiaromatic five-membered rings linked by methine units, which show excellent visible light absorption. To delineate the effects of the aromaticity of coordinated rings on the optoelectronic properties of the nanocomposites, the photoinduced energy and charge transfer dynamics between Mg-centered tetrapyrroles and SWNTs are explored.

MFF-Net: Multiscale feature fusion semantic segmentation network for intracranial surgical instruments.

Background: In robot-assisted surgery, automatic segmentation of surgical instrument images is crucial for surgical safety. The proposed method addresses challenges in the craniotomy environment, such as occlusion and illumination, through an efficient surgical instrument segmentation network.

Methods: The network uses YOLOv8 as the target detection framework and integrates a semantic segmentation head to achieve detection and segmentation capabilities.

An intramolecular vibrationally excited intermolecular potential energy surface and predicted 2OH overtone spectroscopy of HO-Kr.

A new five-dimensional potential energy surface (PES) for HO-Kr which explicitly includes the intramolecular 2OH overtone state of the HO monomer is presented. The intermolecular potential energies were evaluated using explicitly correlated coupled cluster theory [CCSD(T)-F12] with a large basis set. Four vibrationally averaged analytical intermolecular PESs for HO-Kr with HO molecules in its |00〉, |02〉, |02〉, and |11〉 states are obtained by fitting to the multi-dimensional Morse/Long-Range potential function form.

InstrumentNet: An integrated model for real-time segmentation of intracranial surgical instruments.

In robot-assisted surgery, precise surgical instrument segmentation technology can provide accurate location and pose data for surgeons, helping them perform a series of surgical operations efficiently and safely. However, there are still some interfering factors, such as surgical instruments being covered by tissue, multiple surgical instruments interlacing with each other, and instrument shaking during surgery. To better address these issues, an effective surgical instrument segmentation network called InstrumentNet is proposed, which adopts YOLOv7 as the object detection framework to achieve a real-time detection solution.

High-Entropy Laminates with High Ion Conductivities for High-Power All-Solid-State Lithium Metal Batteries.

Solid-state electrolytes (SSEs) are crucial to high-energy-density lithium metal batteries, but they commonly suffer from slow Li transfer kinetics and low mechanical strength, severely hampering the application for all-solid-state batteries. Here, we develop a two-dimensional (2D) high-entropy lithium-ion conductor, lithium-containing transition-metal phosphorus sulfide, HE-LiMPS (Li(FeCoNiMnZn)PS) with five transition-metal atoms and lithium ions (Li) dispersed into [PS] framework layers, exhibiting high lattice distortions and a large amount of cation vacancies. Such unique features enable to efficiently accelerate the migration of Li in 2D [PS] interlamination, delivering a high ionic conductivity of 5 × 10 S cm at room temperature.

High buffering capacity cobalt-doped nickel hydroxide electrode as redox mediator for flexible hydrogen evolution by two-step water electrolysis.

Two-step water electrolysis has been proposed to tackle the ticklish H/O mixture problems in conventional alkaline water electrolysis recently. However, low buffering capacity of pure nickel hydroxide electrode as redox mediator limited practical application of two-step water electrolysis system. A high-capacity redox mediator (RM) is urgently needed to permit consecutive operation of two-step cycles and high-efficiency hydrogen evolution.