Environmental pollution, trade openness and the health of middle-aged and elderly people: an analysis of threshold effect based on data from 111 prefecture-level cities in China.

Background: Environmental pollution seriously endangers people's physical and mental health, especially the health of middle-aged and elderly people. Environmental pollution, trade openness, and population health are interconnected. Environmental pollution may have a nonlinear impact on health, and the impact of trade openness on the health effects of environmental pollution may not be a simple strengthening or weakening effect.

Factors associated with under-five mortality in Rwanda: An analysis of the Rwanda Demographic and Health Survey 2020.

Despite global and Rwandan progress in reducing under-five mortality, the risk of children dying before their fifth birthday persists, necessitating intensified research on determinants. Thus, this study analyzed the birth history data to shed light on the underlying causes of under-five mortality in Rwanda. The study is a secondary analysis of data sourced from the 2020 Rwanda Demographic and Health Survey (RDHS) cross-sectional design.

Advanced ethylene-absorbing and cushioning depending on the 3D porous-structured fruit packaging: Toward polyurethane foam manipulation using zein and soybean oil polyol substrates.

Fruits are essential sources of nutrients in our daily diet; however, their spoilage is often intensified by mechanical damage and the ethylene phytohormone, resulting in significant economic losses and exacerbating hunger issues. To address these challenges, this study presented a straightforward in situ synthesis protocol for producing Z/SOPPU foam, a 3D porous-structured fruit packaging. This innovative packaging material offered advanced ethylene-adsorbing and cushioning capabilities achieved through stirring, heating, and standing treatments.

Tug-of-War-Inspired Bio-Based Air Filters with Advanced Filtration Performance.

Integrating nanostructured active materials, antimicrobial components, and rational porous structures is one of the promising approaches for simultaneously boosting removal efficiency, antimicrobial capacity, mechanical property, hydrophobic performance, and air permeability of air filters. However, realizing these performances of an air filter still remains a big challenge. Herein, a multifunctional air filter zNFs-Ag@PT, which is composed of a unique substrate prepared from Ag nanoparticles (AgNPs)-paper towel (PT) microfibers and an upper layer formed from aligned zein nanofibers (zNFs) inspired by a "tug-of-war" repulsion force, is reported.

A Janus nanofiber-based separator for trapping polysulfides and facilitating ion-transport in lithium-sulfur batteries.

Endowing separators with the polysulfide-blocking function is urgently needed for high-performance lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries. Thus far, most of the reported research has focused on modifying conventional polyolefin separators but with poor thermal stability and low ionic conductivity. To address these issues, herein we report a Janus separator based on a thermally stable polymeric nanofabric designed with abilities to trap polysulfides and facilitate the transport of Li+ simultaneously.

In Situ Armoring: A Robust, High-Wettability, and Fire-Resistant Hybrid Separator for Advanced and Safe Batteries.

Development of nonflammable separators with excellent properties is in urgent need by next-generation advanced and safe energy storage devices. However, it has been extremely challenging to simultaneously achieve fire resistance, high mechanical strength, good thermomechanical stability, and low ion-transport resistance for polymeric separators. Herein, to address all these needs, we report an in situ formed silica@silica-imbedded polyimide (in situ SiO@(PI/SiO)) nanofabric as a new high-performance inorganic-organic hybrid separator.

Robust polyimide nanofibrous membrane with porous-layer-coated morphology by in situ self-bonding and micro-crosslinking for lithium-ion battery separator.

Herein, we demonstrate a strategy to improve the tensile strength, thermal safety issues, and electrochemical performance of an as-synthesized polyimide separator. By spraying the solution of a specific chemical constituent on both sides of a poly(amic acid) non-woven membrane followed by thermal treatment, a novel polyimide nanofibrous membrane with porous-layer-coated morphology was successfully fabricated by in situ self-bonding and micro-crosslinking technique. The self-bonding and micro-crosslinking techniques improve the tensile strength of the nanofiber membranes from 5 MPa to 28 MPa by forming a crosslinked network structure, thereby reducing the risk of nanofiber disassembly during long-term operation.

Preparation of Palladium/Silver-Coated Polyimide Nanotubes: Flexible, Electrically Conductive Fibers.

A simple and practical method for coating palladium/silver nanoparticles on polyimide (PI) nanotubes is developed. The key steps involved in the process are silver ion exchange/reduction and displacement reactions between silver and palladium ions. With the addition of silver, the conductivity of the PI nanotubes is greatly enhanced.