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In order to restrict greenhouse gases emissions, CO 2 should be captured from the postcombustion gas for further treatment, for example, geosequestration. In this work, the separation performance of the twostage membrane system with a recycle stream was investigated using the cross-flow model. For larger CO 2 / N 2 selectivities that can be achieved in the lab, for example, selectivity of 52, the separation target of CO 2 purity >95% and CO 2 recovery >90% can be fulfilled by the two-stage system. The process cost of the two-stage membrane process was investigated. There is an optimum pressure ratio with which the capital cost and the energy cost can be balanced to minimize the total cost. Using the optimum pressure ratios and efficient membranes, the total cost of the two-stage system can be reduced to a range that is competitive with the process cost of the traditional chemical absorption method. For example, with feed compression applied, the total cost of the two-stage membrane system using the membrane with CO 2 /N 2 selectivity of 52 and CO 2 permeance of 3.12Â10 -3 m 3 (STP) m -2 s -1 MPa -1 is estimated to be $47.9/(ton CO 2 recovered).

Paclitaxel, a taxane, is a cytotoxic chemotherapeutic agent that targets microtubules. It has become a front-line therapy for a broad range of malignancies, including lung, breast, gastric, esophageal, and bladder carcinomas. Although paclitaxel can inhibit tumor development and improve survival, poor solubility, myelotoxicity, allergic reactions, and drug resistance have restricted its clinical application. Paclitaxel is frequently combined with other chemotherapeutics to enhance the antitumor effects and reduce side effects. We synthesized geridonin, a derivative of oridonin, and demonstrate that geridonin and paclitaxel act synergistically to inhibit the growth of gastric cancer cells. Importantly, geridonin enhanced the antitumor effects of paclitaxel without increasing toxicity in vivo. Mechanistic analysis revealed that administration of geridonin in combination with paclitaxel up-regulated the tumor suppressor PTEN and inhibited phosphorylation of Akt and MDM2. This led to the accumulation of p53 and induced apoptosis though the mitochondrial pathway. Thus, geridonin in combination with paclitaxel is a new treatment strategy for gastric cancer.

Near-infrared photodetectors (NIRPDs) have attracted great attention because of their wide range of applications in many fields. Herein, a novel self-driven NIRPD at the wavelength of 980 nm is reported based on the graphene/GaAs heterostructure. Extraordinarily, its sensitivity to light illumination (980 nm) is far beyond the absorption limitation of GaAs (874 nm). This means that the photocurrent originates from the separation of photo-induced carriers in graphene, which is caused by the vertically built-in electric field formed through the high quality van der Waals contact between graphene and GaAs. Moreover, after introducing NaYF4:Yb3+/Er3+ upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) onto the graphene/GaAs heterojunction, the responsivity increases to be as superior as 5.97 mA W-1 and the corresponding detectivity is 1.1 × 1011 cm Hz0.5 W-1 under self-driven conditions. This dramatic improvement is mainly ascribed to the radiative energy transfer from UCNPs to the graphene/GaAs heterostructure. The high-quality and self-driven UCNPs/graphene/GaAs heterostructure NIRPD holds significant potential for practical application in low-consumption and large-scale optoelectronic devices.

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We propose a highly efficient graphene-on-gap modulator (GOGM) by employing the hybrid plasmonic effect, whose modulation efficiency (up to 1.23 dB/μm after optimization) is ∼12-fold larger than that of the present graphene-on-silicon modulator (∼0.1  dB/μm). The proposed modulator has the advantage of a short modulation length of ∼3.6  μm, a relatively low insertion loss of ∼0.32  dB, and a larger modulation bandwidth of ∼0.48  THz. The physical insight is investigated, showing that both the slow light effect and the overlap between graphene and the mode field contribute. Moreover, an efficient taper coupler has been designed to convert the quasi-transverse electric mode of conventional silicon waveguide to the hybrid plasmonic mode of GOGM, with a high coupling efficiency of 91%. This Letter may promote the design of high-performance on-chip electro-optical modulators.

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