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INTRODUCTION The Shenzhen government is widely considered to be most efficiently implementing smoke-free legislation in China. We evaluated and compared the impact of Shenzhen's two-phase smoke-free regulation on the incidence rates for ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke. METHODS An interrupted time series design was used to capture immediate and annual incidence changes from 2007 to 2016 for both ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke due to two-phase smoke-free regulation in Shenzhen, China, by using a generalized additive model. The first phase, implemented on 9 March 2010, required five main public places to be smoke-free. In the second phase, the comprehensive law was expanded to the whole city on 1 March 2014. RESULTS The regulation implementation during phase I was associated with a strong immediate decline in the incidence rate of ischemic stroke (-14.2%, 95% CI: -19.6 -- -8.4) and hemorrhagic stroke (-10.1%, 95% CI: -18.2 -- -1.2), but without showing the annual changes (p>0.05). Following the implementation of the comprehensive law, the gradual annual effect showed a significant change in ischemic stroke, with a 6.3% (95% CI: 8.9 -- -3.6) reduction. Neither the immediate nor gradual decreases in hemorrhagic stroke incidences associated with the comprehensive regulation were statistically significant during phase II (p>0.05). Subgroup analyses indicate that a much larger health effect of the regulation during phase I was greater among those aged ≥65 years than among those aged 35--64 years. CONCLUSIONS Shenzhen's two-phase smoke-free regulation was well implemented. Even though the regulation did not extend to the whole city, the immediate health benefits on the incidence rates of ischemic stroke and hemorrhagic stroke could be seen. However, the health benefits brought by the implementation of comprehensive smoke-free legislation were attenuated by previous smoke-free regulations in five main public places, which were more evident in hemorrhagic stroke. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efficient and dependable methods for detection and measurement of synaptic events are important for studies of synaptic physiology and neuronal circuit connectivity. As the published methods with detection algorithms based upon amplitude thresholding and fixed or scaled template comparisons are of limited utility for detection of signals with variable amplitudes and superimposed events that have complex waveforms, previous techniques are not applicable for detection of evoked synaptic events in photostimulation and other similar experimental situations. Here we report on a novel technique that combines the design of a bank of approximate matched filters with the detection and estimation theory to automatically detect and extract photostimluation-evoked excitatory postsynaptic currents (EPSCs) from individually recorded neurons in cortical circuit mapping experiments. The sensitivity and specificity of the method were evaluated on both simulated and experimental data, with its performance comparable to that of visual event detection performed by human operators. This new technique was applied to quantify and compare the EPSCs obtained from excitatory pyramidal cells and fast-spiking interneurons. In addition, our technique has been further applied to the detection and analysis of inhibitory postsynaptic current (IPSC) responses. Given the general purpose of our matched filtering and signal recognition algorithms, we expect that our technique can be appropriately modified and applied to detect and extract other types of electrophysiological and optical imaging signals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microfluidic heat sinks are regarded as an efficient cooling solution in micro-electronic systems. However, as the hydraulic diameter of the microfluidic heat sinks shrinks, the blockage problem may occur due to the particles caused by cooling components' abrasion, which limits the application in long-term operation. This paper proposes an unconstrained microfluidic heat sink (UCMFHS) with high anti-blockage capacity for multiple hotspot systems, which aims to solve the blockage problem. The position and shape of the micro pin fins in UCMFHS are optimized by the CFD model. According to the test requirements of anti-blockage capacity and cooling performance, the test platform is built, which adopts the thermal test chips as heat source array. The results show that when the coolant particle concentration is 0.5%, the pressure drop variation is less than 0.3 kPa in UCMFHS, which is 99.43% lower than the control sample. The average temperature and temperature non-uniformity coefficient of 16 hotspots under the condition of 1200 W/cm2 and 125 mL per minute are 141.1 - and 0.049, respectively. Therefore, the UCMFHS has both anti-blockage capacity and cooling capacity and is considered to have a high application prospect in long-term multi-hotspot cooling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a methanation tool, two-dimensional (2D) carrier-loaded Ni has attracted the attention of many researchers. We successfully prepared 2D MgAl layered double oxides (LDO) carriers via flash nanoprecipitation (FNP). Compared to the LDO samples prepared by conventional co-precipitation (CP), the 2D MgAl-LDO (FNP) has more oxygen vacancies and more exposed active sites. The Ni/MgAl-LDO (FNP) catalyst demonstrates a CO conversion of 97%, a CH4 selectivity of 79.8%, a turnover frequency of 0.141 s-1, and a CH4 yield of 77.4% at 350 °C. The weight hourly space velocity was 20,000 mL•g-1•h-1 with a synthesis gas flow rate of 65 mL•min•, and a pressure of 1 atm. A control experiment used the CP method to prepare Ni/MgAl-LDO. This material exhibits a CO conversion of 81.1%, a CH4 selectively of 75.1%, a TOF of 0.118 s-1, and a CH4 yield of 61% at 450 °C. We think that this FNP method can be used for the preparation of more 2D LDO catalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A two-dimensional MnAl-layered double oxide (LDO) was obtained by flash nanoprecipitation method (FNP) and used for the selective catalytic reduction of NOx with NH3. The MnAl-LDO (FNP) catalyst formed a particle size of 114.9 nm. Further characterization exhibited rich oxygen vacancies and strong redox property to promote the catalytic activity at low temperature. The MnAl-LDO (FNP) catalyst performed excellent NO conversion above 80% at the temperature range of 100-400 °C, and N2 selectivity above 90% below 200 °C, with a gas hourly space velocity (GHSV) of 60,000 h-1, and a NO concentration of 500 ppm. The maximum NO conversion is 100% at 200 °C; when the temperature in 150-250 °C, the NO conversion can also reach 95%. The remarkable low-temperature catalytic performance of the MnAl-LDO (FNP) catalyst presented potential applications for controlling NO emissions on the account of the presentation of oxygen vacancies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is still a challenging global task for oil/water separation. Here we fabricate superhydrophobic magnetic cellulose sponge (SMCE) that can be used to separate free oil/water mixtures and surfactant-stabilized W/O emulsions. The simple modification includes only two steps: a thin layer of ferroferric oxide (Fe3O4) was coated on cellulose sponge surface via codeposition method, and subsequently magnetic cellulose sponge was modified with hexadecyltrimethoxysilane, which could react with Fe3O4 or hydroxyl groups of cellulose. The purpose of coating Fe3O4 is to increase the roughness of the surface and recycle the sample by magnetic force. SMCE could separate oil-water mixtures with a high separation efficiency and good reusability. The sample is green, low cost, and environmental friendly, which makes it a promising candidate to be used in oil-water separation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]