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Using the particle swarm optimization algorithm, we conducted an extensive search for the high-pressure stable structure of technetium diboride (TcB2) within the pressure range of 0–400 GPa. At zero pressure, the P63/mmc (hP6-TcB2) structure is considered the ground state configuration. As the pressure increases, a structural transition from hP6-TcB2 to P6/mmm (hP3-TcB2) occurs at approximately 174.9 GPa. We discuss the bonding between the two distinct phases and analyze the contribution of different atomic bonds to maintaining their structural stability. Meanwhile, the temperature–pressure phase diagram of TcB2 was successfully determined for the first time through the quasi-harmonic approximation method. It is predicted that the transition pressure from hP6-TcB2 to hP3-TcB2 can be reduced to about 164 GPa at a room temperature of 300 K. These results provide valuable insights into the behavior of TcB2 under different temperature and pressure conditions and open up new possibilities for exploring its potential applications in a variety of environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The structure prediction algorithm CALYPSO combined with density functional theory calculations are used to find the high-pressure stable structure of manganese diboride (MnB2) in the pressure range of 0–400 GPa. It is found that the pressure-induced phase transition sequence of MnB2 should be P63/mmc (hP6-MnB2) → Immm (oI18-MnB2) → Pnma (oP12-MnB2) → Imma (oI12-MnB2), and the transition pressure is 35.9, 62.4, and 137.3 GPa, respectively. Among them, oP12-MnB2 is a new stable orthorhombic phase in MnB2 and never have been reported before. At ambient conditions, the calculated hardness of hP6-MnB2 and oI18-MnB2 is 34.5 and 22.9 GPa, respectively, suggesting that they are potentially hard material. However, oP12-MnB2 and oI12-MnB2 just possess a smaller hardness value of 13.9 and 16.2 GPa at the pressure of 80 and 140 GPa, respectively. In addition, the electronic structure and chemical bonds studies showed that the strong covalent bond formed by B-B bonds serve as the primary factor for maintain the structural stability of oP12-MnB2 and oI12-MnB2 under high pressure. Furthermore, at the pressure of 140 GPa, the B-B bonds of oP12 phase exists obvious antibonding characteristics below Femi level. The filling of anti-bonding states is detrimental to the stability of the crystal structure, which is the reason why the oP12 phase is less stable than the oI12 phase at this pressure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High confinement mode plasma experiments with Type-I edge localized modes (ELMs) have been carried out on HL-2A tokamak. With neutral beam injection and lower hybrid current drive heating, a quasi-coherent mode (QCM) located at pedestal region has been observed, which exists during the ELM-free stage till the first ELM burst. Analysis based on density and magnetic fluctuations has revealed that the QCM propagating radially outward is electrostatic in nature whose radial wavenumber is k r ∼ 0.5 cm−1 as well as the poloidal wavenumber around k θ ∼ 1.4 cm−1, rotating in electron diamagnetic drift direction. The central frequency of the mode gradually decreases from 50 to 20 kHz, which varies almost linearly with toroidal rotation. Experimental findings indicate that the QCM is excited above a critical electron density gradient in the ELM-free phase during which the latter gradually increases due to the confinement transition. The disappearance of QCM is closely associated with the onset of ELMy H-mode, suggesting that the presence of QCM could potentially delay the occurrence of ELM bursts, consequently supporting the maintenance of an ELM-free operational regime. Moreover, the pedestal region locates more radially outside where the density gradient shows a more spanned region with QCM. A quantitative comparison between experimental measurements and linear GENE gyrokinetic simulations suggests that the dissipative trapped electron mode might be the candidate interpretation of the QCM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The structure stability, mechanical properties, thermal conductivity, and optical properties of a novel layered tetragonal compound Bi3O2S2Cl have been investigated at pressure up to 25 GPa by using first-principles calculations based on density functional theory in this work. The lattice parameters of Bi3O2S2Cl calculated by Perdew–Burke–Ernzerhof functional in the ground state agree well with the experimental results. Moreover, the calculated phonon dispersion curves and elastic constants Cij suggest that Bi3O2S2Cl is mechanically and dynamically stable from 0 to 25 GPa. The bulk modulus B and the shear modulus G calculated from Cij at different pressures demonstrate that the ductility of Bi3O2S2Cl is increased by external pressure. Furthermore, the influence of pressure on longitudinal sound velocity vl, transverse sound velocity vt, aggregate acoustic velocities vm, Debye temperature ΘD, Poisson's ratio σ, and Grüneisen parameter γ are systematically studied. Meanwhile, the elastic anisotropy index AU and the shear anisotropy factors A1, A2, and A3 are also investigated, together with the directional linear compressibility and Young's modulus under pressure from 0 to 25 GPa. The results show that the anisotropy of Bi3O2S2Cl increases under external pressure. Afterward, we further evaluated the minimum thermal conductivity of Bi3O2S2Cl under pressure by using both Clark's model and Cahill's model. At ambient pressure, it exhibits a relatively low thermal conductivity of 0.365 Wm−1 K−1. Although the minimum thermal conductivity increases with the increase of pressure, it remains a potential thermal barrier coating material in extreme environments. Finally, the calculations of the optical properties of Bi3O2S2Cl under different pressures show that this new layered tetragonal compound is a promising energy harvesting and optoelectrical material in extreme environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent progress towards an increased understanding of detached divertor physics has been made with the highly closed divertor geometry in HL-2A. Non-intrinsic impurities were injected into the outer divertor chamber, and increased divertor neutral pressure and enhanced volumetric energy loss in the divertor were observed. Meanwhile the neutral pressure in the main chamber decreased slightly, and neutral compression between the divertor and main chamber increased greatly. This led to divertor detachment with a low upstream plasma line-averaged electron density ( ∼ 0.5 n GW ). In the H-mode, slight degradation of the core confinement, characterized by a decrease in plasma stored energy and pedestal pressure and an increase in edge-localized mode frequency, was observed, but the H-mode was still sustained well with H98 > 1. Pedestal density fluctuation was increased during detachment, implying that the enhanced pedestal transport might be responsible for the degradation. During the divertor detachment phase, the impurities were well controlled in the divertor without strong radiation near the X-point region, and the main plasma density did not increase but decreased slightly; this could be a benefit of the highly closed divertor geometry. The experimental results suggest that a closed divertor geometry has the advantages of volumetric energy loss, gas pumping and impurity control in the divertor without significant effects on the plasma confinement, thus giving a wider operating window for divertor detachment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The performance of supervised deep learning-based denoising methods relies on massive amounts of high-quality training data set with labels. However, data labelling is a time-consuming and tedious process, and the lack of labelled data set has become a major bottleneck affecting the development of supervised deep learning-based denoising methods. In recent years, denoising methods that only use unlabelled noisy data set for training have received more and more attention. Although these methods get rid of the dependence on labels, they usually have some specific requirements on the training data set. For example, the paired training data are required to be multiple noisy observations for each scene or obey a specific noise distribution, etc., which are often very challenging to meet in practical applications. In this study, we propose an improved self-supervised denoising framework based on Noise2Noise that only uses noisy seismic data set for training, and we name it sample2sample. The proposed denoising framework does not require multiple repeated acquisitions of seismic data to obtain multiple independent noisy observations for each scene used for training, and has no specific requirement for the noise distribution prior. Specifically, we introduce a random sampler to generate paired subsamples from some individual noisy seismic data for training. The corresponding elements in the two paired subsamples are adjacent in the original seismic data and approximately meet the training premise of Noise2Noise, that is the paired training data have the same signal. In addition, considering that there are some subtle differences in the signals of the paired subsamples generated by sampling, we also introduce a regularization loss to compensate for this. We conducted a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the denoising performance of the proposed method through further experiments, including synthetic data experiments and field data experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Double-peaked distribution (DPD) of particle flux has only been observed on the outer divertor target in electron cyclotron resonance heating deuterium plasmas with B × ∇ B toward the X-point in the HL-2A tokamak using high spatiotemporal Langmuir probe arrays. The experimental results demonstrate that the formation of the DPD is mainly due to the enhanced poloidal E × B drift flow stimulated in the divertor region, which is dependent on the plasma density, heating power, and divertor structure. The experimental results are qualitatively consistent with the SOLPS simulation. The experiment also shows that the formation of the DPD might be related to the enhanced cross field transport in the far scrape-off layer. This experimental findings presented here reveal the crucial role played by the synergistic effect of poloidal E × B drift flow and the closed divertor structure in the redistribution of the particle flux, which provides a potential way for the control of high heat flux in future fusion devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of sheared E  ×  B flow on the blob dynamics in the scrape-off layer (SOL) of HL-2A tokamak has been studied during the plasma current ramp-up in ohmically heated deuterium plasmas by the combination of poloidal and radial Langmuir probe arrays. The experimental results indicate that the SOL sheared E  ×  B flow is substantially enhanced as the plasma current exceeds a certain value and the strong sheared E  ×  B flow has the ability to slow the blob radial motion via stretching its poloidal correlation length. The locally accumulated blobs are suggested to be responsible for the increase of plasma density just outside the Last Closed Flux Surface (LCFS) observed in this experiment. The results presented here reveal the significant role played by the strong sheared E  ×  B flow on the blob dynamics, which provides a potential method to control the SOL width by modifying the sheared E  ×  B flow in future tokamak plasmas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The study aimed to evaluate the brief F3ALLS assessment's validity in screening fall risk. Design: This is a cross sectional and longitudinal study. Setting: Participants were recruited from outpatient primary care clinics. Participants: Older ambulatory adults ages 65–90 volunteered for this study. Measurements: Falls risk was measured with TGBA and F3ALLS questionnaires. A 6-month follow-up period assessed for falls using falls diaries and chart review. Results: Participants (n=97) were older adults ages 73.91±6.4, 68% (n=66) female. 31% of participants reported at least one fall at 6-months. F3ALLS scores were higher in participants who reported 1 or more falls at 6-months follow-up (3.23±1.5). Higher F3ALLS scores were associated with 6-month fall risk (OR=1.463, 95% CI=1.098–1.949). A score > 3 stratified patients as at risk of falling (AUC=0.77, P<.001; Sensitivity=0.65, Specificity=0.71). Conclusion: The F3ALLS questionnaire adequately classifies person at risk versus not at risk for falls, and higher (worse) F3ALLS scores are associated with falls over 6 months. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Vertical invasion of extramammary Paget's disease (EMPD) is associated with poor prognosis. The usual vertical invasion route is directly downward or along the skin appendages. High‐frequency ultrasound (HFUS) can be used to measure the EMPD lesion thickness, and visualize the pseudopod extensions due to skin appendage involvement. It is a non‐invasive method for evaluating the extent of vertical invasion in EMPD. Objective: To investigate the value of HFUS in predicting the extent of vertical invasion in EMPD. Methods: In this retrospective study, 85 patients with EMPD were divided into two groups based on the pathology: invasive EMPD (iEMPD) group (n = 13) and in situ EMPD group (n = 72). The clinical and HFUS features of both the groups were analysed. The different types of pseudopodia morphology on HFUS were as follows: no pseudopodia, irregular bottom, small sphere, short strip, long strip, vase shape and nodular convex. These were further stratified into low‐risk and high‐risk levels. Results: The clinical features were comparable between the two groups (P > 0.05). There were significant differences between the two groups in the HFUS features (lesion thickness, lesion shape, bottom shape, layer involvement, pseudopodia morphology and colour Doppler blood flow signal; all P < 0.05). The distribution of the pseudopodia morphology types in the in situ EMPD and iEMPD groups was as follows: no pseudopodia, 30/72 and 0/13; irregular bottom, 5/72 and 0/13; small sphere, 5/72 and 0/13; short strip, 21/72 and 0/13; long strip, 8/72 and 3/13; vase shape, 3/72 and 3/13; and nodular convex, 0/72 and 7/13 (P < 0.05 for all). The sensitivity and specificity of high‐risk pseudopodia in identifying iEMPD were 100% and 84.7%, respectively. Conclusions: High‐frequency ultrasound provides morphological information regarding EMPD lesions. Risk stratification for pseudopodia can help to distinguish between iEMPD and in situ EMPD lesions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new visible imaging system characterizing a flexible optical design and delivering high resolution frames is established on the HL-2A tokamak. It features a modular configuration, consisting of a front-end imaging lens, a set of bilateral telecentric relay lenses, and a camera. To avoid the effects of plasma radiation (x and gamma-rays) and magnetic field variation on the camera, it should be away from the coils. Therefore, the length of the relay lenses determines the total size of the imaging system. The main feature of this imaging system is to realize the variation of field of view (FOV) by interchanging the front-end prime lenses or by using a zoom lens directly rather than designing the optical system afresh, which lowers the cost drastically. The primary purpose of varying FOV is to enrich the versatility of this system, i.e., focusing on a narrow FOV such as gas puff imaging or a wide FOV such as the plasma cross sections. During the HL-2A experiments, this visible imaging system is used to provide high quality pictures of the plasma–wall interaction, divertor detachment, pellet injections, and so on. The frames confirmed that a strong radiation close to the X point is correlated with the completely detached inner target. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding how plants adjust their requirements for different N forms can help elucidate plant coexistence strategies in N‐limited desert ecosystems. To understand the mechanisms involved, we investigated whether two desert herbs can directly absorb dissolved organic nitrogen (N) and tested whether the patterns changed over different growth stages.Two dominant herbaceous species, Astragalus arpilobus and Arnebia decumbens, from the southern edge of the Gurbantunggut desert, China, were selected. Short‐term (24 h) 15N‐labelled tracer (15N‐NO3, 15N‐NH4, 2‐13C‐15N‐Glycine) treatments were conducted at two soil depths (0–5 cm and 5–15 cm) in the season of rapid growth (June) and in the peak biomass season (July). Enrichment in 13C and 15N was assessed in the two species receiving glycine.The ratio 13C:15N was 0.21–1.39 at the 24‐h harvest, suggesting that approximately 10.5–69.5% of glycine had been absorbed. The amount of absorbed 15N was significantly affected by species, month, soil depth and N form. The two species absorbed most 15N from the 0–5 cm soil layer, and the absorption rate in July was higher than that in June. The absorption of 15N‐NO3 and 15N‐NH4 was significantly higher than that of 2‐13C‐15N‐Glycine.The results indicate that these herbs could use amino acids in the N‐deficient desert ecosystem. The two co‐existing species used different forms of inorganic N for their requirements and maintained a specific preference throughout various growth stages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The invasion mechanism of Solidago canadensis L., been extensively investigated as its one of the most destructive exotic invasive plants. The present study showed that allelopathy is beneficial to the successful invasion of invasive alien species (IAS). However, the main allelopathic part of S. canadensis L. is less known to the researchers. Therefore, we experimented with the allelopathic effects of extracts obtained from various parts of S. canadensis L. (root, litter, aboveground parts) at concentrations of 50 g L -1 and 150 g L-1 on seed germination and seedling growth of Zoysia japonica Steud. The results showed that the extract from the S. canadensis L. aboveground parts had prominent inhibition effects on Zoysiagrass seed germination rate, germination potential, vigour value, root length and plant height, and the suppression increased significantly at high concentrations. With the treatment of aqueous extract from the aboveground parts of S. canadensis L. (50 g L-1 ), the content of malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration and peroxidase (POD) activity increased significantly. The root extract at the concentration of 50 g L-1 did not affect the parameters except POD activity, but the concentration of 150 g L-1 inhibited all the parameters significantly except catalase (CAT) activity. Litter aqueous extracts did not show any significant effect on any parameters of Zoysia japonica Steud. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a data-driven approach, the performance of deep learning models depends largely on the quantity and quality of the training data sets, which greatly limits the application of deep learning to tasks with small data sets. Unfortunately, sometimes we need to use limited small data sets to complete our tasks, such as distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) data denoising. However, using a small data set to train the network may cause overfitting, resulting in poor network generalization. To solve this problem, we propose an approach based on the combination of a generative adversarial network and a deep convolutional neural network. First, we used a small noise data set to train a generative adversarial network to generate synthetic noise samples, and then used these synthetic noise samples to augment the noise data set. Next, we used the augmented noise data set and the signal data set obtained through forward modelling to construct a synthetic training set. Finally, a denoising network based on a convolutional neural network was trained on the constructed synthetic training set. Experimental results show that the augmented data set can effectively improve the denoising performance and generalization ability of the network, and the denoising network trained on the augmented data set can more effectively reduce various kinds of noise in the DAS data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Nucleotide‐binding oligomerization domain‐like receptor family, pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3)‐associated autoinflammatory disease (NLRP3‐AID) is a rare, heterogeneous disease entity associated with mutations in NLRP3. Biologic therapy for NLRP3‐AID yields diverse results. Objectives: We aimed to evaluate the clinical features and outcomes of Chinese adult patients with NLRP3‐AID who were treated with tumour necrosis factor (TNF)‐α inhibitors. Methods: Five patients with NLRP3‐AID were diagnosed and treated with TNF‐α inhibitors at Peking Union Medical College Hospital between 2017 and 2020 and were followed up for 6 to 12 months. All patients were systematically studied for treatment outcomes, including clinical manifestations and inflammatory markers. Results: All five adult NLRP3‐AID patients were Chinese Han, and four patients were males. The mean age at disease onset was 4.2 ± 4.1 years, and the mean time of diagnosis delay was 19.8 ± 6 years. All patients received TNF‐α inhibitors with or without methotrexate/prednisone. During follow‐up, all patients achieved remarkable clinical remission of skin lesions and polyarthritis and showed improvements in acute‐phase reactants, inflammatory cytokines, patient visual analogue scale, physician global assessment and 36‐item Short Form (SF‐36). Conclusions: Early diagnosis and effective therapy for NLRP3‐AID are essential for avoiding irreversible organ damage. TNF‐α inhibitors might serve as a therapeutic alternative for patients with NLRP3‐AID who have unsatisfactory responses or no access to interleukin‐1 inhibitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the continuous pressures on customized requirements demands, large-scale multiple-stage production systems in industrial parks are suffering from the complex dynamic impact of uncertainties. These uncertainties are caused by the randomness of customer orders, dynamics of production demand, the uncertainty of production resources, etc. It brings enormous challenges to system operation and decision-making for the Production Logistics (PL) system, which includes how to acquire the full-scale, accurate and real-time execution status of the PL system, and how to make a systematic and adaptability decision by synchronizing every stage in the system under the uncertainties. Taking the PL system of an industrial park as the research object, this paper analyses the problems and challenges in the operation mode of the transportation stage, the perception of dynamics, and the synchronization management and control between the related stages in the dynamic environment. Then the mode of Vehicle Routing Problems with Pick-up and Delivery (VRPDP) is improved and a digital twin-driven decision-making information architecture is proposed, meanwhile, a real-time dynamic synchronization control mechanism is developed to synchronizing the PL system through the transportation stage. Finally, a case study is proposed to verify the feasibility and validity of the proposed method under dynamic disturbance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of a coherent mode (CM) at a frequency of f = 13–16 kHz on the redistribution of divertor particle flux have been studied in HL-2A H-mode plasmas using multiple diagnostics. The experimental results demonstrate that a CM localized at the middle of the pedestal results in outward particle transport, limiting the growth of the pedestal density gradient in the recovery phase of the pedestal, leading to a substantial increase in the localized particle flux striking the outer divertor target, which clearly deviates from the primary peak at the strike point. These observations indicate that the CM might play a crucial role in redistributing the divertor particle flux, which is important for understanding and controlling the divertor heat flux in future fusion-relevant devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The HL-2A tokamak has a very closed divertor geometry, and a new infrared camera has been installed for high resolution studies of edge-localized mode (ELM) heat load onto the outer divertor targets. The characteristics of power deposition patterns on the lower outer divertor target plates during ELMs are systematically analysed with infrared thermography. The ELM energy loss is in the range of 3%–8% of the total plasma stored energy. The peak heat flux on the outer divertor targets during ELMs currently achieved in HL-2A is about 1.5–3.2 MW m−2, the wetted area is about 0.5–0.7 m2, and the corresponding integrated power decay length at the midplane is about 25–40 mm. The rise time of the ELM power deposition is in the range of about 100 μs to 400 μs, and the decay time is typically 1.5 to 4 times longer than the corresponding rise time. Convective transport along open field lines during the ELM rise phase from the midplane towards the divertor targets is implied due to the correlation of parallel transport time in the scrape-off layer (SOL) and ELM power rise time. The peak ELM energy fluence is compared with those predicted by models and with experimental data from JET, ASDEX Upgrade, MAST, and COMPASS. The results, as a whole, show a good agreement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Overall, topical PDE4 inhibitors are promising and emerging therapies in the treatment of PP. Treatment with tetracyclines and other antibiotics may be effective, partly because they inhibit neutrophil chemotaxis.5 Previous work showed increased interleukin-6 expression in lesions from PP patients.6 Crisaborole ointment 2% is a non-steroidal topical PDE4 inhibitor. In the upper dermal, there was a superficial perivascular infiltrate that was mainly lymphocytic, with occasional neutrophils (haematoxylin and eosin, ×20). gl PP is often misdiagnosed which is characterized by recurrent pruritic lesions arranged in a reticulate configuration which is resolved with hyperpigmentation. [Extracted from the article]

An edge-coherent oscillation (ECO) with a bursting feature was observed in the steep-gradient pedestal region of H-mode plasmas in the HL-2A tokamak, where the type-I edge-localized modes (ELMs) were mitigated by application of n = 1 (n is the toroidal mode number) resonant magnetic perturbation (RMP). Utilizing a newly developed beam emission spectroscopy (BES) system, it was found that the ECO with a frequency of about 2 kHz is located at the edge pedestal region, and is excited by three-wave interaction of turbulence enhanced by the RMP field through the change of electron density gradient in the pedestal region because of the pump-out effect. The oscillation drives a significant outflow of particles as directly measured by probes, thus providing a channel for nearly continuous extra particle transport across the pedestal during ELM mitigation by RMP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Externally generated, axial magnetic fields used to confine high-current plasma beams in compact linear devices are usually 0.5 Tesla or less and can be insufficient to suppress plasma instabilities. Such an issue is addressed in this study by closely winding the current-carrying cable around a small chamber attached to the end of a linear device. The magnetic field generated inside the small chamber during the high-current pulse reached 0.8 Tesla at the peak current of 10.83 kA. Formation of a steady plasma beam through a mixture of argon, hydrogen and helium was photographed by a high-speed camera at the instant of the peak current. The beam width profile starts from over 24.8 mm at the upstream location and becomes thinner with distance down-stream. At the location of laser-interferometer measurement, at the right-most viewing window on the test chamber, the beam width was estimated as 7.4 mm and plasma density was evaluated to be 1.0 × 1022 m−3, an increase of two orders of magnitude compared to a previous study. A simple relationship was derived for the plasma density as a function of beam width. Based on examination of the metal target at the far end, the final beam width was estimated as 50 µm, with the plasma density evaluated to be 4.31 × 1022 m−3, with a calculated ion energy of 4.35 keV, consistent with x-ray spectrum measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: This article concerns the assessment of diagnosis performance of a recently developed secondary protection (SP) applied to the IEEE 16‐machine 68‐bus test system subject to primary protection (PP) misoperations on transmission short circuit faults. A PP may fail to trip or falsely trip a line. Such PP misoperations have been known to be a main culprit of modern day blackouts. The function of the SP is to take a timely corrective action before a misoperation causes instability through on‐line diagnosis and stability assessment. Its feasibility hinges on the effective utilization of networked advanced digital relays. We have recently built a full set of diagnosis filters with sensor‐localized dynamic transmission circuit models representative of all anticipated line contingencies in the 68‐bus system and computed the postfault stability regions for the contingencies. The sensor‐localized circuit partition drastically reduces the processing and communication complexity of diagnosis. This work evaluates the diagnosis performance of the SP's multiple‐model filters (MMF) using hybrid simulations driven by both randomly generated discrete events of PP misoperations and the governing dynamics of rotor angles of the 16 interconnected synchronous generators. Of the 1000 independent replications of simulation conditioned on each type of randomly generated misoperations, a 98% correct diagnosis rate is achieved. Each diagnosis conclusion is reached by the SP's MMF scheme within a few tens of a millisecond from the onset of a PP misoperation following a random transmission short circuit fault. This suggests that the SP can circumvent a large percentage of potential blackouts cost‐effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fungi are eukaryotes that inhabit various ecosystems worldwide and have a decomposing effect that other organisms cannot replace. Fungi are divided into two main groups depending on how their sexual spores are formed, viz. Ascomycota and Basidiomycota. The members of Botryosphaeriales (Dothideomycetes, Ascomycota) are ubiquitous. They are pathogenic on a wide range of hosts, causing diverse diseases including dieback, canker, leaf spots and root rots and are also reported as saprobes and endophytes worldwide. As an important fungal group, of which most are plant pathogens, it is necessary to organize data and information on Botryosphaeriales so that scientific literature can be used effectively. For this purpose, a new website, https://botryosphaeriales.org is established to gather all published data together with updates on the present taxonomy of Botryosphaeriales. The website consists of an easy-to-operate searching system and provides an up-to-date classification together with accounts of Botryosphaeriales taxa, including colour illustrations, descriptions, notes and numbers of species in each genus, as well as their classification. Thus, readers will be able to obtain information on botryosphaerialean taxa through this platform. Database URL: https://botryosphaeriales.org/ [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Release of metal debris from a pair of gear teeth is a consequence of their contact. Any excessive metal debris can lead to the onset of fatigue and failure. This paper aims to derive a contact mechanics-based model to obtain the energy absorption of helical gear teeth. The proposed model includes the roughness effect of teeth contact surfaces. The mean value of the asperity summit curvature, the standard deviation of the asperity height distribution and the area density of the asperity height distribution are the three statistical parameters that describe the micron-scale surface roughness. An explicit approximation is obtained to relate the contact load and the minimum surface separation and to estimate the energy loss. Then an analytical expression is derived for the plastic energy dissipation per cycle as a function of plasticity index for gear teeth. The proposed function can be applied in the design of gears by engineers and manufacturers. Additionally, a pertinent lumped mass at the area of interaction is assumed to describe the contact frequency and damping ratio using a nonlinear dynamic model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The polyethylene terephthalate hydrolase (PETase) has been proved to have a high activity to degrade polyethylene terephthalate (PET), but few studies have been carried on its secretion in Bacillus subtilis. In this study, the coding gene of PETase, which was isolated from the Ideonella sakaiensis, was synthesized and expressed in B. subtilis. Then, we evaluated the ability of five Bacillus signal peptides to enhance PETase secretion by B. subtilis. The results indicated that the SPamy‐induced secretion of PETase was the highest, and its activity against p‐Nitrophenyl palmitate was about fourfold that of the natural signal peptide SPPETase. The weak promoter P43 provided sufficient time for translation and folding of PETase, resulting in increased extracellular expression. Use of P43 and SPamy in combination yielded the greatest bis‐(2‐hydroxyethyl) terephthalate degradation and PET‐film etching activity due to maximized secretion of PETase by B. subtilis. Our findings will facilitate biodegradation of PET plastic. Significance and Impact of the Study: High‐level expression of polyethylene terephthalate hydrolase (PETase) facilitates biodegradation of PET. In this study, the expression elements, signal peptide and promoter, in the secretory expression system, were optimizing for maximizing secreted expression of PETase in Bacillus subtilis. The constructed strains yielded the greatest bis‐(2‐hydroxyethyl) terephthalate degradation and PET‐film etching activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A dramatic increase of density gradient and a slight decrease of electron temperature gradient were observed in the pedestal just prior to each onset in a series of ELM bursts. An inward particle flux induced by a quasi-coherent mode was found to be responsible for such changes. The characteristics of the quasi-coherent mode, including frequency, wave vector, propagation direction and velocity were identified. The nonlinear three-wave coupling is a plausible mechanism for the generation of the mode. Decoupling of the mode induced density transport from energy transport was discovered. The gradient of density was observed always much higher than that of temperature for electrons at the starting point of the ELM burst and, therefore, the dominant role of density gradient over electron temperature gradient for ELM onset is demonstrated. Consistence and contrast of the results with confinement and transport in I-mode discharges are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The prognostic and clinical significance of single hormone receptor expression in breast cancer has not been clearly established. The goal of this study was to conduct a meta-analysis to compare the clinical outcomes of patients with ER+PR− tumours and ER−PR+ tumours to those of patients with ER+PR+ tumours. Methods: A systematic review of the literature was conducted to identify studies that compared the clinical outcome of patients with ER+PR− tumours or ER−PR+ tumours with those of patients with ER+PR+ tumours. A total of 18 studies met the inclusion criteria and included 217,485 women. Standard methods for meta-analysis were used, including fixed-effect models. Results: Patients with ER+PR− tumours or ER−PR+ tumours had significantly worse DFS (HR 1.60, 95% CI 1.44–1.77 and HR 2.27, 95% CI 1.67–3.09), BCSS (HR 1.43, 95% CI 1.33–1.53 and HR 1.82, 95% CI 1.68–1.98) and OS (HR 1.38, 95% CI 1.28–1.47 and HR 1.48, 95% CI 1.17–1.89) than those of patients with ER+PR+ tumours. In subgroup analyses, patients who had ER+PR− tumours experienced a higher risk of recurrence than patients with ER+PR+ tumours in the HER2− (HR 1.57, 95% CI 1.32–1.87), LN − (HR 2.07, 95% CI 1.44–2.86) and endocrine therapy (HR 1.65, 95% CI 1.45–1.89) subgroup. Patients who had HER2− and ER−PR+ tumours had an increased risk of recurrence compared with patients who had HER2− and ER+PR+ tumours (HR 3.10, 95% CI 1.92–5.10). Conclusions: Among patients with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer, patients with either ER+PR− tumours or ER−PR+ tumours have a higher risk of recurrence and a shorter survival time than those with ER+PR+ tumours. Patients with both types of breast cancer need additional or better treatments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the deadlock avoidance problem in track systems in semiconductor fabrication. For the system without buffer space in it, the existing deadlock avoidance policies tend to be too conservative. Routing flexibility provides a chance to develop better ones, but makes their computation more complex. This paper models a track system using coloured resource-oriented Petri net (CROPN). Based on the model, a sufficient condition for deadlock-free operation and the corresponding control law are presented. This proposed policy is shown computationally efficient and less conservative than existing methods. An example is presented to demonstrate its application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which assessed the effects of stream water nutrient concentrations on biofilm growth in streams draining mountainous permafrost headwaters in northeast (NE) Greenland. Also cited are the use of nutrient diffusing substrates to analyze autotrophic and total biomass of biofilms, and the influence of stream nitrogen availability on algal biofilm accrual in high-Arctic streams.

In this work, PLA with electrical and magnetic properties are fabricated, and a neural network is also developed to estimate the parameters required to fabricate a given composite PLA with unique electrical and magnetic properties. Carbon and iron particles are used as electrical and magnetic reinforcements during the fabrication of the composite PLA plastics. The properties of the composites are characterized using an impedance analyzer. The characterization data from the experiment show that the conductivity and magnetic properties of the pure PLA are improved by combining it with carbon and iron particles. Furthermore, it is observed that, at a certain weight percent of carbon, the conductivity threshold is reached. Therefore, any further increase in carbon does not significantly improve the conductivity of the composite PLA. In addition, the developed neural network is able to estimate the parameters required to fabricate a given composite PLA with acceptable accuracy. Between 80 and 90% of the neural network predicted quantity of particle required to fabricate a PLA with unique properties are within an error of ± 10% of the actual quantity used in the experiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate the adaptive mechanism of wheat under high light, osmotic stress, and salt stress, redox regulation, and photosynthesis were compared. Under high light, the activities of antioxidant enzymes, except for catalase, significantly increased and then decreased after 1 and 3 h, respectively. Under osmotic stress, antioxidant enzyme activities significantly increased and subsequently declined. Except for superoxide dismutase, salt stress induced a significant increase in all the antioxidant enzyme activities. A significant decrease of D1 protein by high light and osmotic stress, strong photophosphorylation of D1 and D2 under high light and salt stress were observed, while all the stresses induced upregulation of PsbS protein. Eight stress-associated genes (TaMYB73, TaABC1, TaOPR1, TaASR1, TaWRKY44, TaWRKY2, TaWRKY19, and TaCIPK29) showed different expression levels under all the stresses. We conclude that the wheat plant adopted various strategies by regulating the antioxidant system, expression of stress-responsive genes, and photosystems under different abiotic stresses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the results of investigation into the feasibility of using femtosecond laser for surface cleaning of commercial Ti-6Al-4V alloy. Trials were performed using Ti:Sapphire femtosecond laser of 130 fs pulse width, 790 nm wavelength, and 1000 Hz repetition rate. The laser treated surfaces were analysed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and surface profilometry. The surface contaminants and oxides were removed effectively after the laser treatment, and a low surface roughness of value lower than 1 µm was achieved. Potential damage to the substrate was avoided by using a defocused laser beam and careful control of laser fluence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deals with a study which developed a ferroelectric-superconducting photodetector. Emphasis on the thin film Pb(Zr[subx]Ti[sub1] - [subx])O[sub3]/YBa[sub2]Cu[sub3]O[sub7] - [subx] heterostructure. Effect of the polarization field in the ferromagnetic gate on charge density; Characterization of photogenerated electrons; Results of the study.

Investigates the infrared driven photocurrent of a Pb(Zr[sub0.52]Ti[sub0.48])O[sub3] (PZT)/YBa[sub2]Cu[sub3]O[sub7-x] (YBCO) devices as a function of temperature from room temperature up to the Curie transition temperature for the system. Reason that YBCO may be a better oxide electrode candidate for ferroelectric PZT memory devices than Pt metal electrode; Temperature dependence of the polarization for ferroelectric PZT film in the PZT/YBCO system; Illumination of Au/PZT/YBCO detector.

Five-component perovskite Ba0.5Sr0.5Co0.2Fe0.8O3 (BSCFO) thin films are reported to have polarized electrical-pulse-induced resistance (EPIR) change at room temperature. Such an EPIR change is attributed to a combined effect of the resistance change in the Schottky barrier and the oxygen ion/vacancy movement near the interface. In the BSCFO, the lower threshold voltage of the electric pulse that leads to nonvolatile resistive changes is closely related to its higher oxygen permeability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between the particle size and porosity of an Fe-based amorphous coating that is fabricated using a high-velocity oxygen fuel (HVOF) process was revealed by both numerical and experimental methods. A computational fluid dynamics model was implemented in order to understand the gas-flow field and the behaviour of in-flight particles with different particle sizes during the HVOF spray process. By analysing both particle velocity and temperature, the optimal particle size range (20-30 μm) to achieve low-porosity coatings was predicted. These calculations were experimentally verified by the production of a low porosity (0.95%), Fe-based amorphous coating that was fabricated by HVOF using the predicted optimal particle size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]