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The structural parameters and performance evaluation metrics of 242 promising all-silica zeolites to rank and screen out the top candidates for CO2/N2 separation are obtained by using molecular simulations combined with high-throughput calculations. By setting the pore size range of the material, three top zeolites with the highest adsorption selectivity for CO2 molecules are screened to further investigate the adsorption and separation for CO2 and N2 molecules. The GCMC method was used to calculate the adsorption isotherm, heat of adsorption, adsorption selectivity and centroid distribution density under different feed ratios of CO2/N2 mixed components. The zeolite exhibits a high CO2 adsorption capacity with the maximum pore size of 4–8 Å, the surface area of 1400 m2/g and the pore volume of 0.2–0.4 cm3/g, and best adsorption selectivity for CO2 at the pore size of 4 Å and pore volume of 0.2 cm3/g in the CO2/N2 mixed systems. Zeolite has higher adsorption selectivity for CO2 with low amount of CO2, which is favorable for the removal of a small amount of CO2 molecules. The geometrical structure of the material plays an important role for the adsorption capacity and spatial distribution of the adsorbate molecules in all-silicon zeolites.

Under the wintertime background of westerly flows, heavy rainfall often occurs first over southwestern China and then spreads eastward downstream to southeastern China, causing serious impact on a large scope of southern China. By using the synoptic diagnosis and dynamic analysis methods, we examined a typical eastward-moving heavy rainfall event that occurred over southwestern China on January 8–9, 2015 and then gradually spread eastward to southeastern China on January 10–13. The results show the important role of the Rossby wave train propagating along the subtropical westerly jet in “pushing” the eastward movement of heavy rainfall over southern China. The remote Rossby wave train influenced the variation of heavy rainfall by modifying the local circulation. The Rossby wave train can change the morphology of the East Asian subtropical jet via wave—jet interactions and modify the related secondary upward circulation in the entrance area of the jet, providing favorable dynamic conditions for the occurrence of heavy rainfall. The Rossby wave train can also influence the low-level south branch trough by modifying the associated baroclinic energy conversion process under a background of deep layer subsidence, which favors the transport of plentiful water vapor to the region of heavy rainfall over southern China. The eastward-propagating Rossby wave train pushed the upper level East Asian subtropical jet and the lower level south branch trough as a whole while simultaneously moving east, which caused the region of heavy rainfall to move from southwestern to southeastern China. These results will help to provide a scientific basis for forecasting winter rainfall over southern China.

This study aimed to explore the changes in gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and glutamate (Glu) levels, and their correlations with clinical indicators in patients with postherpetic neuralgia (PHN).A totally of 22 PHN patients and 21 sex-, age-, and education-matched healthy controls (HCs) underwent proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy scanning. The spectral data of GABA in the precuneus was obtained by Mescher-Garwood point-resolved spectroscopy, whereas the spectral data of Glu, total N-acetyl-l-aspartic acid (tNAA) and total choline (tCho) were obtained by point-resolved spectroscopy. The pain intensity of PHN was assessed by numeric rating scales (NRS). The edited GABA signal was displayed as GABA+ due to overlapping macromolecules and homocarnosine signals. Total creatine (tCr) level in individual was used as an endogenous reference. The neurometabolites levels of PHN patients were compared with those of healthy individuals and the correlations with clinical variables (pain duration and intensity) were analyzed.PHN patients had higher GABA+/tCr levels in the precuneus than HCs (P = 0.009), with no significant differences in the levels of Glu/ tCr, tNAA/ tCr and tCho/ tCr (all P 0.05). The GABA+/ tCr levels were positively correlated with the NRS scores of the PHN patients (r = 0.473, P = 0.030).Increased GABA+/tCr levels in the precuneus and their association with pain intensity of PHN patients suggested a key role of the abnormalities of regional GABAergic neurons in the pathophysiological mechanisms of pain in PHN.

PurposeCompare peripheral contrast sensitivity functions (CSF) between myopes and emmetropes to reveal potential myogenic risks during emmetropization.Materials and methodsThis observational, cross-sectional, non-consecutive case study included data from 19 myopes (23.42 ± 4.03 years old) and 12 emmetropes (22.93 ± 2.91 years old) who underwent central and peripheral quick CSF (qCSF) measurements. Summary CSF metrics including the cut-off spatial frequency (cut-off SF), area under log CSF (AULCSF), low-, intermediate-, and high-spatial-frequency AULCSFs (l-, i-, and h-SF AULCSFs), and log CS at 19 SFs in the fovea and 15 peripheral locations (superior, inferior, temporal, and nasal quadrants at 6, 12, 18, and 24° eccentricities, excluding the physiological scotoma at 18°) were analyzed with 3-way and 4-way between-subjects analysis of variance (ANOVA) (α = 0.05).ResultsThree-way ANOVA showed that myopes had significantly increased AULCSF at 6° (mean difference, 0.08; 95% CI, 0.02–0.13; P = 0.007) and 12° (mean difference, 0.09; 95% CI, 0.03–0.14; P = 0.003). Log CS at all 19 SFs were higher in the myopia group compared to the normal group (mean differencesuperior, 0.02; 95% CI, 0.01–0.20; P = 0.02 and mean differenceinferior, 0.11; 95% CI, 0.02–0.21; P = 0.01) at 12°. The h-SF AULCSF at 6° (mean differenceinferior, 1.27; 95% CI, 0.32–2.22; P = 0.009) and i-SF AULCSF at 12° (mean differencesuperior, 5.31; 95% CI, 4.35–6.27; P < 0.001; mean differenceinferior, 1.14; 95% CI, 0.19–2.10; P = 0.02) were higher in myopia vs. normal group.ConclusionWe found myopia increased contrast sensitivity in superior and inferior visual field locations at 6° parafoveal and 12° perifoveal regions of the retina. The observation of increased contrast sensitivities within the macula visual field in myopia might provide important insights for myopia control during emmetropization.

Introduction Identifying the technologies that will drive technological changes over the coming years is important for the optimal allocation of firms’ R&D resources and the deployment of innovation strategies. The citation frequency of a patent is widely recognized as representative of the patent’s value. Thus, identifying potential highly cited patents is an important goal. A number of studies have attempted to distinguish highly cited patents from others based on statistical models, but a more effective and applicable method needs to be further developed. Methods This paper treats the prediction of later patent citations as a classification problem and proposes a novel framework based on machine learning methods. First, a indices system to identify highly cited patents is constructed using multiple factors that are believed to influence citation frequency. Second, various machine learning models are utilized to identify highly cited patents. The optimized model with the best generalization capability is selected to predict the future impacts of newly applied patents, which may be representative of emerging significant technologies. Finally, we select the electric vehicle (EV) domain as a case study to empirically test the validity of this framework. Results The optimized support vector machine (SVM) model performs well in identifying highly cited EV patents. Technological frontiers in the EV domain are identified, which are related to the topics of information systems, batteries, stability control, wireless charging, and vehicle operation. Discussion The good performance in prediction accuracy and generalization capability of the method proposed in this paper verifies its effectiveness and feasibility.

To describe the impact of the retracted publications on the scientific community more comprehensively, this paper introduces the impact of retracted publications on technology. It establishes a multi-dimensional observation framework for retracted publications from four dimensions, including scientific impact, technological impact, funding impact and Altmetric impact, and proposes the use of a novel multidimensional bubble diagram to illustrate the multidimensional data. This study also proposes a two-dimensional classification of retraction reasons to help sort retracted papers, the results of which show the correlated features of those papers. This paper takes all the retracted publications from two top biomedical journals as a sample, uses the observation framework to analyze them and describes the impact of these papers from multiple dimensions. The results show that compared with one-dimensional analysis, this observation framework reveals the impact characteristics of retracted publications more comprehensively.

Purpose This study identifies and characterizes the nasotemporal hemifield difference of interocular suppression in subjects who have been successfully treated for strabismus. Methods Interocular suppression in the nasal and temporal hemifields were measured using two methods, namely, binocular phase combination and dichoptic motion coherence, both entailed suprathreshold stimuli. We tested 29 clinical subjects, who had strabismus (19 with exotropia and 10 with esotropia) but regained good ocular alignment (within 10 prism diopters) after surgical or refractive correction, and 10 control subjects. Results Both the hemifield binocular phase combination and the hemifield dichoptic motion coherence tests revealed similar nasotemporal asymmetry of interocular suppression. Subjects with previous exotropia showed deeper suppression in the nasal hemifield, and those with previous esotropia showed deeper suppression in the temporal hemifield. This finding was consistent with the hemifield suppression theory. Furthermore, there was deeper suppression but less imbalance of nasotemporal asymmetry in the hemifield dichoptic motion coherence test. Finally, clinical stereopsis and the nasotemporal asymmetry of suppression (P < 0.05 in both tests) were negatively correlated in subjects with previous exotropia and measurable stereopsis. Conclusions Hemifield asymmetry of interocular suppression in corrected strabismus can be measured by using static and dynamic suprathreshold stimuli. Thus, the evaluation of binocular vision in strabismus should focus on both the magnitude and the pattern of interocular suppression.

Using tropical cyclone data along with sea surface temperature data (SST) and atmospheric circulation reanalysis data during the period of 1980–2019, the seasonal variation of tropical cyclone genesis (TCG), and the related oceanic and atmospheric environments over the Arabian Sea (AS) and Bay of Bengal (BOB) are compared and analyzed in detail. The results show that TCG in both the BOB and AS present bimodal seasonal variations, with two peak periods in the pre-monsoon and post-monsoon season, respectively. The frequencies of TCG in the BOB and AS are comparatively similar in the pre-monsoon season but significantly different in the post-monsoon season. During the post-monsoon season of October–November, the TCG frequency in the BOB is approximately 2.3 times higher than that of the AS. The vertical wind shear and relative humidity in the low- and middle-level troposphere are the two major contributing factors for TCG, and the combination of these two factors determines the bimodal seasonal cycle of TCG in both the AS and BOB. In the pre-monsoon season, an increase in the positive contribution of vertical wind shear and a decrease in the negative contribution of relative humidity are collaboratively favorable for TCG in the AS and BOB. During the monsoon season, the relative humidity factor shows a significant and positive contribution to TCG, but its positive effect is offset by the strong negative effect of vertical wind shear and potential intensity, thus resulting in very low TCG in the AS and BOB. However, the specific relative contributions of each environmental factor to the TCG variations in the AS and BOB basins are quite different, especially in the post-monsoon season. In the post-monsoon season, the primary positive contributor to TCG in the AS basin is vertical wind shear, while the combined effect of vertical wind shear and relative humidity dominates in the BOB TCG. From the analysis of environmental factors, atmospheric circulations, and genesis potential index (GPI), the BOB is found to have more favorable TCG conditions than the AS, especially in the post-monsoon season.

A predecessor rain event (PRE) is defined as organized heavy rainfall that occurs far ahead of tropical cyclone (TC), yet directly associated with the deep tropical moisture originating from the TC vicinity. The PREs occurring over China’s low-latitude highlands (CLLH) in association with Bay of Bengal TCs were investigated from 1981 to 2012. Results indicate that about 19% of Bay of Bengal TCs produces PRE. The PREs frequently occur when TCs are active in the northern Bay of Bengal with northeastward paths. The PREs are more likely to appear in the pre-monsoon and post-monsoon seasons, with peaks in May and October, respectively. The median lifetime of the PREs was approximately two days. The distances between PREs and parent TCs are ranged from 745 to 1849 km, with a median distance of 1118 km. Composite results of PREs suggested that deep moisture is advected from the TC vicinity to the remote CLLH region, which is situated beneath the equatorward entrance of the upper-level East Asia subtropical jet (EASJ). The lower-level southwesterly flow, which is associated with a strong pressure gradient between the western Pacific subtropical high and a trough in Bay of Bengal, steers TCs conveying abundant moisture from the Bay of Bengal to the CLLH region. The enhancement of the ascent and frontogenesis within the equatorward entrance region of the EASJ is favorable for occurrence of PREs in CLLH. TCs may also have a dynamical role in occurrence of PREs by intensifying the upper-level EASJ.

In patients with anisometropic or strabismic amblyopia, interocular suppression can be minimized by presenting high contrast stimulus elements to the amblyopic eye and lower contrast elements to the fellow eye. This suggests a structurally intact binocular visual system that is functionally suppressed. We investigated whether suppression can also be overcome by contrast balancing in children with deprivation amblyopia due to childhood cataracts. To quantify interocular contrast balance, contrast interference thresholds were measured using an established dichoptic global motion technique for 21 children with deprivation amblyopia, 14 with anisometropic or mixed strabismic/anisometropic amblyopia and 10 visually normal children (mean age mean=9.9years, range 5-16years). We found that interocular suppression could be overcome by contrast balancing in most children with deprivation amblyopia, at least intermittently, and all children with anisometropic or mixed anisometropic/strabismic amblyopia. However, children with deprivation amblyopia due to early unilateral or bilateral cataracts could tolerate only very low contrast levels to the stronger eye indicating strong suppression. Our results suggest that treatment options reliant on contrast balanced dichoptic presentation could be attempted in a subset of children with deprivation amblyopia.

AIM: To delineate the characteristics of the dynamic stereopsis test and analyze related parameters in intermittent exotropia [X(T)] patients. METHODS: Fifty-seven X(T) patients and 55 normal subjects were enrolled in this study. The normal and X(T) groups were used to test the reproducibility and reliability of the dynamic stereopsis test, and Bangerter filters with densities of 0.2 were then used to simulate suppression to test for traditional and dynamic stereopsis. In the X(T) group, the measurements included 1) dynamic stereopsis test comprising three parts: motion+disparity, motion only and disparity only; 2) ocular deviation angle; 3) Bagolini striated lens test; 4) disease course; and 5) Titmus stereopsis test. RESULTS: The test-retest reliability of the dynamic stereopsis method was 0.901 in the normal and X(T) groups, and none of the X(T) patients were able to pass the static and dynamic stereopsis tests after using the 0.2 Bangerter filter. The accuracy rate was greater than 80% in the normal group and 31.81%, 36.36%, and 45.45% for the motion+disparity, motion-only and disparity-only components of the traditional test for X(T) patients diagnosed with stereoblindness via traditional tests, respectively. Patients with a long disease course (>1y) had worse dynamic stereopsis than those with a short disease course (0.05, Chi-square test). CONCLUSION: Dynamic stereopsis is preserved in certain X(T) patients diagnosed with stereoblindness via traditional tests. A long disease course was shown to be a negative factor for dynamic stereopsis in X(T) patients which might be associated with worse progression, and provide good references clinically.

The adsorption isotherms of two types of hybrid ultra-microporous materials SIFSIX-3-M (M = Fe, Cu, Zn) and M′FSIX-2-Cu-i (M′ = Si, Ti, Ge) for H2, CH4, CO2 and N2 are comparatively studied by grand canonical Monte Carlo simulation (GCMC), and their differences are explained from pore structure and isosteric heat of adsorption. Natural gas and biogas upgrading (CO2/CH4), synthesis gas separation (CO2/H2), flue gas separation (CO2/N2), and steam methane reforming hydrogen production (CH4/H2) are simulated equimolar binary mixture system. The related separation factors are elucidated from the adsorption selectivity and the difference of isosteric heat of adsorption. The microscopic adsorption mechanism of the material is further analyzed by the preferential adsorption sites of the gas on the framework. Our works provide new insights into the adsorption and separation mechanism of HUMs for the energy-related gas, as well as in industrial application.

BACKGROUND: To investigate dynamic stereopsis in intermittent exotropia [X(T)] patients using a novel dynamic random-dot stereopsis assessment method. METHODS: A novel dynamic random-dot stereopsis test was performed using novel self-programmed software, which consisted of red and green dots and four blocks on the screen. The test included motion + disparity (MD), motion (M), and disparity (D), where the D cues ranged from 200 to 1,200 arc-seconds. The characteristics of preoperative dynamic stereopsis in 83 X(T) patients and associations with clinical features were analysed, and the prognosis was followed up on the 1(st) day and at the 2(nd), 6(th) and 12(th) months postoperatively. RESULTS: Preoperatively, the mean reciprocal values of near and far stereopsis were 0.013±0.0016 and 0.0011±0.0005 arc-seconds in static stereopsis patients, respectively, and the MD, M, and D values were 0.002±0.0002, 0.0018±0.0001, and 0.0012±0.0002 arc-seconds in dynamic stereopsis, respectively. The MD value was negatively correlated with the Newcastle control score, disease course, and prism deviations (P

Purpose Optical treatment can improve visual function in anisometropic amblyopia, but there is no electrophysiological evidence, and the underlying change in visual pathway remains unknown. Our aims were to characterize the functional loss in magnocellular and parvocellular visual pathways in anisometropic amblyopia at baseline and to investigate the effect of optical treatment on the 2 visual pathways. Methods Using isolated-check visual-evoked potential, we measured the magnocellular- and parvocellular-biased contrast response functions in 15 normal controls (20.13 ± 3.93 years; mean ± standard deviation), 16 patients with anisometropic amblyopia (18.00 ± 6.04 years) who were fully refractive corrected before and 29 (19.41 ± 7.41 years) who had never been corrected. Twelve previously uncorrected amblyopes received optical treatment for more than 2 months and finished the follow-up measurement. Results Both the magnocellular- and parvocellular-biased contrast response functions in the amblyopic eye exhibited significantly reduced response and weaker contrast gains. We also found that the uncorrected amblyopes showed a more severe response reduction in magnocellular-biased, but not parvocellular-biased condition when compared with those corrected, with a weaker initial contrast gain and lower maximal response. After optical treatment, 12 uncorrected amblyopes demonstrated improved visual acuity of the amblyopic eye and a significant response gain to magnocellular-biased but not parvocellular-biased stimuli. Conclusions We demonstrated deficits to both magnocellular- and parvocellular-biased stimuli in subjects with anisometropic amblyopia. Optical treatment could produce neurophysiological changes in visual pathways even in older children and adults, which may be mediated through the magnocellular pathway.

Purpose To demonstrate an aniseikonia test for anisometropic amblyopia (ATAA) that uses variable viewing luminance at different interocular contrast levels. Methods The test consists of a direct size comparison task based on a computer. The subject is asked to adjust the size of a dichoptically dissociated paired square target. One square was always presented at 100% contrast to the amblyopic eye/nondominant eye, whereas its counterpart was presented to the fellow eye at six contrast levels. Measurements were performed at two luminance backgrounds: (1) a white square on a black background (WoB) and (2) a black square on a white background (BoW). To test the feasibility of this approach, 16 patients with anisometropic amblyopia and 23 normal controls were recruited. Results The Aniseikonia Index (AI) calculated from the ATAA increased when the difference in the interocular contrast increased in both the patients with anisometropic amblyopia and controls under BoW and WoB conditions. The mean AI differed dramatically between the BoW and WoB conditions in patients with amblyopia but not in normal subjects. Conclusions Our model predicted interocular differences in contrast to the measurement of aniseikonia. Execution of the AI in individuals with amblyopia should consider that their responses to different luminance viewing conditions could be asymmetric. Translational relevance The ATAA has the potential to optimize optical correction for the management of aniseikonia in individuals with anisometropic amblyopia.

Using the Grand Canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) method, the adsorption properties of ethanol and water on the four ZIFs (ZIF-1, -3, -7 and -9) have been investigated with different conditions. Their storage capacities of pure ethanol and water at different temperatures and pressures have been compared. And the mixture adsorption of ethanol and water and the adsorption selectivity of ethanol over water in these ZIFs have also been investigated. The following conclusions are obtained: (1) the order of the adsorbed amounts of ethanol is ZIF-9>-7>-3>-1 at the same condition. And there are the same trend for water adsorption. (2) ZIF-1 and -3 have preferable selectivity of ethanol over water than ZIF-7 and ZIF-9 owing to the hydrophobic structure of the former.

The adsorption mechanism of ethanol and water in five zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs) has been investigated using grand canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) method. The single adsorption isotherm and the selectivity of mixture adsorption of ethanol and water in ZIFs have been obtained. The results show that, at lower pressures (-10>-6≈-8≈-4. However, when the pressure is higher than 10kPa, the uptakes order is ZIF-10>-2>-6>-8>-4. And the water uptake decrease with the order of ZIF-10>-2>-4>-6>-8. However, the water uptakes for all the ZIFs is very small. The mixture adsorption of ethanol and water shows that, at a given lower pressure, the selectivity decreases as ZIF-2>-8>-10>-6>-4. However, at a given higher pressure, the selectivity is in the order of ZIF-10>-2≈-6≈8>-4. It can be concluded that ZIF-2 and -10 are suitable for the adsorption and separation of biofuel of ethanol. The total interaction energy distribution of ZIFs with ethanol/water has also been analyzed to interpret the adsorption mechanism of ethanol and water in ZIFs.

Background Children with deprivation amblyopia due to childhood cataract have been excluded from much of the emerging research into amblyopia treatment. An investigation was conducted to determine whether contrast-balanced binocular treatment - a strategy currently being explored for children with anisometropic and strabismic amblyopia - may be effective in children with deprivation amblyopia. Methods An unmasked, case-series design intended to assess proof of principle was employed. Eighteen children with deprivation amblyopia due to childhood cataracts (early bilateral n = 7, early unilateral n = 7, developmental n = 4), as well as 10 children with anisometropic (n = 8) or mixed anisometropic and strabismic amblyopia (n = 2) were prescribed one hour a day of treatment over a six-week period. Supervised treatment was available. Visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, global motion perception and interocular suppression were measured pre- and post-treatment. Results Visual acuity improvements occurred in the anisometropic/strabismic group (0.15 ± 0.05 logMAR, p = 0.014), but contrast sensitivity did not change. As a group, children with deprivation amblyopia had a smaller but statistically significant improvement in weaker eye visual acuity (0.09 ± 0.03 logMAR, p = 0.004), as well a significant improvement in weaker eye contrast sensitivity (p = 0.004). Subgroup analysis suggested that the children with early bilateral deprivation had the largest improvements, while children with early unilateral cataract did not improve. Interestingly, binocular contrast sensitivity also improved in children with early bilateral deprivation. Global motion perception improved for both subgroups with early visual deprivation, as well as children with anisometropic or mixed anisometropic/strabismic amblyopia. Interocular suppression improved for all subgroups except children with early unilateral deprivation. Conclusion These data suggest that supervised contrast-balanced binocular treatment should be further investigated as a treatment option for children with deprivation amblyopia. However, for children with more severe deprivation amblyopia due to early unilateral cataracts, supplementary or alternative options should also be explored.

Purpose We assessed whether partial occlusion of the nonamblyopic eye with Bangerter filters can immediately reduce suppression and promote binocular summation of contrast in observers with amblyopia. Methods In Experiment 1, suppression was measured for 22 observers (mean age, 20 years; range, 14-32 years; 10 females) with strabismic or anisometropic amblyopia and 10 controls using our previously established "balance point" protocol. Measurements were made at baseline and with 0.6-, 0.4-, and 0.2-strength Bangerter filters placed over the nonamblyopic/dominant eye. In Experiment 2, psychophysical measurements of contrast sensitivity were made under binocular and monocular viewing conditions for 25 observers with anisometropic amblyopia (mean age, 17 years; range, 11-28 years; 14 females) and 22 controls (mean age, 24 years; range, 22-27; 12 female). Measurements were made at baseline, and with 0.4- and 0.2-strength Bangerter filters placed over the nonamblyopic/dominant eye. Binocular summation ratios (BSRs) were calculated at baseline and with Bangerter filters in place. Results Experiment 1: Bangerter filters reduced suppression in observers with amblyopia and induced suppression in controls (P = 0.025). The 0.2-strength filter eliminated suppression in observers with amblyopia and this was not a visual acuity effect. Experiment 2: Bangerter filters were able to induce normal levels of binocular contrast summation in the group of observers with anisometropic amblyopia for a stimulus with a spatial frequency of 3 cycles per degree (cpd, P = 0.006). The filters reduced binocular summation in controls. Conclusions Bangerter filters can immediately reduce suppression and promote binocular summation for mid/low spatial frequencies in observers with amblyopia.

Using Joint Typhoon Warning Center tropical cyclone (TC) track data over the North Indian Ocean (NIO), National Centers for Environmental Prediction monthly reanalysis wind and outgoing long-wave radiation data, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration sea surface temperature data from 1981 to 2010, spatiotemporal distributions of NIO TC activity and relationships with local sea surface temperature (SST) were studied with statistical diagnosis methods. Results of empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis of NIO TC occurrence frequency show that the EOF1 mode, which accounts for 16% of total variance, consistently represents variations of TC occurrence frequency over the whole NIO basin. However, spatial distributions of EOF1 mode are not uniform, mainly indicating variations of westward-moving TCs in the Bay of Bengal. The prevailing TC activity variation mode oscillates significantly on a quasi-5 year interannual time scale. NIO TC activity is notably influenced by the Indian Ocean dipole (IOD) mode. When the Indian Ocean is in a positive (negative) phase of the IOD, NIO SST anomalies are warm in the west (east) and cold in the east (west), which can weaken (strengthen) convection over the Bay of Bengal and eastern Arabian Sea, and cause anticyclonic (cyclonic) atmospheric circulation anomalies at low levels. This results in less (more) TC genesis and reduced (increased) opportunities for TC occurrence in the NIO. In addition, positive (negative) IOD events may strengthen (weaken) westerly steering flow over the Bay of Bengal, which further leads to fewer (more) westward-moving TCs which appear in regions west of 90°E in that bay.

On the basis of the present development of the book evaluation research, the article develop an informative and comprehensive evaluation system by combining with the feature of real data, such as the traditional paper books, e-books and network book reviews, so as to evaluate the academic influence of the books in the medical field. The empirical analysis showed that Sci-Tech books present the long-tailed distribution, and that foreign language translated books are highly influential. The results also showed the effectiveness of evaluation system.

In this paper, we analyzed data relating to the language of papers written by winners of Nobel Prizes in physics before they won the prize and their journals of publication, and we identified the change in scientific language corresponding with shifts of the center of the scientific world. Using the science citation index as the main data source, we also collected information on the distribution of prize-winning scientists by country, by each scientist’s number of published papers, and by language. We then analyzed their papers in terms of the different journals based in different countries. The results are presented in three parts: (1) the main languages used in the papers are English and German. The proportion of papers in English is gradually increasing, while that of papers in German is decreasing. (2) The prize winning scientists’ papers have been published mainly in journals in their own nation and in the United States. (3) Journals based in their own countries are very helpful to these scientists early in their careers.

In this paper the role of Chinese universities in enterprise---university research collaboration is investigated. This study focuses on a special aspect of the collaboration--co-authored articles. The two cases are analyzed: (1) research collaboration between Baosteel Group Corporation and Chinese universities; (2) research collaboration between China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation and Chinese universities. The co-authorship data over the period 1998---2007 were searched from CNKI database, the largest Chinese publication and citation database. The main findings are as follows: the number of articles co-authored by enterprise and university scientists has been increasing rapidly; the share of co-authored articles has been growing; the authors from universities are more possible to be the first authors; as a whole, enterprise---university co-authored articles tend to receive more citations and get downloaded more frequently; a mathematical orientation emerges in the enterprise---university articles. To reveal and describe such a trend the methods of keywords analysis and co-occurrence analysis are applied. The Chinese government's policy instruments and substantial supports for pushing and improving enterprise---university research collaboration are introduced and analyzed.

This paper studies how missing data in the PageRank algorithm influences the result of papers ranking and proposes PrestigeRank algorithm on that basis. We make use of PrestigeRank to give the ranking of all papers in physics in the Chinese Scientific and Technology Papers and Citation Database (CSTPCD) published between 2004 and 2006. We compared PrestigeRank result with PageRank and citation ranking. We found PrestigeRank is significantly correlated with PageRank and citation counts. We also used paper citation networks to rank journals, and compared the result with that of journal citation networks. We proposed PRsum, PRave, and compared both of them with citation counts and impact factor. It indicates PRsum, PRave can reflect journal's authority favorably. We also discuss the advantages and disadvantages, application scope and application prospects of PrestigeRank in the evaluation of papers and journals.

Citations are a way to show how researchers build on existing research to further evolve research. The citation count is an indication of the influence of specific articles. The importance of citations means that it is valuable to analyze the articles that are cited the most. This research investigates highly-cited articles in physics (1979–2008) using citation data from the ISI Web of Science. In this study, 1544205 articles were examined. The objective of the analysis was to identify and list the highly-productive countries, institutions, authors, and fields in physics. Based on the analysis, it was found that the USA is the world leader in physics, and Japan has maintained the highest growth rate in physics research since 1990. Furthermore, the research focus at Bell Labs and IBM has played important roles in physics. A striking fact is that the five most active authors are all Japanese, but the five most active institutions are all in the USA. In fact, only The University of Tokyo is ranked among the top 11 institutions, and only American authors have single-author articles ranked among the top 19 articles. The highest-impact articles are distributed across 25 subjects categories. Physics, Multidisciplinary has 424 articles, and is ranked at No. 1 in total articles; followed by Physics, Condensed Matter. The study can provide science policy makers with a picture of innovation capability in this field and help them make better decisions. Hopefully, this study will stimulate useful discussion among scientists and research managers about future research directions.

Purpose We investigate the efficacy of a novel dichoptic mapping paradigm in evaluating visual function of anisometropic amblyopes. Methods Using standard clinical measures of visual function (visual acuity, stereo acuity, Bagolini lenses, and neutral density filters) and a novel quantitative mapping technique, 26 patients with anisometropic amblyopia (mean age = 19.15 ± 4.42 years) were assessed. Two additional psychophysical interocular suppression measurements were tested with dichoptic global motion coherence and binocular phase combination tasks. Luminance reduction was achieved by placing neutral density filters in front of the normal eye. Results Our study revealed that suppression changes across the central 10° visual field by mean luminance modulation in amblyopes as well as normal controls. Using simulation and an elimination of interocular suppression, we identified a novel method to effectively reflect the distribution of suppression in anisometropic amblyopia. Additionally, the new quantitative mapping technique was in good agreement with conventional clinical measures, such as interocular acuity difference (P < 0.001) and stereo acuity (P = 0.005). There was a good consistency between the results of interocular suppression with dichoptic mapping paradigm and the results of the other two psychophysical methods (suppression mapping versus binocular phase combination, P < 0.001; suppression mapping versus global motion coherence, P = 0.005). Conclusions The dichoptic suppression mapping technique is an effective method to represent impaired visual function in patients with anisometropic amblyopia. It offers a potential in "micro-"antisuppression mapping tests and therapies for amblyopia.

In an open dynamic concept hierarchy tree of technological terms, universe keeps changing and then leads to changes in the system’s structure and size characteristics. This study presents an efficient incremental algorithm based on rough set for maintaining the concept hierarchy tree in dynamic datasets. While taking into account the relationship between the new terms and the original concept hierarchy tree, the paper focus on when the condition attributes is known and the decision attributes is unknown, how to add a new term into the original concept hierarchy tree. The paper proposes a novel algorithm which can be used for updating concept hierarchy tree dynamically and proves the rationality of the algorithm theoretically. The paper has furthermore proved its efficiency and reliability with an empirical study of the Micro-Electro-Mechanical System, MEMS.

Although the rough set theory can be deal with uncertain and incomplete knowledge with knowledge reasoning, but for complex systems and some new technology fields, simply rely on the machines learning, the results is not reliable. Absorb the expert knowledge, will help us to grasp the development of this field more accurately. This paper divided expert knowledge into two categories: the decisive expert knowledge and the experts’ knowledge for reference, then proposed a novel man-machine cooperative intelligent reduction algorithm (RAEK) to search the minimum reduction based on the different status of expert knowledge. Finally, the empirical analysis result on the Micro-electromechanical Systems (MEMS) field shows that the RAEK algorithm is feasible and efficient.

For complex systems and some new technology fields, simply rely on machines learning, the results are not reliable. Absorb the expert knowledge, will help us to more accurately grasp the status and the development of the complex or new fields. This paper presents a novel reduction algorithm that takes into account the knowledge of experts. The attributes set is divided into two subset according to the scores of the expert knowledge: the set of attributes with decisive expert knowledge and the set of attributes with experts' knowledge for reference, then a novel man-machine cooperative intelligent reduction algorithm (IRAEK, Intelligent Reduction Algorithm based on Expert Knowledge) is proposed to find the minimum reduction based on the different scores of expert knowledge. Finally, the empirical analysis result on the Micro-electromechanical Systems (MEMS) field shows that the IRAEK algorithm is feasible and efficient.

This paper discusses the stability of continuous fuzzy control systems. Unlike the previous research works of K. Tanaka [3 7] that do a perfect stability analysis on the well known T-S fuzzy model, this paper gives an extension on the stability condition of T-S fuzzy systems with a different strategy: a new variable which is relative to the grade of fuzzy membership function, be introduced into the proving procedures, and a different stability condition educed (with a similar form). With the proposed method, it could design a better controller in a large range. In compared with the basic stability condition (in [3]), two examples of flight control system show that the designed controller has a good robustness on rejecting the parameter perturbation of plant model.

Being based on the concept hierarchy, the paper has introduced a new kind of knowledge representation into the system of data mining which can help transfer the concept hierarchy into a range of decision tables. While taking into account the relationship among the nodes at different levels of a concept hierarchy, the paper further proposed a hierarchical reduction algorithm which can be used for the reduction of both attributes and values in the decision tables. At the same time to theoretically prove the rationality of the algorithm, the paper has furthermore proved its efficiency and reliability with an empirical study of the micro-electromechanical system

Reduct is an important concept introduced by rough sets theory, and seeking the minimum reduction (MR) is a NP-hard problem. This paper is to present a novel reduction algorithm to search the optimal solution for MR. Firstly, a new 0-1 distinguish matrix was presented to describe the differences among the attributes. And an integer optimization model was built for the MR problem based on the matrix. Then by designing search operators and parameters suitably, we proposed a homogeneous simulated annealing reduction algorithm to solve the MR problem. Finally, the empirical analysis result on the Micro-electromechanical Systems (MEMS) field show that the SA algorithm is feasible and efficient.

Equilibrium programming (EP) is an active topic in mathematical programming. For the EP problem with the fuzzy optimal membership function in objectives and the penalty function in constraints, we propose a new fuzzy approach with simulated annealing algorithm to get the fuzzy optimal solution. The approach provides the decision-makers with a group of fuzzy optimal solutions on similarly fuzzy optimal grade, so that the equilibrium decision can be obtained easily and more reasonably. The numerical simulation of example demonstrates the feasibility and effectiveness of the approach.