Search

In order to enable patients with severe disabilities who have lost their limbs to accurately control their wheelchair movement and optimize the power loss of smart wearable tongue control devices, a non-invasive intraoral stand-alone tongue control system based on RSIC-V edge computing is proposed in this paper. Patients can detect the pressure signal of the tongue muscles’ touching the palate by placing the flexible carbon nanotube-PDMS pressure sensor array in the mouth, and the erroneous movement signal can be avoided by setting the pressure threshold, thereby improving the reliability of the device and the user's experience. The system converts the pressure data into specific control instructions on the edge of the RSIC-V chip and transmits them to the receiver, thus reducing the transmission of data. In this experiment, the speed response time test, the center click task and the power consumption experiment are carried out, whose results show that the adaptive fuzzy PID control algorithm has good robustness in the system: when the DC motor with a given speed of 750r/min reaches the steady state, its rise time is 0.108s and the adjustment time is 0.59s. The dynamic power consumption of the non-intrusive intraoral stand-alone tongue control system proposed in this paper is tested to be 3.745 MW, which is 11.5% lower than the total power consumption of the sTDs system.

BackgroundThe adverse effects of smartphone addiction (SPA) and Internet gaming disorder (IGD) on adolescents’ mental health have been widely recognized. However, the influence of parenting styles on these high-risk Internet use behaviors of adolescents still remain elusive. Aiming to identify preventable patterns for adolescents with SPA or IGD, this study compared the mental health status between adolescents with SPA and IGD and used path analysis to confirm actual effects of parenting styles on SPA and IGD.MethodsParticipants were enrolled at a junior high school in Hunan Province and a senior high school in Shanxi Province, China [n = 3,049, female (male): 50.5% (49.5%), mean age = 15.68 ± 1.54]. All participants reported their socio-demographic characteristics and undertook standardized assessments of SPA, IGD, parenting styles, depression, anxiety, insomnia, self-control, and support utilization.ResultsHigh levels of parental care and low levels of parental overprotection benefited adolescents’ mental health with SPA and IGD. However, despite having a more positive parenting style, adolescents with only SPA showed more severe mental health problems than adolescents with only IGD. Furthermore, the results showed that the parenting style of encouraging autonomy might be a protective factor against IGD, but it might reinforce SPA indirectly by reducing abilities of support utilization and self-control in whole sample.ConclusionCompared to IGD, SPA which included different kinds of Internet addiction behaviors, was more hazardous for adolescents’ mental health. The divergent effects of an autonomy-encouraging parenting style on SPA and IGD may reflect the different impacts of self-control in different types of Internet addiction.

A life cycle energy use, CO2 emissions and cost input evaluation of a 650 MW Biomass Chemical Looping Gasification Combined Cycle (BCLGCC) and a Biomass/Coal Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (BIGCC/CIGCC) power generation plants with and without (w/o) CO2 capture & storage (CCS) are analysed. These were then compared to coal/biomass combustion technologies. The life cycle evaluation covers the whole power generation process including biomass/coal supply chain, electricity generation at the power plant and the CCS process. Gasification power plants showed lower energy input and CO2 emissions, yet higher costs compared to combustion power plants. Coal power plants illustrated lower energy and cost input; however higher CO2 emissions compared to biomass power plants. Coal CCS plants can reduce CO2 emissions to near zero, while BCLGCC and BIGCC plants with CCS resulted in negative 680 kg-CO2/MWh and 769 kg-CO2/MWh, respectively, which is due to the higher biomass utilization efficiency for BCLGCC compared to BIGCC hence less CO2 captured and stored. Regarding the total life cycle costs input (TLCCI), BCLGCC with and without CCS equal to 149.3 £/MWh and 199.6 £/MWh, and the total life cycle energy input (TLCEI) for both with and without CCS is equal to 2162 MJ/MWh and 1765 MJ/MWh, respectively.

Impaired audiovisual temporal integration, manifested as an abnormally widened temporal-binding window (TBW) for integrating sensory information, is found in both autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and schizophrenia (SCZ) and contributes to aberrant perceptual experiences and impaired social communication. We conducted two experiments using age-comparable samples of participants with early-onset SCZ and participants with ASD. Sophisticated paradigms, including a unisensory temporal-order-judgment task (TOJ), an audiovisual-simultaneity-judgment task (SJ), and an eye-tracking task were used. Results showed generalized deficits in temporal processing in SCZ ranging from unisensory to multisensory modalities and from nonspeech to speech stimuli. In contrast, the widened TBW in ASD mainly affected speech stimuli processing. Applying the eye-tracking task with ecologically valid linguistic stimuli, we found that both participants with SCZ and participants with ASD exhibited reduced sensitivity of detecting audiovisual speech asynchrony. This impaired audiovisual speech integration correlated with negative symptoms. Although both ASD and SCZ have impaired multisensory temporal integration, ASD impairs speech-related processing, and SCZ is associated with generalized deficits.

Altered behavioural responses to sensory stimuli, including both hypo- and hyper-reactivity, have been found in individuals with schizophrenia. However, how specific sensory responsiveness patterns are associated with symptomatology of schizophrenia remains largely unknown. The present study aimed to examine sensory responsiveness in typically-developing (TD) adolescents (n = 98) and adolescents with early-onset schizophrenia (EOS) (n = 29) and investigate the relationship between schizotypal traits and sensory responsiveness patterns. All participants completed the Adult/Adolescent Sensory Profile (AASP), the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ) and the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ). Results showed that higher levels of hypersensitivity and hyposensitivity coexisted in EOS patients and were correlated with positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia. Atypical sensory experiences except for sensory seeking were found to be positively correlated with higher levels of schizotypal traits regardless of diagnostic status. Moreover, the strength and pattern of such correlations were comparable in both EOS and TD groups. This study also provided evidence that higher levels of autistic traits would intensify the positive correlation between schizotypal traits and sensory responsiveness abnormalities, suggesting an additive effect of co-occurring schizotypal and autistic traits on atypical sensory experiences. These findings extend previous research by depicting sensory responsiveness patterns in younger populations with schizophrenia, and may have implications for future development of sensory-related interventions in clinical settings.

Atypical sensory processing has recently gained much research interest as a key domain of autistic symptoms. Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exhibit difficulties in processing the temporal aspects of sensory inputs, and show altered behavioural responses to sensory stimuli (i.e., sensory responsiveness). The present study examined the relation between sensory responsiveness (assessed by the Adult/Adolescent Sensory Profile) and audiovisual temporal integration (measured by unisensory temporal order judgement (TOJ) tasks and audiovisual simultaneity judgement (SJ) tasks) in typically-developing adolescents (n = 94). We found that adolescents with higher levels of autistic traits exhibited more difficulties in separating visual stimuli in time (i.e., larger visual TOJ threshold) and showed a stronger bias to perceive sound-leading audiovisual pairings as simultaneous. Regarding the associations between different measures of sensory function, reduced visual temporal acuity, but not auditory or multisensory temporal processing, was significantly correlated with more atypical patterns of sensory responsiveness. Furthermore, the positive correlation between visual TOJ thresholds and sensory avoidance was only found in adolescents with relatively high levels of autistic traits, but not in those with relatively low levels of autistic traits. These findings suggest that reduced visual temporal acuity may contribute to altered sensory experiences and may be linked to broader behavioural characteristics of ASD.

Graphene nanostructures with specified edge terminations has attracted considerable attention owing to their unique electronic properties induced by the edges. However, an efficient way to controllably fabricate such nanostructures is still highly desired. Here, we show that graphene nanostructures with zigzag edge terminations can be easily and efficiently constructed at room-temperature by tip manipulation of a scanning tunneling microscope (STM). Though intentionally increasing the tip-graphene interaction, we controllably tear and fold graphene sheets against step edges and successfully fabricate nanoscale graphene islands such as quantum dots and nanoribbon-like structures on graphite. Interestingly, the tearing directions are found to mainly along the zigzag orientations of graphene hexagonal lattice, leading to the generated graphene nanostructures possessing the same specified edges with well zigzag terminations. Theoretical modelling demonstrates that the enhanced tip-graphene repulsive force can account for the tearing and folding processes, whereas the preferential zigzag-tearing is attributed to the predicted lowest bond-breaking energy of the zigzag orientation in graphene. Our experiment provides a simple and controllable method for fabrication of graphene nanostructures with precise zigzag edge terminations. The obtained zigzag-edge-terminated graphene nanostructures also provide a platform for engineering novel quantum properties.

Background Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder with an unclear etiology and pathophysiology. Previous studies have indicated that the dysregulation of cytokines may be involved in the pathogenesis of ASD and that the levels of cytokines may serve as potential biomarkers of this disorder. Methods The current study employed a family triad-based case-control design to study the levels of plasma cytokines in families with ASD (n = 45 triads) and controls (n = 38 triads) with a Human Cytokine Twenty-Five-Plex Kit. The Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) was used to measure social impairment of ASD children. Results After controlling for the levels of parental cytokines, we identified that interferon-α (IFN-α), interleukin-7 (IL-7), IL-8, IFN-γ-inducible protein-10, and macrophage inflammatory protein-1β were associated with ASD, and IL-8 was the only cytokine also associated with the levels of both parental cytokines in the offspring-parents regression analysis and three subdomains of SRS (social awareness, cognition, and motivations) in the children with ASD. The receiver operating characteristic curve showed that the log-transformed IL-8 level discriminated children with autism from controls with an area under the curve of 0.858 (95% confidence interval: 0.777-0.939). Conclusions Our study suggests that IL-8 is a potential biomarker for ASD and may be involved in the pathogenesis of ASD. Impact The study suggests that IL-8 is a promising biomarker for ASD and may be involved in the pathogenesis of ASD.Only a very few studies have reported the parental cytokine levels. The significant strength of this article is that we applied the family triad-based approach to explore cytokine levels in families with autism and controls.There are no objective biomarkers, making the accurate diagnosis, prognostic prediction and effective treatment difficult, and our study provides promising results.

Recently, acoustic vortices with orbital angular momentum (OAM) have attracted great attention and interest owing to their extensive applications. Based on the generalized Snell’s law (GSL), acoustic vortex beams can be observed by constructing different types of acoustic metasurfaces immersed into cylindrical waveguides. However, owing to the restrictions of the phase gradient of metasurface structures and the critical order of propagating vortex beams, there exist great challenges in realizing complex modulation of vortex beams and designing advanced multifunctional sound devices. Here, we theoretically study and experimentally demonstrate the extended GSL in designing a mode converter of vortex beams based on phase-gradient acoustic metagratings (AMs). We demonstrate that the extended GSL can not only accurately predict the transmitted or reflected orders of vortex beams created by a series of AMs with arbitrary phase gradient ξ, but also effectively overcome the limitations of both the phase gradient and the critical order. More importantly, we design a type of mode converter of vortex beams and realize the mode conversion of output vortex beams by simply modulating the orders of input vortex beams. To present it, we experimentally demonstrate the switch between the output vortex beams with the orders of −2 and 2 through the same phase-gradient AM by using the input vortex beams with the orders of 1 and −1, respectively, which can be separately predicted by the GSL and the extended GSL. Our work paves a way for the complex modulation of acoustic vortex beams and the design of multifunctional OAM-based sound devices with practical applications.

We measured the activities of six kinds of enzyme, including β-glucosidase (BG), β-N-acetyl-glucosaminidase (NAG), leucine aminopeptidase (LAP), acid phosphatase (AP), polyphenol oxidase (POX), peroxidase (POD), as well as enzyme stoichiometric ratios and soil physical and chemical properties at 0-10 and 10-20 cm layers across typical Pinus massoniana plantation, Pinus elliottii plantation and mixed plantation of P. massoniana and Schima superba (broadleaved-conifer mixed plantation) in mid-subtropical China. Key factors driving the variation in soil enzyme activity and stoichiometry among different stand types were investigated. The results showed that the activities of soil BG and LAP were significantly affected by stand type. Soil BG activity at 10-20 cm soil layer was significantly higher in P. elliottii plantation than in P. massoniana plantation, while the activity of LAP was highest in the P. massoniana plantation. Soil BG/(NAG+LAP) and BG/AP at 10-20 cm layer of P. elliottii plantation were significantly higher than those of P. massoniana plantation, while (NAG+LAP)/AP of P. massoniana plantation was significantly higher than those of P. elliottii plantation and mixed plantation. The vector length of enzyme stoichiometry at 10-20 cm soil layer was significantly different among stand type, with an order of P. elliottii plantationbroadleaved-conifer mixed plantationP. massoniana. The vector angles of enzyme stoichiometry in the three plantations were greater than 45°, with the vector angle in the P. elliottii plantation at 10-20 cm soil layer being significantly greater than that of the P. massoniana plantation. Results from redundancy analysis showed that soil carbon quality index and the ratio of soil organic carbon to total phosphorus (C/P), soil water content and C/P were the key factors affecting soil enzyme activity and stoichiometry at 0-10 and 10-20 cm soil layers, respectively. The quantity and quality of soil carbon and phosphorus, and soil water content played a key role in regulating nutrient cycling in mid-subtropical plantation ecosystem.以中亚热带典型的马尾松林、湿地松林和马尾松-木荷混交林(针阔混交林)为研究对象,分析不同林分类型下0～10和10～20 cm土层的β-D-葡萄糖苷酶(BG)、β-N-乙酰氨基葡萄糖苷酶(NAG)、亮氨酸氨基肽酶(LAP)、酸性磷酸酶(AP)、多酚氧化酶(POX)、过氧化物酶(POD)6种土壤酶活性,以及酶化学计量比及土壤理化性质特征,分析驱动中亚热带典型林分类型土壤酶活性及其计量比变异的主要因素。结果表明: 林分类型显著影响了土壤BG和LAP活性,表现为湿地松林10～20 cm土层土壤BG显著高于马尾松林,而LAP在马尾松林最高;湿地松林10～20 cm土层土壤BG/(NAG+LAP)、BG/AP显著高于马尾松林,而马尾松林(NAG+LAP)/AP显著高于湿地松林和针阔混交林;林分类型间酶化学计量的向量长度在10～20 cm土层差异显著,表现为湿地松林针阔混交林马尾松林。3种人工林酶化学计量的向量角度均大于45°,其中在湿地松林10～20 cm土层向量角度显著大于马尾松林。冗余分析表明,土壤碳质量指数和有机碳与全磷的比值(C/P)以及土壤含水量和C/P分别是0～10和10～20 cm土层土壤酶活性及其化学计量的关键影响因素,土壤碳和磷的数量和质量,以及土壤含水量在调节中亚热带人工林生态系统养分循环中发挥关键作用。.

Atypical sensory processing has recently gained much research interest as a key domain of autistic symptoms. Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exhibit difficulties in processing the temporal aspects of sensory inputs, and show altered behavioural responses to sensory stimuli (i.e., sensory responsiveness). The present study examined the relation between sensory responsiveness (assessed by the Adult/Adolescent Sensory Profile) and audiovisual temporal integration (measured by unisensory temporal order judgement (TOJ) tasks and audiovisual simultaneity judgement (SJ) tasks) in typically-developing adolescents (n = 94). We found that adolescents with higher levels of autistic traits exhibited more difficulties in separating visual stimuli in time (i.e., larger visual TOJ threshold) and showed a stronger bias to perceive sound-leading audiovisual pairings as simultaneous. Regarding the associations between different measures of sensory function, reduced visual temporal acuity, but not auditory or multisensory temporal processing, was significantly correlated with more atypical patterns of sensory responsiveness. Furthermore, the positive correlation between visual TOJ thresholds and sensory avoidance was only found in adolescents with relatively high levels of autistic traits, but not in those with relatively low levels of autistic traits. These findings suggest that reduced visual temporal acuity may contribute to altered sensory experiences and may be linked to broader behavioural characteristics of ASD.

Background: Complex relationships may exist in the symptoms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and may interfere with each other. Previous studies investigate the relationships between core and associated symptoms. However, there is still a lack of holistic view, especially in the relationships between core and associated symptoms.Methods: Data were collected from a sample of 474 children with ASD. The Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) was used to evaluate the existence and severity of autistic core symptoms of social impairment, Children’s Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ) to sleep status, and Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL/1.5-5) to behavior performance of subjects. A network analysis approach was performed to assess the partial relationships of these symptoms.Results: The social communication problem was the most central symptom of ASD. There were broad relationships between the core and associated symptoms, such as the relationships between autistic core symptoms and characteristic symptoms of ADHD and within associated symptoms. All these correlations were positive, except for a negative relationship between anxious/depressed problems and social awareness. The associations between some of these symptoms were stronger than the other associations, and the relationship between emotional problems and aggressive behavior was relatively stronger than the other relationships. The strength centrality and network edges were highly stable.Limitations: Two main limitations exist in current study. First, the network analyses was conducted by using cross-sectional data, so it remains unknown that whether the network structure will change with the progress of the course of the disease or the change of the severity of symptoms. Second, some nodes may actually be measuring overlapping constructs, which could artificially inflate edge weights and centrality.Conclusions: An overall perspective of connections of symptoms of ASD using network analysis indicated that controlling these associated symptoms may improve core symptoms, such as ADHD-related symptoms. It may help identify new ways to improve symptoms in ASD.

Empathy refers to the ability to understand other people's feelings and reacting emotionally to others. Impaired empathy has been reported in both individuals with schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Despite overlaps, few studies have directly examined the neural mechanisms of impaired empathy in these two clinical groups. We used resting-state fMRI to investigate the neural correlates of empathic functioning in adolescents with ASD (N = 11), early-onset schizophrenia (EOS) (N = 20), and typically developing (TD) controls (N = 26). Their parents completed the Griffith Empathy Measure (GEM) to assess the adolescents' empathic capacity. We found that EOS and ASD participants both exhibited impaired empathy as measured by the GEM, especially in cognitive empathy (post-hoc ps < 0.05). Regions-of-interest-based functional connectivity revealed decreased connectivity between the salience network (SN) (i.e., the anterior insula and the anterior cingulate cortex) and core regions of the mentalizing network (e.g., the temporal-parietal junction and the precuneus), and among the SN and the bilateral superior temporal gyri (STG) and the left cerebellum in EOS participants. Subsequent comparisons revealed reduced grey matter volume in the STG bilaterally in both clinical groups. Increased resting-state functional connectivity within the social brain network was correlated with higher parent-reported scores of empathic capacity in TD adolescents, but such a brain-phenotype relationship was absent in the two clinical groups. These findings indicate that structural alterations and disturbed resting-state functional connectivity in the core empathy network may be the neural correlates of social cognitive deficits in individuals with EOS and ASD.

Background We validated the Social Mistrust Scale (SMS) and utilized it to examine the structure, prevalence, and heritability of social mistrust in a large sample of Chinese children and adolescents. Methods In Study 1, a large sample of healthy twins (N = 2094) aged 8 to 14 years (M = 10.27 years, SD = 2) completed the SMS. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was conducted to assess the structure of the SMS and to estimate the heritability of social mistrust in a sub-sample of twins (n = 756 pairs). In Study 2, 32 adolescents with childhood-onset schizophrenia were compared with 34 healthy controls on levels of suspiciousness and clinical symptoms to examine the associations between the SMS and the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). Results We found a three-factor structure for social mistrust (home, school, and general mistrust). Social mistrust was found to be moderately - heritable (19%–40%), with mistrust at home most strongly influenced by genetic factors. Compared with 11.76% of the healthy controls, 56.25% of the adolescents with early-onset schizophrenia exhibited very high levels of social mistrust on all three subscales of the SMS. The SMS exhibited good discriminant validity in distinguishing adolescents with childhood-onset schizophrenia from healthy controls and showed associations with a broad range of symptoms assessed by the PANSS. Conclusions Social mistrust assessed by the SMS may be heritable. The SMS demonstrates good discriminant validity with clinical diagnoses of schizophrenia. However, it seems to be correlated with multiple aspects of psychopathology in the schizophrenia group, rather than being specific to delusional ideation/paranoia.

A coal chemical looping combustion (CLC) power plant (600 MW) with CO2 capture was established and validated. The key operation parameters and conditions for the coal chemical looping combustion process were tested and optimized. Heat exchange network (HEN) was established and optimized using the combined pinch and exergy analysis method for matching and integrating different levels or grade energy, from flue gas and exhaust steam waste heat, in coal chemical looping combustion power plant to maximize the energy efficiency output. Followed by conducting a techno-economic evaluation and exergy distribution analysis which showed that the net energy efficiency of the CLC power plant (34.8 %, improved by 1.9 %) is 2.4 % higher than the monoethanolamine (MEA)-based ultra-supercritical coal power plant (32.4 %) with the same CO2 capture ratio (90 %). The CLC power plant also provides a lower cost of electricity (0.088–0.127 $/kWh) and less coal consumption (381 g/kWh), compared to the MEA-based power plant (0.143 $/kWh, 408 g/kWh). The cost and energy penalty of CO2 enrichment and separation are less when compared to traditional MEA-based ultra-supercritical coal power plants due to the intrinsic nature of in-suit CO2 capture, the lower exergy destruction in the chemical looping combustion process, and sufficient energy integration and recovery from HEN.

Schizophrenia is characterized by both disrupted neurodevelopmental processes and abnormal brain connectivity. However, few studies have examined the atypical features of brain network topography associated with schizophrenia during childhood and adolescence. We used graph theory to compare the grey matter structural networks of individuals (aged 10-15 years) with early-onset schizophrenia (EOS) (n = 25) and a typically-developing (TD) comparison group (n = 31). Compared with the TD group, EOS patients showed significantly increased clustering and local efficiency across a range of network densities (0.3 – 0.4). The network of EOS patients also had more modules (6 modules in EOS vs. 3 modules in controls), indicating a more segregated network at the cost of functional integration. Although our results were preliminary and failed to survive corrections for multiple comparisons, EOS patients might be characterized by altered nodal centrality in several higher-order associative regions including the prefrontal cortex, the hippocampus and the cerebellum. The EOS structural network also lacked the typical left-hemispheric-dominant hub distribution compared with the TD group. These findings suggest that brain structural network was not only globally but also regionally altered in EOS patients.

Coal-based chemical looping combustion (CLC) power plant presents itself as a promising technology due to its low energy penalty which is associated with its inherent CO2 capture process. However, most evaluations and comparisons (energy efficiency, economic, and environmental aspects) of the CLC power plant generally were focused on the power plant operation stage. Life cycle assessment (LCA) method with a “cradle to gate” model involving power plant construction, operation, and decommissioning stage,of coal-based power plants was established. Following that the resource consumption, energy consumption, environmental impact potential, and economic performance in the life cycle, were comprehensively compared between the coal-based CLC power plant and other plants such as IGCC, USC and oxy-combustion power plants with and without (w/o) CO2 capture, to find out the potential and deficiency of the coal-based CLC power plant in a life cycle perspective. Results showed that energy resource consumption accounts for the largest proportion of the total resource consumption (81.88–91.89%) in six coal-fired power plants. Among the environmental impact potentials, smoke and dust potential (SAP) has the highest value while eutrophication potential (EP) resulted in the lowest in six coal-based power plants. CLC presented resource depletion indicator, energy payback ratio and the total life cycle costs, at 4.79 × 10−6 kWh/person/day, 3.22, and 0.138 $/kWh, respectively. These power plants were ranked from highest to lowest according to their sustainability as the following USC, CLC, IGCC, oxy-CCS, USC-CCS, and IGCC-CCS. However, CLC presents the best sustainability in all coal-based power plants with CO2 capture. The CLC power plant will be one of the most attractive options for carbon reduction in coal-based power systems, as the development of CLC technology further improves energy efficiency and economic performance. The results further demonstrated that the coal-based CLC power plant can solve the issues involving CO2 emission reduction and energy utilization in coal to power generation process from lifecycle viewpoint.

Aggressive behaviors of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are common. We conducted this study to describe the aggressive mode of preschool children with ASD and examine the associations between specific aggressive behaviors and two treatable factors: sleep problems and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms. In total, 577 typically developing (TD) children and 490 children with ASD were investigated in this study. The Institute for Basic Research – Modified Overt Aggression Scale (IBR-MOAS) was used to assess aggressive behaviors. Children's social impairments, sleep problems and ADHD symptoms were also measured with specific scales. The total IBR-MOAS score was significantly higher (worse) in the TD group [4.47 (5.36)] than in the ASD group [3.47 (5.63), P = 0.004]. The aggressive modes differed between groups: when compared with each other, the TD group received higher scores on Verbal and Physical Aggression Toward Others (all P

By using the technique of integration within ordered product of operators, we put forward the combinatorial optical complex wavelet-fractional Fourier transform in the context of quantum optics. The unitary operator for this new transform is found and its normally ordered form is deduced. We apply this new transform to the two-mode vacuum state and the two-mode number state and explain that it can be used to analyze and identify various quantum optical states.

Temporal structure is a key factor in determining the relatedness of multisensory stimuli. Stimuli that are close in time are more likely to be integrated into a unified perceptual representation. To investigate the age-related developmental differences in audiovisual temporal integration and rapid temporal recalibration, we administered simultaneity judgment (SJ) tasks to a group of adolescents (11-14 years) and young adults (18-28 years). No age-related changes were found in the width of the temporal binding window within which participants are highly likely to combine multisensory stimuli. The main distinction between adolescents and adults was audiovisual temporal recalibration. Although participants of both age groups could rapidly recalibrate based on the previous trial for speech stimuli (i.e., syllable utterances), only adults but not adolescents showed short-term recalibration for simple and non-speech stimuli. In both adolescents and adults, no significant correlation was found between audiovisual temporal integration ability and autistic or schizotypal traits. These findings provide new information on the developmental trajectory of basic multisensory function and may have implications for neurodevelopmental disorders (e.g., autism) with altered audiovisual temporal integration. Autism Res 2020, 13: 615-626. © 2019 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. LAY SUMMARY: Utilizing temporal cues to integrate and separate audiovisual information is a fundamental ability underlying higher order social communicative functions. This study examines the developmental changes of the ability to detect audiovisual asynchrony and rapidly adjust sensory decisions based on previous sensory input. In healthy adolescents and young adults, the correlation between autistic traits and audiovisual integration ability failed to reach a significant level. Therefore, more research is needed to examine whether impairment in basic sensory functions is correlated with broader autism phenotype in nonclinical populations. These results may help us understand altered multisensory integration in people with autism.

Chemical looping partial oxidation reforming (CLPOR) technology is an economically attractive, sustainable, and environmental-friendly process strategy of CH4 conversion. In this study, NiO-promoted κ-CeZrO4 functional oxygen carriers (OCs) were designed and synthesized for the CLPOR of methane, with excellent lattice oxygen (LO) transmission performance and structural stability, aiming to reduce the energy penalty and temperature required for methane conversion. The crystalline phase, reaction performance, surface properties and reaction mechanism of the OC were systematically analyzed. In-situ CH4-XPS analysis was further carried out to reveal the internal mechanism with NiO/κ-CeZrO4 and the reason for higher CO selectivity at a low temperature. The methane conversion rate (≥ 80%) and syngas selectivity (≥ 93%) can be obtained under the most of reported reaction conditions (over 850 °C). More importantly, a higher methane conversion rate (52–72%) with syngas selectivity (88–92%) was even able to be achieved at a relative low temperature range 700–800 °C. The excellent performance was attributed to the reducing transmission temperature of the LO and a synergetic effect of Niδ+ and the oxygen vacancies (existed on the surface), thereby inhibiting carbon deposition caused by the excessively fast methane cracking rate under high temperature atmosphere.

Ecological stoichiometry provides important information for understanding biogeochemical cycling in forest ecosystems. The stoichiometric characteristics of carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) in the leaves, roots and rhizosphere soils of co-existing overstory trees and understory shrubs and herbs within a forest ecosystem, however, remain poorly understood. The C, N and P concentrations and their stoichiometric ratios of the leaves, roots and rhizosphere soils were studied for three overstory trees, three understory shrubs and two herbs in three plantations of Cunninghamia lanceolata, Pinus massoniana and Pinus elliottii in subtropical China. Mostly, the foliar and root C:N ratios were significantly higher for overstory trees than understory shrubs and herbs. Forest type significantly influenced the C:N and C:P ratios of the leaves and rhizosphere soils across all species. The C:N ratio in the leaves and roots were positively and negatively correlated with that in rhizosphere soil, respectively. The N:P in leaves and roots were negatively and positively correlated with that of rhizosphere soil, respectively. We found that foliar and root C:N:P stoichiometry varied greatly among plant species and forest types, which was mainly constrained by the rhizosphere soil. The opposite relationship of C:N:P stoichiometry in the leaves and roots with rhizosphere soil offers new insights into the interaction between above- and belowground process of forest ecosystems.

Empirical findings suggest an overlap between autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD). Co-occurring autistic and positive schizotypal traits may have a moderating effect on behaviour and cognition. This study attempted to examine the co-occurrence rate of autistic and schizotypal traits in otherwise healthy college students and to test the moderating effect of co-occurring autistic and schizotypal traits on executive function, emotion processing and social function. Eight hundred and sixty-four participants took part in the present study. The results showed that the co-occurrence rate of autistic and schizotypal trait was 3.4% at baseline and 2.4% at one-year follow-up. The interaction between autistic traits and schizotypal traits was associated with better executive functioning and social functioning but poorer emotional expression.

Sawdust direct gasification using chemical looping with hematite as an oxygen carrier was investigated in a 10 kWth interconnected fluidized bed reactor. This was used to develop a biomass chemical looping gasification combined cycle (BCLGCC) model using Aspen Plus software. A technical analysis of a scaled up, simulated and validated 650 MW power plant using BCLG experimental results and industrial data was conducted. The analysis focused on investigating critical parameters that have a significant effect on syngas quality and quantity, hence optimizing the gasification process to obtain higher energy efficiencies for subsequent power generation. An economic and sustainability assessments comparing BCLGCC with 4 different power generation technologies with and w/o CCS was performed. BCLGCC presents promising economic and environmental results, showing that the efficiencies of the CCS and Non-CCS plants are equal to 36% and 41%, respectively, with a COE (including government renewable energy subsidies) for both CCS and Non-CCS equal to 15.9 ¢/kWh and 12.8 ¢/kWh, both of which are lower than the average COE in the UK (approximately 17.7 ¢/kWh). This highlights the technical and economic potential and feasibility of BCLGCC compared to conventional power generation processes while promoting Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) technology.

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and schizophrenia (SZ) are both associated with response inhibition impairment. However, the relative pattern of deficits in these two disorders remains unclear. Twenty-three male children with ASD, 23 male children with SZ, and 32 typically developing male controls were recruited to complete a set of tasks measuring response inhibition in the visual, auditory, and verbal domains. We found that visual, auditory, and verbal response inhibitions were impaired in both children with ASD and children with SZ. Compared with typically developing controls, children with ASD made more commission errors whereas children with SZ responded much slower in the visual response inhibition task. Both clinical groups showed comparable impairment in verbal response inhibition, but children with SZ were more impaired in auditory response inhibition than children with ASD. These different patterns of response inhibition deficit between male children with ASD and SZ may help to differentiate between these two disorders and may be potential targets for intervention. Autism Res 2020, 13: 591-602. © 2019 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. LAY SUMMARY: In this study, we found that male children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) made more commission errors whereas male children with schizophrenia (SZ) responded much slower in the visual response inhibition task. Both clinical groups exhibited comparable impairments in verbal response inhibition, but male children with SZ were more impaired in auditory response inhibition than male children with ASD. Our findings provide potential targets for intervention.

Cu-ZnO based catalysts are of industrial importance for methanol synthesis. In this work, Cu-ZnO-CeO2 (CZCe) catalyst has been prepared via conventional co-precipitation technique and applied for syngas hydrogenation to methanol with the purpose to study the effect of reversible redox metal oxide (ceria) on the distribution of valence state of active Cu species. Herein, CZCe catalyst exhibited the outstanding catalytic performance with initial methanol yield as high as 0.665 g·g–1 cat.·h–1 and the STYMeOH could well be maintained with a high value (0.600 g·g–1 cat.·h–1) at 230 °C after 70 h of evaluation, which exceeded the reference Cu-ZnO-Al2O3 (CZAl) catalyst prepared by the same method. The excellent performance could be attributed to ceria doping tended to dynamically tune the distributions and/or concentrations of Cu+ and Cu° species on the catalyst surfaces and retard the conversion of Cuδ+ (δ

ABC-stacked trilayer graphene (TLG) was predicted to exhibit novel many-body phenomena due to the existence of almost dispersionless flat bands near the charge neutrality point. Here, using high-magnetic-field scanning tunneling microscopy, we present Landau Level (LL) spectroscopy measurements of high-quality ABC-stacked TLG on graphite. We observe an approximately linear magnetic-field scaling of valley splitting and spin splitting in the ABC-stacked TLG. Our experiment indicates that the spin splitting decreases dramatically with increasing the LL index. When the lowest LL is partially filled, we find an obvious enhancement of the spin splitting, attributing to strong many-body effects. Moreover, we observe linear energy scaling of the inverse lifetime of quasiparticles, providing an additional evidence for the strong electron-electron interactions in the ABC-stacked TLG. These results imply that interesting broken-symmetry states and novel electron correlated effects could emerge in the ABC-stacked TLG in the presence of high magnetic fields.

Near-infrared Ag2Se quantum dots (QDs) with distinct absorption features ranging between 830–954 nm and fluorescence quantum yields up to 23.4% were controllably synthesized using a phosphine-free approach. Based on the distinct absorption features, the molar extinction coefficients of the Ag2Se QDs have been determined.

Based on the nearly perfectly matched layer (NPML) theory, a finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) absorbing boundary condition (ABC) is presented for truncating three-dimensional (3-D) anisotropic medium. In the proposed technique, the complex coordinate stretching in the NPML scheme and the spatial interpolation method are employed. The associated ABC formulations have the advantage of simplicity in the FDTD implementations. The radiation fields of an electric dipole in anisotropic media are calculated using the presented ABC. The results are numerically verified by the comparison with the reference solutions. Furthermore, in order to clearly show the effective absorbing performance of the proposed method, the reflection coefficient and time-dependent relative error for different layers NPML absorbing boundary are also simulated.

It is necessary for hearing-impaired children after hearing compensation for language rehabilitation, Rehabilitation evaluation system can timely understanding of the effect of rehabilitation, rehabilitation program reasonable.This paper presents multiple feedback method and system for hearing-impaired children pronunciation evaluation based on 3D technology, information technology, the use of modern means of measuring real-time speech. The evaluation system collect the tongue palate, lip face and voice pronunciation information of hearing-impaired children through sensor and voice input devices.The reference value to compare the data with the standard output,The system can overcome the shortcomings of traditional method is subjective.To assess abnormal and the degree of abnormal of hearing-impaired children s function. Provide the basis for the development of language rehabilitation training plan, establish a scientific evaluation method and evaluation system.

In order to solve the hearing-impaired students in class only rely on sign language, amount of classroom information received less, This paper studies video and audio dual mode fusion algorithm combined with lip reading、speech recognition technology and information fusion technology.First ,speech feature extraction, processing of speech signal, the speech synchronization output text. At the same time, extraction of video features, voice and video signal fusion, Make voice information into visual information that the hearing-impaired students can receive. Make the students receive text messages as receive visual information, improve speech recognition rate, so meet the need of the classroom teaching for hearing-impaired students.

According to the national food inspection standards,research a new inspection system of pesticide residues combine with fluorescence detection method. Integration with photoelectric technology, sensor technology and micro processing technology ,First ,analysis of fluorescence detection mechanism of pesticide, adopting the light-emitting diode and a photoelectric device as the core to design the fluorescence detection system and using photomultiplier tube design microprocessor control system, System can rapid determination of food pesticide residues.

Traditional industrial methanation of coke oven gas (COG) to produce natural gas generally requires three or more adiabatic reactors, thus resulting in a long process flow, rapid deactivation of catalyst and high investment cost. Herein, a new methanation process of COG (denoted as NCtSNG) over the Ni-Ce/γ-Al2O3 catalyst was proposed, wherein a tubular heat exchange reactor and an adiabatic reactor were connected in series. The pilot-scale methanation test using a single tubular heat exchange reactor was performed, and the result demonstrated that heat exchange reactor would insure a low temperature of catalyst layer (below 500 °C), which can not only improve the efficiency of the exothermic methanation but also prolong the catalyst lifetime. A reliable simulation of the NCtSNG process was then established and validated by using the commercial software Aspen Plus based on the pilot test, and the key operation parameters and conditions were optimized so as to provide significant basic data for future industrial production. It was estimated that the new NCtSNG process presents high energy efficiency of 80%, low production cost of 2.15 CNY/m3-SNG, and low CO2 emission of 0.61 kg/m3-SNG, thus showing a great superiority in market competition.

Facility agriculture environment monitoring system of the existing main adopts the wired communication technology, such as serial bus technology and field bus technology for communication. This system has the advantages of good interoperability, strong anti-interference ability, but the poor stability, low reliability, difficult to deploy, installation and maintenance costs high, which greatly limits its application in the design of facilities agriculture field. Three nets fusion refers to the 3G, RFID and Internet combination. In this paper, the 3G network, wireless radio frequency technology and Internet technology combining, in order to solve the above problems, the use of 3G network and the Internet to a large amount of data real-time remote transmission, using radio frequency network RFID technology through the short distance wireless data transmission terminal sensors to collect information, these information in time through the3G network and the Internet are transmitted to the the remote controller. The remote controller sends according to terminal sensor control information, through the 3G network and the Internet will control information is transmitted to the radio frequency network, wireless RF network through wireless communication control information is transmitted to the terminal controller, the final completion of the remote monitoring and control of agricultural facilities. The experimental results show that, the system can meet the real-time and can perform remote transmission for large data, provide the technical basis of visual audio data monitoring information transmission for agricultural facilities.

This paper mainly introduces monitoring principle, montitoring methods and development process of hardware and software of rolling bearing fault monitoring system based on LabVIEW. The system makes full use of computer technology, data acquisition, signal analysis and processing techniques, and fault diagnosis theory to improve monitoring and fault diagnosis of rolling bearing. The system also integrates the functions of traditional detecting instrument and provides a friendly man-machine interface which can display online data.

Homogenization or material distribution method based topology optimization will create final topologies in grey level image and saw tooth jump discontinuity boundaries that are not suitable for direct engineering practice, so it is necessary to extract the topological diagram. And a new topology extraction method for compliant mechanisms is presented. In the fist stage, the grey image is transferred into the black-and white finite element topology optimization results. The threshold value meeting to objective function is obtained so that each element is either empty or solid; in the second stage, the density contour approach is used by redistributing nodal densities to generate the smooth boundaries; in the third stage, Smooth boundaries are represented by parameterized B-spline curves whose control points selected from the viewpoint of stiffness and flexibility constitute the parameters ready to undergo shape optimization; Then shape optimization is executed to improve stress-based local performance, The parameters that present the outer shape of the compliant mechanism are used as design variables; In the final stage, simulations of numerical examples are presented to show the validity of the proposed method.

A new reliability-based topology optimization method for compliant mechanisms with geometrical nonlinearity is presented. The aim of this paper is to integrate reliability and geometrical nonlinear analysis into the topology optimization problems. Firstly, geometrical nonlinear response analysis method of the compliant mechanisms is developed based on the Total-Lagrange finite element formulation, the incremental scheme and the Newton-Raphson iteration method. Secondly, a multi-objective topology optimal model of compliant mechanisms considering the uncertainties of the applied loads and the geometry descriptions is established. The objective function is defined by minimum the compliance and maximum the geometric advantage to meet both the stiffness and the flexibility requirements, and the reliabilities of the compliant mechanisms are evaluated by using the first order reliability method. Thirdly, the computation of the sensitivities is developed with the adjoint method and the optimization problem is solved by using the Method of Moving Asymptotes. Finally, through numerical calculations, reliability-based topology designs with geometric nonlinearity of a typical compliant micro-gripper and a multi-input and multi-output compliant sage are obtained. The importance of considering uncertainties and geometric nonlinearity is then demonstrated by comparing the results obtained by the proposed method with deterministic optimal designs, which shows that the reliability-based topology optimization yields mechanisms that are more reliable than those produced by deterministic topology optimization.

A finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) model is developed for non-magnetized plasma thin layers on metal surfaces illuminated by vertical polarization (TE) and parallel polarization (TM) plane waves at oblique incidence. The model is based on collocated first-order surface impedance boundary conditions (SIBCs), permitting one to remove the plasma coating and the substrate from the computational space. The reflection of TE and TM plane waves at varying oblique incident angles from the plasma coating surfaces is simulated. The results are numerically verified by the comparison with the exact results in the one-dimensional situation. Magnitude and phase error of the calculated reflection coefficients are studied to illustrate that the proposed model has greatly improved accuracy over the original SIBCs implementation. Finally, we calculate the radar cross-section (RCS) of a perfectly conducting cube covered with plasma coatings utilizing the proposed collocated SIBCs, which further demonstrates the practical...

This paper presents an investigation of the effects of rainfall with different levels of precipitation intensity on urban expressway travel time under free-flow speed conditions. The traffic data and corresponding weather data from the expressway section of Longyang in Shanghai for more than one year were used. Statistical analysis was applied to investigate the effects of rainfall on travel time quantitatively. There are two major contributions of this paper. Firstly, four levels of rainfall have varying degrees of significant impacts on travel time in terms of average travel time. Slight rain has no influence on variability of travel time, while heavier rain increases the variability. Secondly, three travel time stochastic models: Normal, Lognormal and Weibull, were proposed. The Lognormal model is the best-fit model under good weather, slight and moderate rainfall conditions, while both Weibull model and Lognormal model are the preferable models under heavy rain and rainstorm conditions. The recommended Lognormal model can be further used for evaluating the performance of the Longyang expressway section in terms of travel time reliability under good weather, slight rain, moderate rain, heavy rain and rainstorm conditions respectively.

The aim of this study was to examine the therapeutic effect of oxymatrine, a monomer isolated from the medicinal plant Sophora flavescens Ait, on the hepatic lipid metabolism in non-alcoholic fatty liver (NAFLD) rats and to explore the potential mechanism. Rats were fed with high fructose diet for 8 weeks to establish the NAFLD model, then were given oxymatrine treatment (40, 80, and 160 mg/kg, respectively) for another 8 weeks. Body weight gain, liver index, serum and liver lipids, and histopathological evaluation were measured. Enzymatic activity and gene expression of the key enzymes involved in the lipogenesis and fatty acid oxidation were assayed. The results showed that oxymatrine treatment reduced body weight gain, liver weight, liver index, dyslipidemia, and liver triglyceride level in a dose dependant manner. Importantly, the histopathological examination of liver confirmed that oxymatrine could decrease the liver lipid accumulation. The treatment also decreased the fatty acid synthase (FAS) enzymatic activity and increased the carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1A (CPT1A) enzymatic activity. Besides, oxymatrine treatment decreased the mRNA expression of sterol regulatory element binding transcription factor 1(Srebf1), fatty acid synthase (Fasn), and acetyl CoA carboxylase (Acc), and increased the mRNA expression of peroxisome proliferator activated receptor alpha (Pparα), carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1A (Cpt1a), and acyl CoA oxidase (Acox1) in high fructose diet induced NAFLD rats. These results suggested that the therapeutic effect of oxymatrine on the hepatic steatosis in high fructose diet induced fatty liver rats is partly due to down-regulating Srebf1 and up-regulating Pparα mediated metabolic pathways simultaneously.

A collocated surface impedance boundary condition (SIBC) { flnite difierence time domain (FDTD) method is developed for conductors coated with lossy dielectric coatings at oblique incidence. The method is based on the collocated electric and magnetic fleld components on the planar interface between two media, and rational approximation for tangent function of surface impedance formulation is adopted. In contrast to the traditional SIBC-FDTD implementation which is approximated with the magnetic fleld component on the boundary located at half-cell distance from the interface and half time step earlier in time, the collocation approach is more accurate for both magnitude and phase of re∞ection coe-cient. By the comparison with exact results, the proposed model is numerically verifled in the frequency domain for both parallel polarization plane wave and vertical polarization plane wave at varying oblique angles of incidence.