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To evaluate the impact of hypertension on the clinical outcome of COVID-19 patients aged 60 years old and older.This single-center retrospective cohort study enrolled consecutive COVID-19 patients aged 60 years old and older, who were admitted to Liyuan Hospital from January 1, 2020 to April 25, 2020. All included patients were divided into two groups: hypertension and nonhypertension group. The baseline demographic characteristics, laboratory test results, chest computed tomography (CT) images and clinical outcomes were collected and analyzed. The prognostic value of hypertension was determined using binary logistic regression.Among the 232 patients included in the analysis, 105 (45.3%) patients had comorbid hypertension. Compared to the nonhypertension group, patients in the hypertension group had higher neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratios, red cell distribution widths, lactate dehydrogenase, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, D-dimer and severity of lung lesion, and lower lymphocyte counts (all P0.05). Furthermore, the hypertension group had a higher proportion of intensive care unit admissions [24 (22.9%) vs. 14 (11.0%), P=0.02) and deaths [16 (15.2%) vs. 3 (2.4%), P0.001] and a significantly lower probability of survival (P0.001) than the nonhypertension group. Hypertension (OR: 4.540, 95% CI: 1.203-17.129, P=0.026) was independently correlated with all-cause in-hospital death in elderly patients with COVID-19.The elderly COVID-19 patients with hypertension tend to have worse conditions at baseline than those without hypertension. Hypertension may be an independent prognostic factor of poor clinical outcome in elderly COVID-19 patients.

BackgroundCell free RNA (cfRNA) contains transcript fragments from multiple cell types, making it useful for cancer detection in clinical settings. However, the pathophysiological origins of cfRNAs in plasma from colorectal cancer (CRC) patients remain unclear.MethodsTo identify the tissue-specific contributions of cfRNAs transcriptomic profile, we used a published single-cell transcriptomics profile to deconvolute cell type abundance among paired plasma samples from CRC patients who underwent tumor-ablative surgery. We further validated the differentially expressed cfRNAs in 5 pairs of CRC tumor samples and adjacent tissue samples as well as 3 additional CRC tumor samples using RNA-sequencing.ResultsThe transcriptomic component from intestinal secretory cells was significantly decreased in the in-house post-surgical cfRNA. The HPGD, PACS1, and TDP2 expression was consistent across cfRNA and tissue samples. Using the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) CRC datasets, we were able to classify the patients into two groups with significantly different survival outcomes.ConclusionsThe three-gene signature holds promise in applying minimal residual disease (MRD) testing, which involves profiling remnants of cancer cells after or during treatment. Biomarkers identified in the present study need to be validated in a larger cohort of samples in order to ascertain their possible use in early diagnosis of CRC.

The tunable band alignment of the MoSe2/PtS2 heterostructure from the type-I band alignment to the type-II one can be realized.

In situ hybridization (ISH) plays an important role in the field of molecular diagnostics, especially in an anatomical pathology laboratory. ISH is a technique that can detect the targeted DNA or RNA sequences in tissue sections from frozen or fixed materials with labeled DNA or RNA probes. Radioactive and non-radioactive probes are the two major probes that can be used to label the targeted nucleic acids.Areas covered:Two decades after Human Genome Project, ISH has not only simply been applied to identify the chromosomal location of a human gene but also been extensively applied to gene expressions studies and utilized for clinical diagnosis, especially for the determination of biomarkers for breast and ovarian cancers - human epidermal growth factor receptor 2. Duchenne muscular dystrophy, Cri-du-chat syndrome, Angelman syndrome, Prader-Willi syndrome, cystic fibrosis, and trisomy are diseases that can also be detected by ISH.In this review, the basic principles, historical development, advantages and disadvantages, enhancement in reporting molecules and probes, advancement in detection methods, in situ PCR, clinical applications and novel applications of ISH will be discussed.Expert opinion:With the advancement in ISH technologies and appropriate training, diagnosis can be improved in Anatomical Pathology.

The structure and electronic properties of the MoSe

Pediatric population was generally less affected clinically by SARS-CoV-2 infection. Few pediatric cases of COVID-19 have been reported compared to those reported in infected adults. However, a rapid increase in the hospitalization rate of SARS-CoV-2 infected pediatric patients was observed during Omicron variant dominated COVID-19 outbreak. In this study, we analyzed the B.1.1.529 (Omicron) genome sequences collected from pediatric patients by whole viral genome amplicon sequencing using Illumina next generation sequencing platform, followed by phylogenetic analysis. The demographic, epidemiologic and clinical data of these pediatric patients are also reported in this study. Fever, cough, running nose, sore throat and vomiting were the more commonly reported symptoms in children infected by Omicron variant. A novel frameshift mutation was found in the ORF1b region (NSP12) of the genome of Omicron variant. Seven mutations were identified in the target regions of the WHO listed SARS-CoV-2 primers and probes. On protein level, eighty-three amino acid substitutions and fifteen amino acid deletions were identified. Our results indicate that asymptomatic infection and transmission among children infected by Omicron subvariants BA.2.2 and BA.2.10.1 are not common. Omicron may have different pathogenesis in pediatric population.

To date, the transmission of Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) is still uncontrollable with the fact that the numbers of confirmed and death cases are still increasing. Up to 1st October 2020, 33,842,281 confirmed cases and 1,010,634 confirmed deaths have been reported to the World Health Organization from 216 different countries, areas and territories. Despite the urgent demand for effective treatment strategies, there is still no specific antiviral treatment for COVID-19 and the treatment guidelines for COVID-19 vary between countries.In this article, we summarized the current knowledge on COVID-19 and the pandemic worldwide. Moreover, the epidemiology, pathogenesis, prevention and different treatment options will be discussed so that we shall prepare ourselves better to fight with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).The situation of the COVID-19 pandemic is still unpredictable. There is no effective vaccine or specific anti-viral drug to treat serve COVID-19 patients. Combination therapies have shown promising clinical improvement. Repurposing FDA-approved drugs might be one of possible treatment options. Without specific treatment and vaccines for COVID-19, the most effective way to prevent from being infected is to generate an ecosystem with effective protection, precautions and preventive measures.

Existent studies have demonstrated that being physically attractive leads to preferences and rewards in various scenarios involving performance evaluation. In this study, we explored whether a photographer’s physical attractiveness could affect others’ assessment of a photograph’s aesthetic value. Participants ([Formula: see text]) accomplished an online task to pair portraits and non-portrait photographs, followed by completing two questionnaires on cognitive reflection and empathy. Analytical results revealed that an attractive photographer was more likely to be associated with a highly aesthetic photograph, and this bias was moderated by the participant’s level of cognitive reflection and empathy. Meanwhile, it could be reduced by the participant’s professional experience.

The DOPO derivative-conjugated flame retardant 4, 4'-{1'', 4'' - phenylene - bis [amino - (10‴ - oxy -10‴-hydro-9‴-hydrogen-10‴ λ5 -phosphaphenanthrene-10''-yl)-methyl]}-diphenol (P-PPD-Ph) with two hydroxyl groups was synthesized. Polylactic acid conjugated flame-retardant composites with P-PPD-Ph were papered by using a twin-screw extruder. The flame-retardant properties of polylactic acid-conjugated flame-retardant composites were investigated. The flame-retardant properties of PLA-conjugated flame-retardant composites were characterized by the limiting oxygen index (LOI) and the vertical burning test (UL94). The results showed that the PLA-conjugated flame-retardant composites achieved a V-0 rating (UL-94, 3.2 mm) when the conjugated flame retardant was added at 5 wt%, and increase in LOI value from 22.5% to 31.4% relative to composites without added conjugated flame retardant. The flame-retardant mechanism of PLA-conjugated flame-retardant composites were further studied by TG-FTIR, the results showed that the P-PPD-Ph promoted the PLA-conjugated flame-retardant composites to decompose and also released fragments with quenching and dilution, which suggests that P-PPD-Ph for PLA-conjugated flame-retardant composites mainly play a role of the gas-phase flame retardant.

To feel other’s pain would elicit empathy. Some theorists hypothesized that observing other’s pain may activate the primary emotion of maternal care instinct, which may function as a precursor of empathy. The maternal care instinct and empathy share the same genetic background and neuroendocrine underpinnings. An extensive body of research has shown that maternal behaviors relate to the oxytocinergic system, which has a strong influence on empathy. These studies suggest that the maternal care instinct may mediate the effect of oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) on empathy. To provide evidence for this mediation, we used the subscale of CARE in Affective Neuroscience Personality Scales (ANPS) to measure the maternal care instinct and tested two OXTR single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), rs53576 and rs13316193, in 880 high school participants (588 females, 292 males; Mage = 16.51 years old, SD = 0.65). Results showed that the genotype of rs13316193 was indirectly associated with empathy via CARE, suggesting a mediating role of CARE in the pathway from OXTR to empathy. These findings may contribute to an understanding of how empathy emerges when one witnesses another person in pain.

Background: Vestibular schwannoma is an intracranial tumor which can lead to devastating neurological deficit and is prone to recurrence after surgery. Patients with inherited neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2) syndrome are particularly susceptible to bilateral and aggressive schwannomas. However, the genome of vestibular schwannomas is not well known. There is an imminent need of developing effective chemotherapeutic agents either as a primary treatment modality or as adjuvant therapy for these patients. Methods: Here, we subjected both sporadic and NF2-related schwannomas to high-throughput DNA sequencing using a panel of therapeutically important cancer-related genes, in order to determine if targetable genetic changes are present in schwannomas. Results: A number of variants were detected in the genes NRAS, PDGFRA, KIT, and EGFR, in both sporadic and NF2-related cases. The results were confirmed by Sanger sequencing. Conclusion: Our study successfully detected some genetic variants in important cancer-related genes in schwannomas, and further elucidation of their relationship to drug-response will be pursued.

The current research aimed to investigate gender-related preferences of youths with different sexual orientations and examine the effects of gender role and sexual attraction. In Study 1, participa...

The outbreak of COVID-19 has positively impacted the NGS market recently. Targeted sequencing (TS) has become an important routine technique in both clinical and research settings, with advantages including high confidence and accuracy, a reasonable turnaround time, relatively low cost, and fewer data burdens with the level of bioinformatics or computational demand. Since there are no clear consensus guidelines on the wide range of next-generation sequencing (NGS) platforms and techniques, there is a vital need for researchers and clinicians to develop efficient approaches, especially for the molecular diagnosis of diseases in the emergency of the disease and the global pandemic outbreak of COVID-19. In this review, we aim to summarize different methods of TS, demonstrate parameters for TS assay designs, illustrate different TS panels, discuss their limitations, and present the challenges of TS concerning their clinical application for the molecular diagnosis of human diseases.

Empathy for pain in daily life is more complex than in lab settings and involved higher cognitive abilities. In order to investigate the role of executive function in preschoolers’ empathy ...

Two decades after the Human Genome Project, ISH has not only simply been applied to identify the chromosomal location of a human gene but has also been extensively applied to gene expressions studies and utilized for clinical diagnosis, especially for the determination of biomarkers for breast and ovarian cancers - human epidermal growth factor receptor 2. Duchenne muscular dystrophy, Cri-du-chat syndrome, Angelman syndrome, PraderWilli syndrome, cystic fibrosis, and trisomy are diseases that can also be detected by ISH. In this review, the basic principles, historical development, advantages and disadvantages, enhancement in reporting molecules and probes, advancement in detection methods,With the advancement in ISH technologies and appropriate training, diagnosis can be improved in Anatomical Pathology.

Studies on the development of prosociality in adolescents have largely been based on Western populations and those studies mainly focused on the development of prosocial behavior. The current study regarded prosociality as a personal trait and examined changes in the emotional, cognitive and behavioral aspects of prosociality during adolescence in a collectivistic culture. With a sample of 9813 Chinese adolescents, we measured their sympathy, perspective taking, and compliant prosocial behavior as well as performance in Dictator Game and Ultimatum Game. The results showed that in general all the measured indicators of prosociality slightly declined with age in adolescents, regardless of gender and residence. Moreover, compared with the emotional and cognitive aspects, the behavioral aspect of prosociality showed slightly larger declines. Our findings suggest that prosociality might decrease with age in adolescence in such a culture.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between preschoolers' cognitive abilities and their fairness-related allocation behaviors in a dilemma of equity-efficiency conflict. Four- to 6-year-olds in Experiment 1 (N = 99) decided how to allocate 5 reward bells. In the first-party condition, preschoolers were asked to choose among giving more to self (self-advantageous inequity), wasting one bell (equity) or giving more to other (self-disadvantageous inequity); while in the third-party condition, they chose to allocate the extra bell to one of two equally deserving recipients or to waste it. Results showed that compared to the pattern of decision in the third-party condition, preschoolers in the first-party condition were more likely to give the extra bell to other (self-disadvantaging behaviors), and age, inhibitory control (IC) and theory of mind (ToM) were positively correlated with their self-disadvantaging choices, but only IC mediated the relationship between age and self-disadvantaging behaviors. Experiment 2 (N = 41) showed that IC still predicted preschoolers' self-disadvantaging behaviors when they could choose only between equity and disadvantageous inequity. These results suggested that IC played a critical role in the implementation of self-disadvantaging behaviors when this required the control over selfishness and envy., 24 pages, 3 figures

Creativity plays an important role in human society as well as in individual development, and creativity in the domain of science is a specific form. A body of research had demonstrated the role of...

Introduction: NanoString nCounter technology, a novel molecular assay, is gaining prevalent use in clinical settings as it can overcome some common constraints that are associated with the use of polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Compared to PCR, NanoString technology does not involve any amplification steps, which significantly minimizes the chance of contamination. NanoString measures the number of mRNA transcripts directly by 'molecular counting', as up to 800 colored probes can be run simultaneously in a single reaction. Areas covered: This manuscript reviews the principle of NanoString and covers the main applications of NanoString in companion diagnostics with a focus on cancer immunotherapy and disease prognosis estimation. This review has also taken a step in the direction of personalized medicine, with the application of NanoString on the realm of companion diagnostics. Expert opinion: NanoString is going to take a vital role in companion diagnostics and personalized medicine, owing to its simple and easy to use characteristics. Yet, the use of NanoString requires normalization of expression level, which is represented by the copy number of respective mRNA, with a reference gene. Furthermore, difficulty in probe design, which demands prior knowledge of known sequence, has also been a limitation of NanoString.

To evaluate the economics of Suhuang Zhike Capsules in the treatment of acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(AECOPD) for inpatients. Based on the published clinical research data, cost-utility analysis was used in this study to evaluate the pharmacoeconomics of Suhuang Zhike Capsules in treatment of AECOPD inpatients from the perspective of medical insu-rance. The test group was treated with Suhuang Zhike Capsules combined with conventional Western medicine, and the control group was treated with conventional Western medicine alone. Treeage software was used to construct a pharmacoeconomic model and perform simulation analysis. The results showed that the cost and output of Suhuang Zhike Capsules combined with the conventional Western medicine were 60 010.18 yuan and 1.92 quality adjusted life year(QALYs), respectively in the simulated 3 years of disease treatment. The cost and output of the conventional Western medicine were 96 730.60 yuan and 1.90 QALYs respectively. Suhuang Zhike Capsules combined with conventional Western medicine required lower cost but achieved higher output, showing cost-utility advantages, so this drug combination was a plan with pharmacoeconomic advantages. The sensitivity analysis results showed that the conclusion was relatively stable. Based on the above results, it is believed that as compared with the conventional Western medicine, Suhuang Zhike Capsules combined with conventional Western medicine have lower cost and higher output for the treatment of AECOPD inpatients, and it is a treatment plan with pharmacoeconomic advantages.

Additional file 1. Supplementary material. Additional figures and tables to support on the understanding the GSA algorithm.

To comprehensively evaluate the clinical effect, safety and cost of Qianlieshutong Capsules (QC) in the treatment of chronic prostatitis.We searched Cochrane Library, PubMed, Springer, ProQuest, CNKI, Wanfang Data and VIP for randomized controlled trials (RCT) on the treatment of chorionic prostatitis with QC published from January 2000 to May 2018. According to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, two researchers independently completed the screening and evaluation of the articles, extraction of information, and meta-analysis of the included RCTs using the RevMan 5.3 software.Totally 10 RCTs involving 1 796 cases were included in this study, in which the chronic prostatitis patients treated by the combination of QC and quinolones all showed a significantly better response than the controls (P0.05). QC combined with quinolones cost an average of ¥23 more than quinolones alone with a 1% increase of therapeutic effectiveness, ¥38.39 more with a 1-unit reduction of WBCs, and ¥38.84 more with a 1-point decrease in the NIH-CPSI score.The combination of QC with quinolones has a better therapeutic efficacy but a higher cost than quinolones alone in the treatment of chronic prostatitis.

Objective: The aim of this research was to examine how candidates’ spatial working memory (WM) and visual perspective taking (VPT) skills could predict their training success.Background: To make pi...

Recent research on comparative metacognition shows that animals, like humans, can differentiate between what they know and what they do not know. However, not much is known about the metacognitive behaviors of human children during their early years. To explore the emergence of memory-monitoring skills, two experiments were conducted using nonverbal tasks adapted from the work of Kornell, Son, and Terrace (2007) and Hampton (2001). Experiment 1 endeavored to determine when children began to show the ability to monitor their memories retrospectively. Experiment 2 aimed to reveal when young children knew what they knew by assessing their prospective monitoring. The results suggested that 4- to 5-year-olds had the ability to judge retrospectively their accuracy in a serial position task, whereas 3- to 4-year-olds did not. In contrast, 4.5- to 5-year-olds could discern items present in and absent from their memory before recognition, whereas 4- to 4.5-year-olds could not. In conclusion, 4-year-olds began to make accurate confidence judgments retrospectively, and children who are approximately 4.5years old began to demonstrate prospective memory-monitoring skills.

An ultrasensitive sandwich-type electrochemical biosensor for microRNA (miRNA) detection is developed based on magnesium oxide (MgO) nanoflower and graphene oxide–gold nanoparticles (GO–AuNPs) hybrids coupling with electrochemical–chemical–chemical (ECC) detection system. In this bioassay system, MgO nanoflowers and AuNPs are modified on electrode to act as sensing platform. The thiolated capture probe is then self-assembled onto AuNPs/MgO substrate via formation of Au-S bonds. Subsequently, a biotinylated DNA signal probe is conjugated to GO–AuNPs hybrids. When miRNA-21 is added, a sandwich complex is formed and a lot of signal indicators streptavidin-conjugated alkaline phosphatases (SA-ALP) are immobilized upon electrode by the specific reaction between avidin and biotin. Finally, ECC reaction is performed in the system to improve detection signal. The proposed sandwich-type assay benefits from advantages of sandwich-type structure for enhanced sensitivity and specificity, MgO nanoflowers/AuNPs as sensing platform and GO–AuNPs hybrids as signal carriers for signal amplification, and ECC as a sensitive detection system for low detection limit. This biosensor exhibits a good dynamic ranging from 0.1 to 100 fM and a low detection limit of 50 aM (S/N = 3) toward target miRNA-21.

The physical characteristics of cell culture materials, such as their elasticity, affect stem cell fate with respect to cell proliferation and differentiation. We systematically investigated the morphologies and characteristics of several stem cell types, including human amniotic-derived stem cells, human hematopoietic stem cells, human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, and embryonic stem (ES) cells on poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) hydrogels immobilized with and without extracellular matrix-derived oligopeptide. Human ES cells did not adhere well to soft PVA hydrogels immobilized with oligovitronectin, whereas they did adhere well to PVA hydrogel dishes with elasticities greater than 15 kPa. These results indicate that biomaterials such as PVA hydrogels should be designed to possess minimum elasticity to facilitate human ES cell attachment. PVA hydrogels immobilized with and without extracellular matrix-derived oligopeptides are excellent candidates of cell culture biomaterials for investigations into how cell culture biomaterial elasticity affects stem cell culture and differentiation.

Introduction: Gastric cancer (GC) is the fifth most common cancer and confers the second-highest mortality among other cancers. Improving the survival rates of GC patients requires prompt and accurate diagnosis and effective treatment which is often preceded by the poorly understood pathogenic mechanisms. Area covered: This literature review aims to summarize current understanding of genetic and molecular alterations that promote carcinogenesis including (1) activation of oncogenes, (2) overexpression of growth factors, receptors and matrix metalloproteinases, (3) inactivation of tumor suppressor genes, DNA repair genes, and cell adhesion molecules and (4) alterations of cell-cycle regulators that regulate biological characteristics of cancer cells. Moreover, the significance of molecular biomarkers such as micro-RNAs (miRNAs) and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and advanced molecular techniques including droplet digital polymerase chain reaction (ddPCR), quantitative PCR (qPCR) and next-generation sequencing (NGS) are also discussed. Expert opinion: A GC-specific panel of biomarkers based on the NGS or ddPCR has the potential for diagnosis, prognosis, and monitoring treatment response in GC patients. Despite the requirements for validation in larger population in clinical studies, race-specific differences in the gene panel have also to be examined by performing the clinical trials in subjects with different races.

Background sequencing errors. Background mutant reads for each of 37 somatic SNVs (X-axes) are indicated by their absolute read number (panel A) and by their allele frequency (Panel B). Background variants are defined as the non-reference-specific and non-tumour-specific nucleotide at the position of the SNVs. The nucleotide variant with the highest read count is shown (in red) to illustrate the mismatch error rate at the positions mutated in primary tumour samples. All background variants (shown in red) were filtered out by our custom filter criteria and all variants listed as true cfDNA mutations had read counts well above these background levels (blue squares). (PDF 1561 kb)

Theory of mind (ToM), the ability to infer others’ mental states, undergoes an ongoing development from adolescence to early adulthood. The present study investigated how self-other control (SOC), the ability to distinguish self- and other-related representations, contributed to individual differences in false-belief inference (a common measure of ToM) in young adults (Study 1) and adolescents (Study 2). Although previous studies have suggested that inhibitory control (IC), the ability to suppress own prepotent responses to help overcome egocentricity, is a crucial determinant to the development of ToM, the present results showed that in both samples, SOC worked as a moderator on the effect of IC when participants inferred others’ false beliefs. Specifically, IC predicted the performance of false-belief inference only in participants with higher SOC. These findings indicate that apart from IC, SOC is also an indispensable determinant to individual differences in ToM of both young adults and adolescents. In addition, the ability to integrate SOC and IC may play an essential role in the development of adolescents’ ToM.

Empathy for pain is evolutionally important and context-dependent. The current study explored the effect of physical cue on 4- to 5-year-old children’s empathy for pain with two experiments. Experiment 1 investigated the effect of valid and invalid physical cue as compared to baseline (without cue) in pain evaluation task (evaluating the pain intensity of a facial expression, N = 28). Experiment 2 employed eye-tracking to investigate the attentional process in valid and baseline conditions (evaluating the pain intensity of a body image with an apparently injured arm or leg, N = 65). We found the evaluation of pain intensity was the highest in the valid condition, and higher in baseline condition than invalid. As for eye-tracking results, children fixated more quickly, had more fixations and longer total fixation duration in valid-cue condition. Of attention allocation, compared with baseline condition, children fixated on arm/leg more quickly, more frequently and for longer time in valid condition. Additionally, eye-tracking results were significantly related to their evaluation of pain intensity.

Long-term oil contamination alters the structures of soil microbial communities, as well as decreases the community diversity, posing a great threat to the ecosystem. To determine the possible influence of long-term oil contamination on microbial interactions in saline-alkali soils, microbial functional molecular ecological networks were studied in both contaminated and uncontaminated soils from Shengli oil field by constructing random networks based on null model. The results demonstrated that the overall networks were significantly different between contaminated and uncontaminated soils (

With the advent of the aging society, the health issues of elders are increasingly being considered seriously. Since appropriate exercise can promote health of the elderly people, many games focusing on health promotion have launched. However, the differences of deterioration and personal needs among elders are relatively large. Required exercises strength and length for each elder varies. Due to lacking physical fitness (including visual degradation), improper game interaction could make players uncomfortable, even worth, may be dangerous. After all, the design of game for elders is more complicated than for the average user.This research is aimed at developing an age-friendly location-based game prototype -- Life Chasing, the goal is promoting the health of the elderly. The interface design of the game follows the Universal Design and the design-for-elderly guidelines. Besides various incentive mechanisms within the game play, an experience evaluation module is developed in Life Chasing. Based on the principle of experience design, the game will collect all game-related data, including environmental data; physical information of player, etc. The evaluation module returns the analytical results (including the heartbeat analysis from the integrated wristband) to the player, who can setup the game that best meets the individual's personal needs.

The function of empathic concern to process pain is a product of evolutionary adaptation. Focusing on 5- to 6-year old children, the current study employed eye-tracking in an odd-one-out task (searching for the emotional facial expression among neutral expressions, N = 47) and a pain evaluation task (evaluating the pain intensity of a facial expression, N = 42) to investigate the relationship between children’s empathy and their behavioral and perceptual response to facial pain expression. We found children detected painful expression faster than others (angry, sad, and happy), children high in empathy performed better on searching facial expression of pain, and gave higher evaluation of pain intensity; and rating for pain in painful expressions was best predicted by a self-reported empathy score. As for eye-tracking in pain detection, children fixated on pain more quickly, less frequently and for shorter times. Of facial clues, children fixated on eyes and mouth more quickly, more frequently and for longer times. These results implied that painful facial expression was different from others in a cognitive sense, and children’s empathy might facilitate their search and make them perceive the intensity of observed pain on the higher side.

Tip clearance of compressor rotor blade is introduced for avoiding friction collision between the moving blade and the casing. Because of the existence of the pressure difference between pressure surfaces and the suction surfaces of the blade, the blending of the leakage flow with the mainstream causes losses, which affects internal flow field and overall performance of the compressor. In this article, numerical analysis software is used to study the multi-condition performance of a six and a half axial flow compressor, for analyzing the impact of leakage flow patterns on compressor.

In this paper, based on the practice optical transport network (OTN) electric power communication network business, through the modeling analysis shows the specific influence dispersion optical pulses, then discussed the dispersion compensation technology, through modeling and simulation analysis of the dispersion compensation fiber (DCF) and dispersion compensation module (DCM), at the same time with reference to its OTN equipment dispersion tolerance, form a light layer of dispersion compensation quantity calculation method of the experience and grid OTN networking dispersion compensation scheme, reduce the effects of dispersion as far as possible.

Power communication network traffic prediction is important basis of safely assigning and economically running. The forecasting precision will directly affect the reliability, economy running and supplying power quality of power system. Paper first expounds the electric power communication network traffic prediction research present situation, summarized the characteristics of the forecast and the influencing factors, summarizes the commonly used method, is put forward to the return of the electric power communication network traffic based on libsvm prediction method, and the PSO (particle swarm optimization) algorithm is adopted to model parameters optimization, with the test set error as the decision, based on the optimization of model parameters, choice, makes the prediction precision is improved.

Solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) is promising for efficient stationary power generation. The high temperature waste heat from SOFC stack can be recovered for cogeneration/trigeneration. Due to the lack of relevant analysis on SOFC system in Hong Kong, this research is purposely designed to investigate the economics of a SOFC-absorption cooling cogeneration/trigeneration system for building application in Hong Kong. Energy consumption profile of Hotel ICON is adopted for a case study. Existing products of SOFC server and absorption chiller are chosen to configure the system. It is found that the payback period is less than 6 years with the Government subsidy at 50% of the overall system cost for a trigeneration system. Sensitivity analyses show that increases in the rate of electricity and the level of government subsidy increase the payback period of SOFC systems in Hong Kong. Besides certain technological difficulties, obstacles on the way to realize the proposed cogeneration/trigeneration system in Hong Kong are legal and social constraints and space limitation as well. This study highlights the suitability and the environmental impact of the SOFC-based multi-generation for building application in Hong Kong.

The paper focuses on the resistance characteristic of a novel M-beam separator. Adopting the combination of experiment study and numerical simulation, we achieve that 2D simulation has the similar results as 3D in predicting resistance characteristic which provides the theoretical basis for next research. An M-beam separator model ten times larger than original one based on similitude principle was made for sake of flow field visualization research. The paper analyses flow field distribution of the amplifying M-beam separator by silk thread display technology and the experiment results are well consistent with 2D numerical simulation. The flow field distribution described here could serve as a reference for developing M-beam separator.

Based on experimental data collecting and probabilistic and statistical analysis, limit horizontal displacement and its’ probability distribution of rubber bearing of base-isolated structure are presented in this paper. Although some researches on the reliability of vibration-controlling structures have already been conducted in the past studies, the dynamical reliability of rubber bearing isolation structure is seldom involved. In this paper, a bearing limit horizontal displacement formula was obtained by the regression analysis of abundant experimental data of rubber bearing limit horizontal displacement. Through mathematical statistics analysis of the test data, parameters like the skewness and kurtosis of the limit shear strain and the ratio of the limit horizontal displacement and diameter of the bearing were obtained. It is concluded that the data of the limit shear strain of rubber bearings conforms to follow the normal probability distribution, and that of the ratio of the limit horizontal displac...

Charged crystal defects generally play the roles of electron donor or acceptor and affect thermoelectric properties of bismuth telluride compounds profoundly. In this study the effects of ball milling, pressing and thermal annealing on populations of various crystal defects and electrical/thermal transport properties of Bi 2 (Se,Te) 3 compounds are investigated. It has been found that abundant donor-type Te vacancies are introduced during mechanical milling process, leading to high electron concentration and reduced carrier mobility for cold-pressed Bi 2 (Se,Te) 3 . A two-step annealing method consisting of pre-press and post-press annealing is presented for improving thermoelectric power factor while retaining low thermal conductivity of Bi 2 (Se,Te) 3 compounds by tweaking crystal defect population and carrier scattering mechanism.

To improve the utilization efficiency of apricot (Prunus armeniaca L.) plants, and increase products price, the activated carbon from apricot shell made by physical method was analyzed. The results showed that BET surface area is 866.0±21.5 m2/ g, hardness is highest that reached 95.0±2.7%, pH value is acidity. And the surface display granulated showed the resistance was higher. Iodine adsorption value is 1046±9.2 mg/ g, which closed to higher level with activated carbon from coconut shell. The methylene cyanine adsorption value is 11.0±0.6 mL/ 0.1g, etc. We conclude that the activated carbon from apricot shell mainly hotel was micro, second was middle hotel, and granulate surface was benefit for resistance when the noxious gas was adsorption at start stage. But in total, the activated carbon from apricot shell made by physical method, some defect such as BET surface areas was lower, and lack big hotel, so, the technology of upgrade quality need exploration.