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Byline: Xinyu. Liang, Yongmei. Kong, Hui. Shang, Mingxin. Yang, Wenjing. Lu, Qingshi. Zeng, Guang. Zhang, Xin. Ye Introduction: To investigate the pulmonary nodules detected by low-dose computed tomography (LDCT), identified [...]

The realization of dual-mode information display in the same material is of great significance to the expansion of information capacity and the improvement of information security. However, the existing systems lose the ability to re-encode information once they are constructed. Here, dynamic metal–ligand coordination is introduced into a novel hydrogel-based optical platform that allows rewritable dual-mode information display. The hydrogel system consists of a hard lamellar structure of poly(dodecylglyceryl itaconate) (pDGI) and soft double networks of poly(acrylamide)/poly(acrylic acid) (PAAm/PAAc) containing fluorescent carbon dots (CDs). As the carboxylic acid groups can coordinate with metal ions such as Al3+, the layer spacing of the lamellar structure is reduced while CDs aggregate, leading to the blue shift of the structural color and the red shift of the fluorescent color. Additionally, the metal chelating agent, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), is able to strip away Al3+ions and restore the two colors, realizing an erasable dual-mode information display. This study opens up a path for the development of new materials and technologies for rewritable dual-mode information protection.

The decryption and verification of encrypted information viaa simple and efficient method is always difficult and challenging in the field of information security. Herein, a series of water-sensitive fluorescent microgels are fabricated for highly secured anti-counterfeiting with authenticity identification. The initial negatively charged microgels (MG) are made up of N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAM), acrylic acid (AAc) and anthracen-9-yl acrylate (9-ANA, blue fluorescent monomer). The prepared MGs can bind cationic fluorescent dyes such as 5-aminofluorescein (FITC, green fluorescent dye) and rhodamine B (Rh B, red fluorescent dye) viaelectrostatic interaction, emitting multi-fluorescent colors based on the fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) process. Furthermore, the fluorescence colors of MG-derived systems can be rapidly changed by swelling in water, which can block the FRET process and change the aggregation state of dyes. With the assistance of inkjet printing, multi-color security patterns can be designed and encoded, which can be revealed by UV irradiation and further verified by water stimulation. This study has pioneered a novel strategy to verify the authenticity of decrypted information, which greatly improves the security level of information.

In plants and green algae, light-harvesting complexes I and II (LHCI and LHCII) constitute the antennae of photosystem I (PSI), thus effectively increasing the cross-section of the PSI core. The moss Physcomitrium patens(P. patens) represents a well-studied primary land-dwelling photosynthetic autotroph branching from the common ancestor of green algae and land plants at the early stage of evolution. P. patenspossesses at least three types of PSI with different antenna sizes. The largest PSI form (PpPSI-L) exhibits a unique organization found neither in flowering plants nor in algae. Its formation is mediated by the P. patens-specific LHC protein, Lhcb9. While previous studies have revealed the overall architecture of PpPSI-L, its assembly details and the relationship between different PpPSI types remain unclear. Here we report the high-resolution structure of PpPSI-L. We identified 14 PSI core subunits, one Lhcb9, one phosphorylated LHCII trimer and eight LHCI monomers arranged as two belts. Our structural analysis established the essential role of Lhcb9 and the phosphorylated LHCII in stabilizing the complex. In addition, our results suggest that PpPSI switches between different types, which share identical modules. This feature may contribute to the dynamic adjustment of the light-harvesting capability of PSI under different light conditions.

Hydrogenation of naphthalene can effectively reduce the content of aromatics in oil and generate high-value products. A series of Pt-based aluminum-modified core–shell-structured hierarchically periodic mesoporous organosilica@mesoporous silica nanoparticles (Pt/Al-x-PMOs@MSNs) were successfully synthesized and tested for the hydrogenation properties, with preferable mass transfer of macromolecular reactants in the pores and increasing the total acidity of the catalysts. Moreover, the physicochemical properties of the core–shell-structured Pt-based catalysts were systematically analyzed using various characterization techniques. At 300 °C, the naphthalene conversion on the Pt/Al-10-PMOs@MSNs catalyst reached up to 100%, the selectivity of trans-decalin reached 83.9%, and the rate constants (k1, k2) and TOF were 13.2 × 10–6mol·g–1·s–1, 1.7 × 10–7mol·g–1·s–1, and 218.8 h–1, respectively. In the presence of sulfur, the naphthalene hydrogenation over the Pt/Al-10-PMOs@MSN catalyst first decreased to around 40% and then recovered to the original level, which originated from the synergistic effect of the texture and chemical properties over the Pt/Al-10-PMOs@MSNs with an excellent performance.

BackgroundA large number of new causative and risk genes for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) have been identified mostly in patients of European ancestry. In contrast, we know relatively little regarding the genetics of ALS in other ethnic populations. This study aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of the genetics of ALS in an unprecedented large cohort of Chinese mainland population and correlate with the clinical features of rare variants carriers.MethodsA total of 1587 patients, including 64 familial ALS (FALS) and 1523 sporadic ALS (SALS), and 1866 in-house controls were analysed by whole-exome sequencing and/or testing for G4C2 repeats in C9orf72. Forty-one ALS-associated genes were analysed.Findings155 patients, including 26 (40.6%) FALS and 129 (8.5%) SALS, carrying rare pathogenic/likely pathogenic (P/LP) variants of ALS causative genes were identified. SOD1was the most common mutated gene, followed by C9orf72, FUS, NEK1, TARDBPand TBK1. By burden analysis, rare variants in SOD1, FUSand TARDBPcontributed to the collective risk for ALS (p<2.5e-6) at the gene level, but at the allelic level TARDBPp.Gly294Val and FUSp.Arg521Cys and p.Arg521His were the most important single variants causing ALS. Clinically, P/LP variants in TARDBPand C9orf72were associated with poor prognosis, in FUSlinked with younger age of onset, and C9orf72repeats tended to affect cognition.ConclusionsOur data provide essential information for understanding the genetic and clinical features of ALS in China and for optimal design of genetic testing and evaluation of disease prognosis.

Genetic studies have indicated that variants in several lysosomal genes are risk factors for idiopathic Parkinson’s disease (PD). However, the role of lysosomal genes in PD in Asian populations is largely unknown. This study aimed to analyze rare variants in lysosomal related genes in Chinese population with early-onset and familial PD. In total, 1,136 participants, including 536 and 600 patients with sporadic early-onset PD (SEOPD) and familial PD, respectively, underwent whole-exome sequencing to assess the genetic etiology. Rare variants in PD were investigated in 67 candidate lysosomal related genes (LRGs), including 15 lysosomal function-related genes and 52 lysosomal storage disorder genes. Compared with the autosomal dominant PD (ADPD) or SEOPD cohorts, a much higher proportion of patients with multiple rare damaging variants of LRGs were found in the autosomal recessive PD (ARPD) cohort. At a gene level, rare damaging variants in GBAand MAN2B1were enriched in PD, but in SCARB2, MCOLN1, LYST, VPS16, and VPS13Cwere much less in patients. At an allele level, GBAp. Leu483Pro was found to increase the risk of PD. Genotype-phenotype correlation showed no significance in the clinical features among patients carrying a discrepant number of rare variants in LRGs. Our study suggests rare variants in LRGs might be more important in the pathogenicity of ARPD cases compared with ADPD or SEOPD. We further confirm rare variants in GBAare involve in PD pathogenecity and other genes associated with PD identified in this study should be supported with more evidence.

This work describes the construction of a novel planar chiral [2.2]paracyclophane-based thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF)-active molecule with circularly polarized luminescence (CPL). The combination of the bulky planar chiral phenoxazinephane (PXZp) donor based [2.2]paracyclophane and triazine acceptor enables the highly efficient luminescence performances and excellent CPL properties. The enantiomers exhibit excellent TADF activities, the energy difference (ΔEST) between singlet and triplet of the molecule is only 0.03 eV. Notably, through solution-process, a yellow CP-OLEDs based on the molecule as the emitting layers displays high maximum brightness (Lmax) up to 34 293 cd m–2, maximum external quantum efficiency (EQEmax) up to 7.8% and remarkable CP-EL signal with gELfactor up to 4.6 × 10–3.

The reconstruction of the size, position, optical properties, and structure of the object in scattering media was realized with a chaotic fiber laser. The light from the chaotic fiber laser was split into two parts. One part was used as the detection signal to detect the object, and the other was used as the reference signal; then, the two signals were cross correlated. The attenuation of light in scattering media was attributed to scattering and absorption. The theoretical model of the peak value of cross correlation of the chaotic signals as projection data were established by the attenuation law, and the filtered back-projection algorithms were used to realize the image reconstruction. The mean squared error, the normalized mean squared error, the peak signal-to-noise ratio, and the structural similarity index of the reconstructed image were analyzed. The results show that the high resolution of the reconstructed image benefits from the high signal-to-noise ratio with the chaotic fiber laser based on a delta-like cross-correlation function.

• The asynchrony between the filter's and system's modes is stochastic and obeys a conditional probability. • Sufficient conditions are proposed to ensure the error systems positivity and finite-time boundedness with an H ∞ index. • Three different asynchronous filters are built and their relations are discussed to gain more flexibility. In this paper, the asynchronous positive H ∞ filtering is addressed for positive Markov jump systems. The asynchrony between the filter's and the system's modes is described through a conditional probability matrix. Three distinct asynchronous positive filters named an upper-bounding filter, a lower-bounding filter and a weighted filter are built. Sufficient conditions are established such that the filtering error systems are positive and finite-time bounded with an H ∞ disturbance attenuation level. It is proved that the weighted filter has more flexibilities than the bounding filters since it can adjust the parameter θ when estimating the given systems. Finally, the effectiveness of the theoretical results is validated through the fish's population evolution example. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IMPORTANCE: Large-scale genome-wide association studies in the European population have identified 90 risk variants associated with Parkinson disease (PD); however, there are limited studies in the largest population worldwide (ie, Asian). OBJECTIVES: To identify novel genome-wide significant loci for PD in Asian individuals and to compare genetic risk between Asian and European cohorts. DESIGN SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Genome-wide association data generated from PD cases and controls in an Asian population (ie, Singapore/Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, mainland China, and South Korea) were collected from January 1, 2016, to December 31, 2018, as part of an ongoing study. Results were combined with inverse variance meta-analysis, and replication of top loci in European and Japanese samples was performed. Discovery samples of 31 575 individuals passing quality control of 35 994 recruited were used, with a greater than 90% participation rate. A replication cohort of 1 926 361 European-ancestry and 3509 Japanese samples was analyzed. Parkinson disease was diagnosed using UK Parkinson’s Disease Society Brain Bank Criteria. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Genotypes of common variants, association with disease status, and polygenic risk scores. RESULTS: Of 31 575 samples identified, 6724 PD cases (mean [SD] age, 64.3 [10] years; age at onset, 58.8 [10.6] years; 3472 [53.2%] men) and 24 851 controls (age, 59.4 [11.4] years; 11 030 [45.0%] men) were analyzed in the discovery study. Eleven genome-wide significant loci were identified; 2 of these loci were novel (SV2C and WBSCR17) and 9 were previously found in Europeans. Replication in European-ancestry and Japanese samples showed robust association for SV2C (rs246814; odds ratio, 1.16; 95% CI, 1.11-1.21; P = 1.17 × 10−10 in meta-analysis of discovery and replication samples) but showed potential genetic heterogeneity at WBSCR17 (rs9638616; I2=67.1%; P = 3.40 × 10−3 for hetereogeneity). Polygenic risk score models including variants at these 11 loci were associated with a significant improvement in area under the curve over the model based on 78 European loci alone (63.1% vs 60.2%; P = 6.81 × 10−12). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: This study identified 2 apparently novel gene loci and found 9 previously identified European loci to be associated with PD in this large, meta–genome-wide association study in a worldwide population of Asian individuals and reports similarities and differences in genetic risk factors between Asian and European individuals in the risk for PD. These findings may lead to improved stratification of Asian patients and controls based on polygenic risk scores. Our findings have potential academic and clinical importance for risk stratification and precision medicine in Asia.

The k-component connectivity cκk(G)of a non-complete graph Gis the minimum number of nodes whose deletion results in a graph with at least kcomponents. A node subset Sof Gis called an optimal k-component cut if |S|=cκk(G)and G-Shas exactly kcomponents. In this paper, we determine the component connectivity of the locally twisted cube LTQn, i.e. cκk+1(LTQn)=kn-k(k+1)/2+1for 1≤k≤n-1, n≥2, and characterize optimal k-component cuts of LTQn.

The carrier dynamics of two isomers, α-NPB and β-NPB, were investigated through impedance spectroscopy based on the PSO algorithm. Their structure differences are only the N atom substitution sites on the naphthalene group. For α-NPB, the N-substitution is on the α-site of naphthalene, and for β-NPB, it is on the β-site. The carrier mobility of α-NPB is much higher than that of β-NPB. But AFM morphology shows that the film of β-NPB is smoother than that of α-NPB, which is in contrast with the common idea that, for a similar molecular structure, smoother film means a larger carrier mobility. In addition, the electron mobility of α-NPB is negatively related with the electrical field, but the hole mobility of α-NPB and the electron and hole mobilities of β-NPB are all positively related with an electrical field. In a common viewpoint, the carriers should be accelerated by an electrical field since they are charged carriers. Such phenomena have to be ascribed to a trap, but only a geometric trap is not enough for that. The geometric trap should have a similar effect to both electron and hole carriers, and it also cannot explain the higher mobility of α-NPB than β-NPB. Thus, all the experimental data show that there are some new kinds of traps existing in the OSCs. Because their site in energy space is close to the HOMO and LUMO of OSCs, they are noted as HOMO and LUMO traps. With the help of HOMO and LUMO traps, the experimental data can be easy to explain.

The k-component edge connectivity c?k(G)of a non-complete graph Gis the minimum number of edges whose deletion results in a graph with at least kcomponents. In this paper, we extend some results by Guo et al. (Appl Math Comput 334:401–406, 2018) by determining the component edge connectivity of the locally twisted cubes LTQn, i.e., c?k+1(LTQn)=kn-exk2for 1?k?2[n2], n?7, where exk=?i=0sti2ti+?i=0s2·i·2ti, and kis a positive integer with decomposition k=?i=0s2tisuch that t0=?log2k?and ti=?log2(k-?r=0i-12tr)?for i?1. As a by-product, we characterize the corresponding optimal solutions.

Carrier transport in organic semiconductors (OSCs) plays an essential role in device performance. OSCs are generally divided into hole-transporting (p-type) and electron-transporting (n-type) materials. The holes should transport in the HOMO energy level, and electrons should transport in the LUMO. Such simple model analysis would easily lead to the primary theoretical result that intrinsic bipolar transport should be a basic characteristic of OSCs. Five widely used hole-transporting materials were utilized for fabricating the corresponding hole-only and electron-only diodes. The results show that the five OSCs are all bipolar transporting materials with hole and electron mobility data in 1 order of magnitude. Considering the simple two electrode structure and that there are not any additional electrode modifications, the data in these experiments should be the real intrinsic bipolar transport characteristic in OSCs. In addition, the experimental mobility versus electric field (μ ∼ E1/2) curves also showed that there were positive or negative slopes for mobilities of holes or electrons, which leads to further development of the bipolar transport model; it is believed that there is a third kind of traps in the HOMO and LUMO energy spaces, which should possess different work mechanism during the external electric field, and thus result in negative or positive slopes for μ ∼ E1/2.

To develop high-performance organic light-emitting organic field-effect transistors (LE-OFETs), a fundamental problem in organic semiconductors is to compromise light luminescent efficiency for high carrier mobility and vice versa. Therefore, LE-OFETs can avoid this problem by separating the light-emission and carrier-transport functions. Here, a bilayer LE-OFET composed of a tetracene crystal as a carrier transporter (bottom crystal) and a 4-(dicyanomethylene)-2-methyl-6-(p-dimethylaminostyryl)-4H-pyran (DCM1)-doped tetracene crystal as a light emitter (top crystal) was fabricated. Red light-emission color, which is distinct from the green emission color of tetracene, was detected in the top crystal. Light emission from the top layer was prohibited when an insulating thin film was inserted between the two crystals. These observations indicate that excitons are formed in the bottom crystal and transferred to the top crystal, emitting reddish light. Bilayer LE-OFETs have the advantage of providing both high current density and a bright emission for high-performance light-emitting FETs.

Continual discoveries of new genes and unraveling the genetic etiology in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) have provided greater insight into the underlying pathogenesis in motor neuron degeneration, as well as facilitating the disease modeling and the testing of targeted therapeutics. While, the genetic etiology accounted for two-thirds of FALS and approximately 11% of SALS in Caucasians. However, the contributions of these causative genes to ALS vary among different populations. Furthermore, the prominent difference between Chinese population and other ethnics remains a source of ongoing debate. We systemically reviewed genetics literature of Chinese ALS populations and updated the mutation frequencies of the main ALS-implicated genes aiming to determine the genetic features of ALS in Chinese population. We also reviewed the associations between ALS-implicated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and the risk of ALS in Chinese population. A total of 116 studies were included in this analysis (86 gene mutation study articles and 30 SNPs study articles). The results showed that the overall gene mutation rates of ALS-related causative genes were 55.0% in familial ALS (FALS) and 11.7% in sporadic ALS (SALS) in Chinese population. In Chinese FALS, the highest mutation frequency was found in SOD1gene (25.6%), followed by FUS(5.8%), TARDBP(5.8%), DCTN1(3.6%) and C9orf72(3.5%). In Chinese SALS, the highest mutation frequency was also identified in SOD1gene (1.6%), followed by ANXA11(1.4%), FUS(1.3%), SQSTM1(1.0%), OPTN(0.9%) and CCNF(0.8%). The associations between several SNPs and risk of ALS were also reported in Chinese population. The genetic features of ALS in Chinese population are significantly different from those in Caucasian population, indicating an association between genetic susceptibility and origin of population. Further explorations are required to understand the gene complexity of ALS, including the contribution of most minor genes and the molecular mechanisms in ALS pathologies.

We theoretically analyze the optoelectronic properties of single crystals of 2,5-bis(4-biphenylyl) bithiophene (BP2T) and 2-(4-biphenyl)-5-[5-(4-biphenyl)-2-thienyl] furan (BPFT) molecules, aiming to provide a guiding principle for the material design of organic light-emitting transistors. The X-ray structure analysis and the density functional theory (DFT) calculations indicate that half of the BPFT molecules bend the π-conjugation plane in the crystal. The Marcus theory parametrized by the DFT calculations indicates anisotropic charge mobilities. The emission spectra of the BP2T and BPFT crystals are analyzed by the time-dependent DFT calculations in conjunction with the Frenkel exciton model and the vibronic coupling analysis. We revealed that the high photoluminescence efficiency of the BPFT crystal originates from the symmetry breaking of the H-aggregate, where the transition dipole of the dark state does not cancel out.

To reveal the effects of annealing condition on CZTSSe thin film solar cells, co-sputtering and subsequent selenization were used to prepare CZTSSe thin films. Structural, morphological and optical properties of CZTSSe thin films were investigated. CZTSSe thin films with various Se/(S+Se) ratio ranging from 0.69-0.78 were obtained. Representative peaks corresponding to CZTSSe in XRD and Raman results showed a slight shift to lower diffraction angle and wavenumbers. Selenization time significantly influenced the morphologies of CZTSSe films and the gradual grown up grain size was observed. VOC deficit values down to 839 mV was achieved for the best cell. CZTSSe solar cell with the selenization time of 10 min showed a best conversion efficiency of 5.32%, which presented a 50% enhancement comparing to the solar cells with insufficient and over-selenized absorbers.

The deterioration of track geometry depends on several factors of which the speed of the train is one. Imposing a speed restriction can slow down the track deterioration and allows a longer survival time before a serious condition is achieved. Preventive maintenance delays can be authorized during the survival time. However, speed restrictions also reduce the system throughput. On the other hand, a longer interval between preventive maintenance activities has a lower maintenance action cost and it also enables grouping the maintenance activities to save set-up costs as well as system downtime. If the repair delay is too long, it may cause unacceptable conditions on the track and lead to higher maintenance costs and accidents. Therefore, it is interesting to assess the effect of a speed restriction on the delayed maintenance strategies for a railway track section. We want to solve a maintenance optimization problem to find the optimal tuning of the maintenance delay time and imposition of a speed restriction. To this aim, a delayed maintenance model is developed, in which track deterioration depends on the train speed and the number of passing trains. The model is used to determine an optimal speed restriction strategy and a preventive repair delay for the optimization of the system benefit and unavailability. Coloured Petri Nets are adopted to model the maintenance and operation of the railway track section. The Coloured Petri Net model describes the gradual track deterioration as a stochastic process. Different speed restriction policies and maintenance delay strategies are modelled and activated by the observed component states. Monte Carlo simulations are carried out to estimate the maintenance cost, the system benefit and the system downtime under different policies. Numerical results show the maintenance decision variable trade-off.

In this paper, four pyrene–fluoroene derivatives with conjugated and nonconjugated pyrene substitution were designed and synthesized. In PFP1 and PFP2, there are nonconjugated pyrene substitution on C9 and conjugated pyrene on C2 and/or C7 of the fluorene moiety, and in the control molecules BP1 and BP2, there is only the conjugated pyrene in the C2 and/or C7 of the fluorene core. There is a special π–π hyperconjugation effect between nonconjugated pyrene and the pyrene–fluorene conjugation in the system (PFP1 and PFP2), which means the electron cloud of such two isolated conjugation systems (nonconjugated pyrene group and pyrene–fluorene group) could be delocalized and transferred to each other. Because of delocalization of electron cloud, the molecule size of PFP1 and PFP2 might have been decreased and led to decreased phase transition temperature compared with that of BP1 and BP2. Also due to the electron transfer between the molecules, the intermolecular force between PFP1 and PFP2 has been improved, which is the reason that they are more amorphous than BP1 and BP2. The easy electron transfer also makes the PFP1 and PFP2 show improved hole injection and device performance compared with that of BP1 and BP2.

Three organic semiconductors consisting of thiophene, furan, and phenylene groups showed either one or two gain-narrowed emission peaks by excitation with a laser pulse. The two gain-narrowed emission peaks are optically studied and assigned to 0 → 1 and 0 → 2 vibronic transitions. The number of gain-narrowed emission peaks is determined by a degree of overlap of the vibronic emissions with ground-state and excited-state absorption of the material. Dependence of the gained emission intensity both on the total input energy and the density of the excited states shows that the two gain-narrowed peaks are attributed to two different decay processes: amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) and superfluorescence (SF). The input energy to be conserved in total is distributed between ASE and SF processes strongly dependent on the transition probability and the self-absorption of organic semiconductors as a gain media.

Anti-counterfeiting labels with various fluorescent colors are of great importance in information encryption-decryption, but are still limited to static information display. Therefore, it is urgent to develop new materials and encryption-decryption logic for improving the security level of secret information. In this study, an organohydrogel made up of poly(N,N-dimethylacrylamide) (pDMA) hydrogel network and polyoctadecyl methacrylate p(SMA) organogel network that copolymerized with two fluorophores, 6-acrylamidopicolinic acid moieties (6APA, fluorescent ligand) and spiropyran units (SPMA, photochromic monomer), was prepared by a two-step interpenetrating method. As UV light of 365 nm and 254 nm can both cleave Cspiro-O bonds of SPMA, and the green fluorescence of 6APA-Tb3+can only be excited by 254 nm light, the organohydrogel displays yellow and red under the irradiation of 254 nm and 365 nm, respectively. In addition to wavelength selectivity, these two fluorophores are thermal-responsive, leading to the fluorescence variation of the organohydrogel during heating process. As a result, secret information loaded on the organohydrogel can be decrypted by the irradiation of UV light, and the authenticity of the information can be further identified by thermal stimulation. Our fluorescent organohydrogel can act as an effective anti-counterfeiting label to improve the information security and protect the information from being cracked.

Hydrogel actuators showing shape morphing in response to external stimuli are of significant interest for their applications in soft robots, artificial muscles, etc. However, there is still a lack of hydrogel actuators with adjustable stimulus responsiveness for on-demand driving. In this study, an organohydrogel actuator was prepared by a two-step interpenetrating method, resulting in the coexistence of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-4-(2-sulfoethyl)-1-(4-vinylbenzyl) pyridinium betaine) (p(NIPAM-SVBP)) hydrophilic networks and poly(lauryl methacrylate) (pLMA) hydrophobic networks with gradient distribution. In the initial state, the organohydrogel actuator can be driven globally under thermal stimulation. Owing to the unique alkali-chromic performance of SVBP, the organohydrogel actuator can be endowed with photothermal properties and actuate locally under the stimulus of NIR light. More importantly, the organohydrogel will return to the original colorless state after being treated with acid solution. Our work provides a new insight into designing and fabricating novel actuators with adjustable stimulus responsiveness for on-demand morphing.

As one of the most promising candidates for dynamic information storage, intelligent gels with tunable optical properties under external stimuli have received great attention. The implementation of transparency variation for information display is a favorable and versatile strategy but still faces the challenge of on-demand encryption–decryption. Herein, an optical tunable organohydrogel is prepared, which has interpenetrating heterogeneous networks consisting of hydrophilic poly(N,N-dimethylacrylamide) (PDMA) and hydrophobic polyoctadecyl methacrylate (PSMA). The long alkane side chains of PSMA endow the organohydrogel with the capacity of crystallization–melting transitions under the stimulus of heat, accompanied by transparent–opaque switching. In addition, the variations of transparency can also be achieved by water-induced hydrophobic association and microphase separation, resulting from the unique heterogeneous networks of the organohydrogel. Based on the abovementioned two aggregated structures, various pieces of information can be loaded on the organohydrogel by light writing or water printing with the assistance of masks. The coded information can be encrypted and decrypted by solvent replacement and temperature switching. This elaborately designed organohydrogel can act as an effective communication platform with an improved security level and ignite the sparks of developing novel information storage materials.

A three-dimensional model for anode side of a passive direct methanol fuel cell with perforated flow field was developed to investigate the mass transfer in anode flow channels. The model simulated the transient two-phase flow in channels. With this model, the distribution of methanol concentration and carbon dioxide volume fraction in channels was presented. The variation of species on the central surface of flow channels was also gained. Simulation results show that the mass transfer in anode flow field of passive direct methonal fuel cells is affected by comprehensive effects of diffusion and convection. The results also indicate that the methanol transfer in channels is influenced by the carbon dioxide.

Track maintenance is implemented to maintain track quality to ensure railway safety. Delayed repair is a specific problem in track maintenance due to the long distance travelling or the limitation of the maintenance tool. We want to assess the effects of delayed repairs on maintenance performance and take them into account for track maintenance decision, especially for the condition based maintenance. In this paper, a Coloured Petri Net (CPN) model is proposed to evaluate the delayed maintenance based on track condition for the given repair delays. This model can investigate the effects of the delays and optimize the maintenance decisions. Monte Carlo simulations are performed for different maintenance configurations. The simulation results show that the floor of ratio of repair delay and inspection interval has influence on the maintenance cost. Furthermore, the comparison shows that the condition-based inspection maintenance is better than the periodic inspection maintenance.

Coal is absolute dominance in reserves-to-production ratio terms. The development of fuels derived from pyrolysis of low-rank coals is beneficial to lower fossil fuels cost and greenhouse gas emissions. The research proposal briefly summarized energy situation and sustainable development strategy as they were by 2013 at first. Then some recent process in the understanding of the pyrolysis behaviors of coal was reviewed. The influencing factors of atmospheres, additives, and catalysts during coal pyrolysis will be followed to literature. The review paper on pyrolysis characteristics will achieve the development of advanced technologies for the clean and efficient utilization of low-rank coals

This paper presents a layered and integrated approach to the SCC system in TT&C area. The SCC system is developed to encapsulate this approach. A four-layer hierarchy is proposed for the SCC system among the following layers: user agent layer, application process layer, lower layer services and support, and hardware. The SCC system includes nine functional components: monitoring and control, data display, command operation, data processing, data storage and management, orbit calculation and analysis, interface computer software, duplex management and time service. The SCC system is implemented as five functional subsystems: data processing system, database management system, operation and control system, and interface computer system. Details of the overall system architecture and the integration of the above components and subsystems are included in the paper.

Optoelectronic devices based on layered materials such as graphene have resulted in significant interest due to their unique properties and potential technological applications. The electric and optoelectronic properties of nano GaTe flakes as layered materials are described in this article. The transistor fabricated from multilayer GaTe shows a p-type action with a hole mobility of about 0.2 cm2V–1s–1. The gate transistor exhibits a high photoresponsivity of 104A/W, which is greatly better than that of graphene, MoS2, and other layered compounds. Meanwhile, the response speed of 6 ms is also very fast. Both the high photoresponsivity and the fast response time described in the present study strongly suggest that multilayer GaTe is a promising candidate for future optoelectronic and photosensitive device applications.

If the upstream boundary conditions are prescribed based on the incident wave only, the time-dependent numerical models cannot effectively simulate the wave field when the physical or spurious reflected waves become significant. This paper describes carefully an approach to specifying the incident wave boundary conditions combined with a set sponge layer to absorb the reflected waves towards the incident boundary. Incorporated into a time-dependent numerical model, whose governing equations are the Boussinesq-type ones, the effectiveness of the approach is studied in detail. The general boundary conditions, describing the down-wave boundary conditions are also generalized to the case of random waves. The numerical model is in detail examined. The test cases include both the normal one-dimensional incident regular or random waves and the two-dimensional oblique incident regular waves. The calculated results show that the present approach is effective on damping the reflected waves towards the incident wave boundary.

A series of novel colchicine derivatives bearing 1,3,4-thiadiazole moieties were synthesized and evaluated for their cytotoxicity against four human tumor cell lines. Compounds 7hand 7ishowed more potent cytotoxic activities of all screened cancer cells.

The present work investigated the adaptive noise control system based on neural network. The structure and the characteristics of ANC algorithm were introduced in detail, at the same time, and the detailed demonstration of the BP neural network was given. Contrast verification experiments were given through the Matlab, and the simulation results have verified the effectiveness and practicability of the algorithm for the adaptive noise system in real control system. Through these methods, the disturbance of various noises in input signal could be reduced effectively.

The present work investigates an optical fiber micro-displacement sensor based on artificial neural network. Owing to the micro-displacement sensor was affected by the variations and noises seriously, the artificial neural network was introduced to the micro-displacement sensor as compensation method, experimental results and numerical simulation indicated that the micro-micro-displacement sensor with artificial neural network could enhance the nonlinear correction for sensor and decrease the interferences effectively. Simultaneously, by way of the contrast test of the different neural network, experimental results showed that the linearity of full scope could reach 0.2% for micro-micro-displacement sensor based on BRF network, and concluded the BRF network was more suitable for compensation of optical micro-displacement sensor.

The present work investigates reflectivity and optimal reflective distance of optical fiber hydrogen sensor in over 0~4000um range. The approximate equality of reflective distance in two optical paths increases signal to noise ratio for optical hydrogen sensor, the fabrication of optical path could eliminate the internal noise and external interferences, and provides higher stability for hydrogen sensor. Through a series of simulation experiments it was found that different reflective distances determine the sensitivity and amplitude response of hydrogen sensor. When the reflective distance was about 1mm in optical path, the sensitivity of optical hydrogen sensor could reach the peak value.

The present work investigates diffusivity of hydrogen (H) in palladium-silver (Pd/Ag) over 300～1100K temperature range for Pd100-xAgx, X=0%～40% by using the Sievert Law. The silver in the Pd/Ag alloy has significantly higher diffusion as compared to pure Pd for hydrogen sensor, the addition of Ag reduces the critical temperature of α→Β phase transformations and also increases the solubility of H, and provides longer operational lifetime for hydrogen sensor. It was found that the diffusion coefficient of H in Pd/Ag alloy decreases with increasing Ag and with increasing temperature, the calculated diffusion coefficient of H in the Pd/Ag alloys were found to have a maximum at 24%～25% Ag.

According to the affective model based on rough sets and by combining with rough graph theory, this paper presents a new method to mine affective transition law. This method is a graph structure analysis method of analyzing algebra relationships among rough sets. Simulation shows that the new method is reasonable.

A kind of triple micro-displacement magnification mechanism was designed according to the magnification principle of lever. Introduced the magnifying principle of the mechanism, analyzed the magnify ability and the relation between magnification times and exterior load, deduced the calculational equation of precise magnification times pass the analyes of stress, and used the Abqus to carry on finite element simulation. The result of simulation indicates that there existed certain difference between the value of theoretical computation and finite element simulation, the value of finite element simulation is less than theoretical computation, and the D-value enlarges along with the enlarge of exterior load. There are linear relationgship between magnification times and exterior load.

A random sample of 119 young, healthy Han Chinese adults (56 men and 63 women) between the age of 18 and 25 years (mean, 22.7 y) in PR China was obtained for this study. By the guidance of standard methods, based on Farkas's anthropometric measurements in craniofacial region, 12 nasal soft tissue landmarks and 12 linear and 3 angular measurements were chosen. The linear measurements were taken directly, whereas the angular measurements were taken by photogrammetric method. Eight nasal proportion indices were calculated according to the linear measurements. The application of the independent-samples t-test showed sex dimorphism in most parameters of the nasal region. All the linear measurements were larger in men than in women, whereas all the angular measurements were smaller in men than in women. The significant differences in partial parameters between men and women have been proved. Ten of 12 linear measurements, 1 of 3 angular measurements, and 3 of 8 nasal proportion indices showed significant sexual dimorphism (P< 0.01). Compared with other racial/ethnic groups, the nasal anthropometric measurements and proportion indices of Han Chinese adults were different, to some extent. This study could provide credible and objective reference material for plastic and maxillofacial surgeons for the external nasal soft tissue evaluation and planning of the cosmetic nasal surgery. Besides, these results could be a useful guidance for preoperative and postoperative evaluations of secondary rhinoplasty in nasal deformity associated with cleft lip and palate.

Self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of thiol-derivatized tetraphenylporphyrin on gold are able to bind anions reversibly from aqueous solutions. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) are employed to investigate the binding of anions by porphyrin SAMs and proved to be efficient and convenient techniques for detecting anions in aqueous solutions using the redox couple Fe(CN)63−/4−as reporter ion. SAMs of porphyrins are shown to selectively bind dihydrogenphosphate over various other anions, including Cl−, Br−, NO2−, or NO3−. Gold electrodes modified with porphyrins can detect H2PO4−even in the presence of a 10-fold excess of other anions studied.

Abstract: This study was conducted to detect polymorphisms in intron 1 of porcinePOU1F1 (POU domain, class 1, transcription factor1, Pit1, renamed asPOU1F1) by comparative sequencing. Within the intron, 23 sites of variation were identified, including 16 single-nucleotide substitutions, 4 single-nucleotide indels, 2 short (3-bp and 17-bp), and one long (313-bp) indels. Several important regulatory motifs were found within the 313-bp indel byin silico analysis. The 313-bp indel was next genotyped in 11 Chinese native pig breeds and 4 western meat-type pig breeds. The appearance of genotypes varied between breeds: among Chinese native breeds, no AA and AB genotypes were found in Tibetan, Lingao, Min, Rongchang, and Songliao Black pigs, no AA genotype was found in Fenjing and Leping Spotted pigs, whereas in Pietrain and Landrace there were no BB genotypes, and all 19 Duroc pigs were AA homozygotes. The western meat-type pigs had high A allele frequencies and the Chinese pigs had more B alleles, except Jianquhai pigs. A positive association of the AA genotype with birth weight was observed in a commercial pig line. This paper demonstrated that the genetic variation in intron 1 of the pigPOU1F1 gene was high and these polymorphisms may provide useful makers for QTL analysis.

The nucleotide sequence of YKE2, a yeast nuclear gene, has been determined. The deduced YKE2 protein has 114 amino acids (12kDa), shows significant homology with the murine KE2 and contains a putative Leu-zipper motif characteristic of a group of DNA-binding proteins [Landschulz et al., Science 240 (1988) 1759–1764]. Strains in which YKE2has been disrupted show normal cell growth in glucose and galactose media over the temperature range of 16 to 40°C. Disrupted strains also display normal mating and sporulation abilities. Northern analysis revealed that the transcription of YKE2is unresponsive to catabolite repression by glucose.

This paper presents a new efficient mixed method for minimum weight structural design (geometrical and member sizing) of structures. The objective function is approximated by a second-order Taylor series expansion and the constraints by first-order Taylor series expansions. In order to eliminate the tedious work in evaluating the Hessian matrix and performing its inversion, an approximating matrix employed by the variable metric method is used to approach the inverse of the Hessian matrix. Applying the Kuhn-Tucker conditions to the problem, the K-T multipliers can be determinated by quadratic programming, and finally, the problem is transformed to one of linear programming with intercomplementarity conditions. The examples show that the method is generally applicable, convenient to use and has rapid convergence.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse and compare four assessment techniques currently used in ESL programmes, namely standardized, student-centred, curriculum-based and performance assessment. The rationale, strengths and weaknesses of each assessment technique will be presented and evaluated. Also, a superior assessment strategy for use in an adult ESL programme will be discussed and designed.

The purpose of this paper is to make a thorough study of the effective strategies for changing bilingual programmes through staff development. Numerous researchers provide theories and studies about the effective ways for bilingual students to develop their second-language proficiency, such as through first-language development and meeting functional needs. They further provide strategies for building good staff development to meet students' needs, such as through teacher intern-programme training, peer coaching, peer observation and feedback, team coaching, and student-based staff-development restructuring. The implications for practice are summarized in this article into three approaches: a transitional bilingual approach, sheltered English approach, and peer collaborative approach. The conclusion is that as teachers attempt to move toward more integrated approaches to L2 development, cooperation requiring more time and effort among ESL specialists and other teachers becomes important.

The effective mass of nucleon in asymmetric nuclear matter is studied by the RHF approach. It is found that there exist critical densities . When , a phase transition from Fermi sphere to Fermi shell pattern for ground state will occur.

The magnetic susceptibility of neutron matter was calculated by means of Owen's LOCV method. The results showed that a transition to a ferromagnetic state can exist for HJ, IY and potentials, but there is no transition for Reid soft-core potential. By analyses, we concluded that the ferromagnetic state is a possible origin of strong magnetic field within the neutron star. We also considered an influence of the ferromagnetic state on the mass, radius and moment of inertia of the neutron star. Finally we discussed the effect of magnetization on physical state in the neutron star.

We calculated binding energy and single particle potential of neutron matter under absolute zero and finite temperature with relativistic Hartree-Fock approach. Our results accord with what thought about on theory.

Both three-layer (TiO_2–Ag–TiO_2) and five-layer (TiO_2–Ag–TiO_2–Ag–TiO_2) heat mirrors with optimum transmission in the visible and good reflectance in the IR have been designed by admittance diagram techniques. The mirrors were fabricated successfully by optical monitoring. An interesting anomalous layer was found and explained, and its equivalent refractive index and thickness are 2.015 − i0.016 and 2.56 nm, respectively.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) are genetically, pathologically and clinically-related progressive neurodegenerative diseases. Thus far, several SQSTM1variations have been identified in patients with ALS and FTD. However, it remains unclear how SQSTM1variations lead to neurodegeneration. To address this issue, we investigated the effects of ectopic expression of SQSTM1 variants, which were originally identified in Japanese and Chinese sporadic ALS patients, on the cellular viability, their intracellular distributions and the autophagic activity in cultured cells. Expression of SQSTM1 variants in PC12 cells exerted no observable effects on viabilities under both normal and oxidative-stressed conditions. Further, although expression of SQSTM1 variants in PC12 cells and Sqstm1-deficient mouse embryonic fibroblasts resulted in the formation of numerous granular SQSTM1-positive structures, called SQSTM1-bodies, their intracellular distributions were indistinguishable from those of wild-type SQSTM1. Nonetheless, quantitative colocalization analysis of SQSTM1-bodies with MAP1LC3 demonstrated that among ALS-linked SQSTM1 variants, L341V variant showed the significantly lower level of colocalization. However, there were no consistent effects on the autophagic activities among the variants examined. These results suggest that although some ALS-linked SQSTM1variations have a discernible effect on the intracellular distribution of SQSTM1-bodies, the impacts of other variations on the cellular homeostasis are rather limited at least under transiently-expressed conditions.