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Patterned glass diffusers (PGDs) have been demonstrated to reduce backlight thickness and LED count, and increase luminance when used with an optimal film stack in blue mini‐LED backlights. However, they encounter challenges when used in automotive white LED backlights. We report our PGD solution to dimensionally and thermally stable automotive white LED backlight that has an LED pitch of 13 mm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The equator‐to‐poles decline in the number of species, namely the latitudinal diversity gradient (LDG), is the most conspicuous pattern in biology, yet the underlying mechanisms of this pattern remain controversial. Species dispersal could have strong effects on large‐scale species distributions but has rarely been considered in understanding the LDG. Here we sought to examine how dispersal ability may influence the latitudinal phylogenetic patterns of woody angiosperm assemblages. Location: China. Taxon: Woody angiosperms. Methods: Based on a highly supported mega‐phylogeny constructed from plastid genomes, we assessed the patterns of phylogenetic relatedness and dissimilarity of 1184 trees with three different seed dispersal modes (i.e. zoochory, anemochory and autochory) in 12 permanent forest dynamic plots covering tropical, subtropical and temperate zones in China. Results: We found that, compared with zoochorous and anemochorous species, the less vagile autochorous trees exhibited a much weaker latitudinal pattern in phylogenetic relatedness and higher phylogenetic dissimilarity among plots. The phylogenetic dissimilarity pattern of autochorous trees was explained more by geographic distance than environmental factors, consistent with a dominant role for dispersal limitation. Main Conclusions: Our study, for the first time, demonstrates that seed dispersal mode strongly influences the latitudinal phylogenetic patterns of woody angiosperm assemblages in China and highlights the importance of interaction between dispersal limitation and environmental filtering in determining the large‐scale distribution of forest biodiversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report our progress on monitor‐sized, dimensionally and thermally stable mini‐LED backlights enabled by a patterned glass diffuser (PGD). One PGD based backlight, while being thinner, shows a higher luminance than a reference mini‐LED backlight. Another all‐in‐one PGD enhances a glass circuit board based mini‐LED backlight. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The cationic modification technology for cotton could greatly enhance colour strength and fixation of reactive dyes. However, it is a two‐step method when cationic modification is applied to salt‐free dyeing. Cotton fabric is initially treated with a cationic compound through exhaust or pad‐cure, acid washing and drying process, then the cationic modified cotton is dyed with reactive dye. In this study, a single‐step pad‐steam cationisation and dyeing process was proposed to shorten the process and improve dye fixation. The fixation reaction between reactive dye and cotton fabrics was conducted at the temperature range 100–140°C and relative humidity range 40–90%. The effects of quaternary ammonium salt and inorganic salt as well as alkaline agent on K/S value and dye fixation were also studied. Furthermore, the drying kinetic of the wet cotton fabric was studied in this article. The result showed that the drying process fitted well to the Page model. The effective moisture diffusivity of wet cotton under different steaming conditions were calculated. An activation energy value of 32.25 kJ/mol was determined. Compared with the conventional process, a single‐step pad‐steam cationisation and dyeing process not only shortened the process but also increased K/S value and dye fixation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report our progress on a monitor‐sized, dimensionally and thermally stable mini‐LED backlight enabled by a patterned glass diffuser (PGD). Our backlight uses 5,000+ fewer mini‐LEDs per monitor — 4/9 times that in a reference mini‐LED backlight relying on a thicker diffuser plate, while it is thinner and achieves similar uniformity and luminance compared to the reference mini‐LED backlight. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For over 15 years, Corning Eagle XG™ Glass has been a mainstream display substrate in the industry. Recently, it is also used as a back‐lighting unit (BLU) component, a Glass Diffuser Plate (GDP), to enable "Zero‐Border" Design (ZBD) LCD TV. In this article, we first review requirements of BLU of ZBD TV, and contrasts Eagle XG™ against a polymeric and other glass materials to demonstrate the benefit of its use. We also discuss the origin of edge light leakage, a bright line artifact, seen in ZBD TV. Through our simulation, we demonstrate that Corning's precise cutting tolerance (± 0.1 mm) and bottom cut edge finishing of GDP leads to light leakage reduction (~40%). In addition, we investigated the impact of GDP size control and thickness, and GDP‐optical film lamination geometry on the edge light leakage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phylogenetic trees have been extensively used in community ecology. However, how the phylogeny construction affects ecological inferences is poorly understood. In this study, we constructed three different types of phylogenetic trees (a synthetic‐tree generated using V.PhyloMaker, a barcode‐tree generated using rbcL+matK+trnH‐psbA, and a plastome‐tree generated from plastid genomes) that represented an increasing level of phylogenetic resolution among 580 woody plant species from six forest dynamic plots in subtropical evergreen broadleaved forests of China. We then evaluated the performance of each phylogeny in estimations of community phylogenetic structure, turnover and phylogenetic signal in functional traits. As expected, the plastome‐tree was most resolved and most supported for relationships among species. For local phylogenetic structure, the three trees showed consistent results with Faith's PD and MPD; however, only the synthetic‐tree produced significant clustering patterns using MNTD for some plots. For phylogenetic turnover, contrasting results between the molecular trees and the synthetic‐tree occurred only with nearest neighbor distance. The barcode‐tree agreed more with the plastome‐tree than the synthetic‐tree for both phylogenetic structure and turnover. For functional traits, both the barcode‐tree and plastome‐tree detected phylogenetic signal in maximum height, but only the plastome‐tree detected signal in leaf width. This is the first study that uses plastid genomes in large‐scale community phylogenetics. Our results highlight the improvement of plastome‐trees over barcode‐trees and synthetic‐trees for the analyses studied here. Our results also point to the possibility of type I and II errors in estimation of phylogenetic structure and turnover and detection of phylogenetic signal when using synthetic‐trees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on the design and performance of a direct‐lit LCD backlight prototype which is only 5 mm thick and capable of full array 2D local dimming. Equipped with a 15.6" LC display panel, the prototype reaches peak brightness of 2000 nits. The measured contrast numbers meet VESA DisplayHDR 600 specification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on a monitor‐sized, thin, dimensionally and thermally stable mini‐LED backlight enabled by a patterned glass diffuser (PGD). Our backlight has a luminance of between 0.9 × and 1.05 × compared to a reference mini‐LED backlight using a thick diffuser plate, while providing a better local dimming control and comparable zone and panel luminance uniformity and color uniformity. The PGD technology can reduce the number of LEDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on a backlight that can be bent to a radius of 200 mm and provides more than 2000 nits through a 7" display. The backlight is enabled by a glass light guide plate that edge‐couples light from high brightness thin LEDs. It is also capable of 2D local dimming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Understanding how spatial distributions of rare and common species are associated with environmental and spatial processes is essential to understanding community assembly. We addressed the following questions: (a) does the relative importance of space and topography vary from rare to common tree species? (b) Are the contributions of topography and space equal? (c) Are the variances explained by topography or space correlated with elevational ranges (ER) at the local scale? (d) Does cell‐size influence those postulated associations? Location: China and the Americas. Major taxa studied: Tree species. Methods: We partitioned the variation in species richness and composition of rare and common tree species by topography and space across a range of extents and grain sizes in eight communities. We calculated contribution ratio (CR) between space and topography to quantify their relative importance. We employed Kendall's rank correlation to determine the relation between CR and commonness. Mixed effect models were used to identify the influence of cell‐size on the results. Results: The majority of CR values were positively related to increasing commonness, especially for composition. The explained variances by space were always higher than that by topography regardless of commonness. At local scale, variances explained by space or topography were not correlated with ER. Main conclusions: Our results indicate that the relative importance of space compared to topography increases from rare to common species across forests. We suggest that future studies of community assembly need to account for both space and topography to adequately describe differences in rare and common species assembly mechanisms at range of spatial extents and grain sizes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on an ultra‐thin 2D local dimming backlight, as thin as an edge‐lit backlight, yet as capable of 2D local dimming as a direct‐lit backlight. It includes a patterned holey glass light guide plate (LGP) and a patterned reflector. Light from LEDs, located in holes, is edge‐coupled into the LGP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Elucidating symbiotic relationships between arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and plants contributes to a better understanding of their reciprocally dependent coexistence and community assembly. However, the main drivers of plant and AMF community assembly remain unclear. In this study, we examined AMF communities from 166 root samples of 17 woody plant species from 10 quadrats in a Chinese subtropical forest using 454 pyrosequencing of 18S rRNA gene to describe symbiotic AMF–plant association. Our results show the woody plant–AMF networks to be highly interconnected and nested, but in antimodular and antispecialized manners. The nonrandom pattern in the woody plant–AMF network was explained by plant and AMF phylogenies, with a tendency for a stronger phylogenetic signal by plant than AMF phylogeny. This study suggests that the phylogenetic niche conservatism in woody plants and their AMF symbionts could contribute to interdependent AMF and plant community assembly in this subtropical forest ecosystem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Elucidating interactions of above-ground and below-ground communities in different habitat types is essential for understanding biodiversity maintenance and ecosystem functioning., Using 454 pyrosequencing of ITS2 sequences we examined the relationship between subtropical mountain forest soil fungal communities, abiotic conditions, and plant communities using correlation and partial models., Ridge and valley habitats with differing fungal communities were delineated. Total, saprotrophic and pathogenic fungal richness were significantly correlated with plant species richness and/or soil nutrients and moisture in the ridge habitat, but with habitat convexity or basal area of Castanopsis eyrei in the valley habitat. Ectomycorrhizal ( EM) fungal richness was significantly correlated with basal area of C. eyrei and total EM plants in the ridge and valley habitats, respectively. Total, saprotrophic, pathogenic and EM fungal compositions were significantly correlated with plant species composition and geographic distance in the ridge habitat, but with various combinations of plant species composition, plant species richness, soil C : N ratio and pH or no variables in the valley habitat., Our findings suggest that mechanisms influencing soil fungal diversity and community composition differ between ridge and valley habitats, and relationships between fungal and woody plant assemblages depend on habitat types in the subtropical forest ecosystem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Evergreen broad-leaved forests (EBLFs) occupy most tropical and subtropical regions of mainland Asia and exhibit high species diversity, productivity and richness. Understanding the historical dynamics of EBLFs is important for biodiversity conservation and regional carbon storage and cycling under global climate change. However, little is known about the historical dynamics of EBLFs in mainland Asia. Dendrobium, an epiphytic orchid genus found in EBLFs, was used to gain new insights of the historical establishment and extension of EBLFs in mainland Asia. Location: Mainland Asia. Methods: We sampled c. 80% of the currently recognized species of Dendrobium found in mainland Asia. A phylogeny was generated using maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference methods. A calibrated chronogram was obtained using a Bayesian relaxed-clock model approach. Biogeographical scenarios were investigated using the statistical dispersal- vicariance analysis and dispersal-extinction-cladogenesis methods. Ancestral states were constructed by mesquite and bayestraits, and diversification of Dendrobium was investigated by APE and LASER packages. Results Our results indicate that Asian Dendrobium was present on mainland Asia since the Oligocene, after which this genus diversified in this region and dispersed into higher elevations. The ancestral habit of Dendrobium was epiphytic and terrestrial and lithophytic habits each have multiple, recently independent origins. Main conclusions Our results support the hypothesis that EBLFs have been established in mainland Asia at least since the Oligocene and further suggest that the EBLFs of mainland Asia expanded into higher elevations prior to the late Cenozoic. The diversification of Asian Dendrobium coincided with a warmer climate during the late Oligocene and middle Miocene and the expansion of key groups (including Fagaceae, Lauraceae, Magnoliaceae and Theaceae) of EBLFs during the early Cenozoic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Congenital hemidysplasia with ichthyosiform nevus and limb defects ( CHILD) syndrome is an X-linked autosomal dominant disorder characterized by unilateral congenital hemidysplasia with ichthyosiform erythroderma and ipsilateral limb defects caused by a mutation in the gene encoding NAD[P]H steroid dehydrogenase-like protein ( NSDHL) at Xq28. The histopathologic hallmark of skin lesions in CHILD syndrome is psoriasiform epidermis with hyperkeratosis and parakeratosis, and its most striking feature affecting the upper dermis is filling of the papillary dermis with foam cells. Here we present the case of a 9-year-old Chinese girl born with the typical clinical features of CHILD syndrome. Histologic and immunohistochemical evaluation of the skin lesions confirmed the diagnosis and led to identification of a heterozygous point mutation in exon 8 of the NSDHL gene. In addition, we provide a literature review of 26 unrelated CHILD syndrome patients from different countries, caused by 20 unique gene mutations occurring throughout the entire NSDHL gene, to promote understanding and provide a more comprehensive description of this unusual disorder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A meta-analysis was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of propranolol in the treatment of infantile hemangiomas ( IHs) in Chinese infants. A statistically significant difference was found between infants treated using propranolol and those treated using corticosteroids (p < 0.001). The total effect pooled from 26 single-arm studies using meta-analysis of propranolol on IHs in Chinese infants was 93% (95% confidence interval 0.88, 0.96). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oxidized sucrose, an un-traditional biobased crosslinker, was proved as effective as glutaraldehyde in improving water stability of ultrafine fibrous proteins without causing cytotoxicity. Proteins from agricultural byproducts, such as zein, are abundantly available for production of industrial and medical products, but are restricted by their poor water stability and wet properties. An effective and safe crosslinking method became indispensable for protein-based materials, especially biomaterials. Fibrous basic units with sub-micron scale were critical for biomaterials to resemble native extracellular matrices (ECMs) structurally. In this research, sucrose was oxidized into polar polyaldehydes to crosslink ultrafine fibrous scaffolds from corn protein. The control groups were crosslinked with glutaraldehyde, a known highly effective crosslinker with considerable toxicity. With similar improvement in water stability, the oxidized sucrose crosslinked scaffolds showed much better cytocompatibility than the glutaraldehyde crosslinked ones via in vitro study with preosteoblast cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective The specific autoantibodies and antigens that mediate systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)-related organ injuries remain largely unknown. This study was undertaken to investigate the antibody-mediated immune response that leads to SLE skin lesions. Methods The study included 85 SLE patients with lupus-specific skin lesions and 31 without skin lesions. The reactivity of serum antibody with skin antigens was determined by immunoblotting using human foreskin as the substrate. Skin antigens were identified using mass spectrometry. Serum antibody was isolated by affinity purification and was injected intracutaneously into mouse skin to determine pathogenicity. Serum antibody levels were monitored by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results We determined that 78% of the patients with skin lesions had serum antibodies reactive with 35-kd and/or 25-kd skin antigens, which was significantly higher than the percentage of patients without skin lesions ( P < 0.0001), suggesting a correlation between immune response and skin lesions. Acidic ribosomal protein P0 (RPLP0) and galectin 3 were 2 target antigens identified from 35-kd and 25-kd proteins, respectively. Purified serum anti-RPLP0 and anti-galectin 3 antibodies induced lupus-like histologic changes after intracutaneous injection. Anti-RPLP0 and anti-galectin 3 antibody levels were significantly higher in SLE patients than in healthy controls and decreased with skin recovery. Anti-galectin 3 antibody levels were not significantly higher in SLE patients than in patients with dermatomyositis or scleroderma, but strongly related to lupus cutaneous vasculitis. Additionally, levels of the 2 antibodies were positively correlated with leukopenia and C3 deficiency, and the anti-RPLP0 antibody level was also positively correlated with arthritis and SLE disease activity. Conclusion Our findings indicate that the immune response mediated by serum anti-RPLP0 and anti-galectin 3 antibodies plays a key role in the pathogenesis of SLE skin lesions. These findings provide new insights into the mechanism of SLE-related organ disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exploring the relationships between the biodiversity of groups of interacting organisms yields insight into ecosystem stability and function (Hooper et al. ; Wardle ). We demonstrated positive relationships between host plant richness and ectomycorrhizal ( EM) fungal diversity both in a field study in subtropical China (Gutianshan) and in a meta-analysis of temperate and tropical studies (Gao et al. ). However, based on re-evaluation of our data sets, Tedersoo et al. () argue that the observed positive correlation between EM fungal richness and EM plant richness at Gutianshan and also in our metastudies was based mainly from (i) a sampling design with inconsistent species pool and (ii) poor data compilation for the meta-analysis. Accordingly, we checked our data sets and repeated the analysis performed by Tedersoo et al. (). In contrast to Tedersoo et al. (), our re-analysis still confirms a positive effect of plant richness on EM fungal diversity in Gutianshan, temperate and tropical ecosystems, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microbial diversity is generally far higher than plant diversity, but the relationship between microbial diversity and plant diversity remains enigmatic. To shed light on this problem, we examined the diversity of a key guild of root-associated microbes, that is, ectomycorrhizal ( EM) fungi along a plant diversity gradient in a Chinese subtropical forest. The results indicated that EM fungal diversity was positively correlated with host plant diversity. Furthermore, this relationship was best predicted by host genus-level diversity, rather than species-level diversity or family-level diversity. The generality of this finding was extended beyond our study system through the analyses of 100 additional studies of EM fungal communities from tropical and temperate forests. Here as well, EM fungal lineage composition was significantly affected by EM plant diversity levels, and some EM fungal lineages were co-associated with some host plant genera. These results suggest a general diversity maintenance mechanism for host-specific microbes based on higher order host plant phylogenetic diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various mechanistic theories of community assembly have been proposed ranging from niche-based theory to neutral theory. Analyses of beta diversity in a phylogenetic context could provide an excellent opportunity for testing many of these hypotheses. We analyzed the patterns of phylogenetic beta diversity in tropical tree communities in Panama to test several community assembly hypotheses. In particular, the degree to which the phylogenetic dissimilarity between communities can be explained by geographical or environmental distance can yield support for stochastic or deterministic assembly processes, respectively. Therefore, we examined: (i) the existence of distance decay of phylogenetic similarity among communities and its degree of departure from that expected under a null model; and (ii) the relative importance of geographical versus environmental distance in predicting the phylogenetic dissimilarity of communities. We found evidence that the similarity in the phylogenetic composition of communities decayed with geographical distance and environmental gradients. Null model evidence showed that beta diversity in the study system was phylogenetically non-random. Our results highlighted not only the role of local ecological mechanisms, including environmental filtering and competitive exclusion, but also biogeographical processes such as speciation, dispersal limitation, and niche evolution in structuring phylogenetic turnover. These results also highlight the importance of niche conservatism in structuring species diversity patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A simple and straightforward methodology towards the synthesis of 2,4,5-trisubstituted pyrimidines has been developed by one-step reaction of isoflavones with thiourea or guanidine. Ten 2-mercapto-4,5-diphenylpyrimidines and eight 2-amino-4,5-diphenylpyrimidines were reported. All of them were characterized by FT-IR, NMR, and elemental analysis. A variety of substrates can participate in the process with good yields and high purities, making this methodology suitable for library synthesis in drug discovery. J. Heterocyclic Chem., (2011). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]