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Two-dimensional (2D) ferromagnets with out-of-plane (OOP) magnetic anisotropy are potential candidates for realizing the next-generation memory devices with ultra-low power consumption and high storage density. However, a scalable approach to synthesize 2D magnets with OOP anisotropy directly on the complimentary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) compatible substrates has not yet been mainly explored, which hinders the practical application of 2D magnets. This work demonstrates a cascaded space confined chemical vapor deposition (CS-CVD) technique to synthesize 2D FexGeTe2 ferromagnets. The weight fraction of iron (Fe) in the precursor controls the phase purity of the as-grown FexGeTe2. As a result, high-quality Fe3GeTe2 and Fe5GeTe2 flakes have been grown selectively using the CS-CVD technique. Curie temperature (TC) of the as-grown FexGeTe2 can be up to ∼ 280 K, nearly room temperature. The thickness and temperature-dependent magnetic studies on the Fe5GeTe2 reveal a 2D Ising to 3D XY behavior. Also, Terahertz spectroscopy experiments on Fe5GeTe2 display the highest conductivity among other FexGeTe2 2D magnets. The results of this work indicate a scalable pathway for the direct growth and integration of 2D ternary magnets on CMOS-based substrates to develop spintronic memory devices.

Doping is an effective way to modify the electronic property of two-dimensional (2D) materials and endow them with additional functionalities. However, wide-range control of the doping concentrations in monolayer 2D materials with large-scale uniformity remains challenging. Here, we report

Software defect prediction (SDP) can help developers reasonably allocate limited resources for locating bugs and prioritizing their testing efforts. Existing methods often serialize an Abstract Syntax Tree (AST) obtained from the program source code into a token sequence, which is then inputted into the deep learning model to learn the semantic features. However, there are different ASTs with the same token sequence, and it is impossible to distinguish the tree structure of the ASTs only by a token sequence. To solve this problem, this paper proposes a framework called Semantic Feature Learning via Dual Sequences (SFLDS), which can capture the semantic and structural information in the AST for feature generation. Specifically, based on the AST, we select the representative nodes in the AST and convert the program source code into a simplified AST (S-AST). Our method introduces two sequences to represent the semantic and structural information of the S-AST, one is the result of traversing the S-AST node in pre-order, and another is composed of parent nodes. Then each token in the dual sequences is encoded as a numerical vector via mapping and word embedding. Finally, we use a bi-directional long short-term memory (BiLSTM) based neural network to automatically generate semantic features from the dual sequences for SDP. In addition, to leverage the statistical characteristics contained in the handcrafted metrics, we also propose a framework called Defect Prediction via SFLDS (DP-SFLDS) which combines the semantic features generated from SFLDS with handcrafted metrics to perform SDP. In our empirical studies, eight open-source Java projects from the PROMISE repository are chosen as our empirical subjects. Experimental results show that our proposed approach can perform better than several state-of-the-art baseline SDP methods.

Background Charcot neuroarthropathy of the ankle is an extremely challenging clinical dilemma, and its surgical management can be highly complicated. The goal of Charcot ankle treatment is to to restore a plantigrade and stable foot, and thus to avoid ulceration with subsequent infection. This report aims to introduce a method of correcting ankle deformity using a novel 3D printing technique. Patient and methods One patient with Charcot ankle deformity was operated in this study. The ankle deformity of this patient was quantified in three dimensions through computed tomography. On the basis of the computed tomography scans, a new titanium implant was designed and manufactured using 3D printing. The implant was applied in the surgery of tibio-talo-calcaneal arthrodesis to restore local anatomy of the affected ankle of the patient with Charcot neuroarthropathy. Results Evaluation of the post-operative radiography indicated union in the affected ankle. After surgery, the planar foot in this patient was restored. The patient was satisfied with the post-operative course, and joint fusion was successful as indicated by 2-year post-operative evaluation. The results of post-operative follow-up showed that the lower limb length of the patient with Charcot neuroarthropathy was salvaged, and the patient retained the plantigrade foot. Conclusion Three-dimensional printing technique combined with tibio-talo-calcaneal arthrodesis may help to correct ankle deformity in patients with Charcot neuroarthropathy.

In this paper, we propose a dynamic direct-writing optical holographic display system based on quantum-dot-doped liquid crystal (QDDLC). Instead of using two-beam interference to generate the desir...

Indium selenide (InSe) has become a research hotspot because of its favorable carrier mobility and thickness-tunable band gap, showing great application potential in high-performance optoelectronic devices. The trend of miniaturization in optoelectronics has forced the feature sizes of the electronic components to shrink accordingly. Therefore, atomically thin InSe crystals may play an important role in future optoelectronics. Given the instability and ultralow photoluminescent (PL) emission of mechanically exfoliated ultrathin InSe, synthesis of highly stable mono- and few-layer InSe nanosheets with high PL efficiency has become crucial. Herein, ultrathin InSe nanosheets were prepared via thermal annealing of electrochemically intercalated products from bulk InSe. The size and yield of the as-prepared nanosheets were up to ∼160 μm and ∼70%, respectively, and ∼80% of the nanosheets were less than five layer. Impressively, the as-prepared nanosheets showed greatly enhanced stability and PL emission because of surface modification by carbon species. Efficient photoresponsivity of 2 A/W was achieved in the as-prepared nanosheet-based devices. These nanosheets were further assembled into large-area thin films with photoresponsivity of 16 A/W and an average Hall mobility of about 5 cm2 V-1 s-1. Finally, one-dimensional (1D) InSe nanoscrolls with a length up to 90 μm were constructed by solvent-assisted self-assembly of the exfoliated nanosheets.

This paper focuses on multi-modal Information Perception (IP) for Soft Robotic Hands (SRHs) using Machine Learning (ML) algorithms. A flexible Optical Fiber-based Curvature Sensor (OFCS) is fabricated, consisting of a Light-Emitting Diode (LED), photosensitive detector, and optical fiber. Bending the roughened optical fiber generates lower light intensity, which reflecting the curvature of the soft finger. Together with the curvature and pressure information, multi-modal IP is performed to improve the recognition accuracy. Recognitions of gesture, object shape, size, and weight are implemented with multiple ML approaches, including the Supervised Learning Algorithms (SLAs) of K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN), Support Vector Machine (SVM), Logistic Regression (LR), and the unSupervised Learning Algorithm (un-SLA) of K-Means Clustering (KMC). Moreover, Optical Sensor Information (OSI), Pressure Sensor Information (PSI), and Double-Sensor Information (DSI) are adopted to compare the recognition accuracies. The experiment results demonstrate that the proposed sensors and recognition approaches are feasible and effective. The recognition accuracies obtained using the above ML algorithms and three modes of sensor information are higher than 85 percent for almost all combinations. Moreover, DSI is more accurate when compared to single modal sensor information and the KNN algorithm with a DSI outperforms the other combinations in recognition accuracy.

Background Rapid identification of COVID-19 cases, which is crucial to outbreak containment efforts, is challenging due to the lack of pathognomonic symptoms and in settings with limited capacity for specialized nucleic acid–based reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing. Methods This retrospective case-control study involves subjects (7–98 years) presenting at the designated national outbreak screening center and tertiary care hospital in Singapore for SARS-CoV-2 testing from 26 January to 16 February 2020. COVID-19 status was confirmed by PCR testing of sputum, nasopharyngeal swabs, or throat swabs. Demographic, clinical, laboratory, and exposure-risk variables ascertainable at presentation were analyzed to develop an algorithm for estimating the risk of COVID-19. Model development used Akaike’s information criterion in a stepwise fashion to build logistic regression models, which were then translated into prediction scores. Performance was measured using receiver operating characteristic curves, adjusting for overconfidence using leave-one-out cross-validation. Results The study population included 788 subjects, of whom 54 (6.9%) were SARS-CoV-2 positive and 734 (93.1%) were SARS-CoV-2 negative. The median age was 34 years, and 407 (51.7%) were female. Using leave-one-out cross-validation, all the models incorporating clinical tests (models 1, 2, and 3) performed well with areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUCs) of 0.91, 0.88, and 0.88, respectively. In comparison, model 4 had an AUC of 0.65. Conclusions Rapidly ascertainable clinical and laboratory data could identify individuals at high risk of COVID-19 and enable prioritization of PCR testing and containment efforts. Basic laboratory test results were crucial to prediction models., A risk score incorporating easily ascertainable demographic, clinical evaluation, and clinical testing covariates to identify patients at high risk of COVID-19 can help prioritize subjects for testing and public health measures to prevent onward transmission, especially in resource-limited settings.

Every year tens of millions reconstruction surgeries were performed to repair tissue defects caused by trauma or malignant tumor. As the composite tissues are very difficult to be preserved for a long time in vitro, “organ bank” was proposed. In addition to immune rejection, tissue cryopreservation is the key step of the “Organ Bank”. In this study, two severed fingers were cryopreserved because the patients’ conditions were not allowed to undergo the replantation immediately. The fingers were perfused with the cryopreservation solution through the digital artery at a speed of 1 ml/min, they were frozen following a control rate freezing procedure and stored in the liquid nitrogen. One finger was cryopreserved for 10 days and the other for 30 days. Both fingers were successfully replanted when the patient get better. After 1 year follow-up, the replanted fingers achieved satisfactory appearance and function. Our result demonstrate small composite tissues such as severed fingers can be cryopreserved and replanted successfully, which will help the patients who cannot receive the replantation immediately. This method will have important application value in cryobiology and clinical medicine.

Cross-project defect prediction (CPDP) is a promising approach to help to allocate testing efforts efficiently and guarantee software reliability in the early software lifecycle. A CPDP method usually trains a software defect classifier based on labeled data sets. Then the trained classifier can predict new projects without labeled data. Most previous CPDP techniques focused on manually designing handcrafted features. However, these handcrafted features ignore the programs' semantic information. Moreover, some other existing defect prediction approaches learned semantic features from source code to build classifiers directly. However, they did not consider the distribution divergence between source and target projects. To address these limitations, we put forward a new method called Adversarial Discriminative Convolutional Neural Network (ADCNN). It can extract the transferable semantic features from source code for CPDP tasks. Specifically, we first parse source files into token vectors and then map them to integer vectors via word embedding. Second, we combine adversarial learning with discriminative feature learning to train the ADCNN model. The key of the ADCNN model is to learn the discriminative mapping of the target project to the source feature space by deceiving a domain discriminator. A domain discriminator tries to distinguish the target project files from the source project files. Finally, we use the extracted transferable semantic features to build a classifier for CPDP tasks. We evaluate our method on ten benchmark projects in terms of F-measure, AUC, and PofB20 (an effort-aware evaluation metric). The experimental results demonstrate that our ADCNN method performs better compared with other related CPDP methods.

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been substantially reported to have critical roles in regulating tumorigenesis in recent years. However, the expression pattern and biological function of SNHG17 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remain unclear. Bioinformatics analysis and qRT-PCR were performed to detect the expression pattern of SNHG17 in HCC tissues, adjacent nontumorous tissues, and cell lines. The effect of SNHG17 on proliferation, migration, and apoptosis of HCC was investigated by knockdown and overexpressing SNHG17 in HCC cell lines. RNA sequencing was utilized to explore the underlying mechanism. Utilizing publicly available TCGA-LIHC, GSE102079 HCC datasets, and qRT-PCR, we found SNHG17 was significantly upregulated in HCC tissues and cell lines and was notably associated with larger tumor size, poorly differentiation, presence of vascular invasion, and advanced TNM stage. Furthermore, gain- and loss-of-function studies demonstrated that SNHG17 promoted cell proliferation and migration and inhibited apoptosis of HCC. By employing RNA sequencing, we found knockdown of SNHG17 caused 1037 differentially expressed genes, highly enriched in several pathways, including metabolic, PI3K-Akt, cell adhesion, regulation of cell proliferation, and apoptotic pathway; among them, 92 were overlapped with SNHG17-related genes in the TCGA-LIHC dataset. Furthermore, ERH, TBCA, TDO2, and PDK4 were successfully validated and found significantly dysregulated in HCC tissues. Moreover, HCC patients with higher SNHG17 expression had a relatively poor overall survival and disease-free survival, and ERH and PDK4 also played a marked role in the prognosis of HCC. Broadly, our findings illustrate that SNHG17 acts as a noncoding oncogene in HCC progression, suggesting its potential value as a novel target for HCC therapy.

This paper focuses on how to improve the operation ability of a soft robotic hand (SRH). A trigger-based dexterous operation (TDO) strategy with multimodal sensors is proposed to perform autonomous choice operations. The multimodal sensors include optical-based fiber curvature sensor (OFCS), gas pressure sensor (GPS), capacitive pressure contact sensor (CPCS), and resistance pressure contact sensor (RPCS). The OFCS embedded in the soft finger and the GPS series connected in the gas channel are used to detect the curvature of the finger. The CPCS attached on the fingertip and the RPCS attached on the palm are employed to detect the touch force. The framework of TDO is divided into sensor detection and action operation. Hardware layer, information acquisition layer, and decision layer form the sensor detection module, action selection layer, actuator drive layer, and hardware layer constitute the action operation module. An autonomous choice decision unit is used to connect the sensor detecting module and action operation module. The experiment results reveal that the TDO algorithm is effective and feasible, and the actions of grasping plastic framework, pinching roller ball pen and screwdriver, and handshake are executed exactly.

We studied the performance of an algorithm combining multiplex polymerase chain reaction with phenotypic detection of extended-spectrum β-lactamases and carbapenemases directly from positive blood culture bottles in patients with gram-negative bacteremia and found good concordance with routine cultures. Such an algorithm may be a tool to improve time to optimal therapy in patients with gram-negative bacteremia.

Background This study was to investigate the effects of recombinant human growth hormone (rhGh) on ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury of mouse flaps. Methods Healthy mice were randomly divided into four groups as follows: sham group, the IR group, the sham+rhGH group and the IR+rhGH group, with 12 mice in each group. Skin pathology was tested by hematoxylin and eosin staining. The flap survival of each group was measured after 7 days. The levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and malondialdehyde (MDA) were determined using corresponding kit. The levels of interleukin (IL)-6 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α in serum and flap were respectively measured by performing enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and quantitative real-time (qRT)-PCR. The expressions of cleaved caspase-3, B cell lymphoma/leukemia-2 (Bcl-2), Bcl-2-associated X protein (Bax), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), MnSOD, toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), and galectin-3 and (p)-p65 were analyzed by RT-PCR or/and Western blot. Results Prophylactic systemic application of recombinant human GH reduced the pathological damage of skin IR and significantly improved the flap survival of IR in mice, accompanied by elevation of VEGF. After administration of recombinant human GH, the activity of SOD/MnSOD in the flap was significantly increased, while the content of MDA was decreased. Cleaved caspase-3 and Bax were downregulated and Bcl-2 was upregulated in IR+rhGH group, compared to IR group. The levels of TLR4, Galectin-3 and p-p65 were decreased by rhGH. Conclusion rhGH had protective effects on flap IR injury, and can be used as a drug intervention target for the treatment of skin flap IR injury.

Since the very recent discovery of ferroic ordering under two dimensional limit, novel devices based on 2D ferroelectricity or ferromagnetism has attracted a lot of interests and are promising for next generation electronic and optoelectronic applications. We find that, below the transition temperature Tc ~320 K, ultrathin CuInP2S6 (CIPS) nanoflakes down to bilayer are still pyroelectric. Changing the temperature will lead to charge modification at the surface of CIPS. 2D pyroelectric nanogenerator is fabricated which can efficiently convert the pyroelectric charges into electrical current. This work will facilitate novel applications of pyroelectric and ferroelectric materials, including pyroelectric devices, thermal sensors, ultrathin nanogenerators and various van der Waals (vdW) heterostructure at room temperature. Ministry of Education (MOE) National Research Foundation (NRF) Accepted version This work was supported by the National Research Foundation Singapore under NRF award number NRF-RF2013-08, Tier 2 MOE2017-T2-2-136, Tier 2 MOE2016-T2-2-153, MOE2015-T2-2-007, Tier 1 RG7/18, Tier 1 RG4/17. X.F.L thanks the support from the Ministry of Science and Technology (2017YFA0205004 and 2016YFA0200700), National Natural Science Foundation of China (21673054 and 11874130), Natural Science Foundation of Beijing Municipality (4182076 and 4184109).

Background The proportion of asymptomatic carriers and transmission risk factors of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) among household and non-household contacts remains unclear. In Singapore, extensive contact tracing by the Ministry of Health for every diagnosed COVID-19 case, and legally enforced quarantine and intensive health surveillance of close contacts provided a rare opportunity to determine asymptomatic attack rates and SARS-CoV-2 transmission risk factors among community close contacts of patients with COVID-19. Methods This retrospective cohort study involved all close contacts of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Singapore, identified between Jan 23 and April 3, 2020. Household contacts were defined as individuals who shared a residence with the index COVID-19 case. Non-household close contacts were defined as those who had contact for at least 30 min within 2 m of the index case. All patients with COVID-19 in Singapore received inpatient treatment, with access restricted to health-care staff. All close contacts were quarantined for 14 days with thrice-daily symptom monitoring via telephone. Symptomatic contacts underwent PCR testing for SARS-CoV-2. Secondary clinical attack rates were derived from the prevalence of PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 among close contacts. Consenting contacts underwent serology testing and detailed exposure risk assessment. Bayesian modelling was used to estimate the prevalence of missed diagnoses and asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2-positive cases. Univariable and multivariable logistic regression models were used to determine SARS-CoV-2 transmission risk factors. Findings Between Jan 23 and April 3, 2020, 7770 close contacts (1863 household contacts, 2319 work contacts, and 3588 social contacts) linked to 1114 PCR-confirmed index cases were identified. Symptom-based PCR testing detected 188 COVID-19 cases, and 7582 close contacts completed quarantine without a positive SARS-CoV-2 PCR test. Among 7518 (96·8%) of the 7770 close contacts with complete data, the secondary clinical attack rate was 5·9% (95% CI 4·9–7·1) for 1779 household contacts, 1·3% (0·9–1·9) for 2231 work contacts, and 1·3% (1·0–1·7) for 3508 social contacts. Bayesian analysis of serology and symptom data obtained from 1150 close contacts (524 household contacts, 207 work contacts, and 419 social contacts) estimated that a symptom-based PCR-testing strategy missed 62% (95% credible interval 55–69) of COVID-19 diagnoses, and 36% (27–45) of individuals with SARS-CoV-2 infection were asymptomatic. Sharing a bedroom (multivariable odds ratio [OR] 5·38 [95% CI 1·82–15·84]; p=0·0023) and being spoken to by an index case for 30 min or longer (7·86 [3·86–16·02]; p

The COVID-19 epidemic requires accurate identification and isolation of confirmed cases for effective control. This report describes the effectiveness of our testing strategy and highlights the importance of repeat testing in suspected cases in our cohort.

Increases in the global population and urbanization have made people's demand for rational development and utilization of urban underground space (UUS) increasingly urgent. The underground sewage treatment plant (USTP) plays an important role in sustainable urbanization as part of the UUS. Nevertheless, problems such as high operating costs and large safety hazards still restrict the development of the USTP. In this paper we intend to summarize the current application of the USTP, reflecting the specific and novel aspects of the USTP, and also some technology drawbacks and main process update problems, providing some development suggestions. To do this, essential information on USTPs globally is simply and clearly revealed under due diligence, providing a development process for the USTP and making a prediction for its future development. Furthermore, combined with the main treatment process and ecological value analysis, we give a valid view of the good application prospects of the USTP, which provides a reference for the future construction of USTPs.

Recent discovery of piezoelectricity that existed in two-dimensional (2D) layered materials represents a key milestone for flexible electronics and miniaturized and wearable devices. However, so far the reported piezoelectricity in these 2D layered materials is too weak to be used for any practical applications. In this work, we discovered that grain boundaries (GBs) in monolayer MoS2 can significantly enhance its piezoelectric property. The output power of piezoelectric devices made of the butterfly-shaped monolayer MoS2 was improved about 50% by the GB-induced piezoelectric effect. The enhanced piezoelectricity is attributed to the additional piezoelectric effect induced by the existence of deformable GBs which can promote polarization and generates spontaneous polarization with different piezoelectric coefficients along various directions. We further made a flexible piezoelectric device based on the 2D MoS2 with the GBs and demonstrated its potential application in self-powered precision sensors for in situ detecting pressure changes in human blood for health monitoring.

The all-inorganic perovskite nanocrystals are currently in the research spotlight owing to their physical stability and superior optical properties—these features make them interesting for optoelectronic and photovoltaic applications. Here, we report on the observation of highly efficient carrier multiplication in colloidal CsPbI3 nanocrystals prepared by a hot-injection method. The carrier multiplication process counteracts thermalization of hot carriers and as such provides the potential to increase the conversion efficiency of solar cells. We demonstrate that carrier multiplication commences at the threshold excitation energy near the energy conservation limit of twice the band gap, and has step-like characteristics with an extremely high quantum yield of up to 98%. Using ultrahigh temporal resolution, we show that carrier multiplication induces a longer build-up of the free carrier concentration, thus providing important insights into the physical mechanism responsible for this phenomenon. The evidence is obtained using three independent experimental approaches, and is conclusive., In semiconductor nanocrystals, efficient carrier multiplication counteracts hot carrier thermalization, increasing the overall carrier generation yield. Here, de Weerd et al. observe a quantum yield of up to 98% in CsPbI3 nanocrystals as a result of efficient carrier multiplication.

This paper addresses how to improve the computational efficiency and estimation reliability in cascading outage analysis. Under mild assumptions, we first formulate a cascading outage as a Markov model with specific state space and transition probability by leveraging the Markov property of cascading outages. Such a model provides a rigorous formulation that allows analytic investigation on cascading outages in the framework of standard mathematical statistics. Then, we derive a sequential importance sampling (SIS)-based strategy for cascading outage simulations and blackout risk analysis with solid theoretical foundation. Numerical experiments manifest that the proposed SIS strategy can significantly enhance the efficiency of simulations and reduce the estimation variance of blackout probability/risk compared with the traditional Monte Carlo simulation strategy.

Vibration therapy has been shown to improve fracture healing. In this study, we investigated the effects of continuous or different intermittent vibration regimens on fracture healing in sheep models on the basis of radiographs, mechanical, and biochemical testing. The 63 right-hind metatarsals from 63 sheep (12-month-old) were osteotomized; followed by surgical fixation with a steel plate. Two weeks after the surgery, the sheep with right-hind metatarsal fractures were randomly divided into seven groups (n=9/group): control (no vibration treated), continuous vibration (CV), one, three, five, seven and 14-day intermittent vibration (named IV-1, -3, -5, -7, and -14, respectively) groups, which represented a cycle of the successive n-day vibration and successive n-day break. Vibration stimulation (F=35 Hz, a=0.25 g) lasted 15 minutes each treatment. After eight weeks with/without vibration treatment, the sheep were euthanized with intravenous anesthetic. The callus formation, mechanical properties, and biochemical compositions of fracture metatarsals were analyzed. In CV and IV-7 groups, X-ray images showed an increased callus volume around the fracture area. The bone elastic modulus and the concentrations of Ca, P, and Ca/P ratio of the area at 15 and 25 mm away from the fracture centerline were higher in CV and IV-7 groups compared with the other groups. Our results demonstrate that both CV and IV-7 vibration patterns showed better improvement of fracture healing.

Continuous microwave pyrolysis, an advanced method that can realize continuous large-scale feeding under high temperature, has the potential to improve the yield and quality of biofuels, which can address the limits of batch microwave pyrolysis of low efficiencies of resources and energy. However, the energy conversion and pyrolysis mechanisms of continuous microwave pyrolysis remain poorly understood, which may be a key to its highly efficient industrial application. This work addresses this issue by comparing the distribution, compositions, and quality of biofuels obtained by two pyrolysis technologies and then the energy efficiency is analyzed in detail. Thus, the energy conversion mechanism and pyrolysis mechanism of continuous microwave pyrolysis was explored via in-depth study of batch microwave pyrolysis in previous studies. The results demonstrate that continuous microwave pyrolysis offers advantages in terms of the increased yields and quality of biofuels. The maximum biofuels yield of continuous microwave pyrolysis was 72.16% and the maximum lower heating value of bio-gas and bio-oil was 19.50 MJ/Nm3 and 25.58 MJ/Kg, respectively. Moreover, continuous microwave pyrolysis significantly improved energy efficiency of the process under extended continuous operation, which reached a maximum of 18.47%. The improved performance of continuous microwave pyrolysis is due to continuous high-temperature instantaneous feeding coupling with the conveying and stirring functions of auger increase of the mass transfer and heat transfer between the feedstock and pyrolysis products. This work provides an appropriate process option and theoretical basis of continuous microwave pyrolysis for developing the industrial production of high-grade biofuels from wastes.

Changing dengue epidemiological trends have resulted in a shift in the disease burden to the adult population. Older adults suffer from poorer outcomes as compared to their younger counterparts, making clinical management of this sub-population particularly challenging. Areas covered: We present a review of the current literature on the changing epidemiology of dengue in the elderly, the atypical features of the clinical disease in this population with emphasis on severe disease presentations and challenges in the current management strategies. Expert commentary: Dengue in the elderly is an increasingly important yet greatly understudied area. There is an urgent need to refine the current diagnostic criteria to improve diagnosis, classification of disease severity and identify individuals in this population who are likely to progress to severe disease. Management strategies in this population would have to be adjusted to account for the increased number of co-morbidities. The role of the available dengue vaccines in this group is uncertain, and more studies into their safety and efficacy are critically needed.

// Wei Li 1, * , Li Qian 2, * , Junhao Lin 1 , Guihai Huang 1 , Nan Hao 1 , Xiuwang Wei 1 , Wei Wang 1 and Jianbo Liang 1 1 Department of Urology, The People’s Hospital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, NanNing, China 2 Department of Pharmacy, The People’s Hospital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, NanNing, China * These authors have contributed equally to this work Correspondence to: Wei Li, email: liwei95_2000@163.com Keywords: prostate cancer, CD44, PDK1, PFKFB4, metabolism Received: February 04, 2017 Accepted: April 05, 2017 Published: May 11, 2017 ABSTRACT Our recent studies have shown that CD44, a cell-surface protein with functions in many biologic processes, involved in glucose metabolism of prostate cancer cells. However, the molecular mechanisms of the regulation need to be further elucidated. In present study, LNCaP cells infected with lentivirus vector overexpressing CD44. The expression levels of key enzymes in glucose metabolism known as PDK1 and PFKFB4 were determined using QRT-PCR and western blot. PDK1 and PFKFB4 in LNCaP and PC3 cells were knocked down with shRNA respectively, and then cell proliferation, invasion and cell migration assay were performed. We found that overexpression of CD44 increased expression levels of PDK1 and PFKFB4 in LNCaP cells. Silencing of PDK1 and PFKFB4 could decrease cell proliferation, inhibit invasion and migration ability of prostate cancer cells. In addition, CD44 inhibitor could decrease glucose consumption and increase ROS levels of PC-3 cells significantly, as well as sensitize PC-3 cells to docetaxel. Taken together, CD44 could modulate aggressive phenotype of prostate cancer cells, by regulation of the expression of PDK1 and PFKFB4. CD44 may be a novel potential therapeutic target.

// Junhao Lin 1, 3, * , Yonghao Zhan 1, 2, * , Yuchen Liu 1, * , Zhicong Chen 1 , Jianbo Liang 3 , Wei Li 3 , Anbang He 1 , Liqun Zhou 2 , Hongbin Mei 1 , Feng Wang 1 , Weiren Huang 1, 2 1 Department of Urology, State Engineering Laboratory of Medical Key Technologies Application of Synthetic Biology, Key Laboratory of Medical Reprogramming Technology, Shenzhen Second People’s Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518035, Guangdong, China 2 Department of Urology, Peking University First Hospital, Institute of Urology, Peking University, National Urological Cancer Centre, 100034, Beijing, China 3 Department of Urology, The People’s Hospital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Nanning 530021, Guangxi, China * These authors have contributed equally to this work Correspondence to: Weiren Huang, email: pony8980@163.com Keywords: long non-coding RNA, ZEB1-AS1, tumorigenesis, histopathological grade, bladder cancer Received: June 15, 2016 Accepted: January 04, 2017 Published: February 20, 2017 ABSTRACT Bladder cancer is one of the most common urinary cancers worldwide. Emerging studies indicated that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play crucial roles in cancer biology. In this study, we found that a novel lncRNA Zinc finger E-box-binding homeebox1 (ZEB1) antisense RNA (ZEB1-AS1) was overexpressed in bladder cancer tissues compared to paired noncancerous tissues. Moreover, the expression of ZEB1-AS1 was positive correlated with higher histological grade and TNM stage in bladder cancer. Furthermore, Loss-of-function experiments showed that down-regulation of ZEB1-AS1 not only can suppress cell growth but also can inhibit migration and induce apoptosis in bladder cancer cell lines 5637 and SW780. In conclusion, these findings indicated that ZEB1-AS1 plays regulatory roles in bladder cancer and it may become a novel molecular biomarker of prognosis and therapy in bladder cancer.

Power flow routing is an emerging control paradigm for the dynamic control of electric power flows. In this paper, we propose a generic model of a power flow router (PFR) and incorporate it into the optimal power flow (OPF) problem. First, a generic PFR architecture is proposed to encapsulate the desired functions of PFRs. Then, the load flow model of PFRs is developed and incorporated into the OPF framework. To pursue global optimality of the non-convex PFR-incorporated OPF (PFR-OPF) problem, we develop a semidefinite programming (SDP) relaxation of PFR-OPF. By introducing the regularization terms that favor a low-rank solution and tuning the penalty coefficients, a rank-1 solution can be obtained and used for recovering an optimal or near-optimal solution of the PFR-OPF and the results are verified in numerical tests. The efficacy of the PFR-OPF framework allows us to investigate the impact of PFR integration. With the system loadability as an example, the numerical results show that remarkable enhancement can be achieved by installing PFRs at certain critical buses of the network.

BaZrS3 is a prototypical chalcogenide perovskite, an emerging class of unconventional semiconductor. Recent results on powder samples reveal that it is a material with a direct band gap of 1.7–1.8 eV, a very strong light-matter interaction, and a high chemical stability. Due to the lack of quality thin films, however, many fundamental properties of chalcogenide perovskites remain unknown, hindering their applications in optoelectronics. Here we report the fabrication of BaZrS3 thin films, by sulfurization of oxide films deposited by pulsed laser deposition. We show that these films are n-type with carrier densities in the range of 1019-1020 cm−3. Depending on the processing temperature, the Hall mobility ranges from 2.1 to 13.7 cm2/Vs. The absorption coefficient is > 105 cm−1 at photon energy >1.97 eV. Temperature dependent conductivity measurements suggest shallow donor levels. By assuring that BaZrS3 is a promising candidate, these results potentially unleash the family of chalcogenide perovskites for optoelectronics such as photodetectors, photovoltaics, and light emitting diodes.

PtSe2, a layered two-dimensional transition-metal dichalcogenide (TMD), has drawn intensive attention owing to its layer-dependent band structure, high air stability, and spin-layer locking effect which can be used in various applications for next-generation optoelectronic and electronic devices or catalysis applications. However, synthesis of PtSe2 is highly challenging due to the low chemical reactivity of Pt sources. Here, we report the chemical vapor deposition of monolayer PtSe2 single crystals on MoSe2. The periodic Moiré patterns from the vertically stacked heterostructure (PtSe2/MoSe2) are clearly identified via annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy. First-principles calculations show a type II band alignment and reveal interface states originating from the strong-weak interlayer coupling (SWIC) between PtSe2 and MoSe2 monolayers, which is supported by the electrostatic force microscopy imaging. Ultrafast hole transfer between PtSe2 and MoSe2 monolayers is observed in the PtSe2/MoSe2 heterostructure, matching well with the theoretical results. Our study will shed light on the synthesis of Pt-based TMD heterostructures and boost the realization of SWIC-based optoelectronic devices. Ministry of Education (MOE) National Research Foundation (NRF) Accepted version

Purpose: To investigate the effect of intermittent vibration at different intervals on bone fracture healing and optimize the vibration interval. Methods: Ninety sheep were randomized to receive no treatment (the control group), incision only (the sham control group), internal fixation with or without metatarsal fracture (the internal fixation group), and continuous vibration in addition to internal fixation of metatarsal fracture, or intermittent vibration at 1, 2, 3, 5, 7 and 17-day interval in addition to internal fixation of metatarsal fracture (the vibration group). Vibration was done at frequency F=35 Hz, acceleration a=0.25g, 15 min each time 2 weeks after bone fracture. Bone healing was evaluated by micro-CT scan, bone microstructure and mechanical compression of finite element simulation. Results: Intermittent vibration at 7-day interval significantly improved bone fracture healing grade. However, no significant changes on microstructure parameters and mechanical properties were observed among sheep receiving vibration at different intervals. Conclusions: Clinical healing effects should be the top concern. Quantitative analyses of bone microstructure and of finite element mechanics on the process of fracture healing need to be further investigated.

The charge density wave (CDW) in two-dimensional (2D) materials is attracting substantial interest because of its magnificent many-body collective phenomena. Various CDW phases have been observed in several 2D materials before they reach the phase of superconductivity. However, to date, the atomically thin CDW materials were mainly fabricated by mechanically exfoliating from their bulk counterparts, which leads to low production yield and small sample sizes. Here, we report the controlled synthesis of atomically thin 1T-TaS2, a typical CDW material, by a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method. The high quality of as-grown 1T-TaS2 has been confirmed by complementary characterization technologies. Moreover, the thickness-dependent CDW phase transitions have been revealed in these ultrathin flakes by temperature-dependent Raman spectra. This work opens up a new window for the large-scale synthesis of ultrathin CDW materials and sheds light on the fabrication of next-generation electronic devices.

2D layered MoS2 has drawn intense attention for its applications in flexible electronic, optoelectronic, and spintronic devices. Most of the MoS2 atomic layers grown by conventional chemical vapor deposition techniques are n-type due to the abundant sulfur vacancies. Facile production of MoS2 atomic layers with p-type behavior, however, remains challenging. Here, a novel one-step growth has been developed to attain p-type MoS2 layers in large scale by using Mo-containing sol–gel, including 1% tungsten (W). Atomic-resolution electron microscopy characterization reveals that small tungsten oxide clusters are commonly present on the as-grown MoS2 film due to the incomplete reduction of W precursor at the reaction temperature. These omnipresent small tungsten oxide clusters contribute to the p-type behavior, as verified by density functional theory calculations, while preserving the crystallinity of the MoS2 atomic layers. The Mo containing sol–gel precursor is compatible with the soft-lithography techniques, which enables patterned growth of p-type MoS2 atomic layers into regular arrays with different shapes, holding great promise for highly integrated device applications. Furthermore, an atomically thin p–n junction is fabricated by the as-prepared MoS2, which shows strong rectifying behavior.

The emergence of semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) atomic layers has opened up unprecedented opportunities in atomically thin electronics. Yet the scalable growth of TMD layers with large grain sizes and uniformity has remained very challenging. Here is reported a simple, scalable chemical vapor deposition approach for the growth of MoSe2 layers is reported, in which the nucleation density can be reduced from 105 to 25 nuclei cm-2, leading to millimeter-scale MoSe2 single crystals as well as continuous macrocrystalline films with millimeter size grains. The selective growth of monolayers and multilayered MoSe2 films with well-defined stacking orientation can also be controlled via tuning the growth temperature. In addition, periodic defects, such as nanoscale triangular holes, can be engineered into these layers by controlling the growth conditions. The low density of grain boundaries in the films results in high average mobilities, around ≈42 cm2 V-1 s-1, for back-gated MoSe2 transistors. This generic synthesis approach is also demonstrated for other TMD layers such as millimeter-scale WSe2 single crystals.

The long granulation time and instability of aerobic granular sludge (AGS) have restricted its large-scale application significantly. The objective of this review is to discuss the recent achievements and progress made in the field of rapid granulation and granule stability. To this end, we review more than one hundred studies in this field. In this review, four fast granulation methods, namely the addition of metal ions, the addition of a carrier, seeding with AGS, and inoculation using special strains are considered. Three stability enhancement strategies, namely, the improvement of the influent substrate, the selection of slow-growing microorganisms, and the addition of carrier particles, are also discussed. Finally, the potential of these strategies to accelerate granulation and increase the stability of granules in large-scale applications is discussed. In addition, combining a carrier with other strategies to promote granulation and improve stability is proposed. Furthermore, the prospect of enhancing the transmission of signal molecules in quorum sensing systems to promote sludge granulation and improve granule stability are discussed.

The interest in mid-infrared technologies surrounds plenty of important optoelectronic applications ranging from optical communications, biomedical imaging to night vision cameras, and so on. Although narrow bandgap semiconductors, such as Mercury Cadmium Telluride and Indium Antimonide, and quantum superlattices based on inter-subband transitions in wide bandgap semiconductors, have been employed for mid-infrared applications, it remains a daunting challenge to search for other materials that possess suitable bandgaps in this wavelength range. Here, we demonstrate experimentally for the first time that two-dimensional (2D) atomically thin PtSe2 has a variable bandgap in the mid-infrared via layer and defect engineering. Here, we show that bilayer PtSe2 combined with defects modulation possesses strong light absorption in the mid-infrared region, and we realize a mid-infrared photoconductive detector operating in a broadband mid-infrared range. Our results pave the way for atomically thin 2D noble metal dichalcogenides to be employed in high-performance mid-infrared optoelectronic devices., The mid-infrared technologies are essential to various applications but suffer from limited materials with suitable bandgap. Here the authors demonstrate that two-dimensional atomically thin PtSe2 with variable bandgaps in the mid-infrared via layer and defect engineering is highly promising for mid-infrared optoelectronics.

All-inorganic cesium lead halide perovskite nanocrystals are extensively studied because of their outstanding optoelectronic properties. Being of a cubic shape and typically featuring a narrow size distribution, CsPbX3 (X = Cl, Br, and I) nanocrystals are the ideal starting material for the development of homogeneous thin films as required for photovoltaic and optoelectronic applications. Recent experiments reveal spontaneous merging of drop-casted CsPbBr3 nanocrystals, which is promoted by humidity and mild-temperature treatments and arrested by electron beam irradiation. Here, we make use of atom-resolved annular dark-field imaging microscopy and valence electron energy loss spectroscopy in a state-of-the-art low-voltage monochromatic scanning transmission electron microscope to investigate the aggregation between individual nanocrystals at the atomic level. We show that the merging process preserves the elemental composition and electronic structure of CsPbBr3 and takes place between nanocrystals of different sizes and orientations. In particular, we reveal seamless stitching for aligned nanocrystals, similar to that reported in the past for graphene flakes. Because the crystallographic alignment occurs naturally in drop-casted layers of CsPbX3 nanocrystals, our findings constitute the essential first step toward the development of large-area nanosheets with band gap energies predesigned by the nanocrystal choice - the gateway to large-scale photovoltaic applications of inorganic perovskites.

III–IV layered materials such as indium selenide have excellent photoelectronic properties. However, synthesis of materials in such group, especially with a controlled thickness down to monolayer, still remains challenging. Herein, we demonstrate the successful synthesis of monolayer InSe by physical vapor deposition (PVD) method. The high quality of the sample was confirmed by complementary characterization techniques such as Raman spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy (AFM) and high resolution annular dark field scanning transmission electron microscopy (ADF-STEM). We found the co-existence of different stacking sequence (β- and γ-InSe) in the same flake with a sharp grain boundary in few-layered InSe. Edge reconstruction is also observed in monolayer InSe, which has a distinct atomic structure from the bulk lattice. Moreover, we discovered that the second-harmonic generation (SHG) signal from monolayer InSe shows large optical second-order susceptibility that is 1–2 orders of magnitude higher than MoS2, and even 3 times of the largest value reported in monolayer GaSe. These results make atom-thin InSe a promising candidate for optoelectronic and photosensitive device applications. NRF (Natl Research Foundation, S’pore)

Background There is no clear consensus on the diagnosis of neurosyphilis. The Venereal Disease Research Laboratory (VDRL) test from cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) has traditionally been considered the gold standard for diagnosing neurosyphilis, but is widely known to be insensitive. Objective In this study, we compared the clinical and laboratory characteristics of true positive VDRL-CSF cases with biological false positive VDRL-CSF cases. Methods We retrospectively identified cases of true and false positive VDRL-CSF across a 3-year period received by the Immunology and Serology Laboratory, Singapore General Hospital. A biological false positive VDRL-CSF is defined as a reactive VDRL-CSF with a non-reactive Treponema pallidum particle agglutination (TPPA)-CSF and/or negative Line Immuno Assay (LIA)-CSF IgG. A true positive VDRL-CSF is a reactive VDRL-CSF with a concordant reactive TPPA-CSF and/or positive LIA-CSF IgG. Results During the study period, a total of 1,254 specimens underwent VDRL-CSF examination. Among these, 60 specimens from 53 patients tested positive for VDRL-CSF. Of the 53 patients, 42 (79.2%) were true positive cases and 11 (20.8%) were false positive cases. In our setting, a positive non-treponemal serology has 97.6% sensitivity, 100% specificity, 100% positive predictive value, and 91.7% negative predictive value for a true positive VDRL-CSF based on our laboratory definition. HIV seropositivity was an independent predictor of a true positive VDRL-CSF. Conclusion Biological false positive VDRL-CSF is common in a setting where patients are tested without first establishing a serological diagnosis of syphilis. Serological testing should be performed prior to CSF evaluation for neurosyphilis. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Syphilis has been known to present in a myriad of symptoms throughout the ages, and until this day, the diagnosis remains elusive to the modern physician. We present 2 unusual cases of syphilis that posed diagnostic challenges even in the current era of new and advancing diagnostic tests.

In the pursuit of ultrasmall electronic components, monolayer electronic devices have recently been fabricated using transition-metal dichalcogenides. Monolayers of these materials are semiconducting, but nanowires with stoichiometry MX (M = Mo or W, X = S or Se) have been predicted to be metallic. Such nanowires have been chemically synthesized. However, the controlled connection of individual nanowires to monolayers, an important step in creating a two-dimensional integrated circuit, has so far remained elusive. In this work, by steering a focused electron beam, we directly fabricate MX nanowires that are less than a nanometre in width and Y junctions that connect designated points within a transition-metal dichalcogenide monolayer. In situ electrical measurements demonstrate that these nanowires are metallic, so they may serve as interconnects in future flexible nanocircuits fabricated entirely from the same monolayer. Sequential atom-resolved Z-contrast images reveal that the nanowires rotate and flex continuously under momentum transfer from the electron beam, while maintaining their structural integrity. They therefore exhibit self-adaptive connections to the monolayer from which they are sculpted. We find that the nanowires remain conductive while undergoing severe mechanical deformations, thus showing promise for mechanically robust flexible electronics. Density functional theory calculations further confirm the metallicity of the nanowires and account for their beam-induced mechanical behaviour. These results show that direct patterning of one-dimensional conducting nanowires in two-dimensional semiconducting materials with nanometre precision is possible using electron-beam-based techniques.

Due to the increasing concern for greenhouse gas emissions and fossil fuel security, electric vehicles (EVs) have attracted much attention in recent years. EVs can aggregate together constituting the vehicle-to-grid system. Coordination of EVs is beneficial to the power system in many ways. In this paper, we formulate a novel large-scale EV charging problem with energy trading in order to maximize the aggregator profit. This problem is non-convex and can be solved with a centralized iterative approach. To overcome the computation complexity issue brought by the non-convexity, we develop a distributed optimization-based heuristic. To evaluate our proposed approach, a modified IEEE 118 bus testing system is employed with 10 aggregators serving 30 000 EVs. The simulation results indicate that our proposed distributed heuristic with energy trading can effectively increase the total profit of aggregators. In addition, the proposed distributed optimization-based heuristic strategy can achieve near-optimal performance.

Two-dimensional (2D) materials have emerged as promising candidates for various optoelectronic applications based on their diverse electronic properties, ranging from insulating to superconducting. However, cooperative phenomena such as ferroelectricity in the 2D limit have not been well explored. Here, we report room-temperature ferroelectricity in 2D CuInP2S6 (CIPS) with a transition temperature of ∼320 K. Switchable polarization is observed in thin CIPS of ∼4 nm. To demonstrate the potential of this 2D ferroelectric material, we prepare a van der Waals (vdW) ferroelectric diode formed by CIPS/Si heterostructure, which shows good memory behaviour with on/off ratio of ∼100. The addition of ferroelectricity to the 2D family opens up possibilities for numerous novel applications, including sensors, actuators, non-volatile memory devices, and various vdW heterostructures based on 2D ferroelectricity., Two dimensional materials are promising for electronic applications, which await the exploration of cooperative phenomena. Here, Liu et al. report switchable ferroelectric polarization in thin CuInP2S6 film at room temperature, demonstrating good memory behaviour with on/off ratio of ∼100 based on two-dimensional ferroelectricity.

Synthesized two-dimensional GaSe/MoSe2 misfit heterostructures form p-n junctions with a gate-tunable photovoltaic response., Two-dimensional (2D) heterostructures hold the promise for future atomically thin electronics and optoelectronics because of their diverse functionalities. Although heterostructures consisting of different 2D materials with well-matched lattices and novel physical properties have been successfully fabricated via van der Waals (vdW) epitaxy, constructing heterostructures from layered semiconductors with large lattice misfits remains challenging. We report the growth of 2D GaSe/MoSe2 heterostructures with a large lattice misfit using two-step chemical vapor deposition (CVD). Both vertically stacked and lateral heterostructures are demonstrated. The vertically stacked GaSe/MoSe2 heterostructures exhibit vdW epitaxy with well-aligned lattice orientation between the two layers, forming a periodic superlattice. However, the lateral heterostructures exhibit no lateral epitaxial alignment at the interface between GaSe and MoSe2 crystalline domains. Instead of a direct lateral connection at the boundary region where the same lattice orientation is observed between GaSe and MoSe2 monolayer domains in lateral GaSe/MoSe2 heterostructures, GaSe monolayers are found to overgrow MoSe2 during CVD, forming a stripe of vertically stacked vdW heterostructures at the crystal interface. Such vertically stacked vdW GaSe/MoSe2 heterostructures are shown to form p-n junctions with effective transport and separation of photogenerated charge carriers between layers, resulting in a gate-tunable photovoltaic response. These GaSe/MoSe2 vdW heterostructures should have applications as gate-tunable field-effect transistors, photodetectors, and solar cells.

Background We studied the multiplex PCR panel (BioFire Blood Culture ID panel, “BCID”) with phenotypic testing using the Rosco Diagnostica Rapid ESBL Screen kit 98022 (RE) and the Neo-Rapid CARB kit 98024 (RC) for extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)/carbapenemase producing Gram negative bacilli (CPGNB) detection directly from blood culture bottles, in patients with Gram negative bacteremia. Methods The RE and RC kits were evaluated in a verification phase with 98 blood cultures, comprising 43 spiked with GNB: 23 Escherichia coli, 9 Klebsiella pneumoniae, 7 Enterobacter cloacae, 2 Serratia marcescens, one Pseudomonas aeruginosa, one Acinetobacter baumanii complex with varying resistance genotypes (11 CTX-M-15, 5 CTX-M9, one SHV-18, one SHV-3, one TEM-10, 3 IMI, 4 IMP, 4 KPC, 2 NDM, one OXA-23+OXA-51-like, 3 OXA-232, one OXA-48, one SME-1, 2 VIM-1, 2 AmpC from reference and clinical isolate banks, and ATCC 25922), and 54 clinical blood cultures with GNB (5 phenotypic ESBL-positive, one KPC, 48 no known β-lactamase). In a prospective phase, a further 123 clinical blood cultures positive for GNB were tested simultaneously with the BCID, RE and RC kits. Results In the verification phase, the RE kit detected 24/25 of ESBL-positive samples (sensitivity 96%, specificity 99%). The RE kit did not detect the 2 AmpC-producers, and was positive for a K. oxytoca isolate, which are known to produce chromosomally encoded β-lactamases. The RC kit detected 11/22 of CPGNB (sensitivity 50%, specificity 100%). It missed IMI, OXA-23+OXA-51-like, OXA-232, OXA-48, SME-1 and VIM CPGNB (weak carbapenemases), but detected NDM, KPC, IMP. In the prospective phase, the RE kit detected 20/20 ESBL-positive blood culture samples (sensitivity 100%). The single OXA-48 positive sample was detected by both the RE and RC kits. The 123 blood cultures had a total of 125 panel-represented targets detectable by BCID. The BCID detected 124 /125 (missed one K. pneumoniae in a polymicrobial bacteremia), and there were 2 Proteus false-positives (sensitivity 99%, specificity 98%). No KPC-positive samples were detected by BCID. Conclusion An algorithm comprising the BCID and the RE/RC kits applied to positive blood cultures allows both rapid and accurate pathogen identification and detection of ESBLs and some carbapenemases (e.g., KPC, NDM, IMP). This may allow the institution of timelier, directed therapy. Disclosures S. Vasoo, bioMerieux: Grant Investigator, Research support. Rosco Diagnostica: In-kind support, Research support. R. Banerjee, Accelerate Diagnostics, Biomerieux, BioFire: Grant Investigator, Research grant and Research support. R. Patel, CD Diagnostics, BioFire, Curetis, Merck, Hutchison Biofilm Medical Solutions, Accelerate Diagnostics, Allergan, and The Medicines Company: Grant Investigator, Research grant - monies paid to Mayo Clinic. Curetis, Specific Technologies, Selux Dx, GenMark Diagnostics, PathoQuest and Genentech: Consultant and Scientific Advisor, Consulting fee - monies paid to Mayo Clinic. ASM and IDSA: Travel reimbursement and editor’s stipends, Travel reimbursement and editor’s stipends. NBME, Up-to-Date and the Infectious Diseases Board Review Course: Varies, Honoraria. Mayo Clinic: Employee, Salary.

While the exfoliation of almost all layered materials results in a monolayer with the same atomic geometry as its bulk counterpart, the exfoliation of PdSe2 results in a monolayer with a different atomic geometry and a new stoichiometry, Pd2Se3, which is a fusion of two PdSe2 monolayers mediated by Se emission. Here we first report first-principles calculations of lateral junctions between a PdSe2 bilayer and a Pd2Se3 monolayer. We find that, while several distinct junction geometries are possible, they all exhibit empty interface states below the conduction band. As a result, light n-type doping of either or both sides, e.g. by halogen atoms replacing Se atoms, leads to a remotely-doped interface, i.e. a 1D conducting nanowire that runs along the junction, in between the two semiconductors. We have fabricated such junctions inside a scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM), but doping and transport measurements are not currently practical.

The uncertainty and variability of renewable energy sources are challenging problems in the operation of power systems. In this paper, we focus on the robust dispatch of generators to overcome the uncertainty of renewable power predictions. The energy management costs of supply, spinning reserve, and power losses, are jointly optimized by the proposed robust optimal power flow (OPF) method with a column-and-constraint generation algorithm. Conic relaxation is applied to the non-convex alternating-current power flow regions with the phase angle constraints for loops retained by linear approximation. The proposed method allows us to solve the robust OPF problem efficiently with good accuracy and to incorporate power flow controllers and routers into the OPF framework. Numerical results on the IEEE Reliability Test System show the efficacy of our robust dispatch strategy in guaranteeing immunity against uncertain renewable generation, as well as in reducing the energy management costs through power flow routing.