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Understanding object representations requires a broad, comprehensive sampling of the objects in our visual world with dense measurements of brain activity and behavior. Here we present THINGS-data, a multimodal collection of large-scale neuroimaging and behavioral datasets in humans, comprising densely-sampled functional MRI and magnetoencephalographic recordings, as well as 4.70 million similarity judgments in response to thousands of photographic images for up to 1,854 object concepts. THINGS-data is unique in its breadth of richly-annotated objects, allowing for testing countless hypotheses at scale while assessing the reproducibility of previous findings. Beyond the unique insights promised by each individual dataset, the multimodality of THINGS-data allows combining datasets for a much broader view into object processing than previously possible. Our analyses demonstrate the high quality of the datasets and provide five examples of hypothesis-driven and data-driven applications. THINGS-data constitutes the core public release of the THINGS initiative (https://things-initiative.org) for bridging the gap between disciplines and the advancement of cognitive neuroscience.

This study aimed to compare the outcomes of three surgical techniques for the treatment of patients with benign parotid tumours: superficial parotidectomy (SP; group 1), partial superficial parotidectomy (PSP; group 2), and ultrasonic scalpel-assisted minimal extracapsular dissection (US-MECD; group 3). Groups 1 and 2 received the conventional surgical technique, while group 3 underwent surgery with an ultrasonic scalpel. A total of 281 patients treated during 2012-2016 were included: 98 in group 1, 91 in group 2, and 92 in group 3. The mean surgical time and blood loss during surgery, as well as drainage time and amount, were significantly lower for US-MECD (P0.01). The great auricular nerve and parotid fascia were both preserved with US-MECD (P0.01), while the rate of capsule rupture with US-MECD was slightly higher than in the other groups (P0.05). There was less transient facial nerve paralysis and Frey syndrome with US-MECD (P0.01). No significant difference in wound infection, sialocele, or permanent facial nerve paralysis was observed among the three groups. Patients enrolled during 2012-2013 were selected to evaluate the recurrence rates, and no statistically significant differences were found among the groups. In conclusion, US-MECD showed similar effectiveness and fewer side effects than SP and PSP. The long-term effects of the new technique require further study.

In this study, Y-doped HfO2 (HYO) high-k gate dielectric thin films have been deposited on cleaned n-type Si wafers by using co-sputtering technique. Annealing temperature dependent structural, optical, interfacial and electrical properties of HYO have been systemically studied using the x-ray diffraction (XRD), ultraviolet–visible spectroscope (UV–Vis), spectroscopy ellipsometry (SE), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and electrical measurements. Based on XRD measurements, it can be noted that cubic phase has been detected and remained while doping with yttrium element and annealing at high temperature. Optical analysis by SE indicates that incorporation of Y into HfO2 can enlarge the band gap and decrease the refraction index of the samples. High temperature annealing leads to the formation of low-k SiO2 layer and silicate. Electrical measurements have demonstrated that MOS capacitor based on HYO/Si gate stack annealed at 400 °C shows excellent electrical properties, such as high dielectric constant, low oxide charge density border trapped oxide charge density and leakage current density, which can be attributed to the increase in band gap and conduction band offset by Y incorporation.

Annealing temperature dependent microstructure, optical and electrical properties of sol-gel-deposited HfGdO high-k gate dielectric thin films on Si substrates are systematically investigated. X-ray spectroscopy (XPS) analyses have confirmed that the interfacial layer at HfGdO/Si interface is mainly silicate and the component increases with increasing the annealing temperature. Moreover, the band offsets for HfGdO/Si gate stack as a function of annealing temperature also have been determined. As a result, it can be noted that increase in valence band offset (Δ E v ) and reduction in conduction band offset (Δ E c ) have been detected. Electrical characterizations have indicated that higher annealing temperature effectively improves the electrical characteristics, such as the increased effective permittivity ( k ) and the decreased flat band voltage shift (Δ V fb ). However, due to the reduced Δ E c and the appearance of crystallization, increased leakage current density has been observed with the increase in annealing temperature.

Combined cooling, heating and power (CCHP) is a promising technology to provide energy for various energy consumers for its good economic, energy and environmental performance. However, the widely promotion of CCHP is hindered by its complex design and varying performance under different situations. In this paper, the influence of energy demands, operation strategy and thermal energy storage strategy on optimal design and performance of CCHP systems is studied by using statistical methods 13,472 energy demand samples for 16 types of building across 7 climate zones in the U.S. are used in the paper. On the whole, building energy demands are the most influential factor. Among the building types, the performance of large hotel, hospital and outpatient healthcare is outstanding. Among the climate zones, CCHP systems have better performance in cold and very cold climate zones. For operation strategies, the ATCSR and PESR values of the FTL mode are averagely less than those of the FEL mode, and the differences between the two modes for ATCSR and PESR are on average 0.25% and 1.03%, respectively. Besides, the use of thermal energy storage can improve the integrated performance of CCHP. In the FEL-TES mode, the average increments of ATCSR and PESR are 0.82% and 0.79%, respectively. In the FTL-TES mode, the average increments of ATCSR and PESR mode can reach 3.42% and 3.46%, respectively. The relationship between building energy demand indexes and the design and performance parameters of the CCHP is also explored by stepwise regression method to build regression models and determine the most effective parameters.

In this article, the effect of annealing temperature on the electronic structure and interface chemistry of HfAlO/Ge gate stack grown by atomic layer deposition (ALD) have been investigated systematically. Based on characterization from x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), the evolution of electronic structure and interface chemistry of HfAlO/Ge gate stacks as functions of annealing temperature been detected. With increasing the annealing temperature from 500 to 600 °C, crystallization of HfAlO gate dielectrics has been observed. Annealing the samples on 700 °C leads to the reduction of HfAlO component and the formation of Al 2 O 3 , which brings about the improved interface stability. The optimized interface chemistry related to annealing temperature indicates the potential application for HfAlO gate dielectrics in future Ge-based microelectronic device.

In this work, the interface chemistry and the reduction of GaAs surface species by using (NH 4 ) 2 S solution prior to Gd-doped HfO 2 (HGO) thin film deposition and the removal of Ga Oxides and elemental As by rapid thermal annealing (RTA) have been investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Additionally, the effect of the surface passivation and rapid thermal annealing on the electrical properties of MOS capacitors based on sputtering-derived HGO as gate dielectric on GaAs substrate has been detected by means of capacitance-voltage ( C-V ) and leakage current density-voltage ( J-V ) measurements. Based on electrical analysis, it can be noted that the constantly improvement of electrical properties, such as the decreases of flat band voltage (V fb ), hysteresis (ΔV fb ), oxide charge density (O ox ), border trapped oxide charge density (N bt ) and leakage current density, have been observed. Especially, the dielectric constant of 16.72, flat band voltage V fb of 1.19 V, hysteresis ΔV fb of 0.04 V, leakage current density of 1.54 × 10 −5 A/cm 2 at bias voltage of 1 V, total positive charge density and border trap charge density of 6.09 × 10 12 cm −2 and 2.54 × 10 11 cm −2 , respectively render 600 °C-annealed HGO thin films, potential high-k gate dielectrics in future CMOS devices.

A combined cooling, heating, and power (CCHP) system based on biomass-derived gas has great potential in reducing fossil fuels consumption and CO2 emission. However, heating value of various biomass-derived gases is relatively low, which might restrict performance of the system. Hence, effect of LPG addition on a CCHP system based on different biomass-derived gases (including gasification gas, pyrolysis gas and anaerobic digestion gas) is evaluated in this article. Cooling and power mode of the system is focused on. The power generation unit and the mixed effect absorption chiller are modeled to anticipate electricity and cooling output. Furtherly, performance of the system on energy, exergy and CO2 emission aspects when LPG volume fraction varies from 0% to 100% is evaluated. For biomass-derived gas from gasification, pyrolysis and anaerobic digestion, due to the addition of LPG: (1) energy and exergy efficiency can be improved by up to 7.4% and 5.1%, 0.6% and 0.1%, 2.0% and 0.6%, respectively; (2) energy saving ratio can be increased by up to 17.8%, 0.3% and 1.9%, respectively; (3) the maximum difference of CO2 emission reduction ratio is 49.2%, 30.7%, and −10.1%, respectively.

Under the thermal storage strategies in present studies, the power generation unit (PGU) in combined cooling, heating, and power (CCHP) system is turned on/off only based on the state of storage tank; or the operation state of PGU is determined by thermal demand or/and electric demand, which has no relationship with the state of storage tank. For these traditional strategies, either energy demands or state of storage tank is considered for the operation of system. This paper proposes a novel thermal storage strategy (TSS2) for CCHP systems, which determines the operational state of the PGU based upon electric demand, thermal demand and the state of thermal storage device. In this paper, the operation principle of TSS2 is described and compared with the traditional strategies. A hospital in Shanghai was used to evaluate and compared the performance of the system operating under different storage strategies. The results show that TSS2 improves the performance of CCHP system more significantly compared with the traditional strategies. TSS2 can make both PGU and capacity of thermal storage tank be fully used by CCHP system to produce more electric and thermal energy to meet demands of building. Compared with system without thermal storage, the minimum and maximum increase rates of annual total cost saving for traditional strategies are 0% and 14.84%, respectively. However, for TSS2, they can reach 3.79% and 20.22%. Similar conclusions could be achieved for CO2 emission reduction and primary energy saving. The effect of TSS2 on the CCHP system performance is different under different operation strategies.

In current work, effects of rapid thermal annealing on the interface chemical bonding states, band alignment, and electrical properties of atomic-layer-deposition-derived HfAlO/Al 2 O 3 gate stack on Si substrates have been studied by X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS), UV–Vis transmission spectroscopy, and electrical measurements. XPS analyses have shown that HfAlO alloy and mixed silicate (Hf-Al-O-Si) increase after post-deposition annealing process. By means of UV–Vis transmission spectroscopy measurements, reduction in band gap for 400 o C-annealed sample has been observed. Accordingly, reduction in the valence band offset and increase in the conduction band offset have been detected for HfAlO/Al 2 O 3 /Si gate stack annealed at 400 °C. Various current conduction mechanisms, such as Poole-Frenkel emission, Fowler-Nordheim (FN) tunneling, and space-charge-limited (SCL) conduction, have been analyzed. Detailed electrical measurements reveal that current conduct mechanisms is SCL conduction at lower field region and FN tunneling and SCL conduction are dominant conduction mechanism at higher field region.

High- k HfO x N y and HfO 2 have been applied to amorphous InGaZnO ( a -IGZO) metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) capacitors as high-k gate dielectrics by using radio-frequency sputtering at room temperature. Effects of nitrogen incorporation on the optical band gap, band alignment and electrical properties of HfO x N y /IGZO/Si gate stacks have been systematically investigated by spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE), UV–vis spectroscopy, x-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) and electrical measurements. Experimental results have confirmed the successful incorporation of nitrogen into HfO 2 films and reduction in band gap with the incorporation of nitrogen for HfO x N y thin films. Reduction in valence band offset and increase in conduction band offset have been observed for HfO x N y /IGZO gate stack. Electrical properties measurements for a -IGZO MOS capacitors based on HfO x N y gate dielectrics have indicated that nitrogen incorporation leads to the improved interface quality, increased dielectric constant, reduced hysteresis voltage, and decreased leakage current density. Meanwhile, the leakage current mechanism under gate injection for MOS capacitors based on HfO 2 and HfO x N y high-k gate dielectrics has been investigated systematically.

In this paper, a feed-in tariff policy which can contribute to both energy and economic performance of a CCHP system is proposed. By applying this feed-in tariff policy, the impact on design optimization (power generation unit capacity and operation strategy) and system performance (economic, energy, and matching performance) of a hospital CCHP system used in different climate zones are evaluated and analyzed. In policy one ( Pol 1 ), no electricity is allowed to be sold. In policy two ( Pol 2 ), the electricity selling price is constant. In policy three ( Pol 3 ), the selling price of electricity is proportional to the PER (Primary Energy consumption Ratio) of the system when the PER is not lower than a critical value. Otherwise, the selling price is zero. The results show that Pol 3 can ensure both energy and economic performances of CCHP system. The effect of feed-in tariff policy to improve the performance of CCHP system reduces gradually from the cold zone to the hot zone. Multi-criteria decision making results show that Pol 3 with reasonable parameters is the best choice in all climate zones except for the hottest zone in this study. When improving PER is attractive, following thermal load operation strategy is the best choice under Pol 3 . In the hottest zone of this study, little excess electricity would be produced and sold to the grid. Feed-in tariff policy has little help to improve the economic and energy performance in this zone.

Effect of Al 2 O 3 incorporation on the electrical properties and carrier transportation of atomic-layer-deposited (ALD) HfAlO high-k gate dielectrics on Si substrates have been investigated. Electrical analyses indicate that interfacial properties of HfAlO/Si gate stack have been improved and leakage current is reduced after Al 2 O 3 incorporation into HfO 2 . Additionally, the HfAlO sample with precursor ratio (TEMAH: TMA) of 4:2 exhibits the lowest interface state density ( D it ) of 3.6 × 10 11 cm −2 eV −1 , the lowest border trapped oxide charge density (N bt ) of 2.4 × 10 11 cm −2 , the lower density of oxide charge (Q ox ) of 0.9 × 10 12 cm −2 , and the lowest frequency dispersion of 0.15%. In addition, the carrier transportation mechanism for both HfO 2 and HfAlO has been investigated systematically. Based on the analysis, it can be concluded that Poole-Frenkle (P–F) emission is main conduction mechanism at the low electric field, and direct tunneling (D-T) dominates the conduction mechanism at the high field, respectively.

A dynamic simulation model for the micro-cogeneration unit based on ICE (internal combustion engine) is built as a new component on TRNSYS. This model considers dynamic processes including start-up, cool-down, and overheat protection controls. Through an experiment study, the steady and dynamic performances of the unit are presented and analyzed for calibrating the parameters of the dynamic model. Then the model is validated by the experiment data during steady and dynamic processes. The improvement of prediction accuracy of the model by considering dynamic processes is analyzed. The validation results show that the dynamic model can well predict the characteristics of the unit during start-up, cool-down, and overheat protection control processes. The cumulative prediction errors of the dynamic model decrease with the increase of the start–stop interval. By considering the dynamic processes, 5.18% and 3.2% of Qth and ηtotal cumulative prediction errors are decreased respectively when the start–stop interval is 0.5 h. The primary energy saving ratio and CO2 emission reduction ratio increases with the increase of the start–stop interval. The start–stop interval for the unit in this paper should be longer than 0.5 h, or the energy consumption of micro-cogeneration unit would be larger than that of conventional system.

The effect of oxygen partial pressure on the microstructure, wettability, optical and electrical properties of sputtering-derived HfO 2 thin films has been systematically investigated by using x-ray diffraction (XRD), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscope (SEM), atomic force microscope (AFM), UV–visible spectroscopy (UV–Vis), spectroscopy ellipsometry (SE), and electrical measurements. XRD results have shown that the HfO 2 thin films are all polycrystalline with monoclinic phase. Based on analysis from FTIR, a strong absorption peak centered at 1105 cm −1 has been detected, indicating the formation of the interfacial layer. Reduction in particle size and decrease in root mean square (RMS) roughness of the HfO 2 thin films have been detected by SEM and AFM measurements with the increase in oxygen partial pressure. Meanwhile, the contact angle decreases and the wettability increases with increasing the oxygen partial pressure. Combined with UV–vis and SE, the optical function of HfO 2 thin films as functions of oxygen partial pressure has been determined. By means of electrical measurements, evolution of electrical performance of MOS capacitor based on HfO 2 gate dielectrics related with oxygen partial pressure has been investigated systematically.

Unicystic ameloblastoma is a unique histopathological type of ameloblastoma, and treatment is controversial. Marsupialisation is effective in reducing the size of cystic lesions and their complications. We have retrospectively analysed the clinical, histopathological, and prognostic data of affected patients who were treated by marsupialisation between 2003 and 2013 in three Chinese hospitals. Our aim was to evaluate the effects and prognosis, and the factors associated with outcome. A total of 116 patients with mandibular unicystic ameloblastomas were included, and 74, 26, and 16 patients were histopathologically classified as being luminal, intraluminal, and mural subtypes, respectively. Most responded well to marsupialisation, with an overall recurrence rate of 12%. Resorption of the root (p

Retained fetal membranes (RFM) of cows is an important reproductive disturbance, and is related to miRNA-185. Stromal interaction molecule 1 (STIM1), a potential target gene of miRNA-185, could influence placenta release via regulating Ca2+ concentration intracellular. The aim of this study was to explore the mechanism of RFM by investigating the regulatory relationship between miRNA-185 and STIM1 in primary uterine caruncel epithelial (UCE) cells. Serum samples of healthy Holstein dairy cows (n = 20) and RFM cows (n = 12), with a similar age, parity, weight, and milk yield, were collected to detect Ca2+ concentration at prepartum 1–5 d and postpartum 6, 12 and 24 h. Caruncle tissues were collected from healthy (n = 6) and RFM cows (n = 6) at 12 h after calving. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (Q-PCR) and western blotting (WB) were performed to detect the mRNA and protein levels of STIM1, respectively. UCE cells were cultured by the explant culture method, further purified, and subsequently treated with PmirGLO-STIM1-Mut + miRNA-185 mimics and mirGLO-STIM1-Mut + miRNA-185 NC. Q-PCR and WB were performed to detect mRNA and protein levels of STIM1 with treated miRNA-185 mimics. Serum levels of Ca2+ from RFM cows were abnormally decreased at prepartum 1 d and postpartum 6, 12 and 24 h. Expression level of STIM1 was down-regulated in the caruncle tissue of RFM cows. The luciferase activity was decresed about 30.9% by miRNA-185 mimics (p

The effect of boron (B) doping on the microstructure, band gap energy and electrical properties of ZrO 2 gate dielectrics deposited by sol–gel method at low temperature were systemically investigated. By means of characterization of spectroscopy ellipsometry and ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy, the thicknesses and optical constants of ZrO 2 gate dielectrics have been determined precisely. The B incorporation dependent electrical properties of ZrO 2 films were determined by capacitance–voltage ( C–V ) and leakage current density–voltage ( J–V ) measurements. The dominant conduction mechanisms of Al/B:ZrO 2 / n -Si MOS structures have been discussed systematically in detail. As a result, the optimized B incorporation content has been obtained to achieve ZrO 2 gate dielectrics with high quality.

Retention of fetal membranes (RFM) of cows is an important reproductive disturbance, and is related to miRNAs. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)A, regulated by miRNA-185, can activate arachidonic acid (ARA) release via the VEGFA signaling pathway, which influences RFM. The aim of this study was to explore the pathogenic mechanism of RFM by investigating the regulatory relationship between miRNA-185 and the VEGFA signaling pathway. Serum samples of healthy Holstein dairy cows (n = 20) and RFM cows (n = 12), with a similar age, parity, weight, and milk yield, were collected to detect VEGFA and ARA concentrations at 6, 12, and 24 h after calving. Caruncle tissues were collected from healthy (n = 6) and RFM cows (n = 6) at 12 h after calving. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and western blotting (WB) were performed to detect the mRNA and proteins levels, respectively, of genes involved in the VEGFA signaling pathway. Uterine caruncle epithelial (UCE) cells were cultured by the explant culture method, further purified, and subsequently treated with miRNA-185 mimics, miRNA-185 mimics + MEK inhibitor, or left untreated as a control for detection of the mRNA and protein levels of genes involved in the VEGFA signaling pathway. The cellular supernatant was collected for measurement of ARA levels at 12, 24 and 48 h after treatment. Serum levels of VEGFA and ARA from RFM cows were abnormally increased at 12 h after calving, as compared to those in healthy dairy cows. Expression levels of most of the investigated genes (VEGFA, PLC, PRK, RAF, MEK, MAPK, and PLA) were down-regulated in the caruncle tissue of RFM cows. However, P-p44/42 MAPK was up-regulated in the caruncle tissues of cows with RFM (p .01). In UCE cells treated with the miRNA-185 mimics, expression of VEGFA, PLC, RAF, MEK, MAPK and PLA was significantly down-regulated, while that of P-p44/42 MAPK was significantly up-regulated. Expression of genes involved in the VEGFA signaling pathway was similar to that in the in vivo assay. In UCE cells treated with the miRNA-185 mimics + MEK inhibitors, expression of VEGFA, PLC, RAF, MEK, MAPK and P-p44/42 MAPK was significantly down-regulated, while that of PLA was significantly up-regulated. Meanwhile, the release of ARA was increased (p .01). These results demonstrate that miRNA-185 can regulate the VEGFA signaling pathway, especially via abnormal expression of P-p44/42 MAPK, which influences the release of the fetal placenta after calving.

Combined cooling, heating and power (CCHP) systems are thought to be highly efficient in energy utilization. But there are still potentials to further improve system performance. This work proposed a CCHP system based on internal combustion engine (ICE) for power generation, refrigeration and domestic hot water production. Thermoelectric generator (TEG) and condensing heat exchanger are applied to efficiently recover the exhaust gas waste heat of ICE. All the energy flows are designed based on energy cascading utilization principle. Basing on the test results of a 16 kW ICE, CCHP system characteristics are investigated by simulation from idling condition to full load condition. Especially, the part load performance of TEG and absorption chiller are simulated and discussed. The feasible operating zone of ICE and feed water flow rate are figured out to keep the domestic hot water temperature within a certain range. Results show that the primary energy efficiency of system can reach 0.944, thanks to the condensing heat recovery from exhaust gas. The primary energy saving ratio and cost saving ratio can reach 0.304 and 0.417, respectively. Considering some more equipment is incorporated, the total investment increment is about 11.1%.

A novel operation strategy based on minimum distance was proposed. Also, an integrated evaluation criterion which can reflect the matching performance between the CCHP (combined cooling, heating and power) system and the building was presented. A hospital in Shanghai was used to evaluate the CCHP system with the proposed strategy using the proposed evaluation criterion. The proposed operation strategy was compared with FEL (following the electric load), FTL (following the thermal load) and FHL (following hybrid electric-thermal load) strategies. The results show that the matching performance evaluation criterion is reasonable and integrated. The system with a better matching performance would be fully used and maintain high efficiency. Compared with FEL, FTL and FHL strategies, the proposed operation strategy is flexible and adaptable, which can lead to a better matching performance for a CCHP system. In the case study, the optimized power generation unit capacity and weightings of the optimized operation strategy are 900 kW and w1,above equals to 0.4, w1,below equals to 0.1, respectively.

Tri-generation system is efficient in supplying thermal energy and electricity. But it is very difficult to satisfy multiple load demands simultaneously in real applications. Therefore, the benefit of tri-generation system is not so easy to realize. If the electric load is separated from the thermal load, difficulty of control would be avoided. In this work, combined cooling and heating (CCH) mode of tri-generation system is proposed. The generated electricity is only used to power the HVAC device, which converts all the electricity into thermal energy. Namely, there is only thermal output in this kind of mode. As for the rest electric load of user, it can be ensured by the public grid. Considering 20% of total energy consumption and 50% of building energy consumption may come from the HVAC system in developed countries. The CCH mode of tri-generation system would be potential in energy saving. The influences of system capacity, HVAC performance, public grid efficiency, and energy prices on system performances are analyzed. Results show that the CCH mode of tri-generation system can be much better than an independent HVAC system. For a system with generator capacity over 100 kW, the payback period could be less than 4 years.

a b s t r a c t Bulk ultrafine-grained Ni50.8Ti49.2 alloy (UFG-NiTi) was successfully fabricated by equal-channel angular pressing (ECAP) technique in the present study, and to further improve its surface biocompatibility, sur- face modification techniques including sandblasting, acid etching and alkali treatment were employed to produce either irregularly roughened surface or microporous surface or hierarchical porous sur- face with bioactivity. The effect of the above surface treatments on the surface roughness, wettability, corrosion behavior, ion release, apatite forming ability and cytocompatibility of UFG-NiTi alloy were systematically investigated with the coarse-grained NiTi alloy as control. The pitting corrosion poten- tial (Epit) was increased from 393 mV (SCE) to 704 mV (SCE) with sandblasting and further increased to 1539 mV (SCE) with following acid etching in HF/HNO3 solution. All the above surface treatment increased the apatite forming ability of UFG-NiTi in varying degrees when soaked them in simulated body fluid (SBF). Meanwhile, both sandblasting and acid etching could promote the cytocompatibility for osteoblasts: sandblasting enhanced cell attachment and acid etching increased cell proliferation. The different corrosion behavior, apatite forming ability and cellular response of UFG-NiTi after different sur- face modifications are attributed to the topography and wettability of the resulting surface oxide layer.

Bulk ultrafine-grained Ti (UFG Ti) was successfully fabricated by equal-channel angular pressing (ECAP) technique in the present study, and to further improve its surface biocompatibility, surface modification techniques including sandblasting, acid etching and alkali treatment were employed to produce a hierarchical porous surface. The effect of the above surface treatments on the surface roughness, wettability, electrochemical corrosion behavior, apatite forming ability and cellular behavior of UFG Ti were systematically investigated with the coarse-grained Ti as control. Results show that UFG-Ti with surface modification had no pitting corrosion and presented low corrosion rate in simulated body fluids (SBF). The hierarchical porous surface yielded by surface modification enhanced the ability of UFG Ti to form a complete apatite layer when soaked in SBF and promoted osteoblast-like cells attachment and proliferation in vitro, which promises to have a significant impact on increasing bone-bonding ability and reducing healing time when implanted due to faster tissue integration.

NiTi alloy has a unique combination of mechanical properties, shape memory effects and superelastic behavior that makes it attractive for several biomedical applications. In recent years, concerns about its biocompatibility have been aroused due to the toxic or side effect of released nickel ions, which restricts its application as an implant material. Bulk ultrafine-grained Ni50.8Ti49.2 alloy (UFG NiTi) was successfully fabricated by equal-channel angular pressing (ECAP) technique in the present study. A homogeneous and smooth SrO–SiO 2 –TiO 2 sol–gel coating without cracks was fabricated on its surface by dip-coating method with the aim of increasing its corrosion resistance and cytocompatibility. Electrochemical tests in simulated body fluid (SBF) showed that the pitting corrosion potential of UFG NiTi was increased from 393 mV(SCE) to 1800 mV(SCE) after coated with SrO–SiO 2 –TiO 2 film and the corrosion current density decreased from 3.41 μA/cm 2 to 0.629 μA/cm 2 . Meanwhile, the sol–gel coating significantly decreased the release of nickel ions of UFG NiTi when soaked in SBF. UFG NiTi with SrO–SiO 2 –TiO 2 sol–gel coating exhibited enhanced osteoblast-like cells attachment, spreading and proliferation compared with UFG NiTi without coating and CG NiTi.

This study was initiated to investigate the effect of culture conditions on the in vitro development of cloned goat embryos, as well as the pregnancy and delivery success after embryo transfer. The fused embryos were randomly distributed to four culture groups: (i) 72 h in G1 medium then 96 h in G2 medium (group G1/G2); (ii) 168 h in mSOFBSA (group mSOFBSA); (iii) 72 h in mSOFBSA then 96 h in mSOFBSA supplemented with 10% FBS (group mSOFBSA-FBS); (iv) 168 h in mSOFBSA supplemented with 10% FBS (group mSOFFBS). A higher proportion of reconstructed embryos developed to the hatching blastocyst stage in the mSOFBSA group, compared to the G1/G2 group (30.8% vs. 11.4%; P

This study focuses on rapid formation of calcium phosphate coating on a beta type Ti-Nb-Zr-Sn biomedical titanium alloy by alkali treatment. The results show that a bioconductive surface layer forms on specimens immersed in 1-5 M KOH solution but only treatment in 1 M KOH avoids formation of crevices, producing a potassium titanate layer with porous network structure. Heat treatment at 600 degrees C after the alkali treatment promotes titanate growth. Following the above treatments, a continuous apatite layer forms within 4 h of soaking in a calcium phosphate solution with high ionic concentration. Such rapid apatite formation is due to high concentration of calcium ions in the solution used in this study and the buffering function of NaHCO3. Results of dissolution experiment show that Ca and P ions release gradually from the coating during soaking in a 0.9% NaCl solution, which may be helpful to the formation of natural bone if implanted in human body. Cell culture experiment shows that the apatite layer favours adhesion and proliferation of rat osteoblast as compared with coating-free Ti-Nb-Zr-Sn alloy and commercially pure titanium (CP Ti). (C) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

In this paper, system description of a three-phase Neutral-Point-Clamped (NPC) rectifier is briefly given by depicting its power circuit and controller. In consideration of tracking target current and minimizing current ripples, the allowable parameters of inductor-capacitor-inductor (LCL) filter are calculated. The filter inductor is then adopted to investigate the influences from LCL filter on dynamic behaviors of this three-phase three-level rectifier. Based on proportional-integral control method, the simulation analysis is carried out to explore the operational behavior differences caused by the variation of filter inductor. The curves of output variables and their phase trajectories are comparatively addressed in terms of different parameters of the LCL filter. The simulated results indicate that the filter parameters has significant impacts on the operational performance of rectifier system, which implies that suitable control method is required to eliminate unexpected influences.

Conventional fault detection and diagnosis in water chillers needs water flow measurements to calculate system load. However, the measurement of water flow meters usually fluctuates greatly, and high accuracy flow meters are very expensive. In this paper, a novel modelling method using a new reference model for fault detection and diagnosis in water chillers was developed, and the real evaporator water flow rate was replaced by a pseudo evaporator water flow rate that was equal to the designed evaporator water flow rate or the average evaporator flow rate under stable operation conditions. The newdeveloped reference model was validated by the data sets from ASHRAE 1043-RP. The validation results showed that the new developed reference model has good prediction accuracy and clear diagnosis rules, which can be used for fault detection and diagnosis in water chillers in the absence of water flow measurements. Keywords-fault detection and diagnosis; water chiller; reference model

A newly developed ejector refrigeration-rotary desiccant air-conditioning (ERRD A/C) system is proposed to recover ship waste heat as far as possible. Its configuration is built firstly, then its advantages are analyzed, after that, with the help of psychrometric chart, some important parameters such as power consumption, steam consumption and COP of ERRD A/C system are calculated theoretically under design conditions of a real marine A/C, and comparative analysis with conventional A/C is deployed. The results show that the power consumption of ERRD A/C system is only 32.87% of conventional A/C, which meant that ERRD A/C system has potential to make full use of ship waste heat to realize energy saving and environmental protection when using green refrigerant such as water.

It is shown that many coherent solitary patterns can be excited and saturated from unstable harmonic modes through modulational instability in the conserved Zakharov equations. The evolution of solitary patterns may experience three states: spatiotemporal coherence, temporal chaos but spatially partial coherence, and spatiotemporal chaos that is caused by collisions and fusions among patterns with strong ion-sound emission, the energy in the system is strongly redistributed, it may switch on the onset of weak turbulence in plasma.

A unified numerical method is developed in this article for the analysis of deformations and stresses in elastic–plastic rotating disks with arbitrary cross-sections of continuously variable thickness and arbitrarily variable density made of nonlinear strain-hardening materials. The method is based on a polynomial stress–plastic strain relation, deformation theory in plasticity and Von Mises’ yield condition. The governing equation is derived from the basic equations of the rotating disks and solved using the Runge–Kutta algorithm. The proposed method is applied to calculate the deformations and stresses in various rotating disks. These disks include solid disks with constant thickness and constant density, annular disks with constant thickness and constant density, nonlinearly variable thickness and nonlinearly variable density, linearly tapered thickness and linearly variable density, and a combined section of continuously variable thickness and constant density. The computed results are compared to those obtained from the finite element method and the existing approaches. A very good agreement is found between this research and the finite element analysis. Due to the simplicity, effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed method, it is especially suitable for the analysis of various rotating disks.

CCHP systems based on internal combustion engines have been widely accepted as efficient distributed energy resources systems. CCHP systems can be efficient mainly because that the waste heat of engines can be recovered and used. If the waste heat is not used, CCHP systems may not be beneficial choices. PV-wind systems can generate electricity without fuel consumption, but the electric output depends on the weather, which is not reliable. A PV-wind system can be integrated into a CCHP system to form a higher efficient energy system. Actually, a hybrid energy system based on PV-wind devices and internal combustion engines has been studied by many researchers. But the waste heat of the engine is seldom considered in the previous work. Researches show that, 20∼30% energy can be converted into electricity by a small size engine while more than 70% is released. If the waste heat is not recovered, the system cannot reach a high efficiency. This work aims to analyze a hybrid CCHP system with PV-wind devices. Internal combustion engines are the prime movers whose waste heat is recovered for house heating or driving absorption chillers. PV-wind devices are added to reduce the fuel consumption and total cost. The optimal design method and optimal operation strategy are proposed basing on hourly analyses. Influences of the device cost and fuel price on the optimal dispatch strategies are discussed. Results show that all of the excess energy from the PV-wind system is not worth being stored by the battery. The hybrid CCHP system can be more economical and higher efficient in the studied case.

A perturbation model is used to investigate the peak point displacement of the modulus of solutions of the two-dimensional cubic-quintic nonlinear Schrodinger equation with spatially periodic boundary conditions. Under the condition that only the lowest Fourier modes fall in the Benjamin-Feir linear instability region, the perturbation model predicts that the peak point of the modulus moves with speeds inversely proportional to the squares of the amplitudes of the lowest Fourier modes. A good agreement between this prediction and the numerical results of the nonlinear Schrodinger equation is shown, and the important role of an initially asymmetric phase in the process of peak point displacement is also discussed.

The nonlinear Schrödinger equation with spatially periodic boundary conditions is numerically solved by means of the spectrum method. It is found that with the initial condition carefully chosen, the phase recurrence just appears when the amplitudes have the nineteenth recurrences to the initial condition. This phenomenon is called as the phase super-recurrence. Using a simple perturbation model, the amplitude recurrence period Ta and the phase change ∆φa in the period Ta are estimated, and a good agreement between this estimation and the numerical results of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation is shown.

Acute megakaryoblastic leukemia is uncommon and comprises about 5% of acute nonlymphoid leukemias in the French-American-British classification. Cell lines from such leukemias are relatively rare with only about 8 reported in the literature. We established a cell line from a case of acute megakaryoblastic leukemia arising in a 2-year-old child. Surface marker studies of the cells confirmed their megakaryoblastic nature, with 54% of the cells being CD61 positive and peroxidase and esterase negative. The cells had a doubling time of 72 h. Emperipolesis (a phenomenon in which a cell, usually a lymphocyte or neutrophil, enters another cell, moves about and leaves without undergoing phagocytosis) of one blast into another, larger one, was occasionally seen, and a review of the original bone marrow specimen also showed emperipolesis of neutrophils into the megakaryoblasts. The cells responded to interleukin 3 and were inhibited with all-trans-retinoic acid. The karyotype of the cells was the 46,XX,-16 with a marker chromosome. The marker chromosome is possibly chromosome 16 with a small segment of a chromosome translocated to the terminal portion of chromosome 16.

The bcl-2 gene product inhibits apoptosis and thus its over-expression may promote development of the malignant phenotype under certain circumstances. We have introduced the bcl-2 alpha and bcl-2 beta genetic elements into T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemic blasts. These transfectants were able to survive and grow in liquid culture with the establishment of cell lines while the untransfected blast cells died off. Thus transfection of the bcl-2 genes appears to give additional survival advantages to already malignant cells. Although the original leukemic blasts did not have cytoplasmic granules, the established transfectants have a morphology and surface marker profile compatible with large granular lymphoid cells.