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Background The severe crystalline region in pseudo solid-state polymer electrolyte needs to be addressed to improve the poor ionic conductivity performance. Methods Hydroxyapatite (HA) with rich defect, induced by carboxylated chitosan (CCS) via hydrothermal process is applied to serve as active filler for pseudo solid-state supercapacitor. Significant findings CCS2 with high degree of carboxylation (DC) of 42.38% is introduced as defect inducing agents to generate CCS2-HA. CCS2-HA possesses small crystallinity index evaluated by FTIR and XRD. Moreover, the obvious structural defect of CCS2-HA in [301] orientation was observed from HRTEM. With CCS2-HA as defect-enriched filler, the crystallization temperature decreases from 75 to 65 °C. Meanwhile, the activation energy for the ionic conductivity decreases from 2.3 to 1.3 kJ/mol. Meanwhile, the loss tangent peak shifts to higher frequency with smaller intensity in the addition of CCS2-HA as active filler, showing the smaller relaxation time and less heat resistance than the pristine. CCS2-HA possessed rich defects to reduce crystalline region, increase amorphous region, enhance segmental motion, and assist short range ion migration for less internal resistance and heat dissipation as novel filler for superior solid-state energy storage devices.

Background Chitosan (CS) is the most abundant cationic biopolymer on earth. However, the ionic conductivity performance of CS polymer electrolyte is relatively poor, restricting the application in energy storage devices. Methods Subject to carboxylation at pH of 6. 8, and 10, CS turns into CCS6, CCS8, and CCS10 respectively with the DC of 100.9%, 20.0%, and 17.8%, respectively. Significant findings From the Arrhenius plot, the activation energy of CS, CCS6, CCS8, and CCS10 electrolytes is estimated as 11.7, 2.5, 2.6, and 2.6 kJ/mol respectively. As for supercapacitor performance, CCS6 remains 57.2% capacitance but the others remain 0% with decreasing temperature from 25 °C to -7 °C. At -7 °C, only CCS6 supercapacitor shows relaxation peak in loss tangent versus frequency plot around 2 × 105 Hz according to dissociated ion pairs, being attributable to the existence of bound water. Three water states are examined by Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Raman, verifying that CCS6 possesses high bound water proportion of 24.7%. With the highest DC, CCS6 possesses the almost equivalent amine and carboxyl groups in one glucosamine unit to play an important role to enhance dissociation, defer the breakpoints of ionic conductivity, and remain certain proportion of bound water for promising capacity at low temperature.

Polymer electrolytes (PEs) have the widespread interest for solid-state supercapacitors. As an ideal PEs, it is requested to possess high ionic conductivity, high electrolyte content, and excellent mechanical properties. Here, we present the zwitterionic semi-interpenetrating polymeric network electrolytes (ZSIPNEs) that enable achieving ultra-high ionic conductivity and excellent mechanical properties. ZSIPNEs are synthesis by interpenetrating various content of poly(sulfobetaine methacrylate) (pSBMA) into zwitterionic polymer (ZP) matrix, being simply prepared by 17 m NaClO4(aq) intake. At content of pSBMA of 0.1%, ZS-0.1 possesses the ultra-high ionic conductivity of 135.2 mScm−1 at 25 °C. In addition, ZS-0.1 shows excellent mechanical properties, including the compressive strength of 0.36 MPa, compressive strain of 74.5%, compressive modulus of 33.7 kPa, and toughness of 4.329 Jm−3. Furthermore, the electrochemical performances of electrolytes are studied using carbon-based supercapacitors which are assembled with 17 m NaClO4(aq) (C-aq), ZS-0 (C-ZPE), and ZS-0.1 (C-ZSIPNE), being evaluated by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry, and galvanostatic charge/discharge. C-ZSIPNE shows the wide electrochemical window of 2.4 V and the superior electrochemical performance by delivering high energy density of 83.6Whkg−1, and high power density of 19.1kWkg−1. Under bending angles of 90°, the capacitance of C-ZSIPNE keeps at almost 100%, being potential application in flexible supercapacitors. 3 brief informative subheadings Zwitterionic polymer electrolyte, Semi-interpenetrating polymeric network, High performance supercapacitors Background Polymer electrolytes (PEs) have the widespread interest for solid-state supercapacitors. As an ideal PEs, it is requested to possess high ionic conductivity, high electrolyte content, and excellent mechanical properties. Methods The ionic conductivity of PE was evaluated by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The mechanical properties of PE were evaluated by compressive strain-stress curve. The electrochemical properties of PE were evaluated by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry, and galvanostatic charge/discharge. Significant Findings ZSIPNEs enable achieving ultra-high ionic conductivity of 135.2 mScm−1 and excellent mechanical properties (compressive modulus of 33.7 kPa). C-ZSIPNE shows the wide electrochemical window of 2.4 V and the superior electrochemical performance by delivering high energy density of 83.6Whkg−1, and high power density of 19.1kWkg−1. Under bending angles of 90°, the capacitance of C-ZSIPNE keeps at almost 100%, being potential application in flexible supercapacitors.

Two novel bipolar host materials based on carbazole and triarylborane moieties, i.e. B-2CZ and m-B-CZ, are synthesized and characterized. The spatially crowded compound B-2CZ exhibits a high thermal stability (Td > 340 °C) compared to the reported triarylboryl carbazoles, presumably due to the highly compact architecture. As a result, phosphorescent Ir(ppy)3 combined with both the borylated compounds is selected to construct a host-guest system. Devices A (B-2CZ) and B (m-B-CZ) achieve peak efficiencies of 19.3% (69.1 cd/A and 88.1 lm/W) and 19.1% (66.1 cd/A and 77.2 lm/W), respectively. The respective turn-on voltages of devices A and B are recorded at 2.4 and 2.6 V, which are much lower than that of device with the benchmark host (mCP, 3.3 V). In addition, at a higher practical luminance of 100 cd/m2 (1000 cd/m2), the external quantum efficiencies of devices A and B are still preserved at 19.1% (17.3%) and 18.2% (13.0%) with the mitigated efficiency drops of 1% (10%) and 5% (32%), suggesting the promising advantage for realizing efficient phosphorescent organic light-emitting devices.

Coal ash slag viscosity is the most important parameter for the design and the stable running of entrained flow gasifier. Iron serves as the most abundant variable-valence element in coal ash slag, but the effects of iron in coal ash slag on viscosity and slag crystallization under the gasification conditions are not available. In this research, the iron transformation behaviors are discussed, and predictive models for iron transformation based on the ash chemical composition, atmosphere, slag residence time and temperature are established. In the fully liquid slag, Fe2+/Fe3+ increases with SiO2/Al2O3 (mass ratio) and temperature, but it decreases with the increasing iron content, α value (α = CaO/(SiO2+Al2O3), mass ratio), and oxygen partial pressure. The equilibrium and kinetic model considering CO and H2 diffusion is built for prediction of Fe2+/Fe3+ in slag at given temperature, oxygen partial pressure, and residence time. The model is applied to predict the Fe2+/Fe3+ of Yanzhou coal and it is found that Fe2+ in Shell slag is higher than that in Texaco slag. In partial crystalline slag, the iron transformation is sensitive to the variations of SiO2+Al2O3 and SiO2/Al2O3 because of the formations of melilite and spinel. The prediction models for melilite and spinel transformation are also built, but the result has not been validated due to lack of in-situ results in the commercial gasifier. The above models offer the guidance for the prediction and adjustment of slag behavior in the gasifier, especially for the iron-rich coal.

The ash fusibility, usually investigated and evaluated by the ash chemical composition, is widely used for guiding the coal utilization in boiler and gasifier. The ratio of basic and acidic oxides (B/A) in coal ash is the most important parameter for ash fusibility evaluation. While the coal ash has the identical B/A ratio, SiO2/Al2O3 and CaO/Fe2O3 ratio also show significant influence on the ash fusibility. However, the researches on CaO/Fe2O3 on ash fusibility are rare. In order to quantify the influence of CaO/Fe2O3 on the ash fusibility, thermal mechanical analyzer (TMA) is applied to investigate the ash fusion behavior of coal ash with various CaO/Fe2O3 ratios. XRD, FactSage and DSC are combined to explore the ash fusion characteristics and mechanisms. The results showed that AFTs increased with the increasing of CaO/Fe2O3 ratio, which was attributed to variation of Fe2O3 content and iron valence. However, the ash with low CaO/Fe2O3 ratio trended to form mullite, increasing AFTs. Hence, the optimal CaO/Fe2O3 ratio for fluxing effect existed to balance the mineral component and iron valence. The different shrinkage curves were attributed to the different fusion events and different mechanism. The fusion process of ash (CaO/Fe2O3 = 0.25) exhibited as the behavior of a pure substance, which has the narrow fusion range. And the fusion range was dominated by the low temperature eutectics including spinel, quartz, corundum, and anorthite, which were beneficial for preventing ash sintering. Meanwhile, the fusion process of ash sample (CaO/Fe2O3 = 4) occurred step by step, and it had a wide fusion range. The low-melting point minerals such as wollastonite, clinopyroxene, calcium silicate induced and manipulated the fusion process. These ash samples with the wide fusion range were favored for slagging process. Besides, the shrinkage rate of ash was mainly determined by the slag formation rate when viscosity was low, but it was dependent on slag formation rate as well as viscosity for the high viscosity slag. Two correlated relations between shrinkage rate and ratio of liquid phase formation rate and viscosity for ash with CaO/Fe2O3

Low-cost bicarbazole-based hole transporting derivative with diphenylvinyl substitutions was synthesized by simple procedure and characterized. The respective glass transition temperature of the material was estimated to be 81 °C, which can provide morphologically-stable amorphous films for applications in organic light emitting diodes. The compound possesses an adequate ionization potential, suitable triplet energy and high hole drift mobility of 5.54 eV, 2,61 eV and of 2 × 10−3 cm2/V·s, respectively, which make it a suitable hole transporting material for use in red phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes. The respective peak efficiency of the red device with the p-type dopant was recorded at 8.3% (5.2 cd/A and 3.3 lm/W) and at 7.8% (4.9 cd/A and 1.9 lm/W) for 100 cd/m [2] brightness, demonstrating high potential of the material for applications in light emitting diodes. The characteristics indicated that device with the bicarbazole-based compound exhibited better performance than those of widely used 1,1-bis [(di-4-tolylamino)phenyl]cyclohexane (TAPC) -based device.

TADF molecules with a higher horizontal–dipole ratio have recently been realized to show a large conversion efficiency in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) and hence great promise for their application in display and solid state lighting sources. The current work focuses on fine-tuning the structure of the parent 2,6-diphenylpyrimidinyl compound PhPMAF and its derivatives with a series of 2,6-dipyridylpyrimidine acceptors; namely: 2NPMAF, 3NPMAF and 4NPMAF, among which the intramolecular CH⋯N bonding interaction was confirmed for 2NPMAF, showing good agreement with the NMR results. The solvatochromism and TADF behaviors, together with TD-DFT computations, of the titled compounds were explored to gain insights into the structure–photophysics relationship. Eventually, these functional 2,6-dipyridylpyrimidine acceptor based TADF compounds exhibit electroluminescence ranging from deep-blue to sky-blue, among which an external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 24.9% was achieved for the derivative 3NPMAF. The high horizontal–dipole ratios (∼0.86–0.91) obtained for this class of compounds elucidates the superior OLED performance. Moreover, the non-doped OLED architecture achieves an EQE of 14.1% for 3NPMAF, which is superior to that of PhPMAF with an EQE of 5.1%, demonstrating the significance of dipyridylpyrimidine as an acceptor for the future structural design of TADF emitters.

In this study, we demonstrate how to prepare the hydrogel electrolytes with high ionic conductivity and wide electrochemical window (EW) through zwitterionic polymer (ZP) with high concentrated electrolytes (ZPEs). The ZP is prepared by UV-polymerization of equimolar [2-(acryloyloxy)ethyl]trimethylammonium chloride, 2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonic acid sodium with poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate. ZPES are simply prepared by 1 m, 5 m, 10 m, 15 m, and 17 m NaClO4(aq) intake, being denoted as ZPE-S1, ZPE-S5, ZPE-S10, ZPE-S15, and ZPE-S17, respectively. Among them, ZPE-S17 shows 1.12 times EW of 17 m NaClO4(aq). However, the ionic conductivities of NaClO4(aq) decrease with the increasing concentration from 5 m to 17 m. Interestingly, ionic conductivity of ZPEs gradually increase with increasing concentration until 15 m. ZPE-S17 still keep the high ionic conductivity of 106.1 mS cm−1 which is about 2.73 times higher than 17 m NaClO4(aq). Furthermore, the electrochemical performances of electrolytes are studied using carbon-based symmetric supercapacitors (CSSs) which are assembled with 1m NaClO4(aq) (CSS-aq1), 17 m NaClO4(aq) (CSS-aq17), ZPE-S1 (CSS-ZPE1), ZPE-S15 (CSS-ZPE15) and ZPE-S17 (CSS-ZPE17). CSS-ZPE17 exhibits the wide EW of 2.4 V and the superior electrochemical performance by delivering a supreme specific energy of 133.5 Wh kg−1 at a specific power of 2313.5 W kg−1, demonstrating the great potential for aqueous energy storage devices.

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to evaluate the utility of multi-detector computed tomography (MDCT) angiography and transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) in the diagnosis of congenital coarctation of the aorta (CoA) and accompanying malformations in infants. MATERIAL AND METHODS From January 2012 and December 2015, we enrolled 68 infants with clinically suspected CoA who underwent MDCT angiography and TTE in our hospital. Surgical correction was conducted to confirm the diagnostic accuracy of both examinations in all patients. RESULTS In this study, the diagnosis of CoA was confirmed infants by surgical results in 55 of 68 infants. The diagnostic accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity of MDCT angiography were 95.6%, 96.4%, and 92.3%, respectively. The diagnostic accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity of TTE were 88.2%, 90.9%, and 76.9%, respectively. There was no significant difference in diagnostic accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity between MDCT angiography and TTE (χ²=2.473, p>0.05, χ²=1.373, p>0.05 and χ²=1.182, p>0.05, respectively). In the diagnosis of concomitant cardiac abnormalities with CoA, the 2 methods also play different roles. CONCLUSIONS MDCT angiography and TTE play different roles in the diagnosis of CoA and accompany malformations. MDCT angiography in the diagnosis of the extra-cardiac vascular malformations is better than TTE, and TTE is superior to MDCT angiography in diagnosing intracardiac malformation. Combined MDCT angiography and TTE is a relatively valuable, reliable, and noninvasive method in the diagnosis of CoA and accompany malformations in infants.

A series of donor-acceptor-donor triazine-based molecules with thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) properties were synthesized to obtain highly efficient blue-emitting OLEDs with non-doped emitting layers (EMLs). The targeted molecules use a triazine core as the electron acceptor, and a benzene ring as the conjugated linker with different electron donors to alternate the energy level of the HOMO to further tune the emission color. The introduction of long alkyl chains on the triazine core inhibits the unwanted intermolecular D-D/A-A-type π-π interactions, resulting in the intermolecular D-A charge transfer. The weak aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ) effect caused by the suppressed intermolecular D-D/A-A-type π-π interaction further enhances the emission. The crowded molecular structure allows the electron donor and acceptor to be nearly orthogonal, thereby reducing the energy gap between triplet and singlet excited states (ΔEST ). As a result, blue-emitting devices with TH-2DMAC and TH-2DPAC non-doped EMLs showed satisfactory efficiencies of 12.8 % and 15.8 %, respectively, which is one of the highest external quantum efficiency (EQEs) reported for blue TADF emitters (λpeak

There is growing interest in the bis-tridentate Ir(III) emitters as they are expected to display both improved emission efficiency and improved photostability. Herein, we turned to the new emitters m2h-1–3 and m6h-1–3, bearing a pincer carbene ancillary and a chromophoric chelate derived from judiciously selected phenyl-pyrimidine-pyrazole entities (pzm2hF)H2 and (pzm6hF)H2, which differ in terms of the location of phenyl and pyrazole substituents on the central pyrimidine. Density functional theory calculations revealed a notable change in the spin density distribution from the pyrimidine-pyrazolate entity in m2h to the pyrimidine-phenyl fragment in m6h. As a consequence, the m6h emitters exhibited both shortened emission lifetimes and improved stabilities during extensive photolysis in solution, while corresponding organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) doped with green-emitting m6h-1 and sky-blue-emitting m6h-2 and m6h-3 exhibited external quantum efficiencies of 17.6, 15.9, and 17.6%, respectively, sup...

Chitosan (CS), an eco-friendly amino polysaccharide with various degrees of carboxylation (DC) as hydrogel electrolyte for symmetric pseudo solid-state supercapacitors is investigated. The carboxylated reaction is carried out at pH of 6,8, and 10 for products denoted as CCS6, CCS8, and CCS10, respectively. The DC of CCS6, CCS8, and CCS10 is 100.9%, 20%, and 17.8% from the calculation of nuclear magnetic resonance spectra. Both hydrophilicity and water retention capability increase with the increase in DC. Thus, CCS6 hydrogel possesses the smallest contact angle and the largest fraction of heterogeneous melting peaks evidenced by contact angle measurement and differential scanning calorimetry. As for supercapacitor performances, Warburg region resistances of CS, CCS6, CCS8, and CCS10 are estimated as 0.5, 0.2, 0.1, and 0.45(Ω∙cm2). Therefore, interfacial ion diffusion resistance decreases with the increase in DC. Additionally, CCS6 with the highest DC results in the largest electrochemical window of 1.8 V. At current density of 1A∙g−1, the specific capacitances of CS, CCS6, CCS8, and CCS10 supercapacitors are 35F∙g-1, 72.5F∙g−1, 49.2F∙g−1, and 40.5F∙g−1. Among all hydrogel electrolytes, CCS6 possesses the highest DC, the smallest ion diffusion resistance, the largest electrochemical window, and the largest specific capacitance.

This paper proposes the research and development of an Android-based mobile platform with a quadrotor control and quadrotor flight controller. The proposed Android-based mobile platform has the following advantages: (1) with Android remote controller has a bidirectional transmission function, which can transmit flight directives to the quadrotor and receive the feedback information to achieve the desired control. Additionally, the Android remote controller is designed on a mobile platform for convenient carrying. (2) The flight controller is designed with Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) Control and Sliding Mode Control methods to obtain optimum operations. Finally, parameters of optimum control are built and implemented by using Genetic and Tabu Search Algorithms. Experimental results are presented to verify the performance and the feasibility of the proposed Android-based mobile platform with a quadrotor control and quadrotor flight controller.

To identify the variation in soil bacterial community diversity brought by the invasion of Phyllostachys edulis into Pinus massoniana forest, we collected mixed soil samples from three types of forests, including a pure Ph. edulis forest, a mixed Ph. edulis and conifers (P. massoniana) fore-st, and a mixed forest of evergreen broadleaves and conifers. Samples were analyzed by high-throughput sequencing for measuring the soil bacterial community diversity and structure. The results showed that the bacterial communities comprised of 511 genera, 160 families, 134 orders, 88 classes, and 39 phyla. The proportion of Acidobateria in the pure Ph. edulis forest was significantly lower and the proportions of Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, TM7, and Chlamydiae were significantly higher than that in other forests. Meanwhile, various genera showed significant differences in proportions in both the mixed forests when compared with their corresponding proportions in the pure Ph. edulis forest. There were 130 non-dominant genera presented alone in each of the two mixed forests, at proportions between 0.005% and 0.1%. The pure Ph. edulis forest had the lowestAgr; diversity, while that of the mixed Ph. edulis and evergreen broadleaf forest was intermediate, and that of the mixed evergreen broadleaf and coniferous forest was the highest. The index ofAgr; diversity followed evergreen coniferous mixed forestbamboo needle mixed forestpure bamboo forest, and the diffe-rence between the mixed Ph. edulis and evergreen broadleaf forest and the mixed evergreen broadleaf and coniferous forest was insignificant. The PCoA results revealed that the invasion of Ph. edulis affected the population diversity and community structure of soil bacteria. There was a significant correlation between the percentage of non-dominant bacterial phyla in the soil (less than 0.1% of the proportion) and the soil environmental gradient such as water-soluble organic nitrogen and nitrate. Water-soluble organic nitrogen and nitrate had strong effects on the non-dominant bacterial population in the soil following the invasion of Ph. edulis into the P. massoniana forest. These findings would serve as important references for further related studies.为揭示毛竹入侵邻域林分过程中对土壤细菌群落多样性变化的影响,以马尾松林为研究对象,采集纯毛竹林、竹针混交林和常绿针叶(马尾松)混交林3类样地的混合土样,基于高通量测序技术分析土壤细菌群落多样性和结构变化.结果表明: 研究期间共得到细菌类群39门88纲134目160科511属;在门的分类水平上,与竹针混交林、常绿针叶混交林相比,纯毛竹林酸杆菌门所占比例显著较低,而放线菌门、拟杆菌门、TM7和衣原体门所占比例较高;在属的分类水平上,相对于纯毛竹林,竹针混交林和常绿针叶混交林均有多属表现出所占比例显著上升或下降,单独出现在竹针混交林或常绿针叶混交林且所占比例在0.005%～0.1%的非优势属有130属;α多样性指数均表现为常绿针叶混交林竹针混交林纯竹林,且纯竹林与两者均有显著差异,而常绿针叶混交林和竹针混交林之间差异不显著.PCoA分析表明,毛竹入侵对土壤细菌的种群多样性和群落结构产生了影响;所占比例小于0.1%的非优势菌群门分类水平的百分比特征与土壤环境梯度(水溶性有机氮和硝态氮)之间有显著相关性,两者对毛竹入侵马尾松林后土壤细菌群落的非优势种群影响巨大,具有重要的参考价值.

With the emergence of multi-view 3D videos, network operators now face a new challenge to resolve the dramatic increase of the network bandwidth required to support all subscribed views (typically 16 or 32) of a video. Recently, Depth-Image-Based Rendering (DIBR) in Computer Vision has been demonstrated as a promising way for efficient multi-view 3D video multicast, because many views can be synthesized in mobile devices and no longer need to be transmitted. Nevertheless, DIBR is computationally intensive and incurs additional power consumption in mobile devices, and unsubscribed views need to be transmitted to mobile users for DIBR. In this paper, therefore, we aim to leverage Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) for DIBR to foster effective and efficient multi-view video multicast. We formulate a new problem, named Multi-view Multicast Synthesis and Delivery (MMSD) and prove the NP-Hardness. We design an approximation algorithm, named Merge Search Forest Algorithm (MSFA), to choose the view to be synthesized and build a multicast topology including a low-cost forest for supporting each subscribed view. Simulation results manifest that MSFA outperforms the existing approaches by 30% to 50% of the total communication and computation cost.

Contamination of deoxynivalenol (DON) in grains is common worldwide and pigs are particularly susceptible to this mycotoxin. The distribution of DON in porcine tissues following intravenous administration was investigated in this study. Fifteen pigs were randomly divided into three groups. Animals in groups A and B were administrated with DON at the dose of 250 and 750 µg kg−1 body weight, respectively, while group C served as blank control. Plasma, bile and 27 tissues were collected at 30 min post-administration. DON concentrations in all samples were tested using high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS). To observe the distribution of DON in tissues, these samples were further subjected to the immunohistochemical analyses. Totally, the bile and 13 tissues were sampled for DON-based detection, including kidney, mesenteric lymph nodes, muscle, stomach, jejunum, colon, plasma, spleen, rectum, cecum, liver, ileum, and duodenum. No significant difference was observed for the concentrations of DON in duodenum, ileum and liver samples between groups A and B; while the DON concentrations in cecum and rectum of group B were significantly higher (P-value

An integrated Fenton-UASB was investigated for the treatment of 3,4,5-trimethoxybenzaldehyde (TMBA) and Di-bromo-aldehyde manufacturing wastewater. A quadratic model for describing the individual and interactive effects of three variables independent variables (pH, concentration of H2O2 and H2O2/Fe2+) affecting COD abatement in Fenton pretreatment was successfully developed by the response surface methodology. The model proposed was further interfaced with the convex optimization method to optimize the variables in that convex optimization method can guarantee global optimization. A substantial increase in the BOD5/COD ratio of the Fenton treated wastewater was observed, allowing sequent biological treatment feasible. The UASB reactor receiving treated effluent was operated continuously with an organic loading rate (OLR) from initial 3.0 g to 24.0 g COD/L/d with a stepwise reduction in hydraulic retention time (HRT) for 160 days. The degradation of organics in Fenton pretreatment and the anaerobic process was further revealed through GC-MS and FT-IR, respectively. The experimental results highlighted that the potential of integrated Fenton-UASB, providing 80.4% COD removal efficiency accompanied with 96.8% and 100% of TMBA and Di-bromo-aldehyde removal efficiency, respectively even when the applied OLR was up to 16.0 g COD/L/d. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A lab-scale UASB reactor was operated for the treatment of p-acetamidobenzene sulfonyl chloride (p-ASC)-containing wastewater with and without ethanol for 210 days. The influence of the organic loading rate on the performance of reactor by step-decreasing HRT reduction/step-increasing the concentration of p-ASC was evaluated. Almost complete degradation of 50 mg/l p-ASC and COD removal efficiency (79.5%) was noticed with a COD removal of 79.5% at HRT of 0.5 day or longer and an applied p-ASC loading rate below 120 mg/l/day. No inhibition to the performance of this reactor was observed even at a p-ASC concentration up to 1000 mg/I. Of interest that despite the absence of sulfate in the feed, a certain quantity of sulfate and sulfide was simultaneously generated in the effluent. The trial result in the absence of ethanol demonstrated that p-ASC could be used as the sole source of carbon and energy. Clone libraries for the archaeal and bacterial communities were constructed for a biomass sample taken on day 190. The majority of bacterial clones were represented by Proteobacteria, followed by Thermotogae, Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes. Bacterial groups within the phyla Clostridia might be responsible for the desulfonation of p-ASC. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

In the paper, a near-infrared-ray (NIR) and side-view video based low-complexity drowsy driver detection system is developed for day and night applications. The proposed system detects drowsy conditions effectively whether or not glasses. To reduce the redundant computations, the pre-defined ROI (region of interest) is used at the procedures of face, glasses bridge, eyes, and nose feature detections. By the geometric based facial image processing, the eyes and nose positions are recognized, and the closed eyes and nod situations due to drowsiness are detected effectively. After simulating by self-made driver's video datasets, the average open/closed eyes detection accuracy rates without/with glasses are 95% and 84% in day, and are 89% and 87% in night, and the average drowsy detection accuracy is up to 90%. By software optimizations, the processing speed operates up to 150fps and 20fps in PC and the embedded system respectively for real-time drowsy driver detections.

The purpose of this study was to preoperatively evaluate the value of aortic arch lesions by multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) angiography in type A aortic dissection (AD). From January 2013 to December 2015, we enrolled 42 patients with type A AD who underwent MDCT angiography in our hospital. The institutional database of patients was retrospectively reviewed to identify MDCT angiography examinations for type A AD. Surgical corrections were conducted in all patients to confirm diagnostic accuracy. In this study, the diagnostic accuracy of MDCT angiography was 100% in all 42 patients. The intimal tear site locations that were identified in patients included the ascending aorta (n = 25), aortic arch (n = 12), and all other sites (n = 5). Compared with the control group, there were significant differences in the aortic arch anatomy among the cases. Regarding the distance between the left common carotid and left subclavian arteries, compared with the control group, most cases with type A AD had a significant variation. MDCT angiography plays an important role in detecting aortic arch lesions of type A AD, especially in determining the location of the intimal entry site and change of branch blood vessels. Surgeons can formulate an appropriate operating plan, according to the preoperative MDCT diagnosis information.

Cephalometric analysis is an essential clinical and research tool in orthodontics for the orthodontic analysis and treatment planning. This paper presents the evaluation of the methods submitted to the Automatic Cephalometric X-Ray Landmark Detection Challenge, held at the IEEE International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging 2014 with an on-site competition. The challenge was set to explore and compare automatic landmark detection methods in application to cephalometric X-ray images. Methods were evaluated on a common database including cephalograms of 300 patients aged six to 60 years, collected from the Dental Department, Tri-Service General Hospital, Taiwan, and manually marked anatomical landmarks as the ground truth data, generated by two experienced medical doctors. Quantitative evaluation was performed to compare the results of a representative selection of current methods submitted to the challenge. Experimental results show that three methods are able to achieve detection rates greater than 80% using the 4 mm precision range, but only one method achieves a detection rate greater than 70% using the 2 mm precision range, which is the acceptable precision range in clinical practice. The study provides insights into the performance of different landmark detection approaches under real-world conditions and highlights achievements and limitations of current image analysis techniques.

As information technology grows dramatically and the financial market of Taiwan turns out to be active, the investment management becomes very popular in recent years. To facilitate the rapid development of information technology and the financial market, the application of information to financial investment becomes an important issue as essential evaluation metrics. This paper focuses on modeling the business behavior of financial investment systems by the high-level fuzzy Petri net (HLFPN) for the purpose of developing an appropriate investment decision. Based on the HLFPN model, the proposed system provides individual investors to obtain relevant information to understand the investment trend. As a result, we propose a practical financial investment system to enhance investment benefits and to help investors achieve the desired goals to improve the economy.

My group has investigated the unconventional meta-magnetic states in the Sr3Ru2O7 system, topological insulators, and superconductivity in iron-based superconductors. First, we constructed the microscopic mechanism of the nematic states in the Sr3Ru2O7 system based on its quasi-one-dimensional band structure. The calculated phase diagram agrees with the experimental observation. We performed the detailed theoretical analysis of the quasi-particle interference (QPI) spectroscopy of the STM measurement, which is in nice agreement with the experimental results. Second, we studied strong correlation effects in the 2D topological insulators by performing the sign-problem-free quantum Monte-Carlo simulations, and obtained the phase diagram. How the edge states are destabilized at an intermediate interaction strength is investigated. We have also constructed models of 3D topological insulators based on the generalization of Landau levels. The elegant analytical properties of Landau level provides a good starting point for the future study of fractional topological insulators in 3D. Third, we have investigated the unconventional superconductivity in iron-based superconductors. Time-reversal symmetry breaking states are proposed and the experimentally testable signatures are presented. We further provided a theory explanation of the anisotropic states observed in FeSe superconductors based on orbital ordering.

To study the MRI features of 1,2-dichloroethane Chronic Toxic Encephalopathy of 10 cases.10 cases were examined by MRI, slice thickness 8 mm, layer from 2 mm, axial and coronal line scan, T1WI, T2WI, FLAIR imaging.10 cases show varying degrees of abnormal signal of white matters, low signal intensity on T1WI, high signal intensity on T2WI and FLAIR. MRI could also show extensive abnormal signal in cerebral white matter although the toxic manifestation is mild to moderate. Therefore the symptoms and the shows of MRI could be inconsistent.Combined with a history of exposure, the show of varying degrees of abnormal signal of white matter in 1,2-dichloroethane Chronic Toxic Encephalopathy cases are characteristic.

In sequel to the experiment by Ch'en and Liu (see reference 2) that a rectified current was derivable from the surface of the bulb when the bulb was coated with Chinese ink and was run by alternating current, the following points were observed with 220‐v bulbs: (1) When the nitrogen pressure inside the bulb was more than a hundred mm Hg, the polarity of the rectified current was always negative, and the current amounted to a few milliamperes. The current decreased with the decrease of pressure. At a pressure of a few mm Hg the current was decreased to a very small value, and then turned to positive polarity when the pressure was further decreased. The positive current increased to a weak maximum at a few tenths of a mm Hg and came down again as the pressure was further lowered. (2) The current vs pressure curves for argon, helium, and neon were essentially similar to those for nitrogen. (3) When the inner surface of the bulb was coated with a layer of metallic sodium, the rectified current, which was posi...