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Paddy fields contaminated with cadmium (Cd) present decreased grain yield and produce Cd-contaminated grains. Screening for low-Cd-accumulating cultivars is a useful method to reduce the amount of Cd in the grains. The present study aimed to examine the roles of the root morphology and anatomy in Cd translocation and accumulation in rice plants. Twenty-two rice cultivars were used in the first experiment, after which two cultivars [Zixiangnuo (ZXN) and Jinyou T36 (JYT36)] were selected and used in subsequent experiments under hydroponic conditions. The results showed that there were significant differences in Cd concentrations in the shoots (ranging from 4 to 100 mg/kg) and the Cd translocation rates (shoot/root) (from 7% to 102%) among the 22 cultivars, and the shoot Cd concentration was significantly correlated with the Cd translocation rate of the 22 cultivars under 0.1 mg/L Cd treatment. Compared with cultivar ZXN, JYT36 had greater root Cd uptake and accumulation but lower shoot Cd accumulation and Cd translocation rate. The number of root tips per surface area of cultivar ZXN was greater than that of JYT36, while the average root diameter was lower than that of JYT36. Compared with ZXN, JYT36 had stronger apoplastic barriers, and the Casparian bands and suberin lamellae in the root endodermis and exodermis were closer to the root apex in both the control and Cd treatments, especially for suberin lamellae in the root exodermis with Cd treatments, with a difference of 25 mm. The results also showed that, compared with ZXN, JYT36 had greater percentages of Cd bound in cell walls and intracellular Cd but lower Cd concentrations in the apoplastic fluid under the Cd treatment. The results suggested that Cd translocation, rather than root Cd uptake, is a key process that determines Cd accumulation in the rice shoots. The root morphological and anatomical characteristics evidently affect Cd accumulation in the shoots by inhibiting Cd translocation, especially via the apoplastic pathway. It was possible to pre-screen low-Cd-accumulating rice cultivars on the basis of their root morphology, anatomical characteristics and Cd translocation rate at the seedling stage.

Purpose A prognostic prediction model for metabolic syndrome can calculate the probability of risk of experiencing metabolic syndrome within a specific period for individualized treatment decisions. We aimed to provide a systematic review and critical appraisal on prognostic models for metabolic syndrome. Materials and Methods Studies were identified through searching in English databases (PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, and Web of Science) and Chinese databases (Sinomed, WANFANG, CNKI, and CQVIP). A checklist for critical appraisal and data extraction for systematic reviews of prediction modeling studies (CHARMS) and the prediction model risk of bias assessment tool (PROBAST) were used for the data extraction process and critical appraisal. Results From the 29,668 retrieved articles, eleven studies meeting the selection criteria were included in this review. Forty-eight predictors were identified from prognostic prediction models. The c-statistic ranged from 0.67 to 0.95. Critical appraisal has shown that all modeling studies were subject to a high risk of bias in methodological quality mainly driven by outcome and statistical analysis, and six modeling studies were subject to a high risk of bias in applicability. Conclusion Future model development and validation studies should adhere to the transparent reporting of a multivariable prediction model for individual prognosis or diagnosis (TRIPOD) statement to improve methodological quality and applicability, thus increasing the transparency of the reporting of a prediction model study. It is not appropriate to adopt any of the identified models in this study for clinical practice since all models are prone to optimism and overfitting.

OBJECTIVE: : To explore the potential associations between perceived stress and health-promoting behaviors based on the theoretical schema of the middle-range theory of adaptation to chronic illness. METHODS: From January to May 2021, a convenience sampling method was used to recruit 230 young and middle-aged patients with metabolic syndrome who underwent physical examination in the inpatient center of Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine. The Health-Promoting Health Profile-Ⅱ, Chinese Perceived Stress Scale, Coping and Adaptation Processing Scale-Short Form, and Multi-dimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support were used in the cross-sectional study. The chain mediation effect procedure and bootstrap sampling test were used to examine the mediating role of adaptability and social support between perceived stress and health-promoting behaviors. RESULTS: The mean score of health-promoting behaviors was 100.0±14.6, the mean score of perceived stress was 22.0± 6.9, the mean score of adaptability was 47.0±6.1, and the mean score of social support was 63.8±10.8. Perceived stress had a negative impact on patients’ health-promoting behaviors ( r=-0.309, P

We introduce a new experimental effort at Jefferson Lab (JLab) to precisely measure the ratios of charged pion electroproduction in Semi-Inclusive Deep Inelastic Scattering (SIDIS) from $^2$D, $^3$He, and $^3$H targets \cite{c12-21-004}. This conditionally approved experiment (C12-21-004) aims to run in Hall-B using the standard CLAS12 configuration and a new target system developed for the approved quasi-elastic experiment (E12-20-005). In this data-driven study, we will measure the cross-sections as a function of ($x$, $Q^2$, $z$, $P_T$) to allow the extraction of the unpolarized parton distribution functions (PDFs), transverse momentum distributions (TMDs) and fragmentation functions (FFs) in A = 3 nuclei. By using super-ratios of pion yields of SIDIS off light nuclei over a wide $x_B$ range, we search for evidence of a flavor dependence in the EMC effect, giving us new insights into the effect of the nuclear environment on valance quarks. Double-ratios between A = 3 mirror nuclei can provide a direct measurement of the d/u ratios at large x due to their similar and well-understood nuclear corrections. With the utilization of mirror nuclei and the large kinematic range, and high precision of CLAS12, we will be able to maintain the sensitivity to the underlying physics but dramatically decrease the nuclear uncertainties due to attenuation and hadronization in heavy nuclei targets., Comment: Conference proceedings based on a talk given at the 3rd SRC-EMC Workshop, submitted to MDPI

Hui Zhang,1 Jing Shao,1 Dandan Chen,1 Ping Zou,2 Nianqi Cui,3 Leiwen Tang,1 Dan Wang,1 Zhihong Ye1 1Department of Nursing, Zhejiang University School of Medicine Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Scholar Practitioner Program, School of Nursing, Nipissing University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; 3Department of Nursing, The Second Affiliated Hospital Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Zhihong YeDepartment of Nursing, Zhejiang University School of Medicine Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310016, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86-13606612119Email 3192005@zju.edu.cnPurpose: A prognostic prediction model for metabolic syndrome can calculate the probability of risk of experiencing metabolic syndrome within a specific period for individualized treatment decisions. We aimed to provide a systematic review and critical appraisal on prognostic models for metabolic syndrome.Materials and Methods: Studies were identified through searching in English databases (PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, and Web of Science) and Chinese databases (Sinomed, WANFANG, CNKI, and CQVIP). A checklist for critical appraisal and data extraction for systematic reviews of prediction modeling studies (CHARMS) and the prediction model risk of bias assessment tool (PROBAST) were used for the data extraction process and critical appraisal.Results: From the 29,668 retrieved articles, eleven studies meeting the selection criteria were included in this review. Forty-eight predictors were identified from prognostic prediction models. The c-statistic ranged from 0.67 to 0.95. Critical appraisal has shown that all modeling studies were subject to a high risk of bias in methodological quality mainly driven by outcome and statistical analysis, and six modeling studies were subject to a high risk of bias in applicability.Conclusion: Future model development and validation studies should adhere to the transparent reporting of a multivariable prediction model for individual prognosis or diagnosis (TRIPOD) statement to improve methodological quality and applicability, thus increasing the transparency of the reporting of a prediction model study. It is not appropriate to adopt any of the identified models in this study for clinical practice since all models are prone to optimism and overfitting.Keywords: prediction model, risk, prognosis, metabolic syndrome, systematic review

Haixiang Zhu,1 Zhihong Ye,2 Li Ning,3 Xiaoxue Han,1 Yuan Wu1 1Department of Cardiology, Zhejiang University School of Medicine Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Lead’s Office, Zhejiang University School of Medicine Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 3Nursing Department, Hangzhou First People’s Hospital, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Haixiang ZhuDepartment of Cardiology, Zhejiang University School of Medicine Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86-13757129895Fax +86-57187887872Email 3203070@zju.edu.cnPurpose: This study aimed to investigate the status of cardiac rehabilitation knowledge and attitude of the medical staff.Patients and Methods: A questionnaire survey of doctors and nurses was performed in the departments of cardiology of 7 teaching hospitals with attitudes, knowledge toward CR in Zhejiang Province, China, from April to September 2018, to assess Chinese medical staff for the degree of mastery and attitude toward cardiac rehabilitation.Results: A total of 160 questionnaires were distributed and 152 valid were collected. The responding individuals included 106 nurses (69.74%) and 46 doctors (30.26%). The scores of cardiac rehabilitation knowledge were 56.68± 5.06, and those of cardiac rehabilitation attitude were 15.19± 3.86. Subgroup analysis showed the lower the job title (P< 0.001), the lower the educational level (P = 0.011), and the shorter the years of specialty experience (P=0.005), the more negative the attitude toward cardiac rehabilitation.Conclusion: The medical staff has a good mastery of cardiac rehabilitation knowledge. But we also find that staffs with lower education level and job title, shorter specialty work experience were associated with a more negative attitude toward implement rehabilitation.Keywords: cardiac rehabilitation, acute myocardial infarction, knowledge, attitude, medical staff

Xiyi Wang,1 Jing Shao,2 Zhihong Ye1,2 1Department of Nursing, Zhejiang University School of Medicine Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 2Faculty of Nursing, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Zhihong YeDepartment of Nursing, Zhejiang University School of Medicine Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310020, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86-0571-86006608Fax +86 0571-86044817Email yezh@zju.edu.cnPurpose: This study aimed to translate the Roy adaptation model concept of adaptation level into measurable concepts when considering the health-related quality of life, social support, and self-efficacy of community-dwelling Chinese adults with metabolic syndrome.Patients and Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study. Data were collected from 144 adults with metabolic syndrome in the suburban area of Hangzhou, China. Correlation analysis was performed to examine the relationships between environmental stimuli (sociodemographic characteristics), adaptation level (health-related quality of life and social support), and prerequisite of behavior (self-efficacy). Regression analysis was applied to test the effect of stimuli on adaptation level and their associations with behavior.Results: Adaptation level was potentially influenced by environmental stimuli and evaluated by the quality of life. Age and education level were related to physiological and psychological function. Besides, family income was related to physiological function. Thus, adaptation level may predict individuals’ behavior towards illness management, with a percentage classification accuracy of 76.40%. The vitality and social functioning of the quality of life were identified as significant correlates of self-efficacy.Conclusion: Our findings demonstrate that individuals’ internal and external resources should be considered when developing nursing interventions to improve patients’ adaptation level. Future research should explore whether facilitating self-efficacy among community-dwelling adults with metabolic syndrome may positively influence an individual’s adaptation process in health management.Keywords: chronic illness, physiological adaptation, psychosocial adaptation, quality of life, social support, self-efficacy

Ruolin Qiu, 1 Kara Schick-Makaroff, 2 Leiwen Tang, 3 Xiyi Wang, 1 Qi Zhang, 1 Zhihong Ye 1 1Faculty of Nursing, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, People’s Republic of China; 2Faculty of Nursing, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; 3Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Affiliated Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Zhihong YeFaculty of Nursing, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, #704, Administrative Building, 3 East Qingchun Road, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310016, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86 136 0661 2119Email yezh@zju.edu.cnPurpose: This study is aiming to investigate cardiovascular patients’ attitudes towards self-management during hospitalization in China.Patients and Methods: Twenty-nine individuals living with cardiovascular disease from one designated Cardiology Department in Hangzhou, China, were recruited through a purposive sampling procedure. A qualitative descriptive methodology was used. Semi-structured interviews were also used to gain attitudes toward self-management. The interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed and analyzed by thematic analysis to develop the results.Results: Four themes were identified from the qualitative data: (1): Responsibilities of self-management; (2): Reflections on self-management; (3): Acknowledgement of self-management support; (4): Challenges in implementing and adherence to self-management. Additionally, interview data were also given to illustrate these main themes emerging during the analysis. Patients gradually took their responsibilities to manage chronic symptoms. During their self-management process, they did reflections to help correct their regiments through supportive interactions. Health system responsiveness, health disparities, social capital, and cultural setting were the main external factors influencing better self-management implementation and adherence.Conclusion: This study revealed the hospitalized cardiovascular patients’ attitudes towards self-management in China. These findings emphasized the importance of patients’ responsibility, reflections, and various social support receiving and pointed out specific external factors influencing the health outcomes and their quality of life. This study also proves the guide for the policymakers and health system better instructions to develop individually and culturally tailored advanced self-management interventions and programs.Keywords: attitude, hospitalization, cardiovascular disease, self-management, qualitative research

We present extractions of the nucleon nonsinglet moments utilizing new precision data on the deuteron F_{2} structure function at large Bjorken-x determined via the Rosenbluth separation technique at Jefferson Lab Experimental Hall C. These new data are combined with a complementary set of data on the proton previously measured in Hall C at similar kinematics and world datasets on the proton and deuteron at lower x measured at SLAC and CERN. The new Jefferson Lab data provide coverage of the upper third of the x range, crucial for precision determination of the higher moments. In contrast to previous extractions, these moments have been corrected for nuclear effects in the deuteron using a new global fit to the deuteron and proton data. The obtained experimental moments represent an order of magnitude improvement in precision over previous extractions using high x data. Moreover, recent exciting developments in lattice QCD calculations provide a first ever comparison of these new experimental results with calculations of moments carried out at the physical pion mass, as well as a new approach that first calculates the quark distributions directly before determining moments.

The embedded thin-layer technique and the field-to-wire coupling technique have been developed and integrated into the massively parallel computer codes JEMS-FDTD, enabling us to efficiently model the electrically-large complex objects with fine details. JEMS-FDTD has been applied to model the coupling effects of a real aircraft with the skin partly comprised of carbon fiber composite materials, and the induced currents on cables inside the aircraft have also been investigated.

Shina Qiao*, Leiwen Tang*, Weibo Zhang, Suming Tian, Minjun Liu, Lili Yang, Zhihong YeAffiliated Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this work Background: Recently, cancer pain management has come increasingly to be provided in outpatient settings, requiring health-care providers and outpatients to take on responsibilities. Pain is among the most distressing symptoms of cancer.Objectives: To compare the effectiveness of nurse-led telephone calls plus WeChat versus telephone calls only for the pain management of outpatients with cancer.Methods: 231 outpatients with cancer pain were classified into two groups (group 1, N=125; group 2, N=106). Group 1 was followed up with weekly telephone calls for eight weeks, and group 2 with weekly telephone calls combined with the booklets through WeChat for eight weeks. Differences between groups in pain level, side effects, medication adherence, and satisfaction with pain management were analyzed, and statistical differences were tested usingan independent-sample t-test and a chi-squared test.Results: Group 2 had a significantly lower rest pain (p

A time domain field-to-wire coupling technique has been developed and integrated into the massively parallel computer codes JEMS-FDTD, allowing us to model wires and cables inside an electrically large and complex objects with high efficiency. The induced effects of wires and cables are retrieved by solving the transmission line equations using the one-dimensional (1D) finite difference time domain (FDTD) method. The JEMS-FDTD codes with the field-to-wire coupling technique have been validated by calculating the field coupling effects of a single-core wire positioned along the axis and off axis above a PEC ground plane. The JEMS-FDTD codes have also been applied to analyze the induced effects of an obliquely positioned single-core wire inside a vehicle upon a plane wave excitation.

[eng] Organic micropollutants, including pharmaceuticals, personal care products (PCPs), pesticides, dyes and many other industrial chemicals have become one of the most solid barriers for the effective and safe wastewater remediation and reclamation. Some of these contaminants are able to act as endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), thus posing emerging concerns. Their concentration in water is usually at trace level and most of them are highly resistant to conventional treatment technologies like biodegradation and physicochemical methods. The inefficient removal of micropollutants causes their occurrence in final water distribution systems, even reaching drinking water, which jeopardizes the entire biosphere and human health. Over the last decades, the electrochemical technologies, especially the electrochemical advanced oxidation processes (EAOPs), have been proven to behave as clean and effective alternatives to eliminate the organic micropollutants from wastewater effluents due to the direct or indirect generation of strong oxidizing agents such as the hydroxyl radical. However, the utilization of conventional electro-Fenton (EF) and photoelectro-Fenton (PEF) is limited by several drawbacks: (i) long time needed to destroy large contents of organics; (ii) requirement of pH adjustment to 2.5-3.5; (iii) poor electroreduction and photoreduction of Fe(III); (iv) high amount of iron catalyst required; (v) deactivation of iron species; and (vi) production of iron sludge. Aiming to overcome these disadvantages, several processes and catalysts are proposed in this Thesis to modify the conventional EF and PEF. In the first part, electrocoagulation (EC) was envisaged as a valid pre-treatment before the application of the EAOPs, thus addressing the abovementioned limitation (i). This involved the in situ generation of coagulants upon dissolution of a sacrificial anode, yielding flocs that precipitated and adsorbed part of the organics rapidly. Furthermore, when an Fe/Fe cell was employed, the residual dissolved iron species after precipitation acted as the required catalyst for subsequent EF/PEF treatment. The efficient removal of butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and benzophenone-3 (BP-3) from urban wastewater was successfully achieved by means of sequential EC/EAOPs. The second part investigated, for the first time, the feasibility of employing a soluble Fe(III)–EDDS complex as homogeneous EF or PEF catalyst to destroy micropollutants. The systems allowed working at near-neutral pH, exhibiting a high quantum yield for Fe2+ generation from Fe(III)–EDDS photoreduction. The Fe(III)– EDDS-assisted EF and PEF processes exhibited excellent performance for the degradation of BHA and fluoxetine (FLX) in sulfate medium, as well as in urban wastewater. Heterogeneous EF and PEF processes using solid catalysts have been developed in the third part as promising alternatives to overcome the drawbacks (ii)-(vi). The development of new types of catalysts with high activity, stability and recyclability is still a great challenge in the field. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have attracted substantial attention in recent years as ordered porous materials with many potential applications. In this Thesis, raw Fe-MOFs or their derivatives were introduced as efficient and innovative heterogeneous EF or PEF catalysts to treat micropollutants in urban wastewater. FeS2/C nanocomposite, fabricated by sulfidation and pyrolysis of an Fe-MOF precursor, as EF catalyst outperformed natural pyrite and Fe2+ due to the cooperation of homogenous and heterogeneous Fenton’s reaction. The thermal treatment of NH2-MIL(Fe)-88B gave rise to N-doped nano-ZVI@C, which exhibited superior catalytic activity in EF. Finally, the direct use of a Fe-bpydc 2D MOF as PEF catalyst yielded a fast bezafibrate decay due to the synergy between photocatalysis and Fenton’s reaction. Their unique properties conferred an unprecedented degradation ability to EF and PEF at mild pH. In conclusion, this Thesis has provided several strategies to unravel the difficulties for the future application of EAOPs at industrial scale., [spa] Los microcontaminantes orgánicos se han convertido en un gran obstáculo para asegurar un tratamiento de aguas residuales eficaz y seguro, ya que suelen ser resistentes a las tecnologías de tratamiento convencionales. En las últimas décadas, se ha demostrado que los procesos electroquímicos de oxidación avanzada (EAOPs) constituyen alternativas limpias y efectivas para eliminar microcontaminantes orgánicos de aguas residuales, gracias a la generación del radical hidroxilo. Sin embargo, la utilización de los procesos electro-Fenton (EF) y fotoelectro-Fenton (FEF) convencionales se ve limitada por: (i) el largo tiempo requerido para eliminar elevadas concentraciones; (ii) necesidad de ajuste del pH (2,5-3,5); (iii) pobre electrorreducción y fotorreducción del Fe(III); (iv) elevada cantidad de catalizador requerida; (v) desactivación de las especies de hierro; y (vi) producción de lodos. Para superar estas desventajas, en esta Tesis se proponen varios procesos y catalizadores. En la primera parte, la electrocoagulación (EC) se propuso como pretratamiento para abordar la limitación (i), lo cual implicó la generación de flóculos como adsorbentes. Además, el hierro disuelto actuó como el catalizador en el posterior tratamiento EF o FEF. Mediante EC/EAOPs se logró una eliminación eficiente de hidroxianisol butilado (BHA) y la benzofenona-3 (BP-3) en agua residual urbana. En la segunda parte se investigó, por primera vez, la viabilidad del complejo Fe(III)– EDDS soluble como catalizador EF o FEF homogéneo. Se obtuvo un excelente rendimiento para la degradación de BHA y fluoxetina (FLX) en medio de sulfato y en agua residual. En la tercera parte se desarrollaron procesos EF y FEF heterogéneos que utilizan catalizadores sólidos para superar los inconvenientes (ii)-(vi). Se introdujeron Fe-MOFs (i.e., metal-organic frameworks) y sus derivados como catalizadores innovadores eficientes. Se fabricó un nanocomposite de FeS2/C con un mayor rendimiento que la pirita natural y el Fe2+ en el proceso EF. El tratamiento térmico de NH2-MIL(Fe)-88B dio lugar a un nano-ZVI@C dopado, el cual exhibió una capacidad catalítica superior en EF. Finalmente, la utilización de un MOF 2D de Fe-bpydc en FEF promovió una eliminación rápida de benzafibrato. En conclusión, esta Tesis ha proporcionado varias estrategias para superar las dificultades para la aplicación de EAOPs a escala industrial.

In this paper, a large-scale parallel FDTD method is presented to study the characteristics of electromagnetic wave propagating in the building. The structure of the building is complex, which contains multiple fine structures and a variety of materials, such as ground, concrete wall, window, door and so on. The large-scale parallel FDTD method combined with an auto mesh generation technique and non-uniform mesh technique is used to model the building rapidly, and then the electric fields in the building are obtained via this method. The results computed by the parallel FDTD method are compared with that obtained by commercial electromagnetic software to verify the correctness of the parallel FDTD method. Meanwhile, the maximum electric field distributions and the signal blind zones in this building are given.

In this paper, a novel microstrip structure is developed to realize a dual-band bandpass filter for 2.4/5.2 GHz WLAN application. The proposed bandpass structure uses two open-loop stepped impedance resonators (SIRs) with two internal and external stubs. The two interest frequency bands may be independently controlled by adjusting the dimensions of the structure. The dual-band bandpass filter developed in this paper exhibits excellent performances with two passbands centered at 2.4 GHz and 5.2 GHz and the fractional bandwidth of 5.0% and 2.7% respectively. The measured results are in good agreement with simulated results. Additionally, it can be easily fabricated and should be used in applications where miniaturization and compatibility with microstrip technology are of primary concern.

We present extractions of the nucleon non-singlet moments utilizing new precision data on the deuteron $F_2$ structure function at large Bjorken-$x$ determined via the Rosenbluth separation technique at Jefferson Lab Experimental Hall C. These new data are combined with a complementary set of data on the proton previously measured in Hall C at similar kinematics and world data sets on the proton and deuteron at lower $x$ measured at SLAC and CERN. The new Jefferson Lab data provide coverage of the upper third of the $x$ range, crucial for precision determination of the higher moments. In contrast to previous extractions, these moments have been corrected for nuclear effects in the deuteron using a new global fit to the deuteron and proton data. The obtained experimental moments represent an order of magnitude improvement in precision over previous extractions using high $x$ data. Moreover, recent exciting developments in Lattice QCD calculations provide a first ever comparison of these new experimental results with calculations of moments carried out at the physical pion mass, as well as a new approach which first calculates the quark distributions directly before determining moments.

In this article, a method for quantitative determination of phytochelatins (PCn being the classic example) and other thiol-containing compounds in mixed standard solution and plant tissues is presented. Thiols were converted to fluorescent derivatives by precolumn derivatization with monobromobimane. The results showed that PCn and other thiol-containing compounds in standard mixed solutions were rapidly separated within 15 min by using a ACN 0.1% trifluoroacetic acid binary gradient elution. Glutathione was representatively selected to test the precision of this method. The calibration curve was linear in the range of 1.25–160 ng μl−1 (regression coefficient r2=0.9999). It was confirmed that this method was rapid, simple, highly sensitive, stable, and had the property of simultaneous determination of PCn and other thiol-containing compounds. This method was applied to determine PCn and other thiol-containing compounds in a Cd hyperaccumulator Sedum alfredii in response to Cd. It was found that no PCn was detected in any tissue at any Cd treatment, suggesting that Cd hyperaccumulation and detoxification in this plant is not based on PC synthesis.

The experiment, E08-014, in Hall-A at Jefferson Lab aims to study the short-range correlations (SRC) which are necessary to explain the nuclear strength absent in the mean field theory. The cross sections for $\mathrm{^{2}H}$, $\mathrm{^{3}He}$, $\mathrm{^{4}He}$, $\mathrm{^{12}C}$, $\mathrm{^{40}Ca}$ and $\mathrm{^{48}Ca}$, were measured via inclusive quasielastic electron scattering from these nuclei in a $\mathrm{Q^{2}}$ range between 0.8 and $\mathrm{2.8~(GeV/c)^{2}}$ for $x_{bj}>1$. The cross section ratios of heavy nuclei to $\mathrm{^{2}H}$ were extracted to study two-nucleon SRC for $1

This dissertation studies modeling and control issues of parallel three-phase pulse-width modulated (PWM) converters. The converters include three-phase boost rectifiers, voltage source inverters, buck rectifiers and current source inverters. The averaging of the parallel converters is performed based on a generic functional switching unit, which is called a phase leg in boost rectifiers and voltage source inverters, and a rail arm in buck rectifiers and current source inverters. Based on phase-leg and rail-arm averaging, the developed models are not only equivalent to the conventional three-phase converter models that are based on phase-to-phase averaging, but they also preserve common-mode information, which is critical in the analysis of the parallel converters. The models reveal such parallel dynamics as reactive power circulation and small-signal interaction. A unique feature of the parallel three-phase converters is a zero-sequence circulating current. This work proposes a novel zero-sequence control concept that uses variable zero-vectors in the space-vector modulation (SVM) of the converters. The control can be implemented within an individual converter and is independent from the other control loops for the converter. Therefore, it greatly facilitates the design and expansion of a parallel system. Proper operation of the parallel converters requires an explicit load-sharing mechanism. In order to have a modular design, a droop method is recommended. Traditionally, however, a droop method has to compromise between voltage regulation and load sharing. After parametric analysis, a novel droop method using a gain-scheduling technique is proposed. The numeric analysis shows that the proposed droop method can achieve both good voltage regulation and good load sharing. An interleaving technique is often used in parallel converter systems in order to reduce current ripples. Because of its symmetrical circuit structure, the parallel three-phase converter system can reduce both differential-mode and common-mode noise with a center-aligned symmetrical SVM. Based on the concept that a symmetrical circuit can reduce common-mode dv/dt noise, a conventional three-phase, four-leg inverter is modified so that its fourth leg is symmetrical to the other three legs. The common-mode dv/dt noise can be practically eliminated with a new modulation strategy. Meanwhile, with a modified control design, the new four-leg inverter still can handle low-frequency common-mode components that occur due to unbalanced and nonlinear load. Ph. D.