Search

This work proposes an effective electrode length model and reveals for the first time the relationship between this model and the mesa shape effect. On the basis of this model, we demonstrate high-performance triangular miniaturized-LEDs (mini-LEDs) and benchmark to the conventional square, and circular shapes of the same mesa area. Here, we systematically study the impact of shaping in mini-LEDs both theoretically and experimentally, which is fundamentally different than that of the conventional regular-sized LEDs. We find that, at the current level of 200 mA, the triangular mini-LEDs deliver an enhancement of 36.4% in the optical output power and a decrease of 9.6% for the forward voltage compared to the commonly used square ones, and also an enhancement of 24.6% in the optical output power and a decrease of 14.3% for the forward voltage compared to the circular ones. The superior optical performance is proved to result from longer effective n-electrode length in the case of the triangular mini-LEDs, which suppresses the self-heating effect and thus well preserves the internal quantum efficiency, whereas the light extraction efficiency and the heat dissipation for the triangular shape are not significantly increased for such small mesa sizes, unlike conventional broad-area LEDs. Meanwhile, the reduced voltage is revealed to stem from the decreased n-GaN resistance. Different than conventional LEDs, these findings therefore indicate that the effective n-electrode length matters substantially for the miniaturized-LEDs. Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) National Research Foundation (NRF) This work is supported by the Singapore National Research Foundation under Grant No. NRF-CRP-6-2010-2 and the Singapore Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) SERC Pharos Program under Grant No. 1527300025. H.V.D also gratefully acknowledges TUBA.

Type III effectors secreted by rhizobia regulate nodulation in the host plant and are important modulators of symbiosis between rhizobia and soybean (Glycine max), although the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Here, we studied the type III effector NopAA in Sinorhizobium fredii HH103, confirming its secretion into the extracellular environment under the action of genistein. The enzyme activity of NopAA was investigated in vitro, using xyloglucan and β-glucan as substrates. NopAA functions were investigated by the generation of a NopAA mutant and the effects of NopAA deficiency on symbiosis were analyzed. Soybean genes associated with NopAA were identified in a recombinant inbred line (RIL) population and their functions were verified. NopAA was confirmed to be a type III effector with glycosyl hydrolase activity, and its mutant did not promote nodulation. Quantitative trait locus (QTL) analysis identified 10 QTLs with one, Glyma.19g074200 (GmARP), found to be associated with NopAA and to positively regulate the establishment of symbiosis. All these results support the hypothesis that type III effectors interact with host proteins to regulate the establishment of symbiosis and suggest the possibility of manipulating the symbiotic soybean–rhizobia interaction to promote efficient nitrogen fixation.

Environment-friendly electrochemical ozone production (EOP) is a promising route for in situ sterilization and discoloration applications. Herein, a Pt-SAs/BNC catalyst with Pt single atoms embedde...

The on-site production of ozone via electrochemical water electrolysis has attracted increasing interest because of its security and efficiency. However, the underlying mechanism of the facet effect and the influence of lattice oxygen on β-PbO2 for electrochemical ozone production (EOP) remain unclear. Here, β-PbO2-120 nanorods (β-PbO2-120 NRs) were prepared to investigate the mechanism of the facet effect and the influence of lattice oxygen during the EOP process. The β-PbO2-120 NRs assembled as an anode in a membrane electrode assembly show a remarkable EOP performance. Measurements using in situ18O isotope-labeling differential electrochemical mass spectrometry confirm that all three oxygen atoms in the ozone originate from the lattice oxygen of β-PbO2. Theoretical calculations verify that the EOP reaction pathway on β-PbO2 follows the lattice oxygen mechanism (LOM), and surface lattice oxygen migration and coupling to O2/O3 are favorable on the (101) and (110) surfaces of β-PbO2. Different reaction mechanisms are proposed on the two surfaces, and (101) exhibits higher reactivity for O2 and the formation of O3. This valuable insight into the facet effect and LOM of metal oxide-based electrocatalysts can be extended to other applications.

Electrochemical ozone production (EOP) via water electrolysis represents an attractive method for the generation of high-purity O3. Herein, the X-PtZn/Zn-N-C electrocatalysts show a strong structural sensitive behavior depends on the size of the PtZn nanoparticles and their EOP activity exhibits a volcano-type dependence for the O3 performance in neutral media. The 7.7-PtZn/Zn-N-C exhibits EOP current efficiency of 4.2%, and shows the prominent performance in the production of gaseous O3 with a value of 1647 ppb at 30 min, which is almost 4-fold compared to 2.2-PtZn/Zn-N-C. Based on the experiments and theoretical calculations, the performance of the EOP process was determined by the nanoparticle size-effect and the synergistic effect between the PtZn nanoparticles and atomically dispersed Zn-N-C. Furthermore, the five-membered cyclic structure of O3 can be stabilized between the PtZn nanoparticle and the Zn-N-C support, indicating that O3 is produced at the interface.

Green financing has been examined in the literature. However, its impact on carbon intensity has not been fully investigated. This research sets out to fill this gap by using the dimensions of green loans, securities, insurance, and investment. In exploring the connections between green financing, nonfossil energy use, and carbon intensity, we utilized data from 2016 to 2020 to run an advanced quantile modeling. We applied the decision-making unit-method of data envelopment analysis for analyses. Our main findings are as follows. Rapid advances in the green finance sector in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries were coupled with an increase in nonfossil energy usage, resulting in a decline in carbon intensity. When the growth in nonfossil energy consumption was reduced, green investment was put on hold, and the green financing industry would be negatively impacted. The role of green financing and carbon intensity in nonfossil energy use is coupled with strong government policy interventions. Nonetheless, the effects of green finance initiatives often lag. Moreover, these effects are inconsistent. This research suggests new methods to increase the use of nonfossil energy, build a carbon trading market, and increase the consumption of green financing policies post COVID-19.

Genetic populations provide the basis for genetic and genomic research, and chromosome segment substitution lines (CSSLs) are a powerful tool for the fine mapping of quantitative traits, new gene mining, and marker-assisted breeding. In this study, 213 CSSLs were obtained by self-crossing, backcrossing, and marker-assisted selection between cultivated soybean (Glycine max [L.] Merr.) variety Suinong14 (SN14) and wild soybean (Glycine soja Sieb. et Zucc.) ZYD00006. The genomes of these 213 CSSLs were resequenced and 580,524 single-nucleotide polymorphism markers were obtained, which were divided into 3,780 bin markers. The seed-pod-related traits were analyzed by quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping using CSSLs. A total of 170 QTLs were detected, and 32 QTLs were detected stably for more than 2 years. Through epistasis analysis, 955 pairs of epistasis QTLs related to seed-pod traits were obtained. Furthermore, the hundred-seed weight QTL was finely mapped to the region of 64.4 Kb on chromosome 12, and Glyma.12G088900 was identified as a candidate gene. Taken together, a set of wild soybean CSSLs was constructed and upgraded by a resequencing technique. The seed-pod-related traits were studied by bin markers, and a candidate gene for the hundred-seed weight was finely mapped. Our results have revealed the CSSLs can be an effective tool for QTL mapping, epistatic effect analysis, and gene cloning.

The exploration of highly efficient and inexpensive electrochemical ozone production (EOP) electrocatalysts for various in situ industrial applications is a recent hot topic in the catalysis field. In this work, B, N co-doped mesoporous carbon materials were designed and their EOP performance was predicted via density functional theory (DFT). In accordance with the theoretical predictions, a multifunctional site, pyrrolic-N, B co-doped defective mesoporous carbon (D-BNC) material with a high content of pyrrolic N, which exhibits excellent EOP electrocatalytic activity, was successfully synthesized. The high activity of D-BNC can be attributed to the synergetic effect played by pyrrolic-N, B, its neighboring C elements, and the defects. Furthermore, the five-membered cyclic structure formed between B and the neighboring C atoms which connects to O3 reduces the activation energy (0.41 eV) of the compound and promotes EOP. This work offers a new reference for the development of inexpensive metal free carbon-based electrocatalysts for EOP.

It is one of the significant tasks of power inspection by multi rotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) to recognize engineering vehicles in aerial images. If there are engineering vehicles working near or below the high-voltage power line, the UAV would give out the important early warning message to avoid the situation that the bucket or boom of the engineering vehicle enters the safe distance from the high-voltage power line, and reduce accidents such as short circuit breakdown. Aiming at the problem of recognition of engineering vehicles in aerial images of UAV inspection, this paper proposed an improved capsule network method. First, the structure of original capsule network is replaced with a multi-layer densely connected capsule network. Next, the dynamic routing algorithm of the capsule network is improved. As the results of experiments have shown, (1) the improved capsule network method gets a mAP of 93.74% for the recognition of engineering vehicles, and its parameter scale is smaller than other methods. (2) The number of network layers influences the recognition precision greatly. Their relationship is non-monotonic and nonlinear. In addition, whether or not to improve the dynamic routing algorithm does not affect the trends of recognition mAP. The overall performance of the improved capsule network method is obviously better than YOLOv5 and other artificial feature extraction methods.

It is very difficult to conduct emergency rescue drills for bus fire accidents in a real environment, which not only requires high costs, but may also cause personal injury to the trainees. With the development of computer technology, the emergence of virtual reality technology provides a new practical mode for emergency drills; by simulating events, trainees respond more intuitively in the virtual environment and carry out emergency rescue drills. This article uses three-dimensional virtual simulation technology to analyze and design the architecture of the emergency rescue deduction system for passenger car fire accidents. The deduction system functions are designed in a modular manner, which is convenient for the stability and reliability of the system and is conducive to implementation. It proposes a practical and efficient method for digital drills.

The extraction and recycle of thorium is an essential step in the thorium-uranium closed fuel cycle designed for Thorium-based Molten Salt Reactor system (TMSR), and the separation of thorium from FPs especially lanthanides is a key issue in the thorium recovery. In this paper, the electrochemical behaviors of Th(IV) and Ce(III) on Mo electrode were studied by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and chronopotentiometry (CP) techniques at 773 K in ThF4(3 wt%)/CeF3(0.3 wt%)-LiCl-KCl ternary melt and CeF3(0.3 wt%)-ThF4(3 wt%)-LiCl-KCl quaternary melt, respectively. The reduction peaks of Th(IV)/Th(0) and Ce(III)/Ce(0) were at −1.83 V and −2.21 V (vs. Ag/AgCl) in the respective ternary melt, respectively, which were same with the values in the quaternary melt; however, the oxidation peaks in the CeF3-ThF4-LiCl-KCl melt shifted negatively about 0.1 V. Pulsed potential electrolysis of quaternary melt revealed that 98.9% of Th(IV) can be electrochemical separated from the melt with almost all cerium remaining in the melt, based on the inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometer (ICP-AES) results.

Background Congenital hypothyroidism (CH) is the most common neonatal endocrine disorder. Although most patients present with isolated CH, some patients present with CH and extra-thyroidal congenital malformations (ECMs), for which less is known about the underlying genetics. The aim of this study was to investigate the genetic mechanisms in patients with CH and ECMs using chromosomal microarray (CMA) and whole exome sequencing (WES). Methods Peripheral venous blood samples were collected from 16 patients with CH and ECMs. Genomic DNA was extracted from peripheral blood leukocytes. CMA and WES were performed to detect copy number and single nucleotide variants. Results CMA identified clinically significant copy number variants in 7 patients consistent with their phenotypes. For 6 of them, the genotype and phenotype suggested a syndromic diagnosis, and the remaining patient carried a pathogenic microdeletion and microduplication including GLIS3. WES analysis identified 9 different variants in 7 additional patients. The variants included 2 known mutations (c.1096C>T (p.Arg366Trp) in KCNQ1 and c.848C>A (p.Pro283Gln) in NKX2-5) and 7 novel variants: one nonsense mutation (c.4330C>T (p.Arg1444*) in ASXL3), one frameshift mutation (c.1253_1259delACTCTGG (p.Asp418fs) in TG), three missense variants (c.1472C>T (p.Thr491Ile) in TG, c.4604A>G (p.Asp1535Gly) in TG, and c.2139G>T (p.Glu713Asp) in DUOX2, and two splice site variants (c.944-1G>C and c.3693 + 1G>T) in DUOX2. Conclusions We report the first genetic study of CH patients with ECMs using CMA and WES. Overall, our detection rate for pathogenic and possibly pathogenic variants was 87.5% (14/16). We report 7 novel variants, expanding the mutational spectrum of TG, DUOX2, and ASXL3.

PurposeROR2, a member of the ROR family, is essential for skeletal development as a receptor of Wnt5a. The present study aims to investigate the mutational spectrum of ROR2 in children with short stature and to identify the underlying molecular mechanisms.MethodsWe retrospectively analyzed clinical phenotype and whole-exome sequencing (WES) data of 426 patients with short stature through mutation screening of ROR2. We subsequently examined the changes in protein expression and subcellular location in ROR2 caused by the mutations. The mRNA expression of downstream signaling molecules of the Wnt5a–ROR2 pathway was also examined.ResultsWe identified 12 mutations in ROR2 in 21 patients, including 10 missense, one nonsense, and one frameshift. Among all missense variants, four recurrent missense variants [c.1675G > A(p.Gly559Ser), c.2212C > T(p.Arg738Cys), c.1930G > A(p.Asp644Asn), c.2117G > A(p.Arg706Gln)] were analyzed by experiments in vitro. The c.1675G > A mutation significantly altered the expression and the cellular localization of the ROR2 protein. The c.1675G > A mutation also caused a significantly decreased expression of c-Jun. In contrast, other missense variants did not confer any disruptive effect on the biological functions of ROR2.ConclusionWe expanded the mutational spectrum of ROR2 in patients with short stature. Functional experiments potentially revealed a novel molecular mechanism that the c.1675G > A mutation in ROR2 might affect the expression of downstream Wnt5a–ROR2 pathway gene by disturbing the subcellular localization and expression of the protein.

Background Nemaline myopathy 8 is a severe autosomal recessive muscle disorder characterized by fetal akinesia or hypokinesia, contractures, fractures, respiratory failure and swallowing difficulties apparent at birth. Methods An affected dizygotic twin pair from a non‐consanguineous Chinese family presented with severe asphyxia, lethargy and no response to stimuli. The dysmorphic features included prominent nasal bridge, telecanthus, excessive hip abduction, limb edema, absent palmar and sole creases, acromelia, bilateral clubfoot, appendicular hypertonia and cryptorchidism. Both infants died in the first week of life. Whole‐exome sequencing was used to identify the causative gene. Results Whole‐exome sequencing identified a recurrent missense variant c.1516A>C and a novel splice‐acceptor variant c.1153‐1G>C in KLHL40 gene in both siblings. We estimated the disease incidence in Southern Chinese population to be 2.47/100,000 based on the cumulative allele frequency of pathogenic and likely pathogenic variants in our internal database. Conclusion Our study expanded the mutation spectrum of KLHL40 and the condition could have been underdiagnosed before. We identified a recurrent missense variant c.1516A>C and provided evidence further supporting the founder effect of this variant in Southern Chinese population. Given the severity of the condition and the relative high incidence, this not‐so‐rare disorder should be included in expanded carrier screening panel for Chinese population., Two male babies with nemaline myopathy‐8 also showed appendicular hypertonia exome sequencing identified a recurrent missense variant and a novel splice‐acceptor variant in KLHL40 Four additional novel pathogenic variants of KLHL40 were identified and it is speculated that nemaline myopathy‐8 is not‐so‐rare in Chinese population.

The righting mechanism of the traffic road cone automatic launch and retrieval system is installed on the frame. During normal work, the righting mechanism mainly contacts and interacts with the traffic cone by the movement of the vehicle to right or invert road cone. The study used the basic theory of mechanics to design and check the structure of the righting mechanism and carried out parameter design, selection and simulation model check calculation on the linear motor of the control system of the righting mechanism, so as to complete the design and research on automatic launch and retrieval righting mechanism of traffic road cone.

This paper takes a finite element model of a 12-meter bus as an example. Based on the HyperWorks and LS-DYNA joint collision simulation analysis method, frontal collision simulations with different initial speeds are carried out respectively, and the deformation, speed and acceleration changes of the bus under different collision speeds are analyzed. Summarize the development law of the mechanical characteristics of bus frontal collision.

Engineering vehicles on construction sites mainly include excavators, wheeled cranes and so on. If the engineering vehicle is working under or near the high-voltage power line, its bucket or boom probably enter the high-voltage breakdown range when they are lifted, which is very easy to result in accidents such as short circuit breakdown. So, it is necessary to find out the engineering vehicles working near high-voltage power line during inspection. Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) inspection is one of the main methods of electric power inspection at present. Lots of images are produced by UAV during the power line inspection. It will save a lot of inspection work if the engineering vehicles working near high-voltage power line can be recognized from these images. First, this paper analyzes the specific requirements of engineering vehicle recognition from aerial images of UAV power line inspection. Then, based on the research status of vehicle recognition in aerial images and other related fields at domestic and abroad, this paper comprehensively analyzes the research status of classical pattern recognition method and deep neural network method to recognize engineering vehicles in aerial images of UAV. Third, in view of the practical problems such as the low aerial image data of engineering vehicles, the roadmap of recognizing the engineering vehicles in the aerial image of UAV using the capsule network method is designed.

When the piezoceramic actuator (PEA) perform the high-frequency and nanometer precision motion, the hysteresis existing in PEA are not only non-smooth, nonlinear and multi-value mapping, but also rate-depended. It is very difficult to use the traditional identification scheme to model such a system. In this paper, the classical Bouc-Wen model is modified and the dual Bouc-Wen model structure with linearization in parameters is proposed; and then its coefficients are estimated by the Recursive General Identification Algorithm (RGIA). The experimental results are presented to illustrate the performance of the proposed identification scheme and the obtained model can be applied the high-frequency adaptive control.

For compensating the interactive effects and perform the target tracking control in the multi-dimensional piezo-driven stage, a hybrid decoupling control strategy based on the special sandwich model is presented in this paper. In the proposed decoupling control scheme, the coupling effects of each axis in multi-dimensional piezo-driven stages are firstly eliminated by the nonlinear coupling model. Then, the proposed control schemes based on the obtained sandwich model are developed to enable the displacement of each piezo-driven substage to track the modified reference signal. Besides, the robust controller is design to perform the tracking and decoupling control in the piezo-driven. Finally, the control experimental results on the X-Y piezo-driven stages are also presented to verify the proposed hybrid decoupling control scheme.

We demonstrate a method of classifying aerosol particles with different shapes based on the two separated vertical and horizontal polarized beams spaced by 90-100 µm. Model 3321 Aerodynamic Particle Sizer Spectrometer (APS3321) was used to set up an experimental apparatus to test aerosol samples of different shapes, such as spherical oleic acid droplets and elongated crystallized riboflavin. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was applied to analyze the discrimination ability of the difference in light-scattering intensity to samples with different shapes in the different particle size ranges. The results show that under our experimental conditions, for spherical particles and elongated particles, the distribution trend of the Pf parameter defined by ourselves are different in each particle size range, and the difference between the two particles in the smaller particle size range (about less than 1 µm) seems to be greater than that in the larger one. The relationship between the difference in light-scattering intensity and the elements of the Muller matrix was deduced theoretically. On this basis, the difference in light-scattering intensity of particles with different shapes was calculated by T-matrix. The calculation results show that the method can distinguish spherical and elongated particles well in a certain range of particle sizes (it's approximately 0.3-1.0 µm in diameter). The good agreement between the experimental results and the theoretical calculations indicate the feasibility of the polarized light illuminated scattering characteristics of single airborne particle combined with aerodynamic size information as a new method for aerosol particle shape rapid discrimination.

Electrochemical behaviors of U4+ in LiCl–KCl–UF4 eutectic and deposition of U metal were investigated. It was found that the presence of F− has influence on the diffusion of U3+ and U4+ as comparing to data obtained in pure chloride molten salts. Electrochemical deposition of U was carried out by using pulse current electrolysis. Characterization results indicate that U metal was obtained at the cathode, implying U metal can be directly deposited from LiCl–KCl–UF4 eutectic in this case and the extractive ratio is calculated to be 98%. Our results demonstrate feasible separation of U from LiCl–KCl–UF4 molten salt by electrochemical method.

The electrochemical behaviors and electrowinning of uranium from LiF–NaF–KF (46.5–11.5–42.0 mol%, FLiNaK) molten salt were investigated. Cyclic voltammetric and chronopotentiometric studies revealed the presence of two steps during the electro-reduction of UF4 on W electode. U(IV) undergoes a one-electron reduction to form U(III) followed by a three-electron reduction to form U(0). The diffusion coefficient (D) of U(IV) ion was determined to be 1.33 × 10−6 cm2 s−1 at 550 °C. Based on the electrochemical behaviors of U(IV) in FLiNaK melt, pulse current electrolysis was carried out using Ni electrode. The black bulks obtained as electrolysis products were characterized to contain metallic U. Consecutive electrolysis experiments demonstrated up to 74.7% U can be separated from the fluoride melt.

The electrode reactions and electrolysis process of graphite anode were investigated in LiF-NaF-KF (FLiNaK, 46.5-11.5-42.0 mol%) eutectic with YF3 at 823 K. Two different types of reactions were observed on graphite anode. The graphite was oxidized to carbon mono- and dioxide in a potential range of 0–2 V (vs. Ni2+/Ni, similarly hereinafter), and carbon fluorides were generated when the potential fell into 6–8 V. In addition, some fluoride products could be reduced at about −0.22 V during reverse cyclic voltammetry scan, which has never been reported. Anode potential fluctuation was found between 6 and 8 V during galvanostatic electrolysis due to the formation of gaseous products as well as change of anode surface area and current density. Both Raman and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were employed to probe the chemical states of fluorination/oxidation products on graphite anode after electrolysis. The formation of fluorocarbon species is responsible for the disorder on graphite surface.

Because the non-smooth nonlinear dead-zone exists in the precision moving stage, both its tracking accuracy and sensitivity are severely deteriorated. In this paper, a sandwich model with dead-zone is employed to decribe the precision stage. In this case, a two-stage identification scheme is presented to model the sandwich model, which a special signal called the degeneration input is first designed to degenerate the non-smooth nonlinear dead-zone into a static linear function and the Recursive General Identification Algorithm (RGIA) is used to estimate its parameters. Finally, a numerical simulation and the experimental results are presented to illustrate the performance of the proposed identification.

The precision motion stage exists the non-smooth nonlinear dead-zone varying with displacement and saturation simultaneously. In order to accurately describe such an electromechanical motion system, a novel Hammerstein-Wiener system (HWS) is firstly introduced to handle two non-smooth nonlinearities in this paper. Then, a three-step identification scheme based on two separable input signals is presented to estimate the parameters of HWS. Finally, the experimental results obtained by implementing the proposed identification scheme are also presented in this paper.

In order to accurately describe the high-frequency motion characteristics of the Piezoelectric Actuators (PEA), an online modeling method is proposed in this paper. In this identification scheme, a nonlinear discrete hysteretic operator is firstly introduced to handle the non-smoothness and multi-value mapping of the hysteresis. Then, the key term separation technique is employed to obtain a special form of the sandwich model, which its expression is linearized in parameters. Finally, a Recursive General Identification Algorithm (RGIA) is applied to the estimation of the parameters of the sandwich model. The experimental results obtained by implementing the proposed identification scheme are also presented in this paper. It can satisfy the design requirement of the adaptive control the piezoelectric ultra-precision motion systems.

For the purpose of classification of airborne particles, this paper describes an experimental apparatus for simultaneously measuring shape characteristics and aerodynamic size at single particle level. The shape of a particle is indicated through near forward scattering light collected by 3 PMTs placed at 120-degree offset azimuthal angles and the aerodynamic diameter is obtained by time-of-flight that a particle takes to traverse double laser beams. Laboratory experiments are performed on sampled aerosol particles in spherical, cuboid and elongated shape, and preliminary results indicate that the experimental apparatus has a good capability of discriminating between spherical and irregular particles. A variance factor of scattered light related to shape of ambient airborne particles under different conditions are also presented, which can be modeled using lognormal probability density distribution. Combined with aerodynamic size information, these results suggest potential uses in environmental aerosol monitoring for characterizing constituents of particles.

Objective Pendred syndrome (PS) is an autosomal recessive disorder characterised by sensorineural hearing loss and thyroid dyshormonogenesis. It is caused by biallelic mutations in the SLC26A4 gene encoding for pendrin. Hypothyroidism in PS can be present from birth and therefore diagnosed by neonatal screening. The aim of this study was to examine the SLC26A4 mutation spectrum and prevalence among congenital hypothyroidism (CH) patients in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of China and to establish how frequently PS causes hearing impairment in our patients with CH. Subjects and methods Blood samples were collected from 192 CH patients in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China, and genomic DNA was extracted from peripheral blood leukocytes. All exons of the SLC26A4 gene together with their exon-intron boundaries were screened by next-generation sequencing. Patients with SLC26A4 mutations underwent a complete audiological evaluation including otoscopic examination, audiometry and morphological evaluation of the inner ear. Results Next generation sequencing analysis of SLC26A4 in 192 CH patients revealed five different heterozygous variations in eight individuals (8/192, 4%). The prevalence of SLC26A4 mutations was 4% among studied Chinese CH. Three of the eight were diagnosed as enlargement of the vestibular aqueduct (EVA), no PS were found in our 192 CH patients. The mutations included one novel missense variant p.P469S, as well as four known missense variants, namely p.V233L, p.M147I, p.V609G and p.D661E. Of the eight patients identified with SLC26A4 variations in our study, seven patients showed normal size/location of thyroid gland, and one patients showed a decreased size one. Conclusions The prevalence of SLC26A4 pathogenic variants was 4% among studied Chinese patients with CH. Our study expanded the SLC26A4 mutation spectrum, provided the best estimation of SLC26A4 mutation rate for Chinese CH patients and indicated the rarity of PS as a cause of CH.

The electrochemical behavior of Th(IV) ion on molybdenum (Mo) electrode was studied by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and square wave voltammetry (SWV) technologies at 773 K in ThF 4 -LiCl-KCl melt. The reduction of Th(IV) to metal Th at −1.67 V ( vs. Ag/AgCl) is a four-electron exchange process, which is quasi-reversible and diffusion-controlled. The diffusion coefficient (D) and activation energy of diffusion process for Th(IV) were determined to be 3.77 × 10 −5 cm 2 s −1 and 59.2 kJ mol −1 . The pulse potential electrolysis of ThF 4 -LiCl-KCl melt revealed that 86.8% of Th(IV) can be separated from the melt based on the inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometer (ICP-AES) results.

Mutations in Thyroglobulin (TG) are common genetic causes of congenital hypothyroidism (CH). But the TG mutation spectrum and its frequency in Chinese CH patients have not been investigated. Here we conducted a genetic screening of TG gene in a cohort of 382 Chinese CH patients. We identified 22 rare non-polymorphic variants including six truncating variants and 16 missense variants of unknown significance (VUS). Seven patients carried homozygous pathogenic variants, and three patients carried homozygous or compound heterozygous VUS. 48 out of 382 patients carried one of 18 heterozygous VUS which is significantly more often than their occurrences in control cohort (P 0.0001). Unique to Asian population, the c.274+2TG variant is the most common pathogenic variant with an allele frequency of 0.021. The prevalence of CH due to TG gene defect in Chinese population was estimated to be approximately 1/101,000. Our study uncovered ethnicity specific TG mutation spectrum and frequency.

Through the analysis of the Dutch East India Company employees, operating costs, the disadvantages of monopoly business model itself, as well as strategies to cope with Asia-Europe trade transformation during the 18th century, this article explores the internal and external factors that lead to the company’s decline.

·OH radicals produced via an eco-friendly O3 decomposition reaction in water are employed in a wide range of applications. In this work, three-dimensional (3D) β-PbO2/Ta2O5 and Pt/Ta3N5 samples with a rod-like morphology were successfully fabricated and coupled to carry out electrochemical ozone production (EOP) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), respectively. Moreover, the results on the in-situ electrodegradation of dimethoate also indicate that the β-PbO2/Ta2O5 NRs show a great potential to be used in advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) applications. Experimental results and theoretical calculations reveal that the excellent EOP performance of the β-PbO2/Ta2O5 NRs can be attributed to the adsorption energy of the O species, which can be modulated via the synergic effect between β-PbO2 and Ta2O5. This work provides a reference for the development of stable electrocatalysts with high efficiency for the simultaneous production of O3 and H2 in environmental applications and energy conversion.

Rationale: This case report expands the mutation and phenotypic spectra of Beaulieu-Boycott-Innes syndrome (BBIS), and will be valuable for mutation-based pre- and post-natal screening of BBIS when conducting a genetic diagnosis. Patient concerns: A 4-year old boy from Guilin City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China, was referred to our clinic for clarification of his diagnosis because he showed moderate intellectual disability. Diagnosis: Two novel compound heterozygous mutations of THOC6, c.664T>C (p.Trp222Arg) and c.945+1 G>A were identified in this patient by whole exome sequencing. The two mutations were evaluated as pathogenic and likely pathogenic respectively according to the American College of Medical Genetics guidelines. This is the first case displaying the BBIS phenotype reported in the Chinese population. These two mutations have not been reported previously. Interventions: Symptomatic treatment and rehabilitation training for patients. Outcomes: The genetic cause of the disease was identified. The family received scientific genetic counseling. Lessons: BBIS is a rare syndromic autosomal recessive disease with intellectual disability and it is normally difficult for clinicians to recognize it. Whole exome sequencing is an efficient way to identify the gene which causes a particular disease in patients.

Aiming at the problem of insufficient protective performance of the rear protection device, a new type of rear protection device with high protective performance is proposed and designed. A new type of tank-type vehicle rear protection device is used to establish the collision environment of bus- protection devices- tank-type vehicle system collision, and the dynamic response characteristics of the collision system were simulated and analyzed. The safety of the rear protection device was analyzed and evaluated by the real bus impacting tank-type vehicle, and compared with the simulation results. The research result shows that the protective performance of the square tube protection device is effective.

Soybean is one of the most important food and oil crops in the world. Plant height (PH) and the number of nodes on the main stem (NNMS) are quantitative traits closely related to soybean yield. In this study, we used 208 chromosome segment substitution lines (CSSL) populations constructed using &ldquo, SN14&rdquo, and &ldquo, ZYD00006&rdquo, for quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping of PH and NNMS. Combined with bulked segregant analysis (BSA) by extreme materials, 8 consistent QTLs were identified. According to the gene annotation of the QTL interval, a total of 335 genes were obtained. Five of which were associated with PH and NNMS, potentially representing candidate genes. RT-qPCR of these 5 candidate genes revealed two genes with differential relative expression levels in the stems of different materials. Haplotype analysis showed that different single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) between the excellent haplotypes in Glyma.04G251900 and Glyma.16G156700 may be the cause of changes in these traits. These results provide the basis for research on candidate genes and marker-assisted selection (MAS) in soybean breeding.

Background The clinical presentation of patients with congenital hypothyroidism (CH) caused by paired box gene 8 (PAX8) pathogenic variants is variable and PAX8 mutation rates differ significantly among different populations. This study was set to examine the PAX8 mutation spectrum and prevalence among patients with CH in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China. Methods Peripheral venous blood samples were collected from the patients. Genomic DNA was extracted from peripheral blood leukocytes. All exons of the 11 known CH associated genes including PAX8 together with their exon–intron boundaries were screened by next-generation sequencing (NGS). Permanent or transient CH was determined using the results of thyroid function tests after temporary withdrawal of l -thyroxine ( l -T4) therapy at approximately 2 years of age. Results Next generation sequencing analysis of PAX8 in 378 CH patients revealed five different mutations in nine individuals (two are siblings). The mutations included two known missense variants, namely c.92G > A (p.R31H) and c.91C > T (p.R31C), and one novel missense variant c.68G > T (p.G23V), as well as two novel nonsense variants c.1090C > T (p. R364X) and c.658C > T (p.R220X). The variant c.92G > A (p.R31H) is highly recurrent in our patient cohort but the clinical phenotypes vary greatly among those carrying this variant. PAX8 pathogenic variants were mainly associated with permanent CH. Conclusion The prevalence of PAX8 pathogenic variants was 2.38% among patients with CH in Guangxi. Our study expanded the PAX8 mutation spectrum and provided the best estimation of PAX8 mutation rate among CH patients in Guangxi, China.

The transformation of Eu(III) to Eu(II) was confirmed in a fluoride eutectic, LiF-NaF-KF (46.5-11.5-42.0 mol%, FLiNaK) molten salt during a treatment of high temperature as high as 1023 K. The coexistence of Eu(III)-Eu(II) was characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and voltammetry method, and their concentrations were measured. The electrochemical behavior of Eu(III) and Eu(II) in the fluoride salt was investigated. The mechanism of the electrode reaction was determined using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and square wave voltammetry (SWV). The results indicated a one-electron exchange process, corresponding to the reduction of Eu(III) to Eu(II) and the oxidation of Eu(II) to Eu(III). This process is reversible and diffusion-controlled. The diffusion coefficients ( D ) of Eu(III) and Eu(II) were determined using the conventional CV by changing the scanning rate and a modified method by changing the area of the working electrode successively. The values obtained by these two different methods were consistent. The temperature dependence of diffusion coefficient was investigated, and the activation energies of diffusion process were calculated to be 38.9 ± 4.6 kJ mol -1 for Eu(III) and 34.7 ± 1.6 kJ mol -1 for Eu(II), respectively.

Increased Hb F levels can ameliorate the symptoms of β-thalassemia (β-thal). Due to the genetic heterogenicity of β-thal, the relationship between genetic variants in modifier genes and Hb F level has been studied in different populations. The Chinese Zhuang has the second largest population in China and has 6.78% prevalence of β-thal. However, the effects of these single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) variants on the Hb F levels of β-thal intermedia (β-TI) patients in this population have not been reported. To explore the association between modifier loci (β-globin gene cluster, HBS1L-MYB intergenic region and BCL11A) and Hb F levels in Chinese Zhuang β-TI patients, 96 unrelated β-TI patients (50 males and 46 females) with different Hb F levels were recruited and genotyped by mass spectrometry. A total of 13 SNPs were confirmed to be in a significant relationship with Hb F levels in this population. Of these, high-risk genotypes of six Hb F-associated SNPs, rs9376090, rs7776054, rs9399137, rs9389268, rs9402685 in the HBS1L-MYB intergenic region and rs189984760 in the BCL11A locus, showed association with high Hb F levels, especially for SNPs in linkage disequilibrium. One novel Hb F-associated SNP, rs189984760, was identified in our study. Our findings will be of valuable reference for correlation between modifier genes and Hb F in Chinese Zhuang populations and may lead to better understand the modifying mechanisms for β-thal.

The penetration of a 30CrMnMo ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene armor by a high-speed fragment was investigated via experiments and simulations. Analysis of the projectile revealed that the nose (of the projectile) is in the non-equilibrium state at the initial stage of penetration, and the low-speed regions undergo plastic deformation. Subsequently, the nose-tail velocities of the projectile were virtually identical and fluctuated together. In addition, the effective combination of the steel plate and polyethylene (PE) laminate resulted in energy absorption by the PE just before the projectile nose impacts the laminate. This early absorption plays a positive role in the ballistic performance of the composite armor. Further analysis of the internal energy and mass loss revealed that the PE laminate absorbs energy via the continuous and stable failure of PE fibers during the initial stages of penetration, and absorbs energy via deformation until complete penetration occurs. The energy absorbed by the laminate accounts for 68% of the total energy absorption, indicating that the laminate plays a major role in energy absorption during the penetration process.