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The filter paper of automobile engine air filter is easy to temper and causes combustion. Flame retardant is usually added to the reinforced resin styrene-acrylic emulsion (SAE) to improve the flame-retardant performance of the air filter paper. Ammonium polyphosphate (APP) was used as material in this research, and multi-layer coated APP was prepared by microcapsule coating. A layer of nano-scale SiO2 was coated and then introduced organosiloxane structure of the allyl polyoxypropylene ether side chain and boron. The chemical groups and structural composition were determined by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. TGA characterized the modified particles' high-temperature stability. By scanning electron microscopy and TEM, the morphologies of modified particles were analyzed to reveal the evolution of modified APP in SAE. Finally, nanoparticles with core-shell structures were formed. Applying the blended resin to the air filter paper, the flame-retardant performance was greatly improved. Total heat release (THR), heat release rate (HRR), peak heat release rate (pkHRR), mass loss rate (MLR), and effective heat of combustion (EHC) were reduced, respectively, by 30.8%, 30.7%, 42.0%, 16.7%, and 14.4%. The time to ignition (TTI) was doubled, so the fire spread could be effectively suppressed. Meanwhile, nano latex particles were attached to the interwoven fibers points and formed a “sea-island structure,” which significantly improved the paper’s mechanical properties, with bursting strength, tensile strength, stiffness, fracture work, and elongation increased by 18.60%, 5.72%, 10.64%, 17.00%, and 81.80%, respectively. It solved the problem that the inorganic flame-retardant particles often lead to the deterioration of the mechanical properties of paper.

Guiqiang Miao,* Zhaohui Li,* Linjian Chen, Wenyong Li, Guobo Lan, Qiyuan Chen, Zhen Luo, Ruijia Liu, Xiaodong Zhao Department of Orthopedics, Foshan Fosun Chancheng Hospital, Foshan, 528010, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Xiaodong Zhao, Department of Orthopedics, Foshan Fosun Chancheng Hospital, Foshan, 528010, People’s Republic of China, Email CY1002358969@163.comObjective: Bone and bone marrow are the third most frequent sites of metastases from many cancers and are associated with low survival and high morbidity rates. Currently, there are no effective bedside tools to predict the morbidity risk of these patients in general intensive care units (ICUs). The main objective of this study was to establish and validate a nomogram to predict the morbidity risk of patients with bone and bone marrow metastases.Methods: Data on patients with bone and bone marrow metastases were extracted from the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care III (MIMIC-III) database. The patients were divided into training and validation cohorts. The data were analyzed using univariate and multivariate Cox regression methods. Factors significantly and independently prognostic of survival were used to construct a nomogram predicting 30-day morbidity. The nomogram was validated by various methods, including Harrell’s concordance index (C-index), area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), calibration curve, integrated discrimination improvement (IDI), net reclassification index (NRI), and decision curve analysis (DCA).Results: The study included 610 patients in the training cohort and 262 in the validation cohort. Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that temperature, SpO2, Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score, Oxford Acute Severity of Illness Score (OASIS), comorbidities with coagulopathy, white blood cell count, heart rate, and respiratory rate were independent predictors of patient survival. The resulting nomogram had good discriminative ability, as shown by high AUCs, and was well calibrated, as demonstrated by calibration curves. Improvements in NRI and IDI values suggested that the nomogram was superior to the SOFA scoring system. DCA curves revealed that the nomogram showed good value in clinical applications.Conclusion: This prognostic nomogram, based on demographic and laboratory parameters, was predictive of the 30-day morbidity rate in patients with secondary malignant neoplasms of the bone and bone marrow, suggesting its applicability in clinical practice.Keywords: secondary malignant neoplasm of bone and bone barrow, MIMIC-III database, prognosis, nomogram

Broadband Kerr combs with a flat comb spectral profile are expected in a number of applications, such as high-capacity optical communication. Here, we propose novel concentric dual-ring microresonators (DRMs) for advanced dispersion engineering to tailor the comb spectral profile. The dispersion can be flexibly engineered not only by the cross-section of the DRMs, but also by the gap between concentric dual-ring microresonators, which provides a new path to geometrically control the spectral profile of the soliton Kerr combs. An octave-spanning dissipative Kerr soliton comb with superior spectral flatness has been achieved numerically, covering from the telecommunication band to the mid-infrared (MIR) band region with a -40 dB bandwidth of 1265 nm (99.82 THz). Our results are promising to fully understand the nonlinear dynamics in hybrid modes in DRMs, which helps control broadband comb formation., 12 pages, 4 figures

Additional File 1: Supplementary Table S1-S4

Beyond 100G passive optical networks (PONs) will be required to meet the ever-increasing traffic demand in the future. Coherent optical technologies are the competitive solutions for the future beyond 100G PON but also face challenges such as the high computational complexity of digital signal processing (DSP). A high oversampling rate in coherent optical technologies results in the high computational complexity of DSP. Therefore, DSP running in a non-integer-oversampling below 2 samples-per-symbol (sps) is preferred, which can not only reduce computational complexity but also obviously lower the requirement for the analog-to-digital converter. In this paper, we propose a non-integer-oversampling DSP for meeting the requirements of coherent PON. The proposed DSP working at 9/8-sps and 5/4-sps oversampling rates can be reduced by 44.04% and 40.78% computational complexity compared to that working at the 2-sps oversampling rate, respectively. Moreover, a 400-Gb/s-net-rate coherent PON based on digital subcarrier multiplexing was demonstrated to verify the feasibility of the non-integer-oversampling DSP. There is almost no penalty on the receiver sensitivity when the non-integer-oversampling DSP is adopted. In conclusion, the non-integer-oversampling DSP shows great potential in the future coherent PON., Comment: This paper has been submitted to the Journal of Optical Communications and Networking

Mutations of the Regulatory Factor X5 (RFX5) have been associated with the autosomal recessive major histocompatibility class II (MHC-II) deficiency, which is a severe immunodeficiency characterized by constitutive and interferon-gamma induced MHC II expression disorder and leads to the absence of cellular and humoral T-cell response to antigen challenge. The compound heterozygous splicing mutations of RFX5: c.353 + 6T>G (maternally inherited) and c.757 + 1G>A (paternally inherited) were identified in an infant diagnosed severe immunodeficiency. The mutation c.757 + 1G>A was classified as likely pathogenic while c.353 + 6T>G was classified as the variant of uncertain significance according to American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG). To investigate the pathogenicity of RFX5: c.353 + 6T>G, reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR) was conducted with the mother’s peripheral blood. An insertion of 191-bp intronic sequence (intron 6) was found in the transcripts, and this resulted in a frameshift and premature truncation of the protein, especially reduced the DNA-binding domain (DBD) of the RFX5 protein. Our data expanded the spectrum of pathogenic mutations in MHC-II deficiency and put new insights into the genetic counseling, prenatal diagnosis and preimplantation genetic testing (PGT) for the disease.

Introduction This aim of this study was to delineate current clinical scenarios of painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy (PDN) and associated anxiety and depression among patients in Mainland China, and to report current therapy and clinical practices. Methods A total of 1547 participants were enrolled in the study between 14 June 2018 and 11 November 2019. Recruitment was conducted using a multilevel sampling method. Participants’ demographics, medical histories, glucose parameters, Douleur Neuropathique 4 Questionnaire (DN4) scores, visual analogue scale (VAS) pain scores, Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9) scores, Generalised Anxiety Disorder 7 (GAD-7) scores and therapies were recorded. Results The male-to-female ratio was 1.09:1 (807:740), and the mean age at onset was 61.28 ± 11.23 years. The mean DN4 score (± standard deviation) was 4.91 ± 1.88. The frequencies of DN4 sub-item phenotypes were: numbness, 81%; tingling, 68.71%; pins and needles, 62.90%; burning, 53.59%; hypoaesthesia to touch, 50.16%; electronic shocks, 43.31%; hypoaesthesia to pinprick, 37.94%; brushing, 37.82%; painful cold, 29.61%; and itching, 25.86%. Age, diabetic duration, depression history, PHQ-9 score and GAD-7 score were identified as risk factors for VAS pain score. Peripheral artery disease (PAD) was a protective factor for VAS pain score. For all participants currently diagnosed with PDN and for those previously diagnosed PDN, fasting blood glucose (FBG) was a risk factor for VAS; there was no association between FBG and VAS pain score for PDN diagnosed within 3 months prior to recruitment. Utilisation rate of opium therapies among enrolled participants was 0.71% , contradiction of first-line guideline recommendation for pain relief accounted for 9.43% (33/350) and contradiction of second-line guideline recommendation for opium dosage form was 0.57% (2/350). Conclusion Moderate to severe neuropathic pain in PDN was identified in 73.11% of participants. Age, diabetic duration, depression history, PHQ-9 score, GAD-7 score and FBG were risk factors for VAS pain scores. PAD was protective factor. The majority of pain relief therapies prescribed were in accordance with guidelines. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov identifier, NCT03520608, retrospectively registered, 2018-05-11. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40122-021-00281-w.

Background: Microgrid is an effective integration mode of distributed generation (DG). It can eliminate the negative effect caused by the intermittent DG and consume the energy locally. Methods: For a public distribution network, a microgrid performs as a controllable and flexible unit. However, when the public distribution network has the demand of flexible regulation, there is no reasonable quantitative indexes to evaluate the flexibility of microgrid for dispatching decision. For this problem, the operational flexibility indexes of a microgrid are defined in this paper. Results: The indexes are quantified according to the maximum energy and active power regulation margin of each flexible equipment in the microgrid. The operational flexibility of microgrid is closely related to the scheduling strategy. Therefore the corresponding dispatching model of a microgrid is also provided in this paper. Conclusion: A case study shows how to calculate and use these flexibility indexes in an operation cycle of a microgrid system with energy storage (ES) facility and demonstrates the availability and practicability of the evaluation indexes and the method.

Xiaoling Zhang1 *, Zhaohui Li2 *, Linlin Han3 *, Zheng Lv,4 Yuee Teng,5 Xiujie Cui,6 Caiyun Zhou,7 Hongwei Wu,8 Wei Fang,8 Lingzhi Xu,1 Shanshan Zhao,1 Chen Song,1 Yuanyuan Zheng,1 Tianqi Gao,1 Man Li1 1Department of Oncology, The Second Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Oncology, Anshan Cancer Hospital, Anshan, People’s Republic of China; 3Health Management Center, The Second Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Oncology, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, People’s Republic of China; 5Department of Oncology, The First Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, People’s Republic of China; 6Department of Oncology, Chaoyang Center Hospital, Chaoyang, People’s Republic of China; 7Department of Oncology, Huludao Center Hospital, Huludao, People’s Republic of China; 8Department of Oncology, Yingkou Center Hospital, Yingkou, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Man Li, Department of Oncology, The Second Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian, Liaoning, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86-0411-84671291, Fax +86-411-84672130, Email man_li@dmu.edu.cnPurpose: Pyrotinib, a novel human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI), has led to remarkable survival outcomes in HER2-positive advanced breast cancer (ABC) in clinical trials and was approved for second-line standards of treatment for HER2+ ABC in China. However, the clinical trials could not fully reflect reality of clinical practice, and predictive factors were still lacking. This study aimed to assess the actual efficacy and safety of pyrotinib in HER2+ ABC in real-world setting.Patients and Methods: In this multicenter, retrospective, observational real-world study, we analyzed 171 patients with HER2+ ABC, who received pyrotinib-based treatment from November 2017 to November 2020. The primary end point was progression-free survival (PFS). Secondary end points included overall survival (OS), objective response rate (ORR), clinical benefit rate (CBR) and safety.Results: Up to November 30, 2021, the median PFS (mPFS) was 12.0 months for all patients. One hundred and sixty-two patients (94.7%) with measurable lesions had been included in efficacy assessment. The ORR and CBR were 45.1% and 81.5%, respectively. A significantly longer PFS was reported in patients who received pyrotinib as first-line treatment, had the ECOG-PS of 0– 1, as well as those who were lapatinib-naive. In addition, multivariable analysis indicated that ECOG-PS of 2– 4, positive hormone receptor (HR) status, and presence of visceral metastasis were independent negative predictors of PFS. As far as we know, this study first reported the survival outcome of pyrotinib cross-line treatment, with a mPFS of 5.0 months. All grades of adverse events (AEs) occurred in 171 patients (100%), and the most common AE was diarrhea (86.5%).Conclusion: This study further demonstrated the outstanding efficacy and safety of pyrotinib and reported the potential predictors of survival in HER2+ ABC.Keywords: breast cancer, tyrosine kinase inhibitors, prognostic factor, targeted therapy

Additional file 1. Table S1 Characteristic comparison between the training and validation group. Table S2 COX regression analysis of total patients.

Additional file 3. Fig. S2. Uptake of MSC-EVs over time in mouse retinas. At 3 h (A), 6 h (B), 12 h (C) and 24 h (D) after the injection, the uptake of PKH26-labeled MSC-EVs (red) by retinal cells (DAPI, blue) was observed at the retinal ganglion cell layer. As time progressed, the uptake rate gradually increased. The white arrows point to the exosomes absorbed in the retinal cells indicated by the double labeling of PKH26 and DAPI.

Additional file 4. Fig. S3. Uptake of MSC-EVs in retinal glial cells. (A, B) Image of a cryo-sectioned eye cups that were stained with DAPI (blue), showing the distribution of PKH26-labeled EVs (red) with squared area enlarged in B. (C) Images of whole-mount retinas of PKH-26 (red fluorescent marker) at the level of ONL, INL and GCL. The fluorescent marker is seen in all retinal layers. (D, E, F) Images of whole-mount retinas stained for GFAP (D the focus is on the ganglion cell layer), GS (E, the focus is on the INL), and Iba1(F, the focus is on the INL and GCL). The somas of Müller Glia are located in INL and the somas of astrocytes are located in GCL. The morphology and the location of astrocytes and Müller Glia are totally different in retinas, so we can easily distinguish between them by focusing on different layers. White arrows point to the somas of Müller glial cells or microglial cells that co-labeled with PKH26 in D and E respectively. Pink arrows point to somas of astrocyte which didn’t uptake MSC-EVs.

Additional file 1: Fig. S1. Photographs of Au@PDA solution during preparation. Fig. S2. Optimization of PDA-coated Au nanoparticles (Au@PDA). (a) UV-vis spectra of Au nanoparticles prepared with different formulations. Inset: photographs of solutions containing Au nanoparticles with different formulations. (b) Size distributions of different Au nanoparticles. (c) Zeta potentials distributions of different Au nanoparticles. (d) Summary of hydrodynamic sizes and zeta potentials of different Au nanoparticles. Fig. S3. TEM characterization of PDA-coated nanoparticles with or without surface PEG modification. Fig. S4. Linear time versus -Ln(��) were obtained from the cooling period in Figure 3a. Fig. S5. Fluorescent images of HT-22 cells treated with targeted Au nanoparticles with switching the laser irradiation off and on (1064 nm, 0.5 W/cm2) at the interval of 1 s for five cycles. Fig. S6. Fluorescent images of HT-22 cells treated with targeted Au nanoparticles with continuous laser irradiation for 9 s (1064 nm, 0.5 W/cm2). Fig. S7. Expression of TRPV1 in hippocampal slices. Fig. S8. C-fos expression in the cortex after Au nanoparticles and 1064 nm laser irradiation (1.0 W/cm2). Fig. S9. Whole-cell current-clamp recording of action potentials in brain slice in presence of Au@PDA-PEG-Ab before (a&b) and after (c&d) 1064 nm laser irradiation (1.0 W/cm2). Fig. S10. Whole-cell current-clamp recording of action potentials in brain slice before (a) and after (b) 1064 nm laser irradiation (1.0 W/cm2).

Additional file 6. Fig. S5. Functional miRNAs are detected in MSC-EVs. (A) MiRNA-seq results from the MSC-EVs we collected from human umbilical cord, with top ten highly expressed miRNAs listed. (B) KEGG analysis of major signal pathways involved in these top ten miRNAs.

Additional file 9. Fig. S8. Prediction of the relationship of miR-146a-5p and Nr4a3. (A) From the 10 thousand genes that may be modulated by the top 10 miRNA in MSC-EVs, 3 were found to be also differentially expressed between NS-treated and MSC-EVs treated rd10 retinas, which were predicted to be regulated by miRNA-21-5p, miRNA-146a-5p and miRNA-let7a-5p. (B) From the 40 differentially expressed genes following MSC-EVs treatment, 24 were also differentially expressed between WT and NS-treat rd10 group, among which 8 were downregulated and Nr4a3 was one of them. (C) The predicted binding sites of seed sequence of miR-146a-5p on 3’UTR of the sequence of Nr4a3.

Because of the widespread existence of noise and data corruption, recovering the true regression parameters with a certain proportion of corrupted response variables is an essential task. Methods to overcome this problem often involve robust least-squares regression, but few methods perform well when confronted with severe adaptive adversarial attacks. In many applications, prior knowledge is often available from historical data or engineering experience, and by incorporating prior information into a robust regression method, we develop an effective robust regression method that can resist adaptive adversarial attacks. First, we propose the novel TRIP (hard Thresholding approach to Robust regression with sImple Prior) algorithm, which improves the breakdown point when facing adaptive adversarial attacks. Then, to improve the robustness and reduce the estimation error caused by the inclusion of priors, we use the idea of Bayesian reweighting to construct the more robust BRHT (robust Bayesian Reweighting regression via Hard Thresholding) algorithm. We prove the theoretical convergence of the proposed algorithms under mild conditions, and extensive experiments show that under different types of dataset attacks, our algorithms outperform other benchmark ones. Finally, we apply our methods to a data-recovery problem in a real-world application involving a space solar array, demonstrating their good applicability., Comment: 22 pages

Additional file 10. Fig. S9. Schematic diagram of the hypothetical mechanisms of MSC-EVs treatment. During photoreceptor degeneration or LPS induced injury, inflammatory reaction appears, which induces the upregulation of Nr4a3 that activates NF-κB and its downstream signaling pathway, leading to the upregulation of pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β, TNF-α, IL-6, Areg) and secondary photoreceptor death. As feedback, the inflammatory reaction also upregulates miR-146a to inhibit Nr4a3 induced inflammatory response. However, once used up, the miR-146a could not be supplemented immediately. Treatment with MSC-EVs upregulates the expression of miR-146a, therefore, can inhibit the expression of Nra4a and suppress the inflammatory response to promote the photoreceptor survival.

Additional file 7. Fig. S6. Identification of BV2 cell line by Iba1 staining. (A, B) Images of BV2 cells stained with DAPI (blue) and Iba1(green, B), with no primary antibody as control (A).

Additional file 1. Fig. S1. Experimental methods and protocol. (A) Schematic diagram of intravitreal injection of MSC-EVs. (B) Experimental protocol.

supplimental document with 8 sections

Additional file 8. Fig. S7. Identification of 661W cell line by recoverin and R&G opsin staining. (A, B) Images of 661W cells stained with DAPI (blue) and anti-recoverin (green, A), or opsin (red, C), with no primary antibody as a controls (B, D).

Additional file 5. Fig. S4. Uptake of MSC-EVs in rd10 mouse retinas. Retinal sections stained with DAPI (blue) showed that there were some Dio-488 (green) and PKH26 (red) labeled EVs in MSC-EVs treated rd10 mice (B) but none were observed in NS-treated rd10 retina (A).

The zinc oxide/graphitic carbon nitride (ZnO/g-C3N4) heterostructured nanocomposite was successfully synthesized by a facile two-step process involving thermal condensation of melamine and hydrothermal in situ growth of globular zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles on the surface of graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4). The morphologies, chemical compositions, and optical properties of the prepared ZnO/g-C3N4 were investigated via a series of characterization techniques. SEM and TEM validate the grafting of ZnO globular with a diameter of 40–50 nm on the surface of g-C3N4. The visible photodegradation activity of the nanocomposite was assessed via tetracycline and oxytetracycline as target pollutants. Under visible light irradiation, 15 wt% ZnO globular-g-C3N4 exhibits high photocatalytic activity with 78.4% of tetracycline degraded in 50 min and 63.5% of oxytetracycline in 50 min which was much faster photocatalytic degradation efficiency than that of the reported materials. Reactive species scavenging experiments revealed that photogenerated holes are the main reason for the photocatalytic degradation. After six recycles, the ZnO globular-g-C3N4 resulted in 70% degradation efficiency of TC suggesting its high stability and reusability. This work proved a new insight for constructing novel high-performance photocatalysts for TC degradation.

The aim of this study is to detect the diagnosis value of neutrophil lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and fibrinogen (FIB) in type B aortic dissection (TBAD) patients. This retrospective observation study consisted patients with TBAD, aortic aneurysm and physical examination between January 1, 2016 and December 31, 2019. Demographic and clinical information after the first admission were collected. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to explore the correlational relationship between NLR, FIB and TBAD. Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve (ROC) was performed to evaluate the diagnostic implication of NLR and FIB in TBAD patients. Six hundred and six patients who were first diagnosed with TBAD were included. Control groups were 202 aortic aneurysm and 140 physical examination subjects. The level of NLR and FIB in aortic dissection patients was significantly higher than aortic aneurysm patients and healthy group (P < 0.001). According to the results of multivariate logistic regression analysis, NLR and FIB were independent risk factors of aortic dissection, and the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) value of NLR and FIB were 1.499(1.126-1.738) and 1.914(1.475-2.485), respectively. The area under the curve (AUC) was 0.836 of NLR and 0.756 of FIB. NLR and FIB showed high specificity, 89% and 83% respectively. This is the first study provided information on the diagnosis performance of NLR and FIB in TBAD patients. NLR and FIB showed high specificity, which may be a valuable tool for the diagnosis of TBAD.

High-speed polarization management is highly desirable for many applications, such as remote sensing, telecommunication, and medical diagnosis. However, most of the approaches for polarization management rely on bulky optical components that are slow to respond, cumbersome to use, and sometimes with high drive voltages. Here, we overcome these limitations by harnessing photonic integrated circuits based on thin-film lithium niobate platform. We successfully realize a portfolio of thin-film lithium niobate devices for essential polarization management functionalities, including arbitrary polarization generation, fast polarization measurement, polarization scrambling, and automatic polarization control. The present devices feature ultra-fast control speed, low drive voltages, low optical losses and compact footprints. Using these devices, we achieve high fidelity polarization generation with a polarization extinction ratio up to 41.9 dB, fast polarization scrambling with a scrambling rate up to 65 Mrad/s, and endless polarization control with a tracking speed up to 10 Krad/s, all of which are best results in integrated optics. The demonstrated devices unlock a drastically new level of performance and scales in polarization management devices, leading to a paradigm shift in polarization management., Comment: 26 pages, 20 figures

For the first essay, we generalize the classic Williams [1998 RFS] brokerage model by introducing the diffused effort. That is, the agent can cross-utilize effort spending on one listing to another one. Besides, the agent can manage heterogeneous housing assets. One counterintuitive finding in Williams’ paper is the absence of the agency problem. As a special case in our model, we recover the agency problem. We examine the positive externality due to the diffused effort and show that it depends on the agent’s inventory size. Hence there exists a trade-off between agents’ effort spending on existing listings and on finding a new listing. For the second essay, we model a home seller’s pricing decision under a generally defined prospect value function. We show a simple disposition effect is caused by reference dependence, but it only exists when the agent is risk neutral. Diminishing sensitivity will lead to a two-way disposition effect by generating a local reverse disposition effect, a range in which the seller’s asking price decreases with increasing potential loss. Loss aversion tends to magnify the disposition effect and hence mitigates the reverse disposition effect. One direct implication is that acclaimed tests on loss aversion such as Genesove and Mayer [2001] and Pope and Schweitzer [2011] are likely invalid. We present evidence consistent with the model by using multiple listing service data from Virginia. Our findings suggest that studies which predominantly focus on a one-way disposition effect can be overly simplistic and misleading as it depends on the strong assumption of risk neutrality.

A new type of polyurethane (PU) foam derived nitrogen-enriched porous carbon/reduced graphene oxide (PU/rGO) composite was synthesized and studied for the first time. By taking advantages of PU foam as carbon skeleton precursor, GO nanosheets wrapped onto the skeleton’s surface through hydrothermal process, then the stable porous sandwich-like nanoarchitectures built after carbonization process. Moreover, the wrapped GO can be transformed into rGO due to thermal reduction during the carbonization process. When being applied as supercapacitor electrodes, the prepared PU/rGO composite could achieve an extremely high specific capacitance of 490 and 341.7 F g−1 at a current density of 1 and 20 A g−1, respectively. After 5000 cycles, the specific retention yielded to 97.3% at 1 A g−1. Resulting from these merits, the as-assembled symmetric supercapacitor device with a wide operating voltage window of 1.5 V exhibit an excellent energy density of 21.66 Wh kg−1 at a power density of 825 W kg−1 and remain 7.5 Wh kg−1 even at a high power density of 2250 W kg−1. Most importantly, this work may offer a strategy for converting the PU foam wastes into carbon material with excellent electrochemical performance applied on energy storage.

177 p. Fiber Raman amplifier (FRA) was first demonstrated by Stolen and Ippen in the early 1970's. From the mid- to late- 1990s, with technological advance in some important fields, such as new types of fiber with high Raman gain coefficient, new Raman pump lasers with high output power and some all fiber components, there has been revived interest in distributed Raman amplifier (DRA). Since then, DRA has been studied extensively due to its fundamental advantages compared with the lumped amplifier, such as Erbium doped fiber amplifier (EDFA). First, Raman gain can be obtained in all kinds of fiber and hence it is easier to upgrade the existing transmission line from the terminal ends. DRA can also improve the noise performance and reduce the penalty from fiber nonlinear effects in transmission system, allowing for longer amplifier spans, higher bit rates and smaller channel spacing. In addition, since stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) is a non-resonant effect, Raman gain is available over the entire low attenuation region of optical fiber ranging from approximately 1.3/zw to 1.6///W. DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (EEE)

Specificity protein 1 (Sp1) is aberrantly expressed and involved in the development and metastasis of glioblastoma. In this study, we observed that the expression of Sp1 was upregulated while that of microRNA (miR)-130a-3p was downregulated in glioblastoma cell lines. Sp1 was validated as a target of miR-130a-3p; increased levels of miR-130a-3p inhibited the proliferation, migration, and temozolomide (TMZ) resistance of the glioblastoma cells. However, Sp1 overexpression compromised the inhibitory effects of miR-130a-3p. Our study elucidates the functional interaction between miR-130a-3p and Sp1 in the development and progression of glioblastoma, suggesting a potential therapeutic target for the disease.

The importance of the distribution network gains more attention due to the development of the smart grid and the renewable energy. A method to guarantee the radial structure of the distribution network reconfiguration schemes is proposed in this paper based on the features of the network. The self-own switches of each circle are proposed. The switch that is going to be opened during the iteration is selected in random from the closed switches of circles, which can ensure the optimal scheme. The operation of the self-own switch can guarantee the radial structure of the network. Furthermore, the proposed method can handle networks with different structures effectively, including the circle with circle. The results with IEEE33 and IEEE69 tested system demonstrate that the proposed method can find the optimal solution of the distribution network reconfiguration effectively. Meanwhile, the infeasible structures are avoided.

Solid solution LiMn₁/₃Fe₃Co₁/₃₃PO₄/C ternary materials were prepared by sol-gel method with glycine or citric acid as chelating agents. SEM images indicate that the particles are well distributed with regular morphologies, and the particle sizes are around 300 nm for both samples. The cyclic voltammetry (CV) and charge-discharge curves show that the reversibility of Mn²+/Mn3+ couple is improved apparently. The redox potential corresponding to Fe²⁺/Fe³⁺ couple has been increased which is beneficial to the energy density, and the redox potential related to Co²⁺/Co³⁺ couple has been declined which could accelerate dynamics of intercalation/deintercalation and make the electrochemical reaction more smoothly. The obtained LiMn₁/₃Fe₁/₃Co₁/₃3PO₄/C materials with glycine as chelating agent deliver a capacity of 151.5, 142.6, 122.8, 97.9 mAh g⁻¹ at 0.05 °C, 0.1 C, 0.5 C and 1 C, respectively. And the obtained material with citric acid as chelating agent delivers a capacity of 150.8, 135.0, 111.5, 85.2 mAh g⁻¹, respectively, at the same rates.

Background: Existence of acquired or intrinsic resistance to Temozolomide (TMD) remains a point of concern in treating glioblastoma (GBM). Here we established mechanism by which Phenethyl isothiocyanate (PEITC) reverses TMD resistance in T98G cell lines both in vitro and in vivo. Methods: For the study TMD-resistant cell lines were generated by stepwise exposing the parental cell lines (U87 and U373) to TMD. The 50% inhibitory concentration (IC(50)) values were established. MTT assay was done for cell survival studies, apoptosis assay by FITC Annexin V/PI staining, luciferase reporter assay for NF-κB transcription activity, cell colony survival and cell invasion assay, protein expression by western blot was done. For in vivo studies nude mouse model of GBM was established, TUNEL assay was done for apoptosis in tumor specimens. Results: We established that T98G, U87-R and U373-R showed higher NF-κB activity and exhibited higher IC(50) of TMD with significantly increased MGMT expression compared to untreated cells. Next, we found that PEITC suppressed proliferation of resistant GBM cells, inhibited NF-κB activity, decreased expression of MGMT and reversed the resistance in U373-R, U87-R and T98G cells. Exposure to PEITC followed by sequential treatment of TMD produced synergistic effect. In U373-R grafted xenografts mouse model PEITC suppressed cell growth and enhanced cell death. Conclusion: Altogether, the present research established that combination of PEITC with TMD could enhance its clinical efficacy in resistant GBM by suppressing MGMT via inhibiting NF-κB activity.

Accurately simulating the output of an infrared imaging system is increasingly important for predicting the operational performance of the system under different conditions. Traditional infrared simulation models need to obtain the actual temperature of the simulated scene, which is quite complex and will introduce various error sources. To solve this problem and improve the accuracy of the simulation results, a novel infrared simulation model is proposed by studying the linear relationship between the outputs of different infrared imaging systems in this paper. This work is accomplished mainly by conducting variables separation and linear approximation on the signal transfer function of infrared imaging system and converting geometric resolution between the outputs of different infrared imaging systems. To verify the simulation model, the output of the mid-wave/long-wave thermal imager is simulated by the proposed model based on the measured output of the long-wave/mid-wave thermal imager, and the simulated results are compared with the measured results. Experimental results show that the simulated results have high accuracy.

This paper presents an iterative coil sensitivity estimation method for multi-coil MRI systems. The proposed method works with coil images in the magnitude image domain. It determines a region of support (RoS), a region being composed of the same type of tissues, by a region growing algorithm, which makes use of both intensities and intensity gradients of pixels. By repeating this procedure, it can determine multiple regions of support, which together cover most of the concerned image area. The union of these regions of support provides a rough estimate of the sensitivity of each coil through dividing the intensities of pixels by the average intensity inside every region of support. The obtained rough coil sensitivity estimate is further approached with the product of multiple low-order polynomials, rather than a single one. The product of these polynomials provides a smooth estimate of the sensitivity of each coil. With the obtained sensitivities of coils, it can produce a better reconstructed image, which determines more correct regions of support and yields preciser estimates of the sensitivities of coils. In other words, the method can be iteratively implemented to improve the estimation performance. The proposed method was verified through both simulated data and clinical data from different body parts. The experimental results confirm the superiority of our method to some conventional methods.

Intuitive and efficient monitoring system is a reliable guarantee for the security of Hydro-turbine Generator Sets (HGS). A safety-oriented visual monitoring system for HGS was developed. Under the Hydropower station Optimal Maintenance Information System (HOMIS)integrated monitoring platform, combined with equipment engineering 3D visual models and monitoring means, the visual query and the safety inspection of HGS was carried out; while under the “safety monitoring” of the HGS, real-time condition monitoring and real-time alarm was implemented. The system can help maintenance personnel to carry out safety analysis and fault diagnosis of abnormal equipment, which can help them avoid unexpected incidents. The safety-oriented visual monitoring system has successfully been applied in Gezhouba Hydropower Station and prevents safety incidents of HGS.

A visual maintenance information platform for hydropower equipment was developed in this paper. Under hydropower station optimal maintenance information system integrated monitoring platform, combined with equipment engineering 3D visual models and monitoring means, the visual operating principle and operating data of hydropower equipment were achieved; while states warning visualization and maintenance process visual simulation were implemented. The maintenance information visualization can help maintenance staff to carry out operating analysis and maintenance actions of abnormal equipment, which can assist the staff to handle the equipment status and implement the equipment condition based maintenance. The maintenance information visualization platform has successfully been applied in Gezhouba Hydropower Station.

Apolygus lucorum has become one of the most pestiferous pests of cotton and fruits with widely applications of transgenic Bt cotton in China.Cold tolerance of its overwintering eggs was studied,and the content of biochemical substances was also determined,to evaluate its overwintering adaptability.The results showed that there were significant differences on cold survival ability of the overwintering eggs among months.Lt50 of the overwintering eggs was in order of January February December March April at the temperature of-10 ℃ or-20 ℃,and in order of January December March February April at the temperature of-30 ℃.The mortality of protected eggs in the April(4.32%,5.36%,5.42%,6.79% and 7.63%) was significantly lower than non-protected eggs in the April(46.06%,51.84%,54.59%,63.07% and 74.41%) when they were treated at the temperature of-20 ℃for 1,2,3,4 and 5 days.The cold tolerance to lower temperature of artificial diapause eggs was higher than the normal eggs,while lower than the diapause overwintering eggs.The cold acclimation increased the cold tolerance of overwintering eggs of A.lucorum.The mortality of overwintering eggs at the temperature of-20 ℃for 100 hours decreased significantly after the overwintering eggs was treated at 0 ℃ for 20 minutes,and the mortality was always about 37% at the temperature of-20 ℃for 100 hours after was treated at 0 ℃ for more than 40 minutes.The content of biochemical substances of overwintering eggs changed seasonally.The water content of overwintering eggs in winter was significantly higher than those after winter,and was highest in January(43.98%) and lowest in April(38.79%).The fat content of overwintering eggs decreased from 38.24% in December to 27.08% in April over the winter.The protein content and glycogen content all reduced at first,then increased.The protein content decreased from 78.77 μg/mg in December to 59.80 μg/mg in January,then increased gradually to 73.62 μg/mg in April.The glycogen content decreased from 39.60 μg/mg in December to 21.17 μg/mg in January,then increased gradually to 35.10 μg/mg in April.In conclusion,cold tolerance of overwintering eggs of A.lucorum changed seasonally.The overwintering eggs showed high tolerance to the low temperature in winter,and the protection of overwintering place improved its overwintering adaptability.

Three patients developed dacryoadenitis (DA) or lymphocytic pneumonitis before the diagnosis of lymphocytic hypophysitis (LyH). There were two previous reports of concurrence of DA and LyH. Our patients add support to the idea that DA and LyH are manifestations of a systemic autoimmune disease. We suggest that the discovery of DA should prompt imaging and endocrine investigation of LyH.