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BackgroundBreast cancer (BC) is the most common malignant cancer. The prognosis of patients differs according to the location of distant metastasis, with pleura being a common metastatic site in BC. Nonetheless, clinical data of patients with pleural metastasis (PM) as the only distant metastatic site at initial diagnosis of metastatic BC (MBC) are limited.Patient cohort and methodsThe medical records of patients who were hospitalized in Shandong Cancer Hospital between January 1, 2012 and December 31, 2021 were reviewed, and patients eligible for the study were selected. Survival analysis was conducted using Kaplan–Meier (KM) method. Univariate and multivariate Cox proportional-hazards models were used to identify prognostic factors. Finally, based on these selected factors, a nomogram was constructed and validated.ResultsIn total, 182 patients were included; 58 (group A), 81 (group B), and 43 (group C) patients presented with only PM, only lung metastasis (LM), and PM combined with LM, respectively. The KM curves revealed no significant difference in overall survival (OS) among the three groups. However, in terms of survival after distant metastasis (M-OS), the difference was significant: patients with only PM exhibited the best prognosis, whereas those with PM combined with LM exhibited the worst prognosis (median M-OS: 65.9, 40.5, and 32.4 months, respectively; P = 0.0067). For patients with LM in groups A and C, those with malignant pleural effusion (MPE) exhibited significantly worse M-OS than those without MPE. Univariate and multivariate analyses indicated that primary cancer site, T stage, N stage, location of PM, and MPE were independent prognostic factors for patients with PM without other distant metastasis. A nomogram prediction model incorporating these variables was created. According to the C-index (0.776), the AUC values of the 3-, 5-, and 8-year M-OS (0.86, 0.86, and 0.90, respectively), and calibration curves, the predicted and actual M-OS were in good agreement.ConclusionBC patients with PM only at the first diagnosis of MBC exhibited a better prognosis than those with LM only or PM combined with LM. We identified five independent prognostic factors associated with M-OS in this subset of patients, and a nomogram model with good predictive efficacy was established.

Motivated by the self-pursuit of controlled objects, we consider the exact controllability of a linear mean-field type game-based control system (MF-GBCS, for short) generated by a linear-quadratic (LQ, for short) Nash game. A Gram-type criterion for the general timevarying coefficients case and a Kalman-type criterion for the special time-invariant coefficients case are obtained. At the same time, the equivalence between the exact controllability of this MF-GBCS and the exact observability of a dual system is established. Moreover, an admissible control that can steer the state from any initial vector to any terminal random variable is constructed in closed form.

Supplementary Material 1

Glass Passivation Parts (GPP) wafer texture defects are one of the most important factors affecting the accuracy of wafer defect detection. Template matching has local errors and low efficiency, and deep learning requires many training samples. In the early stage, defect training sample sets cannot be provided. This paper discusses the design of an effective GPP wafer grain region texture defect detection algorithm using a sub-region one-to-one mapping. A set of standard wafer datum is selected as the reference of grain region segmentation detection, and then the standard wafer images and test GPP wafer images are automatically calibrated and segmented, respectively. Then, a series of pre-processes were performed to equalize the sizes of the two grain-region images. Then the grain region was divided into an equal number of rectangular sub-regions of the same size according to the measurement precision requirement. The correlation degree of each test sub-region is judged by the designed three-channel RGB gray-scale similarity decision functions. Experiments show that the algorithm successfully achieved the necessary calibration and segmentation for the grain region. Compared with the template and histogram matching algorithms, the proposed method does not require a training set, the detection accuracy is significantly improved and the detection efficiency is up to 29.74 times better on average using the proposed algorithm.

This paper takes the Linxing area of the eastern margin of Ordos Basin as an example. Based on the data of reservoir fluid inclusions (FI) and combined with the history of buried thermal history in Linxing area, the main effects of magmatism on the gas accumulation time, accumulation period, gas accumulation dynamics and accumulation pattern are studied. The vitrinite reflectance (Ro) in source rocks of Zijinshan tectonic area is higher than that in gentle tectonic area. The closer to Zijinshan pluton, the more it tends to single period natural gas charging, the earlier time of gas charging. The characteristics of natural gas accumulation are evidently regional and zonal. Gas accumulation in gentle tectonic area conforms to the law of “gas accumulation in near source reservoir is earlier than remote source reservoir”. The gas generated from the source rocks in the lower formation of the Zijinshan tectonic area reached the upper formation rapidly through the faults and fractures caused by the uplift of the Zijinshan pluton, and the accumulation interval time between the near source and remote source formation is relatively short. The Zijinshan tectonic area is the long-term high-pressure area and high-fluid potential area. The fluid potential in gentle tectonic area is low, and the fluid potential difference between the north and south is the motive force to promote the long distance lateral migration of gas. Zijinshan tectonic area is the hydrocarbon generation center and driving force source area, and gas accumulated rapidly from bottom to top. The features of gas accumulation in gentle tectonic area are dominated by vertical accumulation, supplemented by lateral supplementation. Since the Late Cretaceous, a large number of deep faults have been caused by the strong uplift of Zijinshan pluton, and a large number of natural gas are scattered through the faults and the reservoirs are destroyed. The faults in gentle tectonic area are not developed, and the natural gas preservation conditions are good, with good exploration prospects.

The aim is to design a self-adapting contrast enhancement algorithm that can remove the background noise and divide the foreground and background very well. For the self-adapting contrast enhancement algorithm, we looked for all background RGB pixel values, and found the minimum values in the RGB components so that ∂=255/min(Ipixel(R, G, B)). The results were compared to classical contrast enhancement techniques. Five steps to extract the wafer contour, respectively, were the preservation filter, self-adapting contrast enhancement, closing morphological operation, image binarization based on the Otsu method and using the first derivative extract contour. The results of contour extraction were compared with the traditional Canny, Sobel and Scharr algorithms using different parameter values. The experiment results showed that the self-adapting contrast enhancement algorithm could remove the background noise effectively compared to traditional methods. In comparison with the Canny, Sobel and Scharr algorithms, the first derivative after the original image filtering by optimized self-adapting contrast enhancement algorithm was better at extracting wafer contours. Therefore, we concluded that the wafer self-adapting contrast enhancement algorithm method was correct and feasible. The theories in this paper could be applied to image processing in the agricultural, industrial, and military fields.

The photodegradation of methyl orange in water by the catalyst TiO2 or the oxidants (H2O2, KIO4) or their combination (TiO2 + H2O2, TiO2 + KIO4) under UV light illumination is studied. Duri...

China's renewable energy is expiring the transformation from the alternative power sources to main power sources. The installed capacity of renewable energy has ranked first in the world for six years, accounting for about 35% of the world's total installed capacity of renewable energy. This article systemically describes the development history of renewable energy in China, analyzes the current main factors affecting the accommodation of renewable energy, proposes measures to promote the development of renewable energy in China, and also lists major market mechanism for renewable energy accommodation in china, and main policies to promote renewable energy accommodation in china.

Large-scale renewable energy integration urgently requires flexible sources in China. For a long time, thermal power has always occupied a dominant position in the China's power supply structure. The peak regulation depth of large-capacity thermal power units is usually less than 50%, and the peak regulation depth of thermal power units in the north area is only about 20%. Exploring the technical path and economic operation of improving the flexibility of thermal power units, as well as achieving the optimization of technological transformation and sustainable development of capacity thermal power units, is of great practical significance for the accommodation and promoting the development of renewable energy in China. This paper describes current status of the transformation of thermal power plants in China, analyzes the objectives and costs of flexible transformation of thermal power plants, as well as the effectiveness of such kind of transformation for the accommodation of renewable energy.

Additional file 1: S. Table 1. Rebleeding rate between EO (14.3%) and PTAE (6.8%) groups. EO: endoscopy only. PTAE: prophylactic transcatheter embolization. S. Table 2. Pooled rate of surgical intervention after EO (86/617, 14.4%) or PTAE (8/265, 3%). EO: endoscopy only. PTAE: prophylactic transcatheter embolization. S. Table 3. Mortality rate between EO (8.8%) and PTAE (4.5%) groups. EO: endoscopy only. PTAE: prophylactic transcatheter embolization. S. Table 4.1. Sensitivity Analysis of the odds ratio of rebleeding risk after PTAE versus conservative management. S. Figure 1.1. Sensitivity Analysis of the odds ratio of rebleeding risk after PTAE versus conservative management. S. Table 4.2. Sensitivity Analysis of the odds ratio of mortality after PTAE versus conservative management. S. Figure 1.2. Sensitivity Analysis of the odds ratio of rebleeding risk after PTAE versus conservative management. Supplement Table 5.1. Newcastle Ottawa Scale (NOS) of cohort studies was used to evaluate the quality for each eligible study. Supplement Table 5.2. The Cochrane Collaboration’s tool for assessing risk of bias in randomized trials.

At present, most stochastic production simulation algorithms can not consider large-scale new energy, and there are many deficiencies in the stochastic production simulation algorithm including wind farm and photovoltaic power station. Based on the actual operation data of wind farm and photovoltaic power station, this paper analyzes the power generation characteristics of wind/photovoltaic power station from the Perspective of statistics. The extraction method of wind/photovoltaic power generation output scenario characteristic index, the principle and method of scenario screening and the evaluation index of confidence output capacity are proposed. On this basis, taking the lowest total generation cost or the best energy saving and emission reduction effect of power system as the optimization objective, a practical power system operation simulation model considering three different scenarios of power balance, electricity balance and peak shaving balance is established. The objective of the model is to minimize the total generation cost of the power system or to achieve the best effect of energy conservation and emission reduction. The simulation results show that the proposed system operation simulation model considering large-scale new energy can be effectively used for the research of wind power and photovoltaic power consumption capacity.

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is heterogeneous disease occurring in the background of chronic liver diseases. The role of glycosyltransferase (GT) genes have recently been the focus of research associating with the development of tumors. However, the prognostic value of GT genes in HCC remains not elucidated. This study aimed to demonstrate the GT genes related to the prognosis of HCC through bioinformatics analysis.Methods: The GT genes signatures were identified from the training set of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) dataset using univariate and the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) Cox regression analyses. Then, we analyzed the prognostic value of GT genes signatures related to the overall survival (OS) of HCC patients. A prognostic model was constructed, and the risk score of each patient was calculated as formula, which divided HCC patients into high- and low-risk groups. Kaplan-Meier (K-M) and Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to assess the OS of HCC patients. The prognostic value of GT genes signatures was further investigated in the validation set of TCGA database. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were performed to demonstrate the independent factors on OS. Finally, we utilized the gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) to annotate the function of these genes between the two risk categories. Results: In this study, we identified and validated 4 GT genes as the prognostic signatures. The K-M analysis showed that the survival rate of the high-risk patients was significantly lower than that of the low-risk patients. The risk score calculated with 4 gene signatures could predict OS for 3-, 5-, and 7-year in patients with HCC, revealing the prognostic ability of these gene signature. In addition, Multivariate Cox regression analyses indicated that the risk score was an independent prognostic factor for HCC. Functional analysis further revealed that immune-related pathways were enriched, and immune status in HCC were different between the two risk groups.Conclusion: In conclusion, a novel GT genes signature can be used for prognostic prediction in HCC. Thus, targeting GT genes may be a therapeutic alternative for HCC.

At present, with the continuous development of single object tracking(SOT) tracker, more and more SOT tracker are applied to multi-object tracking(MOT) tasks. However, in the traditional method of affinity computation, affinity model is used as the metric of Hungarian algorithm, which has the low discrimination rate of similar objects and leads to ID switch easily. In order to solve this problem, we propose a cost matrix optimization method based on spatial constraints under Hungarian algorithm. In the data association stage, Kalman filter is used to estimate the motion vector of the object, so that the current position of the object can be linearly predicted. The weight of the cost matrix is modified according to the spatial relationship between the estimated position and the detection results, which is used for the subsequent re-identification task. It is worth noting that the above methods do not need extra training and can be directly used in other multi-object tracking models. Our method has been evaluated on MOT16(46.7%), MOT17(49.7%), and achieved the effect of SOTA. The entire results can be found on MOTChallenge website1 .

This paper intends to investigate the operation of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) under steady state operation mode and transient operation mode when it is subjected to dynamic disturbance at the point of common coupling. The mathematical modelling of PEMFC is analyzed and a PEMFC model is simulated. The PEMFC is further connected to a boost converter and a full bridge inverter to create a grid interfaced power generation system. The proposed system has also been simulated under different operation mode and certain characteristics are obtained.

Tracking a car or a person in a city is crucial for urban safety management. How can we complete the task with minimal number of spatiotemporal searches from massive camera records? This paper proposes a strategy named IHMs (Intermediate Searching at Heuristic Moments): each step we figure out which moment is the best to search according to a heuristic indicator, then at that moment search locations one by one in descending order of predicted appearing probabilities, until a search hits; iterate this step until we get the object's current location. Five searching strategies are compared in experiments, and IHMs is validated to be most efficient, which can save up to 1/3 total costs. This result provides an evidence that "searching at intermediate moments can save cost".

In order to reduce the cost of the electromagnetic hybrid unified power flow controller (HUPFC), the thyristor H-bridge ST topology is analyzed. This topology enables the “Sen” Transformer (ST) primary-side winding to achieve a two-stage voltage output. A simple two-stage ST switching strategy is proposed. In order to make the corresponding thyristor reliably turn off when ST is switched, the on-off characteristics and triggering conditions of the thyristor during ST switching are analyzed, and a reliable trigger signal generation circuit for thyristor is designed. The injection voltage estimation and ST switching delay are adopted, which reduces influence of control overshoot on ST switching control, optimizes the control structure of HUPFC, and analyzes the adjustment characteristics of HUPFC. Finally, the HUPFC is capacitated by the actual power flow calculation of distribution ring network, and the simulation model of HUPFC is built under PSCAD/EMTDC software. The steady-state simulation and transient simulation are carried out to verify the power flow control capability of HUPFC and the effectiveness of the control system.

A high standard of tea quality control is extremely important for the sake of the health protection of consumers. With the fast-growing of Deep Learning, the intelligent and labor-free authentication of the tea quality, becomes a substantially demanded yet unexplored area, with two key problems yet to be solved: (1) sampling of tea data, with a fast and environmentally friendly approach, (2) distinguishment of tea, in terms of building an accurate tea classifier. To solve the above two problems, NIR spectroscopy is used to collect the tea NIR data in a fast, non-invasive, and environmentally friendly manner. And this paper proposed a series of brand new convolutional neural networks(CNNs) for NIR-based tea data, called TeaNet, TeaResnet, and TeaMobilenet. Due to the success of the different network architectures in the classification task, this paper applies the basic convolution block, the residual block, and the inverted residual block into the network architecture designs, corresponding to TeaNet, TeaResnet, and TeaMobilenet. To serve as the input of networks, NIR data is transformed into a pseudo image and then the model exploits the information in NIR data to make a classification. In an extensive experimental study, we compare TeaNet, TeaResnet, and TeaMobilenet with the traditional machine learning algorithms like Support Vector Machine (SVM) and Random Forest. The experimental results indicate that TeaNet, TeaResnet, and TeaMobilenet could break through the accuracy bottleneck of traditional machine learning algorithms and reach up to a 100% accuracy rate. At the same time, the comparative experiments of the four preprocessing methods-Mean Centering (MC), Savitzky-Golay smoothing (SG), Standard Normal Variate (SNV), and Normalization(Norm) indicate that there is a positive correlation between standard deviation and classification performance. SNV is the best preprocessing method for tea near-infrared spectroscopy data with the greatest standard deviation.

Most of the factors influencing multivariate regression prediction models are macroeconomic indicators, and indicators tend to have strong correlations. The regression prediction model has strong multicollinearity, which results in distortion or inaccurate estimation of model estimates. To solve this problem, this paper first analyzes the principal components of the indicators, extracts the two principal components, eliminates the multicollinearity between the indicators, and considers the policy background of the “Electrification of Xinjiang”, and finally establishes a mid-long term load forecasting model based on principal component regression. The principal component regression prediction model has a better prediction effect. After inspection, the prediction accuracy of this model is ideal.

According to the demand of photovoltaic(PV) connection with medium voltage DC grid, a PV DC step-up transformer based on power electronics is proposed, with H bridges connected in parallel at low voltage (LV) level, connected in series at medium voltage (MV) level, and is isolated by high frequency transformer. LVDC is directly boosted to MVDC with no DC-AC-DC converts. As the power flows from PV to grid is unidirectional, the H bridges at MV level are designed to be consisted of diodes to reduce the amount of IGBTs and cost of the device. Characteristics of the topology are analyzed, and formula of the equivalent duty ratio is derived. The duty ratio control is applied for PV DC step-up transformer with carrier phase shift technique. For each module, a unipolar& frequency multiplication modulation algorithm with IGBT's equal ON and OFF time is proposed to ensure the uniformity of IGBT's electrical stress and the reliability of the device. Finally, the proposed topology and control strategy is verified by the simulation on PSCAD/EMTDC platform. Results show that the voltage and current are shared equally among each sub-module, and the current fluctuation injected to network is very small. The experimental verification of the proposed modulation strategy is also carried out.

Synchronous Series Compensator (SSSC), a Flexible Alternating Current Transmission Systems device, is used for the flexible regulation of power system flow, which is of great significance to improve the transmission capacity and stability of the power grid. In engineering applications, system fluctuations, controller accuracy and dynamic adjusting etc. may bring about a slight DC component in the output voltage of SSSC. Since the loop resistance for the DC component is very small, the DC bias of the valve-side current would be significant, which will influence the stability and performance of the control system. Meanwhile, the series transformer and other devices would suffer DC magnetic bias, magnetic saturation of the core, higher loss and even harmonics, threatening the operation of the system.This paper proposes the mechanism that the DC component in the output voltage modulation wave will lead to a DC bias of the current on the SSSC valve-side. The open loop characteristics are simulated. And based on this, a DC component detection and feedback unit is introduced in the original controller to suppress the current DC bias. Finally, according to a SSSC demonstration project, a real-time digital hardware-in-loop simulation model is established and the effectiveness of the suppression strategy is verified.

SnO2 is prepared by the hydrolysis and the automatic oxidation of SnCl2 in water, it shows the photo catalytic activity for the degradation of methyl orange in water under the UV light illumination. In the above process, methyl orange concentration decreases quickly, the total organic carbon (TOC) decreases slowly; inorganic ions (SO42-, NO3-, NH4+) can be formed; the pH value in the system decreases gradually; a small quantity of HO center dot can be generated. In order to estimate the roles of active species during the above process, isopropanol, ammonium oxalate, and 1,4-benzoquinone, as the scavengers for HO center dot, h(+), O-2(-) are introduced into the systems respectively. Isopropanol and (NH4)(2)C2O4 are effective scavengers for active species HO and h(+) respectively; but 1,4-benzoquinone is not a satisfactory scavenger to capture O-2(-) at least in this work. At last, SnO2 is characterized by N-2 sorption, DRS, XRD, SEM and TEM. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The photodegradation of methyl orange in water by the catalyst TiO

Doping of TiO2 with element Na from NaCl and immobilization of TiO2 on raschig rings are carried out simultaneously by calcination at 500 °C for 5 h. XPS survey spectrum of the Na(0.1% mol)–TiO2 (500 °C–5 h) shows that the element Na can be penetrated into TiO2 lattice. The Na+ in the Na(0.1% mol)–TiO2 (500 °C–5 h) captures the photogenerated electron and Na+ is reduced to Na, the electron and the hole can be separated effectively, which causes Na(0.1% mol)–TiO2 (500 °C–5 h) to show stronger photocatalytic activity than pure TiO2 (500 °C–5 h). Repetitive photocatalytic tests show that the Na(0.1% mol)–TiO2/RR (500 °C–5 h) is stable enough in water. Based on the XPS data analysis, we point out the presence of Ti3+ and Ti4+ and the conversion between them on the catalyst surface, the formation of Ti3+ is beneficial to the photocatalysis.

Results After review of the pre-specified IA, the IDMC recommended full analysis and disclosure of the results. With 256 IDFS events reported, administration of T-DM1 significantly improved IDFS compared with trastuzumab (unstratified HR = 0.50; 95% CI: 0.39 to 0.64; p

PbMoO4 and PbWO4 are prepared by the simple precipitation method in this work, they show the photocatalytic activities for the degradation of methyl orange in water under the UV light illumination. In the above photocatalytic degradation processes, methyl orange concentration decreases quickly, the total organic carbon (TOC) decreases slowly; inorganic ions (SO4(2-), NO3(-), NO2(-), NH4(+)) can be formed and measured by the ion chromatograph; the pH value in the systems decreases gradually; a small quantity of HO˙(-)·can be generated and measured by the terephthalic acid (TA) indirectly. In order to estimate the roles of active species during the above photocatalytic degradation processes, isopropanol, (NH4)2C2O4, and 1,4-benzoquinone as the scavengers for HO˙, h(+), O2˙(-) are introduced into the systems, respectively. Isopropanol and (NH4)2C2O4 are effective scavengers for active species HO˙ and h(+) respectively, but 1,4-benzoquinone is not a satisfactory scavenger in all cases to capture O2˙(-), at least in this work. At last, PbMoO4 and PbWO4 are characterized by nitrogen sorption, DRS, SEM, TEM and XRD.

In this work, we have studied the decolouration of 0.10 mM methyl orange in the presence of (1) H 2 O 2 , (2) oxone, (3) the combination of Fe 2+ /H 2 O 2 , (4) the combination of Co 2+ /oxone, (5) the combination of Co 2+ /H 2 O 2 , (6) the combination of Fe 2+ /oxone. Under the experimental conditions, the data show that H 2 O 2 itself cannot oxidize methyl orange, oxone itself can oxidize methyl orange; all combinations can oxidize methyl orange. The acceleration sequence is: Co 2+ /oxone > oxone > Fe 2+ /oxone > Fe 2+ /H 2 O 2 > Co 2+ /H 2 O 2 > H 2 O 2 (no effect). The roles of Fe 2+ and Co 2+ are catalysts, through recycling–catalysis of M 2+ (M = Fe, Co) in the combination of M 2+ /oxidant (M = Fe, Co; oxidant = H 2 O 2 , oxone), a great quantity of HO are generated, active HO can attack methyl orange molecules and accelerate the decolouration of methyl orange. The accelerations from the combinations of oxone and different Co 2+ -salts (CoSO 4 , CoCl 2 , Co(NO 3 ) 2 , CoAc 2 ) are almost the same for the decolouration of the azo dye methyl orange (with one azo bond) or congo red (with two azo bonds).

This work presents the preparation and photocatalytic activity of BiOX (X = Cl, Br), it is feasible to prepare BiOX by the hydrolysis of BiX 3 (X = Cl, Br). Both BiOCl and BiOBr show photocatalytic activity for the photodegradation of azo dyes (methyl orange and congo red) under the simulated sunlight. We have measured the HO generated in the above process by terephthalic acid indirectly. Both BiOCl and BiOBr have been characterized by XPS, DRS, SEM, TEM, XRD and ξ potential. XPS data indicate that the surfaces of the BiOX samples are covered by low amounts of adsorbed azo dye molecules or/and intermediates produced during the dye photodecomposition.

Parylene films loaded with TiO2 are reported as hotocatalysts in azo dye discoloration processes. The TiO2 loading of the parylene film was 0.32% (w/w) and the amount of TiO2 on the film was about two orders of magnitude below the TiO2 added in suspension to discolore the same solution of Methyl Orange used as a probe. The parylene/TiO2 films showed a similar activity in the presence of O2 or H2O2 during the discoloration of dyes. This shows the efficient role of O2 as $e_{cb}^-$ scavenger. The photonic efficiency of the parylene/TiO2 film during the Methyl Orange discoloration was 0.04. Based on X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) data, the TiO2 particles loaded on the parylene film were shown to be at first encapsulated in the polymer. After the encapsulation is broken, the TiO2 particles are fully exposed to the dye solution. The lack of surface intermediates like C-residues, N and S-species after the photocatalytic process implies an efficient decomposition of the dye at the catalyst interface. During the dye degradation carbonates and carboxylates were detected by XPS and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) disappearing at the end of the discoloration process. Evidence is presented during the photocatalysis for the formation of a composite parylene/TiO2 film. The formation of this composite involves surface modification of parylene (partial lost of chlorine) in the outermost surface layer with concomitant densification of the TiO2 particles on the parylene film. The parylene film presented a side with high rugosity and one with low rugosity attaching different amounts of TiO2 in each case as observed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM).

This review summarizes the recent developments of thin film polymer coated photocatalysis with TiO2 mediating the discoloration/degradation of the azo-dye Orange II under light irradiation. The stable anchoring of TiO2 on non-heat resistant but chemically inert flexible polymer films is described. The nature of the polymer films used, the pretreatment of the film for the TiO2 loading and the testing of the photocatalytic activity are addressed for different inert polymer films not having the conventional functional surface groups to bind TiO2. The discoloration of Orange II in the presence of LDPE/TiO2 is completed in about 10 h. This is a significantly longer times than the one observed for the same process when Tedlar/TiO2 and Parylene/TiO2 were used in the dye discoloration process. This points out to specific effects particular to each the polymer support used to graft the photoactive TiO2 particles.

This study presents the synthesis and activity of ZnSO4–TiO2 coated Raschig rings (RR). The activity of the Zn-doped catalyst (from now on Zn–TiO2/RR) was found to be higher than of the pure Degussa P25 TiO2 during the photodegradation of organic compounds. The most suitable doping level of TiO2 for Zn was 4 mol% noted as Zn (4% mol)–TiO2/RR during the degradation of azo-dye Orange II and of the transparent 2-propanol solutions. The degradation kinetics of the probe molecules was systematically investigated as a function of the catalyst make-up and some of the solution parameters. XPS measurements show Zn 2p3/2 peak positions for Zn–TiO2 sample in the range 1021.58–1022.00 eV. This energy range was observed to be lower than 1022.54 eV recorded for the reference ZnSO4 sample. This shift indicates that the Zn-atoms act as electron acceptors in the Zn-doped TiO2 and may be responsible for the higher catalytic activity observed for the Zn (4% mol)–TiO2/RR compared to the TiO2/RR photocatalyst during Orange II degradation. Insight is given onto the complex oxidation/reduction processes takes place at the interface of Zn–TiO2. The changes occurring in the Zn, TiO2 and S catalyst components are discussed as a function of the time of reaction. The Zn–TiO2 catalyst was characterized by elemental analysis (EA), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), confocal microscopy, X-ray photoelectron microscopy (XPS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD).

The accelerated discoloration of Orange II by an innovative Co3O4/Raschig ring photocatalyst (from now on Co3O4/RR) is feasible and proceeds to completion using oxone as an oxidant within the surprisingly short time of ∼5 min. The preparation of Co3O4 small clusters (2–10 nm in size) on RR is reported. The discoloration/mineralization of the azo-dye Orange II was carried out in a concentric coaxial photo-reactor and was a function of the Orange II and oxone concentrations, the solution pH and the recirculation rate. At bio-compatible pH-values, the concentration of Co-ions in solution after photocatalysis (15 min) was found to be between 0.5 and 2 ppm, within the limits allowed for treated waters. The generation of peroxide was observed as long as Orange II was still available in solution. By elemental analysis (EA), the amount of Co of the Raschig rings was determined to be ∼65% (w/w) before and after the photocatalysis. This confirms the stability observed during long-term operation of the Co3O4/RR catalyst. The sizes of the Co3O4 clusters on the RR surface were determined by transmission electron spectroscopy (TEM). A non-uniform distribution of Co3O4 particles on RR with sizes between 2 and 10 nm was found. The presence of Co-clusters on the RR-surface was confirmed by electron dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) showing 12.6% surface Co-enrichment before the photocatalysis and 18.8% surface enrichment after the photocatalysis. By confocal microscopy the irregularly thick shaped Co3O4 on the Raschig rings was analyzed. The most striking observation is very large shift of Co2p3/2 line from 779.6 eV at time zero to 782.2 eV within 10 min after due to the photocatalysis taking place. This indicates a strong reduction of electron density on the cobalt atoms of Co3O4/RR and providing the evidence for the strong oxidation properties of this catalyst.

The repetitive discoloration kinetics of the azo-dye Methyl Orange (taken as a model organic compound) was followed under solar simulated radiation (90 mW/cm2) to assess the performance of the TiO2/Tedlar® composite photocatalyst. The influence of solution parameters on the photo-discoloration process: pH, dye concentration, applied light intensity and concentration of H2O2 were systematically investigated. During the photocatalysis a modification occurs in the TiO2/Tedlar® composite due to the TiO2 interaction with the Tedlar® film. Physical insight is given for the stabilization mechanism of the TiO2 particles in the Tedlar matrix based on the data obtained by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The F 1s peak of the Tedlar film indicates that the TiO2 is loaded on the Tedlar fluoro-groups. The loading of TiO2 on the 75 μm thick Tedlar® film was 0.9% (w/w) as determined by atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS). Attenuated total reflection infrared spectroscopy (ATRIR) shows no formation of additional bands within the photodiscoloration reaction. This shows that an efficient catalysis taking place on the TiO2/Tedlar® surface. The rugosity (mean square roughness, rms) of the TiO2/Tedlar® film was determined by atomic force microscopy (AFM) to be 19.7 nm. This value remained constant during long-term operation. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) reports the thickness and coverage of TiO2 Degussa P-25 on the Tedlar® surface before and after photocatalysis.

Accelerated bleaching and photobleaching of diluted solutions of Methyl Orange and other dyes occur only when Co2+-ions are present in solution mediating oxone (2KHSO(5)center dot KHSO4 center dot K2SO4) decomposition. The bleaching of Methyl Orange, Orange II and Methylene Blue dyes in dilute solutions (0.01 mM) proceeds within a few minutes and occurs at biocompatible pH leading to a decrease in the toxicity of the initial solution under simulated daylight radiation. A reduction in the toxicity of 35% was observed at biocompatible pH-values when a solution Orange II (0.01 mM) was irradiated in the presence of oxone (0.06 mM)/Co2+ (0.004 mM). Only traces of Co2+ were necessary to accelerate the decomposition of the dyes in the presence of oxone in the dark and even more under daylight irradiation. The photobleaching proceeds with a photonic efficiency of similar to 0.24. The solution parameters were optimized for the photobleaching of azo-dyes by the oxone/Co2+ reagent. H2O2 generation was observed to be possible only as long as Orange II was present in the solution. The decomposition kinetics of H2O2 was followed under solar radiation. The dye decomposition was also investigated as a function of the applied light intensity. No saturation effects were observed when simulated solar light with 90% AM1 was applied. The photobleaching reaction proceeded with acceptable kinetics with light intensities 5-10 times lower than AM1. This makes the photocatalytic treatment suitable under diffuse daylight. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A novel gel tape casting process by sodium alginate is described. Sequestrant and calcium salts are added into ceramic suspension simultaneously, thus the gelation between calcium salts and sodium alginate is avoided because a stable complex was formed from sequestrant and calcium salts. By adding adipic acid, calcium ions are released from the complex and react with sodium alginate to form a three-dimensional (3D) network. Therefore, ceramic particles are held in this network thus resulting in a green tape. The effect of dispersant and binders on the rheological behavior of suspensions was investigated. The optimal amount of dispersant was found to be ∼0.3 wt.%. The addition of styrene-acrylic latex changed the rheological behavior of the suspensions and improved the flexibility of green tapes. Gelation rate suitable for tape casting could be easily controlled by the amounts of adipic acid and sequestrant. Green tapes with homogeneous microstructure have been fabricated by this process.

A commercial styrene-acrylic latex binder has been investigated as eligible binder for aqueous Al 2 O 3 suspensions tape casting processing. This paper focuses on the rheological behavior and tape casting processing of aqueous slurries with latex binder system. In this experiment, the green tapes have a smooth surface, good toughness and homogeneous structure. Moreover, the green tapes can coil continuously by a roller as the primal materials for laminated object manufacturing (LOM) technology. Because the T g of latex binder is under the room temperature, the green tapes can laminate to a part in room temperature. The surface of green tapes and interfacial character of laminated green parts are also studied by SEM. The result shows that the green tape is suitable to LOM (laminated object manufacturing) technology.

Benchmarks are popular in many fields, but rare or absent in the CSCW research. Performance based evaluation would be a good choice if given a certain set of specific tasks. As the first step to promote a benchmark, we conduct this brief review about groupware evaluation by performance of specific tasks. Particularly, we collect commonly used specific tasks and classify them into four categories: hidden profile tasks, cognitive conflict tasks, trading tasks, and repair tasks. We also identify some challenges to achieve a benchmark.

The tips of the probes are the key components in scanning probe microscopes and their applications in nano-scale imaging and nanofabrications. We investigated first the change of near-field scanning optical microscopy probe tips from optical fiber against time by chemical static etching. Several coverlayer-hydrofluoric acid aqueous solution systems and their possible factors affecting the tips' profile were studied. Tips with shorter tapers, larger conical aperture angles, and reproducible shapes were successfully obtained in high yields. It was found that the taper profiles were affected to a great extent by the one-dimensional linear diffusion of etchants in the coverlayer caused by concentration gradients and convection.

Recently, both academia and industry have initiated research projects directed on integration of P2PSIP paradigm into communication systems. In this paradigm, P2P network stores most of the network information among participating peers without help of the central servers. The concept of self-configuration, self-establishment greatly improves the robustness of the network system compared with the traditional Client/Server based systems. In this paper, we propose a system architecture for constructing secure P2PSIP session initiation. The proposed approaches include: three-layer hierarchical overlay division, proxy based security, subjective logic based trust enhancement, NAT traversal, message routing, etc. After that, a prototype with 512 P2PSIP peers is implemented. We evaluate the system architecture in several aspects: implementation testing, Number of hops and the protection against malicious or compromised intermediate peers. We take Chord as the P2PSIP overlay as example. However, this system architecture is independent of Chord overlay and could be extended to the other DHT (Distributed Hash Table) technologies.

N-myristoyltransferase (NMT) is a monomeric enzyme, which is ubiquitous in eukaryotes, catalysing an irreversible co-translational transfer of myristate to a particular set of proteins containing an N-terminal glycine. The work presented in this thesis illustrates the use of synthesised small molecules as a probe to investigate the role of NMT in parasites. Chapter 1 looks at the two parasitic diseases that this project targets: malaria and visceral leishmaniasis, which are caused by Plasmodium falciparum (Pf) and Leishmania donovani (Ld) respectively. Additionally, biological evidence to show that NMT is a promising drug target in these parasites is presented. Chapter 2 describes a piggy-back strategy, which was applied to discover a benzofuran compound with moderate inhibition against PfNMT. This molecule was re-synthesised and then validated as a hit by an optimised scintillant proximity assay. Chapter 3 details the process of drug design based on the inhibition data against PfNMT and structural information of the related enzymes, in which a library of 150 benzofuran analogues was generated. Importantly, the cell inhibition results provided strong evidence to chemically validate NMT as a drug target in P. falciparum, leading to the identification of a lead candidate. Chapter 4 gives the initial structure-activity relationships for LdNMT inhibitors, whereby the whole library of the PfNMT inhibitors was screened against LdNMT. In addition, combined with the parasite inhibition assay, two compounds were determined to be the early lead candidates for LdNMT inhibitors. Chapter 5 provides an overview of the work detailed in this thesis and suggests the future directions that will continue the advancement of this project.

We obtain an existence and uniqueness result for an initial coupled forward-backward stochastic differential equation under some monotone conditions. Then this result was applied to backward linear-quadratic nonzero-sum stochastic differential game problem and get the explicit form of a Nash equilibrium point.

An innovative way to fix preformed nanocrystalline TiO(2) on low-density polyethylene film (LDPE-TiO(2)) is presented. The LDPE-TiO(2) film was able to mediate the complete photodiscoloration of Orange II using about seven times less catalyst than a TiO(2) suspension and proceeded with a photonic efficiency of approximately 0.02. The catalyst shows photostability over long operational periods during the photodiscoloration of the azo dye Orange II. The LDPE-TiO(2) catalyst leads to full dye discoloration under simulated solar light but only to a 30% TOC reduction since long-lived intermediates generated in solution seem to preclude full mineralization of the dye. Physical insight is provided into the mechanism of stabilization of the LDPE-TiO(2) composite during the photocatalytic process by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The adherence of TiO(2) on LDPE is investigated by electron microscopy (EM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The thickness of the TiO(2) film is seen to vary between 1.25 and 1.69 microm for an unused LDPE-TiO(2) film and between 1.31 and 1.50 microm for a sample irradiated 10h during Orange II discoloration pointing out to a higher compactness of the TiO(2) film after the photocatalysis.

In this paper, we deal with one kind of stochastic nonzero-sum differential game problem for N players. Using the solutions of the backward stochastic differential equations and Malliavin calculus technique, we give the explicit form of a Nash equilibrium point.

International audience; In order to boost both efficiency and effectiveness of meetings, we propose a novel Meeting Warming-up system to detect common interests and conflicts among participants before a meeting. The basic idea of the proposed approach is: firstly, modelling user preference by extending the attribute concept tree with additional relations both in and across attributes; secondly, determining common interests and conflicts through preference propagation and merging; thirdly, visualizing the detected results via a group preference graph. As a result, each participant can intuitively understand the group's opinions as a whole and warm up for discussions around potential outcomes. In particular, the meeting may have an easy and friendly start with commonly agreed outcomes, the commonly disagreed items may be ignored to save time, and participants may be mentally prepared to discuss the possible conflicts carefully and sufficiently. The experimental results showed that our approach is feasible.

Yu Zhiyong , E. Mielczarski, J. Mielczarski, D. Laub, Ph. Buffat, U. Klehm, P. Albers, K. Lee, A. Kulik, L. Kiwi-Minsker, A. Renken, J. Kiwi Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering, LGRC, Station 6, EPFL, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland INPL/CNRS, UMR 7569 LEM, 15 av du Charmois, 54501 Vandoeuvre les Nancy, France Interdepartmental Institute of Electron Microscopy (CIME), Station 12, EPFL, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland AQura GmbH Industriepark Wolfgang, Rodenbacher Chaussee 4, D-63457 Hanau, Germany Institute of Physics of Complex Matter, Station 9, EPFL, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland Department of Chemistry, Renmin University of China, 100872 Beijing, China