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We propose a Generative Adversarial Network (GAN)-based architecture for achieving high-quality physically based rendering (PBR). Conventional PBR relies heavily on ray tracing, which is computationally expensive in complicated environments. Some recent deep learning-based methods can improve efficiency but cannot deal with illumination variation well. In this paper, we propose PBR-GAN, an end-to-end GAN-based network that solves these problems while generating natural photo-realistic images. Two encoders (the shading encoder and albedo encoder) and two decoders (the image decoder and light decoder) are introduced to achieve our target. The two encoders and the image decoder constitute the generator that learns the mapping between the generated domain and the real domain. The light decoder produces light maps that pay more attention to the highlight and shadow regions. The discriminator aims to optimize the generator by distinguishing target images from the generated ones. Three novel loss items, concentrating on domain translation, overall shading preservation, and light map estimation, are proposed to optimize the photo-realistic outputs. Furthermore, a real dataset is collected to provide realistic information for training GAN architecture. Extensive experiments indicate that PBR-GAN can preserve the illumination variation and improve the image perceptual quality.

A 44-year-old woman presented with extensive skin patches and pruritus persisting for 3 years. Histopathological examination of the skin from the right abdomen confirmed mycosis fungoides–type cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. Staging PET with 18F-FDG PET/CT) showed increased uptake in the skin on the right abdomen and left hip. Subsequently 18F-FAPI-42 PET/CT revealed additional foci of abnormal uptake on the skin of the chest and back.

This paper theoretically and experimentally analyzes the influence of different sensor array schemes and optical collimation structures on fingerprint recognition. Considering the process yield, cost and the quality of fingerprint image, we find the appropriate size ranges of microlenses and sensors are 20~30 μm and 35~50 μm respectively, and the bonding process between the optical collimating film and the sensor substrate has little damage to the sensor, which is conducive to mass production.

The thermal interface of a modular microsatellite can be equated to a multi-layer structure which is used to transfer heat between modules to maintain the temperature in a healthy range. To describe the heat transfer process at the thermal interface, an improved one-dimensional RC heat transfer model based on a thermal–electric analogy is proposed, considering both three complex heat transfer modes (heat conduction, radiation, and convection) and thermal contact resistance to describe the temperature variation at the thermal interface. Then, the temperature response of the novel thermal interface with five layers of materials is solved using step temperature boundary conditions, and the obtained temperature response is compared with the models considering only heat conduction. The comparison results show that the temperature prediction accuracy of the proposed model increased by 4.1%. Finally, experiments are designed and compared with the simulation results, which verify the validity of the proposed model.

We developed a large area and low cost optical fingerprint recognition product based on LTPS (low temperature poly silicon) process. A high efficient a‐Si pin sensor is introduced, the quantum efficiency under white light is 70% and the dark state current density is E‐10 A / mm2. The “one‐to‐one” and “one to multiple” structures of sensor and micro lens are compared, and the “one‐to‐one” optical path structure is systematically analyzed and evaluated. The optical path focal length is about 100 μm. The fingerprint recognition effect is significantly improved by adding a BM shading layer, and this scheme can effectively avoid the screen burning problem caused by the high luminous intensity of pixels in the fingerprint unlocking area.

In the face of global warming, reducing carbon dioxide emissions has become a common concern. Integrated energy system (IES) is considered to be a supporting technology to increase the proportion of clean energy use and achieve goals of carbon emission reduction and carbon neutrality. By introducing carbon neutral costs and demand response into scheduling strategy, the carbon emission and the economy of IES system operation is optimized in the proposed optimal scheduling. First, modeling of the demand response considering the transferable load and replaceable load, as well as reducible load, is established for guiding users to change their energy consumption ways. Then Structure and components of IES are discussed. Later, the article presents the IES carbon emissions calculation method and model of carbon neutrality cost. Finally, the day ahead optimal scheduling of the IES considering the demand response (DR) and carbon neutrality cost is proposed. The results show that the proposed model is effective in balancing low carbon and economy. Comparative results of different carbon neutralization adjustment coefficients shows that total operating cost as well as carbon emissions is reduced with increasing clean energy penetration and setting moderate carbon neutralization cost coefficients. By adjusting the participation of clean energy, the system cost can be effectively reduced by 48.6%. By adjusting the carbon neutralization cost coefficients, the overall carbon emission can be reduced by 282 kg.

In this paper, we present a novel integrated light‐dependent sensor which can be used to detect the illuminance and color temperature of the ambient light. Based on the low temperature polysilimn (LTPS) thin film transistor (TFT) process and photosensitivity qf PIN photodiode, the sensor can realize 0–100K lux of the monitor range and an accuracy of 0.5 lux/step. Meanwhile, it can identify the color temperature from 2000 K to 8000 K with an accuracy of ± 250 K. The LCD panel with this optical sensor could adjust brightness and color temperature adaptively according to the ambient light. It saves more space for terminal product which will also facilitates the full screen display.

As an alternative to the traditional cyclic prefixed OFDM (CP-OFDM) technology, time-domain synchronous OFDM (TDS-OFDM) provides higher spectrum efficiency due to no pilot in the transmitted signal. However, the pilot-Aided channel estimation techniques in CP-OFDM cannot be applied to TDS-OFDM. In this paper, channel impulse responses are estimated in time domain based on the linear correlation between the received samples and the locally generated PN sequence. The iterative threshold detection (ITD), as well as the combination with decision feedback equalization (DFE), is proposed to improve the precision of channel estimation. It is shown by simulation that the proposed algorithm, ITD combined with DFE (ITD-DFE), performs very well even in multipath environments with long-delay and large-amplitude echoes. Index Terms--TDS-OFDM, channel estimation, linear correlation, iterative threshold detection, decision feedback equalization.

We propose a cascaded impedance control algorithm based on a virtual dynamics model (VDM) to achieve robust and effective mechanical impedance for a robot interacting with unknown environments. This cascaded controller consists of an internal loop of virtual impedance control based on a VDM and an external loop of impedance reference control. The VDM-based virtual impedance control can achieve the same effect as the conventional admittance control; its intermediate output of force/torque serves as the input for the external loop reference impedance control. Therefore, this cascaded controller shows superior performance by combining the advantages of admittance control and impedance control. We evaluate the controller in multiple-contact experiments on a six-degrees of freedom (6-DOF) industrial robot manipulator. The result shows that under various contact situations such as soft and rigid surfaces and free space, the proposed method can rapidly track the target and effectively maintain stability. In the experiments conducted on the robot in contact with various environments, the proposed control method reduced the steady-state error by more than 20% compared with the conventional admittance control.

In this article, we designed two different Reflective liquid‐crystal displays (RLCD) structures using PDLC with high haze and high transparency, and discussed the influence of dye of liquid crystal and reflective particles in different structures on the display effect. Dye liquid crystals have a bright future in reflective display, but the influence of dye concentration on color gamut still needs further verification. When the TiO2reflective particles are added to the color film (CF) to increase the reflectivity, because the reflection occurs on the surface of the film, adding higher concentration of TiO2in a thin film shows the best display effect.

This paper introduces the current optical schemes of LCD optical fingerprint recognition, analyzes the structure and signal characteristics in detail. The simulation and measurement results show that fingerprint recognition effect is not only dependent on the valley/ridge contrast ratio, but also dependent on the valley/ridge signal difference. Finally, the development direction of LCD optical fingerprint recognition in the future is illustrated by combining the advantages of different optical structures.

In this paper, we propose a simulation method to evaluate the diffraction when capturing through a LCD panel, taking the LC retardation factor into account, and figure out calculated diffraction images matching well with actually captured ones. The influence of pixel design, transmittance distribution function, and phase distribution function on diffraction are discussed in detail. Distinguishing the contribution of the above factors on diffraction can further pave the way to imaging quality improvement of LCD‐based Camera‐Under‐Panel (CUP) application.

In this article, we develop a new In‐cell touch TFT LCD display with gate driver circuits integrated within the active area and De‐mux driver. We designed a GOA driver circuit based on LTPS technology, which integrated GOA circuit into AA and realized In‐cell touch technology. Due to the LTPS technology, the GOA TFT device and wiring are integrated within pixels, and the loss of aperture rate is reduced. However, as the GOA circuit is integrated inside Pixel and simultaneously the panel uses De‐mux source driver and In‐cell touch driver, the display data is vulnerable to GOA signal interference. We solved the influence of GOA on display through the new pixel design and De‐mux driver. Finally, we made the 6.53″ De‐mux 1 to 3 In‐cell touch LCD display and got a good display effect.

Low‐Temperature Poly‐Si and Oxide (LTPO) thin‐film transistors (TFTs) have been successfully manufactured and adapted to 6.3 inch liquid crystal display (LCD) panels. To avoid the introducing of hydrogen (H) to oxide TFTs when passivating the Poly‐Si TFTs, the metal barriers are used to prevent the diffusion of hydrogen from the bottom layers. It is shown that those oxide TFTs built with metal barriers exhibit improved intrinsic resistance against hydrogen‐induced degradation. The optimum processes conditions have been used on the 6.3 inch LTPO LCD with ultra‐wide frame rate from 1 to 120 Hz. Further, the specifications of the prototype displays for 409‐ppi LCD with low power consumptions and superior flicker under 1‐Hz frame‐rate driving are reported.

Soluble portions (SPs) 1–4 (SP1–SP4) were afforded from sequentially dissolution and alkanolyses of Baiyinhua lignite (BL) in cyclohexane, CH3OH, CH3CH2OH, and (CH3)2CHOH at 300 °C. They were analyzed with a gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer and quadrupole exactive orbitrap mass spectrometer (QEOTMS) with an atmosphere pressure chemical ionization source in positive-ion mode, while BL was characterized with an X-ray photoelectron spectrometer (XRPES). The results show that the yields of SP2and SP3are much higher than those of SP1and SP4, and the total SP yield is ca.39.0%. According to the analysis with XRPES, pyrrolic nitrogen atoms are the most abundant nitrogen existing forms in BL. Thousands of nitrogen-containing aromatics (NCAs) were resolved with QEOTMS and their molecular masses are mainly in the range of 200–450 u. The main NCAs are N1O1and N1O2class species with double bond equivalent values of 4–18 and carbon numbers of 7–30. The nitrogen atoms appear in pyridines, quinolines, benzoquinolines or acridine, and dibenzoquinolines or naphthoquinolines, while the oxygen atoms exist in methoxy and furan rings.

In this article, we designed two different Reflective liquid‐crystal displays (RLCD) structures using PDLC with high haze and high transparency, and discussed the influence of dye of liquid crystal and reflective particles in different structures on the display effect. Dye liquid crystals have a bright future in reflective display, but the influence of dye concentration on color gamut still needs further verification. When the TiO2reflective particles are added to the color film (CF) to increase the reflectivity, because the reflection occurs on the surface of the film, adding higher concentration of TiO2in a thin film shows the best display effect.

In this paper, we analyze the influence factors on light leakage of dark state for RGBW design by using different pixel designs and different backlights (BL) . W pixel is introduced on the basis of RGB pixels, which causes the deterioration of leakage in dark state. To further study the influence factors, we separate LCD panel as array glass and color filter glass (CF) and measure their transmittances under different types of BLs. Additionally, we choose different types of LC and investigate the influence of the scattering index of LC on light leakage of dark state.

In this paper, we analyzed image blur problems through FFS LCD panels in camera under panel (CUP) application. By careful comparison of captured images with different panel components, we find that the fully‐covered RGB photo resists and 2‐domain pixel electrodes design will be the main contributors to the diffraction‐induced problem.

In this paper, we have developed a scheme to make small size QD (quantum dot) display come true. We will show the structure and principle of QD display in this paper. It is different from QD enhancement film which is used in backlight, our work focus on developing QD color filter. Compared with traditional LCD, the brightness and color purity of QD‐LCD have been greatly improved. In our development projects, the QD Color filter is realized through the lithography process and we got wide color gamut up to 99.2%BT2020 (equal to 132.86%NTSC) in Cd based QD, and 93.6%BT2020 (equal to 125.35%NTSC) in Cd‐free QD. In this paper we focused on the explaining architectural principles used during design and implementation.

A novel six‐mask LTPS TFT architecture is fabricated and used in TFT‐LCD. The light shielding layer and organic layer are removed. Furthermore, the pixel indium tin oxide and source drain patterns are developed in one halftone mask. To solve the issue of high photo leakage current, we have investigated the generation mechanism of Iphotoand established guidelines for reducing it. The optical and electrical characteristics of the six‐mask TFT‐LCD are comparable to those of conventional TFT‐LCD.

In this paper, we got wide color gamut of quantum dot (QD) films by optimizing the spectra width and optical density (OD) of quantum dots. The specific methods to achieve the following: QD R: one layer of color filter R film was coated below the QD R layer. QD G: one layer of yellow‐green film was coated below the QD G film. By a structure optimal design, we got wide color gamut up to 99.2% BT2020 (equal to 132.86% NTSC) in Cd‐based QD and 93.6% BT2020 (equal to 125.35% NTSC) in Cd‐free QD. Furthermore, the gamut of QD display will continue to be improved by continuous refining the structure of QD display. The figures describe a scheme that the quantum dot (QD) display relies on a multi‐layer design to achieve high purity. The main idea is to place a cut layer below the QD layer to absorb excess light. All the work focuses on the development of efficient cut layers and highly feasible structure.

Mineral matter in a residue (RCG)from coal gasification (CG) was removed by two-stage acid leaching. Hierarchical activated carbon (HAC) was prepared by activating RCGwith CO2. The performance of HAC on removing methylene blue (MB) from an aqueous solution was investigated. HAC was characterized by N2adsorption–desorption isotherm, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. The results show that HAC exhibits hierarchical pore structure with high specific surface area (862.76 m2·g−1) and total pore volume (0.684 cm3·g−1), and abundant organic functional groups. The adsorption equilibrium data of MB on HAC are best fitted to the Redlich-Peterson. The kinetic data show that the pseudo-first-order model is more suitable at low MB concentration, while the advantages of the pseudo-second-orderand the Elovich models are more obvious as the concentration increases. According to the thermodynamic parameters, the HAC-MB adsorption process is spontaneous and endothermic.

3D local descriptors are the fundamental and essential elements that have been commonly applied in 3D computer vision. This paper proposes a novel and effective 3D local descriptor for describing the 3D local shape. The research focuses on accelerating the descriptor generation by simplifying the Local Reference Frame (LRF) and optimizing the feature space through a Weighted Height Image (WHI). An in-depth theoretical analysis of the LRF is conducted. Then, this study proposes a simplified LRF to reduce the redundant computations of the covariance matrix and share the calculations with the 3D information coding. Besides, the feature space is modeled and analyzed in this paper. Based on the analysis, we propose a weighting function to strengthen the abilities of the feature representation. The experimental results indicate that the proposed WHI descriptor outperforms the state-of-the-art (SOTA) algorithms in terms of accuracy and efficiency. Meanwhile, the compactness of the WHI is about six times more than that of the SOTA algorithms. Moreover, for the application of point cloud registration, the proposed WHI exhibits high effectiveness in terms of both accuracy and real-time capability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transmittance and chromaticity are essential requirements for optical performance of thin-film transistor (TFT) arrays. However, it is still a challenge to get high transmittance and excellent chromaticity at the same time. In this paper, optimized optical design by using antireflection film theory and optical phase modulation is demonstrated in low temperature poly-silicon (LTPS) TFT arrays. To realize high transmittance, the refractive index difference of adjacent films is modified by using silicon oxynitride (SiOxNy) with adjustable refractive index. To realize excellent chromaticity, the thicknesses of multilayer films are precisely regulated for antireflection of certain wavelength light. The results show that the transmittance and chromaticity have been improved by about 6% and 18‰, respectively, at the same time, which is a big step forward for high optical performance of TFT arrays. The device characteristics of the TFT arrays with the optimal design, such as threshold voltage and electron mobility, are comparable to those of conventional TFT arrays. The optimized optical design results in enhanced power-conversion efficiencies and perfects the multilayer film design on the basic theory, which has great practicability to be applied in TFT arrays.

Spent auricularia auricular substrate (SAAS) was oxidatively degraded with aqueous hydrogen peroxide (AHPO)/acetic anhydride (AAH) to produce carboxylic acids (CAs) under mild conditions. The results show that up to 53.6% of the organic matter in SAAS was converted to the soluble species (SSs). In total 122 CAs were detected in the SSs by the analysis with a gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer, which can be classified into 29 group components, mainly being aliphatic acids and along with small amount of aromatic acids. Among the aliphatic acids, normal alkanedioic acids are the most abundant. The detected aromatic acids include benzoic acids, phthalic acids, trimellitic acids, pyromellitic acids, and their derivatives. The synergistic oxidation and the released OH, CH3COO, and HOOinduced by AHPO/AAH play crucial roles in oxidatively degrading SAAS.

We theoretically investigate linear and nonlinear optical absorption coefficients (OACs) and refractive index changes (RICs) of two quantum wires (QWs) separated by a quantum-sized metal nanoparticle (MNP) using a density matrix method and dielectric quantum theory. The exciton-plasmon coupling and the dipole-dipole interaction (DDI) between the two QWs are taken into account. We find that the magnitudes of the linear and nonlinear OACs (RICs) from the QWs are enhanced by one order of magnitude, in contrast to the case without a MNP, due to the exciton-plasmon coupling and the DDI between the two QWs. The quantum size effect in a MNP induces a pronounced enhancement in the magnitudes of the linear and nonlinear OACs (RICs) with the increase of the MNP radius. Furthermore, the optical responses can be further strengthened via increasing the MNP radius or decreasing the radius and gap of the QWs, owing to the enhanced exciton-plasmon coupling and the DDI between the two QWs. Moreover, the magnitudes of the total OACs (RICs) are reduced by increasing the optical intensity, along with a splitting effect of the OACs under strong optical intensity. Our results provide the possibility of designing the hybrid nanostructures with large nonlinearity for applications in nano-devices such as optical switches and amplifiers.

Ultrasonic-assisted extraction (UAE) combined with medium pressure liquid chromatography (MPLC) was designed for carbazole separation from anthracene slag (AS). The effects of liquid/solid ratio, temperature, and extraction times on carbazole separation were investigated. When using CCl4and ethyl acetate as extraction solvents and combining with MPLC, carbazole recovery and purity are 75.1% and 95.4%, respectively. The mechanism for carbazole separation were presumed by examining intermolecular interactions such as N-H⋯π, π–π, and C-Cl⋯π interactions. These results demonstrate that UAE/MPLC has a considerable potential as a green and promising strategy for separating and purifying carbazole and other chemicals from AS.

A large‐area optical fingerprint recognition scheme under LCD screen is proposed. The design scheme of the light source is described in detail, and its reliability is verified according to the measured results. In order to improve the fingerprint recognition, a collimating optical path based on micro‐lens array is proposed. The collimating optical path was designed by Zemax and LightTools.

In this paper, a novel design of pixel driver circuit with boost function for UWFR (Ultra wide frame rate) display is introduced. The design is appropriate for the high‐resolution and high frame rate display to overcome the shortage of charging time. The circuit can improve the the Ion of the driver TFT by promoting the Vgs of the TFT in AA to promote the charging performance without any higher Voltage of the power supply. An UWFR LCD panel with proposed circuit is fabricated, and the dynamic frame rate ranging from 5Hz to 120Hz could be achieved. The charge ratio of the panel with the optimum circuit in 120Hz is promoted by 6% compared with the normal design, and the boosted voltage of the Vgs in active area is also detected.

The growth direction, morphology and microstructure of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) play key roles for their potential applications in electronic and energy storage devices. However, effective synthesis of CNTs in high crystallinity and desired microstructure still remains a tremendous challenge. Here we introduce an electric field for controlling the microstructure formation of CNTs. It reveals that the electric field not only make CNTs aligned parallel but also improve the density of CNTs. Especially, the microstructures of CNTs gradually change under electrical field. That is, graphite sheets are transformed from the “herringbone” structure to a highly crystalline structure, facilitating the transportation of electrons. Due to the improved aligned growth direction, high density and highly crystalline microstructure, the electrochemical performance of CNTs is greatly improved. When the CNTs are applied in supercapacitors, they present a high specific capacitance of 237 F/g, three times higher than that of the CNTs prepared without electrical field. Such microstructure modulation of CNTs by electric field would help to construct high performance electronic and energy storage devices.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE:To demonstrate the utility of widefield swept-source optical coherence tomography angiography (SS-OCTA) for the diagnosis and management of proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR).PATIENTS AND METHODS:Consecutive patients with vision-threatening diabetic retinopathy were imaged with widefield SS-OCTA using the 12 mm × 12 mm scan pattern.RESULTS:Twenty-four eyes of 12 patients underwent SS-OCTA imaging. In all 24 eyes, the en face total retinal flow images detected areas of decreased retinal perfusion, and the en face vitreoretinal interface (VRI) slabs detected foci of retinal neovascularization (NV). NV was treated and followed using the VRI images.CONCLUSIONS:Widefield SS-OCTA is a useful, noninvasive technology for the detection and monitoring of NV in PDR. Features of interest, such as areas of decreased retinal perfusion, increased retinal thickness, and NV, can be identified from different en face slabs extracted from a single 12 mm × 12 mm scan.[[Ophthalmic Surg Lasers Imaging Retina. 2019;50:474–484.]

Ordered assemblies of individual metal nanoparticle building blocks have been important platforms in exploring plasmon-based light–matter interactions. Despite the fact that such assemblies have been extensively constructed, the systemic investigations of their optical response properties are lacking. In addition, the poor structural stability of these assembled metastructures treated with organic or inorganic solvents is another issue. Here, we develop a facile and robust approach for constructing structurally stable and controllable Au nanorod monolayer meta-arrays (NRMMAs) vertically aligned on a silicon substrate, via evaporation-induced self-assembly and electron beam exposure. By precisely controlling ζ-potential on the surface of Au nanorods (NRs) and the Debye length of the colloidal dispersion, we demonstrate a good manipulation of the edge-to-edge gap distance between the NRs, which agrees well with our theoretical predictions. Based on this precise control, far- and near-field optical responses of the Au NRMMAs are systematically demonstrated. These controllable and stable vertically aligned Au NRMMAs with abundant, uniform, and tunable “hot spots” provide useful optical material for practical applications.

In this work we demonstrate the development of the FFS‐mode self‐alignment LCD based on UV‐reactive additive and LC media. We have already successfully developed a prototype of 6.0 inch FFS LCD panel by using the self‐alignment technology. The self‐alignment LCD panel shows a considerable properties, such as high brightness and contrast ratio. The optic‐electrical characteristics are discussed in this report.

In this work we demonstrates the development of the coating polarizer based on guest‐host effect between polymerizable liquid crystal monomer and dichroic dye. By optimization the formulation of the guest dichroic dyes and host polymerizable liquid crystals as well as the additives, we have developed the coating polarizer film possesses a single transmittance of 32.5% and polarization efficiency of 99.3% with a thickness of 4.5um. Further optimizations should be done to improve the polarization properties to fulfill the application in display fields.

AbstractThe purpose of this paper is to re-examine the impact of exchange rate changes on the trade balance of China and its major trading partners. In the past, many studies have been focussed on the linear effect of exchange rate change, but in this paper, a non-linear Autoregressive Distribution Lag (NARDL) model is proposed. Empirical results show that there are nonlinear and asymmetric effects on the trade balance of exchange rate. In particular, the effect of exchange rate appreciation on Sino-US trade balance is more significant than that of depreciation. A genuine devaluation of the domestic currency would improve the balance of the domestic trade. However, the opposite effect is found in the case of Sino-Japan and the Euro, and the depreciation of the currency will make the trade balance worse. These results provide a solid basis for understanding the relation of exchange rate variation and trade balance. In terms of economic reality, it is also a useful reference for adjusting exchange rate and commercial policy.

In this paper, we present a novel integrated light‐dependent sensor which can be used to detect the illuminance of the ambient light. Based on the low temperature polysilicon (LTPS) thin film transistor (TFT) process and photosensitivity of a‐Si, the sensor can realize 0‐10K lux of the monitor range and 0.5 lux/step. It saves more space for terminal devices which will also facilitates the full screen display.

To characterize features of extravascular OCT angiography (OCTA) signals corresponding to hyperreflective intraretinal fluid across various exudative maculopathies.

The dc links of the three-level neutral-point-clamped (3L-NPC) converter are needed to work in imbalanced state in some special fields, and a hybrid pulsewidth modulation (PWM) strategy in this case is studied in this paper. The proposed strategy is a combination of the space-vector PWM and carrier-based modulation (CBM) method. The characteristic of the revised space-vector diagram (RSVD) with unbalanced dc links is studied from a new perspective, and based on it, a novel sector distribution method is proposed to identify the utilized switching sequences. Instead of calculating the durations of the adopted space vectors in the asymmetrical and complicated RSVD, the proposed strategy adopts the CBM with well-calculated injected zero-sequence voltage (IZSV) to produce the pulses directly. The IZSV calculating methods to realize the asymmetric control of dc-link voltages for both the continuous and discontinuous PWM are studied in detail. Simulated and experimental results are given to validate the effectiveness.

Strong coupling between plasmons and multiple different exciton states (MESs) enables the creation of multiple hybrid polariton states under ambient conditions. These hybrid states possess unique optical properties different from those of their separate identities, making them ideal candidates for exploiting room-temperature multimode hybridization and multiqubit operation. In this study, we revealed the static spectral response properties of plasmon-MES strong coupling via a fully quantum mechanics approach. These theoretical predictions were experimentally demonstrated in plasmonic nanocavities containing two and three different exciton species. Additionally, the dynamical absorption processes of such strong coupling systems were investigated, and results indicated that the damping of the hybrid polariton states induced by the strong coupling could be markedly modulated by the acoustic oscillations from the plasmonic nanocavities. Our findings contribute a theoretical approach for accurately describing the plasmon-MES interactions and a platform for developing the high-speed active plasmonic devices based on multiqubit strong coupling.

ABSTRACTThe majority of diabetic patients develop neuropathy and there is an increasing prevalence of neurodegeneration in the central nervous system (CNS). However, the mechanism behind this is poorly understood. Here we first observed that macroautophagy/autophagy was suppressed in the hippocampus of diabetic GK rats with hyperglycemia, whereas it was unchanged in ob/ob mice without hyperglycemia. Autophagy could be directly inhibited by high glucose in mouse primary hippocampal neurons. Moreover, autophagy was protective in high-glucose-induced neurotoxicity. Further studies revealed that autophagic flux was suppressed by high glucose due to impaired autophagosome synthesis illustrated by mRFP-GFP-LC3 puncta analysis. We showed that decreased autophagy was dependent on NO produced under high glucose conditions. Therefore, (LC-MS/MS)-based quantitative proteomic analysis of protein S-nitrosation was performed and a core autophagy protein, ATG4B was found to be S-nitrosated in the hippocampus of GK rats. ATG4B was also verified to be S-nitrosated in neuronal cells cultured with high glucose. The activities of ATG4B in the processing of unmodified, precursor Atg8-family proteins and in the deconjugation of PE from lipidated Atg8-family proteins, which are essential for efficient autophagosome biogenesis were both compromised by S-nitrosation at Cys189 and Cys292 sites. In addition, ATG4B processing of the GABARAPL1 precursor was affected the least by S-nitrosation compared with other substrates. Finally, ATG4B S-nitrosation was verified to be responsible for decreased autophagy and neurotoxicity in response to high glucose. In conclusion, autophagy impairment mediated by S-nitrosation of ATG4B leads to neurotoxicity in response to hyperglycemia. Our research reveals a novel mechanism linking hyperglycemia with CNS neurotoxicity and shows that S-nitrosation is a novel post-transcriptional modification of the core autophagy machinery.

In this work, the group contribution method of Chickos et al.was applied to estimate the fusion enthalpy of isonicotinic acid, and the obtained result (29.2kJ·mol−1) showed a large difference with the value (135kJ·mol−1) as reported from literatures and as determined by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The results of DSC/TG measurement showed that the phase transition of isonicotinic acid from 187.27°C to 277.47°C underwent a sublimation process, with a sublimation enthalpy of 128.03kJ·mol−1. An efficient analytical technique combining pyrolysis and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS) was used to prove this conclusion.

An important method for saving energy and reducing the emissions from hybrid electric vehicles is to shorten the working time of the engine, which results in frequent engine starts and stops. The accompanying vibration and noise problems cause the driveability and the ride comfort to deteriorate significantly. In this study, experiments on the vibrations of the driver’s seat track are performed and analysed to evaluate quantitatively the vibrations during the engine start. The measurement results show that vibrations in the longitudinal direction are the most severe, whereas vibrations in the lateral direction are the weakest. Based on the test results, a full-vehicle multi-body dynamics model, including the driveline, the powertrain mounts and the suspensions, is developed and verified. Some countermeasures are researched using numerical simulations to reduce the uncomfortable longitudinal vibrations. Optimization analysis demonstrates that the effects of the reduction in the vibrations are limited even by the optimal initial crank angle, the start-up time and the stiffnesses of the torsional damper and the half-shafts. Hence, parameter optimizations cannot completely eliminate the uncomfortable vibrations. Fortunately, as compensation control benefits from the fast response of electric motors in hybrid vehicles, it can play an active role in reducing the longitudinal seat track vibrations and in improving the ride comfort. However, the effect of the compensation controller greatly depends on the accuracy of the torque estimator.

We demonstrate fast dual-comb spectroscopy based on a high-repetition-rate dual-wavelength erbium-doped fiber laser with a large repetition rate difference. It can operate in three different dual-wavelength states with repetition rate differences of 4.32, 2.74 and 3.635 kHz, respectively. To the best of our knowledge, the corresponding refresh time can be as low as 231 μs, which is the fastest in dual-comb spectroscopy using a single fundamentally mode-locked all-fiber laser. The high repetition rate of approximately 154.68 MHz provides a maximum optical frequency bandwidth of 4.37 THz. Dual-comb spectroscopy was used to measure the transmittance curve of the Fabry–Perot etalon.

Proper regulation of Wnt signaling is critical for the maintenance of hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) homeostasis. The epigenetic regulation of Wnt signaling in HSCs remains largely unknown. Here, we report that the histone deacetylase SIRT6 regulates HSC homeostasis through the transcriptional repression of Wnt target genes. Sirt6deletion promoted HSC proliferation through aberrant activation of Wnt signaling. SIRT6-deficient HSCs exhibited impaired self-renewal ability in serial competitive transplantation assay. Mechanistically, SIRT6 inhibits the transcription of Wnt target genes by interacting with transcription factor LEF1 and deacetylating histone 3 at lysine 56. Pharmacological inhibition of the Wnt pathway rescued the aberrant proliferation and functional defect in SIRT6-deficient HSCs. Taken together, these findings disclose a new link between SIRT6 and Wnt signaling in the regulation of adult stem cell homeostasis and self-renewal capacity.

Since the industrial revolution, anthropogenic activities, such as fossil fuel use and deforestation, have caused a dramatic increase in the atmospheric CO2concentration. To understand how the growth and development in cereal crops may respond to elevated CO2, it is necessary to determine if the leaves of crops grown in a closed artificial ecosystem have a fully developed photosynthetic apparatus and whether or not photosynthesis in these leaves is more responsive to an elevated CO2concentration. To address this issue, we evaluated the response of the photosynthetic characteristics, antioxidant capacity, and water use efficiency of wheat (Triticum aestivumL.) under four CO2concentrations (500, 1000, 3000, and 5000 ppm) for 3 d in Lunar Palace‐1, which is the first bioregenerative life support system developed in China. The results showed that wheat cultivated at 1000 ppm from vegetative growth to maturity was characterized by more appropriate relative water content, membrane stability index, photosynthetic rate, chlorophyll concentration, and antioxidant capacity, which was more beneficial to growth and development in a closed artificial environment. There were significant effects with increased CO2concentration on the effective quantum yield of PSII and photosynthetic electron transport of wheat plants. Furthermore, elevated CO2controlled the transpiration rate, which enhanced water use efficiency. During ripening, wheat aging may be accelerated by elevated CO2, which promotes grain growth and maturing.

Yellow mealworm (Tenebrio molitorL.) is one of the animal candidates for space bioregenerative life support systems. In this study, T. molitorwas involved in a 105-day multi-crew closed integrative BLSS experiment for a tentative rearing study. The results showed that the overall bioconversion rate (ratio of T. molitorgained to the total feed consumed) of T. molitorreared in the closed system was 8.13%, while 78.43% of the feed was excreted as frass. T. molitorreared in the closed system had a good nutritional composition. The eight essential amino acids (EAAs) in T. molitorlarvae accounted for 41.30% of its total amino acids, and most EAA contents were higher than the suggested amino acid pattern recommended by the FAO/WHO. T. molitorsample obtained in this work was high in polyunsaturated fatty acids, and low in saturated fatty acids, indicating that the composition of fatty acids was beneficial to human health. In the open environment outside the experimental system, we simultaneously reared three parallel groups of larval T. molitorusing the same feeding regime and temperature condition. Compared with T. molitorreared in the open environment, larvae reared in the closed system grew slower. With the course of time t, the growth rate of T. molitorin the open environment was 0.839e0.017ttimes that of larvae in the closed system. This paper can provide data for future design and improvement of BLSS containing a T. molitorrearing unit.

To avoid fluorescein angiography in a pregnant woman diagnosed with a central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO), swept-source optical coherence tomography angiography (SS-OCTA) was performed and showed no evidence of decreased central retinal perfusion leading to the diagnosis of a nonischemic CRVO. Five months after an intravitreal injection of steroid, both her vision and the retinal appearance had returned to normal. This case demonstrates how a noninvasive, safe, 12 mm × 12 mm SS-OCTA image of a CRVO is useful in evaluating the retinal perfusion at presentation and follow-up during pregnancy.[[Ophthalmic Surg Lasers Imaging Retina. 2018;49:206–208.]

ABSTRACTInvasive M1T1 group A Streptococcus(GAS) can have a mutation in the regulatory system CovRS, and this mutation can render strains hypervirulent. Interestingly, via mechanisms that are not well understood, the host innate immune system's neutrophils select spontaneous M1T1 GAS CovRS hypervirulent mutants, thereby enhancing the pathogen's ability to evade immune killing. It has been reported that the DNase Sda1 is critical for the resistance of M1T1 strain 5448 to killing in human blood and provides pressure for in vivoselection of CovRS mutations. We reexamined the role of Sda1 in the selection of CovRS mutations and in GAS innate immune evasion. Deletion of sda1or all DNase genes in M1T1 strain MGAS2221 did not alter emergence of CovRS mutants during murine infection. Deletion of sda1in strain 5448 resulted in Δsda1mutants with (5448 Δsda1M+strain) and without (5448 Δsda1M−strain) M protein production. The 5448 Δsda1M+strain accumulated CovRS mutations in vivoand resisted killing in the bloodstream, whereas the 5448 Δsda1M−strain lost in vivoselection of CovRS mutations and was sensitive to killing. The deletion of emmand a spontaneous Mga mutation in MGAS2221 reduced and prevented in vivoselection for CovRS mutants, respectively. Thus, in contrast to previous reports, Sda1 is not critical for in vivoselection of invasive M1T1 CovRS mutants and GAS resistance to innate immune killing mechanisms. In contrast, M protein and other Mga-regulated proteins contribute to the in vivoselection of M1T1 GAS CovRS mutants. These findings advance the understanding of the progression of invasive M1T1 GAS infections.