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After hot rolling and multipass cold rolling experiment, the hot rolled sheet and the sheets with reduction ratios of 20% and 40% of 301L stainless steel were obtained. The effect of cold rolling reduction ratio on microstructure of 301L stainless steel was investigated by metallographic analysis, XRD analysis and TEM analysis. The research shows that carbides precipitate along the austenite phase interface in the hot rolled specimen. Crystalline grains are refined by cold rolling: their average grain size decreases from 91.9 to 17.3 nm as the reduction ratio increases, which is accompanied by the blocking of dislocations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Troxerutin supported palladium (TXT-Pd) catalyst was prepared readily by using one-step synthetic method. As-fabricated TXT-Pd catalyst was evaluated by means of fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR), atomic absorption spectroscope instrument (AAS), and X-ray photoelectron spectrum (XPS). As-prepared catalyst possessed perfect catalytic properties to the Heck reaction of aryl halide with vinyl compounds in N2 atmosphere and the yields were up to above 95%. Particularly, the TXT-Pd catalyst could catalyze the Heck reaction of bromobenzene with low reaction activity and acrylic acid even at a low temperature 80°C even with a little amount of the catalyst. The remarkable interest was reusing properties, with which the yield was up to 36.7% after 7 times of the reusable catalyst. Moreover, TXT-Pd catalyst also showed high catalytic activity to the Heck reaction of substituted aryl halides with acrylic acid or styrene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The magnetic, mechanical, and electronic properties of RhHx (x = 0, 0.25, 0.75, 1) have been investigated by first-principles calculations based on density functional theory. It is shown that RhHx (x = 0.25, 0.75, 1) in the cubic structure are magnetic except for Rh. The total magnetic moments of RhHx (x = 0.25, 0.75, 1) decrease with increasing content of H, which mainly results from the change of the Rh moments. The calculated elastic constants indicate that RhHx (x = 0, 0.25, 0.75, 1) in the cubic structure are mechanically stable. With increasing H content, the bulk modulus, shear modulus, and Young modulus gradually decrease except the bulk modulus of RhH. By means of the values of the B/G ratio, it is concluded that H doping improves the ductile properties of Rh. The strong hybridization between H-s and Rh-d is the origin of magnetism for RhHx (x = 0.25, 0.75, 1) and decreases with increasing H content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PurposeTo investigate the morphological features of myopic maculopathy with a new and noninvasive retro-mode imaging (RMI) technique using a confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscope.MethodsA total of 42 patients (69 eyes) with myopic maculopathy were included. RMI combined with fundus photography, fundus fluorescein angiography, and optical coherence tomography together were used to observe and evaluate the morphological features of disease.ResultsFour in 4 eyes (100%) with macular retinoschisis were found with a characteristic pattern by RMI (firework pattern centrally with surrounding fingerprint pattern). Twenty-four in 24 eyes (100%) with pigment proliferation were found by RMI as dark plain patches, and 23 in 24 eyes with hemorrhage (95.8%) were found by RMI as gray bump. Atrophy of different degrees (12 in 14 eyes, 85.7%) was found by RMI as an area of pseudo-3D choroidal vessels or a fuzzy shadow but both without a clear boundary. Choroidal neovascularization (12 in 16 eyes, 75%) was identified laboriously by RMI as a vague raised region. Lacquer cracks were difficult to figure out in RMI.ConclusionsRetinoschisis, pigment proliferation, hemorrhage, and atrophy secondary to myopic maculopathy have characteristic morphologic features in RMI; however, choroidal neovascularization and lacquer crack are not easily distinguishable in RMI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the necessity of using a transmission system to improve the energy efficiency of purely electric vehicles (EVs). The energy efficiency of an electric motor varies at different operating points to meet the output power demand. The three gear ratios of a transmission system can maintain the motor speed within a stable region with relatively high energy efficiency, while various vehicle speeds are needed. This work is based on a light EV prototype. The optimized gear ratios of this transmission result in a considerably reduced energy consumption of 9.3% compared with conventional EVs with single-speed reducers under the condition of the Urban Dynamometer Driving Schedule driving cycle. Thus, the transmission system is necessary to improve the energy efficiency of EVs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Porous α-Co(OH) nanoflake array film is prepared by a facile hydrothermal synthesis method. The α-Co(OH) nanoflake array film exhibits a highly porous net-like structure composed of interconnected nanoflakes with a thickness of 15 nm. The pseudo-capacitive behaviour of the Co(OH) nanoflake array film is investigated by cyclic voltammograms (CV) and galvanostatic charge-discharge tests in 2 M KOH. The α-Co(OH) nanoflake array film exhibits high capacitances of 1017 F g at 2 A g and 890 F g at 40 A g as well as rather good cycling stability for supercapacitor application. The porous architecture is responsible for the enhancement of the electrochemical properties because it provides fast ion and electron transfer, large reaction surface area and good strain accommodation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inhibitory effects of Chinese leek ( Allium tuberosum) on Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense ( Foc) and on Fusarium wilt incidence were studied in order to identify a potential efficient way to control the disease. Adopting the rotation system of Chinese leek-banana reduced the Fusarium wilt incidence and disease severity index by 88-97 % and 91-96 %, respectively, and improved the crop value by 36-86 %, in an area heavily infested by Foc between 2007 and 2009. As a result of inoculation in the greenhouse, Chinese leek treatment reduced disease incidence and the disease severity index by 58 % and 62 %, respectively in the variety Baxi (AAA) and by 79 % and 81 %, respectively in the variety Guangfen NO.1 (ABB). Crude extracts of Chinese leek completely inhibited the growth of Foc race 4 on Petri dishes, suppressed the proliferation of the spores by 91 % and caused 87 % spore mortality. The findings of this study suggest that Chinese leek has the potential to inhibit Foc growth and Fusarium wilt incidence. This potential may be developed into an environmentally friendly treatment to control Fusarium wilt of banana. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bone remodeling is essential for adult bone homeostasis. The failure of this process often leads to the development of osteoporosis, a present major global health concern. The most important factor that affects normal bone remodeling is the tightly controlled and orchestrated regulation of osteoblasts and osteoclasts. The present review summarized the recent discoveries related to osteoblast regulation from several signals, including transforming growth factor-β, bone morphogenetic proteins, Wnt signal, Notch, Eph-Ephrin interaction, parathyroid hormone/parathyroid hormone-related peptide, and the leptin-serotonin-sympathetic nervous systemic pathway. The awareness of these mechanisms will facilitate further research that explores bone remodeling and osteoporosis. Future investigations on the endogenous regulation of osteoblastogenesis will increase the current knowledge required for the development of potential drug targets in the treatment of osteoporosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The adsorption and wrapping process of a single flexible comb-like polymer to a single wall nanotube was studied by Molecular Dynamics simulation of a coarse-grained model. We varied the grafting density and length of the side chains, the radius of the nanotube and strength of interaction between the monomers of nanotube and side chains of polymer brush. We investigated the structural and dynamical characters of interactions of the nanotube-polymer composite, such as the effect of Lennard-Jones energy parameter ɛ and the nanotube radius on the adsorption behavior and how the wrapping conformation is affected by the structure of the polymer brush. The simulation results indicate that single comb-like polymer with flexible backbone tends to adsorb and wrap around the nanotube, when the interaction energy exceeds a critical value. The monomer adsorption ratio, interaction energy profiles and moment of inertia are obtained. The helical wrapping only occurs when the interaction energy is large enough. Also, the influence of the polymer structure on the conformational behavior is analyzed. This work underscores design elements important for engineering well-defined nanotube-polymer nanocomposite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The electronic structures and optical properties of pure, N-doped and N-F codoped ZnO are investigated based on the density-functional theory. The calculations of the impurity formation energies and ionization energies for these systems indicate that incorporating the reactive donor F into N doped ZnO systems, not only enhances the N acceptor solubility, but also leads to a shallower N acceptor energy level in the band gap in p-type codoped ZnO. In addition, we analyze the imaginary part of the dielectric functions, and reflectivities for pure and N-F codoped ZnO. Compared with the pure ZnO, the remarkable feature in the dielectric function for N-F codoped ZnO is that there is a sharp peak in the low-energy region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use molecular dynamics simulations to investigate centipede-like polymers with stiff charged side chains, end-grafted to a planar wall. The effect of the grafting density and the Bjerrum length on the conformational behaviour of the brush is examined in detail. In addition, we make a comparison of centipede-like polyelectrolyte (CPE) brushes with neutral centipede-like polymer (NCP) and linear polyelectrolyte (LPE) brushes. At weak electrostatic interaction, the main chains of the CPE chains adopt a strongly stretched conformation, and the monomer density profiles of side chains exhibit a clear oscillatory behaviour. With increasing Bjerrum length, the CPE brush undergoes a collapse transition. Compared to the CPE brushes, the counterion condensation effect is stronger for the LPE brushes, regardless of whether the electrostatic interaction is weak or strong and of whether the grafting density is low or high. Additionally, it is shown that the architecture of the grafted chains makes a weak contribution to the counterion condensation at strong electrostatic interaction. We also find that the electrostatic repulsion between charged side chains can enhance the stiffness of the main chains and thus limit the range of movement of the free-end monomers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With a non-critically phase-matched high gray-trace resistance KTP (GTR-KTP) crystal, a high-power intracavity optical parametric oscillator (IOPO) emitting at the wavelength of 1.5 μm and pumped by a diode-side-pumped acousto-optically Q-switched Nd:YAG laser is experimentally demonstrated. At the frequency repetition rate of 6 kHz, the maximum average power of 6.36 W at signal wavelength 1570 nm with a pulse width of 9.94 ns is obtained from IOPO based on GTR-KTP, corresponding to a peak power of 107 kW and a single-pulse energy of 1.06 mJ, respectively. We have compared the GTR-KTP IOPO with common KTP IOPO using the same scheme. At the same cavity design, frequency repetition rate and pump condition, only 5.42 W average output power with pulse width 13.82 ns is obtained from IOPO based on common KTP. Besides the higher output power, the output stability of GTR-KTP IOPO is much better than that of common KTP OPO. The output instability of GTR-KTP IOPO is 0.83% versus 6.7% of the common KTP IOPO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intermittent oscillation of 1064 nm and 1342 nm was demonstrated in a diode-pumped doubly passively Q-switched Nd:YVO4/Cr4+:YAG/V3+:YAG laser for the first time to our best knowledge. By exploiting a three-mirror configuration and choosing appropriate reflectivity values for the two wavelengths on the output couplers, the dual-wavelength pulsed operation was obtained. The maximum dual-wavelength average output power was 428 mW, corresponding to an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 8.5%. The corresponding physical explanations for the intermittent oscillation as well as the related phenomena are also given in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the output performances at 1331 nm in continuous-wave (CW) operation and the passive Q-switching regime of a Nd:Gd3Ga5O12(Nd:GGG) laser crystal have been investigated under pumping with diode lasers. A maximum CW output power of 1.5 W was reached at an incident pump power of 7.5 W; the overall optical-to-optical efficiency and the slope efficiency with respect to the pump power were 21.5% and 19.4%, respectively. The passive Q-switching regime was achieved with Co2+:LaMgAl11O19 (Co2+:LMA) saturable absorber (SA) crystals. A maximum average output power of 183 mW was recorded with a Co2+:LMA SA with initial transmission Ti of 90%. The pulse energy was 18.7 μJ and the pulse duration was 26.1 ns, which correspond to a pulse peak power of 0.7 kW. With a Co2+:LMA SA with Ti=81%, the average power decreased to 131 mW. However, the pulse energy increased to 21.4 μJ, the pulse duration was 16.4 ns and the pulse peak power increased to 1.3 kW. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

2CaO·3B2O3·H2O which has non-linear optical (NLO) property was synthesized under hydrothermal condition and identified by XRD, FTIR and TG as well as by chemical analysis. The molar enthalpy of solution of 2CaO·3B2O3·H2O in HCl·54.572H2O was determined. From a combination of this result with measured enthalpies of solution of H3BO3 in HCl·54.501H2O and of CaO in (HCl+H3BO3) solution, together with the standard molar enthalpies of formation of CaO(s), H3BO3(s), and H2O(l), the standard molar enthalpy of formation of −(5733.7±5.2) kJ mol−1 of 2CaO·3B2O3·H2O was obtained. Thermodynamic properties of this compound were also calculated by a group contribution method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An eye-safe, high-repetition-rate, single-resonant nanosecond intracavity optical parametric oscillator (IOPO), based on a non-critically phase-matched KTA crystal driven by a diode-end-pumped acousto-optically Q-switchedNd:YVO4 laser, was demonstrated for the first time to our knowledge. With an absorbed pump power of 11.3 W, 1.1 W average power and 2.5 ns pulse width at the signal (1534 nm) wavelength for 30-kHz repetition rate are synchronously achieved with the 25 mm long KTA crystal. The corresponding peak power and single pulse energy are estimated to be up to 14.7 kW and 36.7 μJ. The conversion efficiency from diode laser power to OPO signal output power was 9.8% and the corresponding slope efficiency was 15.4%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have demonstrated an efficient diode-pumped passively Q-switched Nd:YVO4 laser at 1342 nm by using an uncoated Co2+:LaMgAl11O19 (Co2+:LMA) crystal as the saturable absorber. With the absorbed pump power of 11.7 W, the pulse width could be as low as 42 ns, with a corresponding average output power of 580 mW. At around 40 kHz repetition rate, the energy of a single Q-switched pulse was estimated to be about 14.5 μJ and the peak power was 346 W. The passive Q switching operation for the Co2+:LMA in different polarization states was also investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To evaluate the physiological distribution and tumour detection ability of [ 18 F]AlF-PSMA-11 positron emission tomography (PET) dual-phase scans in patients with prostate cancer (PCa)., Methods: As a retrospective study, clinical and PET data of PCa patients who underwent dual-phase [ 18 F]AlF-PSMA-11 PET of routine scan (45-50 min) and delayed scan (120 min) from November 2020 to June 2021 were collected, and physiological and pathological regions of interest were quantified to determine the time-dependent maximum standardized uptake value (SUV max ) of [ 18 F]AlF-PSMA-11. Part of the above subjects who underwent [ 68 Ga]Ga-PSMA-11 PET in the following 6 months were included in a head-to-head comparison. The difference with a p-value < 0.05 was defined as statistical significance. Diagnosis accuracy of primary and metastatic lesions was measured referring to the surgical findings, pathology, and follow-up imaging., Results: [ 68 Ga]Ga-PSMA-11 and [ 18 F]AlF-PSMA-11 were of the comparable uptake in glands in head, but the latter was of a significant lower distribution in liver and spleen. For the 25 patients initially diagnosed with prostate cancer and 3 patients with biochemical recurrence after radical surgery, the SUV max of the primary lesions, lacrimal glands, parotid glands and submandibular glands was higher at 120 min compared to that at 45-50 min, but not a significant difference. SUV max of the liver, spleen and bladder decreased significantly at 120 min, but the bladder SUV max remained higher than that of primary lesions. SUV max of the kidneys and centrum was the same in dual-phase scans. For the 31 primary lesions detected in [ 18 F]AlF-PSMA-11 PET, both the SUV max of the two phases kept the positive correlation with PSA, Gleason score and initial risk stratification. For the 39 distant metastatic lesions, 94.87% accuracy of routine scan and 100% accuracy of delayed scan were acquired, and 7.14% patients (2/28) benefited from the dual-phase [ 18 F]AlF-PSMA-11 scans that revealed novel information on metastatic lesions compared to the routine scan., Conclusion: [ 18 F]AlF-PSMA-11 PET expanded the time window and further decreased metabolic background of [ 68 Ga]Ga-PSMA-11 PET. The dual-phase scan of [ 18 F]AlF-PSMA-11 PET can benefit prostate cancer diagnosis via providing more PSMA-specific information., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Lens-free on-chip microscopy is a powerful and promising high-throughput computational microscopy technique due to its unique advantage of creating high-resolution images across the full field-of-view (FOV) of the imaging sensor. Nevertheless, most current lens-free microscopy methods have been designed for imaging only two-dimensional thin samples. Lens-free on-chip tomography (LFOCT) with a uniform resolution across the entire FOV and at a subpixel level remains a critical challenge. In this paper, we demonstrated a new LFOCT technique and associated imaging platform based on wavelength scanning Fourier ptychographic diffraction tomography (wsFPDT). Instead of using angularly-variable illuminations, in wsFPDT, the sample is illuminated by on-axis wavelength-variable illuminations, ranging from 430 to 1200 nm. The corresponding under-sampled diffraction patterns are recorded, and then an iterative ptychographic reconstruction procedure is applied to fill the spectrum of the three-dimensional (3D) scattering potential to recover the sample's 3D refractive index (RI) distribution. The wavelength-scanning scheme not only eliminates the need for mechanical motion during image acquisition and precise registration of the raw images but secures a quasi-uniform, pixel-super-resolved imaging resolution across the entire imaging FOV. With wsFPDT, we demonstrate the high-throughput, billion-voxel 3D tomographic imaging results with a half-pitch lateral resolution of 775 nm and an axial resolution of 5.43 μm across a large FOV of 29.85 mm 2 and an imaging depth of >200 μm. The effectiveness of the proposed method was demonstrated by imaging various types of samples, including micro-polystyrene beads, diatoms, and mouse mononuclear macrophage cells. The unique capability to reveal quantitative morphological properties, such as area, volume, and sphericity index of single cell over large cell populations makes wsFPDT a powerful quantitative and label-free tool for high-throughput biological applications., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Exploiting internal degrees of freedom of light, such as polarization, provides efficient ways to scale the capacity of optical diffractive computing, which may ultimately lead to high-throughput, multifunctional all-optical diffractive processors that can execute a diverse range of tasks in parallel., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

We present a new label-free three-dimensional (3D) microscopy technique, termed transport of intensity diffraction tomography with non-interferometric synthetic aperture (TIDT-NSA). Without resorting to interferometric detection, TIDT-NSA retrieves the 3D refractive index (RI) distribution of biological specimens from 3D intensity-only measurements at various illumination angles, allowing incoherent-diffraction-limited quantitative 3D phase-contrast imaging. The unique combination of z-scanning the sample with illumination angle diversity in TIDT-NSA provides strong defocus phase contrast and better optical sectioning capabilities suitable for high-resolution tomography of thick biological samples. Based on an off-the-shelf bright-field microscope with a programmable light-emitting-diode (LED) illumination source, TIDT-NSA achieves an imaging resolution of 206 nm laterally and 520 nm axially with a high-NA oil immersion objective. We validate the 3D RI tomographic imaging performance on various unlabeled fixed and live samples, including human breast cancer cell lines MCF-7, human hepatocyte carcinoma cell lines HepG2, mouse macrophage cell lines RAW 264.7, Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans), and live Henrietta Lacks (HeLa) cells. These results establish TIDT-NSA as a new non-interferometric approach to optical diffraction tomography and 3D label-free microscopy, permitting quantitative characterization of cell morphology and time-dependent subcellular changes for widespread biological and medical applications., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

With the advances in scientific foundations and technological implementations, optical metrology has become versatile problem-solving backbones in manufacturing, fundamental research, and engineering applications, such as quality control, nondestructive testing, experimental mechanics, and biomedicine. In recent years, deep learning, a subfield of machine learning, is emerging as a powerful tool to address problems by learning from data, largely driven by the availability of massive datasets, enhanced computational power, fast data storage, and novel training algorithms for the deep neural network. It is currently promoting increased interests and gaining extensive attention for its utilization in the field of optical metrology. Unlike the traditional "physics-based" approach, deep-learning-enabled optical metrology is a kind of "data-driven" approach, which has already provided numerous alternative solutions to many challenging problems in this field with better performances. In this review, we present an overview of the current status and the latest progress of deep-learning technologies in the field of optical metrology. We first briefly introduce both traditional image-processing algorithms in optical metrology and the basic concepts of deep learning, followed by a comprehensive review of its applications in various optical metrology tasks, such as fringe denoising, phase retrieval, phase unwrapping, subset correlation, and error compensation. The open challenges faced by the current deep-learning approach in optical metrology are then discussed. Finally, the directions for future research are outlined., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

In recent years, online learning model has become the mainstream in higher education. The cooperation between universities and Internet education platforms provides a good learning environment and abundant online elective courses for college students, but the practical teaching effect is not ideal. Therefore, based on the Universal Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), this study introduced the perceived cost and content quality to build a model of college students' continuous intention to use online course platforms, and used structural equation model to study the relationship among the variables. The results showed that effort expectancy and social influence affected continuous intention indirectly via performance expectancy; content quality indirectly affected continuous intention through effort expectancy, performance expectancy and effort expectancy-performance expectancy; perceived cost had a significant negative effect on continuous intention. These research results provide new ideas for the design and development of online course platform., Competing Interests: Conflict of interestAuthor Mengting Chen declares that she has no conflict of interest. Author Xuan Wang declares that she has no conflict of interest. Jixin Wang declares that he has no conflict of interest. Author Can Zuo declares that she has no conflict of interest. Author Jun Tian declares that she has no conflict of interest. Yongpeng Cui declares that he has no conflict of interest., (© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. part of Springer Nature 2021.)

Background: 18 F-FDG PET/CT metabolic parameters have been applied as prognostic factors in multi-malignancies. However, the role in locally advanced pancreatic cancer (LAPC) was not confirmed. In this study, we investigated the prognostic value of 18 F-FDG PET/CT metabolic parameters in LAPC patients treated with stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT)., Methods: Seventy three LAPC patients who received SBRT therapy and pre-treatment 18 F-FDG PET/CT imaging from January 2012 to January 2016 were included in this retrospective study. The study aim was to evaluate the relationship between metabolic parameters with clinical factors, and the value of metabolic parameters in the prognosis of LAPC. The median of parameters was set as the cut-off value for statistical analysis. Univariate survival analysis was performed by the Kaplan Meier method and log-rank test, and multivariate analysis was carried out by a Cox proportional hazards model., Results: Patients with lymph node metastasis or longer tumor diameters were associated with higher TLG (P < 0.05). Univariate analysis showed MTV, TLG, radiotherapy dose and chemotherapy were significantly associated with disease progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) (P < 0.05). Lymph node metastasis and tumor longest diameter were associated with OS. Multivariate analysis demonstrated TLG, radiotherapy dose, and chemotherapy were independent factors of PFS and OS (HR: 2.307, 0.591, 0.572 and 2.145, 0.480, 0.471, P < 0.05)., Conclusions: TLG was found to be the independent prognostic factor of OS and PFS. Among clinical factors, radiotherapy dose and chemotherapy were independent prognostic factors of OS and PFS.