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Mg(1-x)ZnxTa2O6 (x = 0.00−0.08) dielectric ceramics were synthesized via the traditional solid-state reaction method. We used XRD and Rietveld refinement to demonstrate that a pure Mg(1-x)ZnxTa2O6 phase with trirutile structure was formed. Zn2+ substitution helped to decrease the Raman full width at half width of the A1g mode at 703 cm−1, which resulted in an increase in the order and rigidity of the TaO6 octahedron, this in turn contributed to improving the Q×f values. Additionally, the introduction of Zn2+ significantly promoted grain growth and increased the dense, and the molecular polarizability, these factors lead to a higher permittivity. Moreover, enhanced Ta-O bond energy resulted in a more stable TaO6 octahedron in the Mg(1−x)ZnxTa2O6 system, which contributed to enhanced τf values via substitution of Zn2+ doped on the A-site. Correspondingly, the microwave dielectric properties were significantly improved for 0.04-doped samples, obtaining: er = 27, Q × f = 185,000 GHz (at 7.47 GHz), τf =32 ppm/°C.

Ni2+ modified MgTa2O6 ceramics with a trirutile phase and space group P42/mnm were obtained. The correlations between crystallographic characteristics and microwave dielectric performance of MgTa2O6 ceramics were systematically studied based on the chemistry bond theory (PVL theory) for the first time. The results indicate that the introduction of Ni2+ causes a change in polarizability and the Mg–O bond ionicity, which contributes to the variation of dielectric constant. Moreover, the lattice energy, and packing fraction, full width at half maximum of the Raman peak of Ta–O bond, as the quantitative characterization of crystallographic parameters, regulate the dielectric loss of MgTa2O6 ceramics in GHz frequency band. In addition, the study of sintering behavior shows that the densification and micromorphology are the crucial factors affecting the microwave dielectric performance. Typically, Ni2+ doping on the A-site of MgTa2O6 can effectively promote the Q × f values to 173,000 GHz (at 7.43 GHz), which ensures its applicability in 5G communication technology.

The porous morphology and secondary phase originated from lithium evaporation have deteriorated dielectric properties of Li2Mg3SnO6 ceramic. To solve this issue, a set of non-stoichiometric Li2Mg3-2xSn1-xO6 (x = −0.04, −0.02, 0.00, 0.02, 0.04, 0.06) samples were prepared by the solid-state method. Subsequently, the effects of non-stoichiometry on the structural evolution, microstructure and dielectric properties of rock salt-type Li2Mg3-2xSn1-xO6 ceramics were investigated. The Rietveld refinement and SEM results confirmed that moderate non-stoichiometry could eliminate secondary phase and promote densification. For −0.04 ≤ x ≤ 0.04, the upward tendency of dielectric constant (er) and quality factor (Q×f) was dominated by the improved phase purity and densification. As 0.04 ≤ x, the deterioration of dielectric characteristics was explained by the dielectric polarizability, lattice energy and packing fraction. The temperature coefficient of resonance frequency (τf) shifted from −36.41 to −27.23 ppm/°C, which could be attributed to the poor thermostability of Mg2SnO4 (τf = −64 ppm/°C) and enhanced octahedra bond energy.

The effects of Cd2+ ions on the microstructure, magnetic properties, and dielectric properties of Bi2O3-added MgFe2O4 ferrites (CdxMg1-xFe2O4, x = 0.00, 0.15, 0.30 and 0.45) are obtained by adopting the solid-state reaction method at a low temperature (910 °C). The objective is to achieve matching impedances, low magnetic and dielectric losses (tan δμ and tan δe, respectively), and a relatively large miniaturization factor to reduce antenna size. Experimental results indicate that the cations occupying the tetrahedral (A) and octahedral (B) ion sites are redistributed, resulting in an enhanced super-exchange interaction between the two sublattices. As a result, improved magnetization, including the increase in saturation magnetization (41.74 emu/g) and decrease in coercivity (63.75 Oe), is realized. The real part of permeability (µ′) also increases with increasing concentration of Cd2+ ions. When x is 0.15, matching impedances with equivalent μ′ and e′ values are obtained over a long frequency range (1–150 MHz). Moreover, the formation of a dense microstructure guarantees that losses occur at low orders of magnitude (tan δμ ≈ 10−2 and tan δe ≈ 10−3). Accordingly, these properties afford wide application perspectives for the proposed compounds in the high-frequency region, i.e., from high-frequency to very-high-frequency bands.

Improving magnetic-dielectric properties of polymer materials, through filler of functional ceramics, provides feasibility to develop high-frequency flexible electronics. Poly-dimethylsiloxane (PDMS), an inert silicone with low elasticity modulus and high transparency, has been considered a promising candidate for flexible electronics. Current PDMS matrix used in high-frequency devices suffers from unsatisfactory properties due to very low dielectric constant. In this study, using ultrasonic stirring and vacuum-pumping process, we prepare a series of xCo2Z/PDMS (x = 2; 4; 6; 8; 10) composite films, which are consisted of PDMS matrix and different quantity of micro-sized ferrite particles. XRD pattern indicates that the obtained ferrite particles include Co2Z main phase and BaM second phase. We demonstrate that 4Co2Z/PDMS film has improved magnetic-dielectric properties at 800 MHz (μ' = 1.49; e' = 4.54 tanδμ = 0.058; tanδe = 0.008). Also, the film has high saturation magnetization (σs = 17.51 emu/g). Furthermore, SEM micrographs show that using ultrasonic stirring and fast curing, the micro-sized ferrite particles are well dispersed in PDMS matrix. Our study, which provides a simple method to improve high-frequency magnetic and dielectric properties of PDMS matrix, could pave the way for development of high-frequency flexible electronics.

The cryopreservation of red blood cells (RBCs) is very important to modern medicine. Cryoprotectants (CPAs) such as dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), proline, trehalose, and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) have been used in the cryopreservation of RBCs, but the results are not satisfactory. Marinomonas primoryensis antifreeze protein (MpAFP) is a Ca2+-dependent AFP derived from Antarctic bacteria, which can prevent bacteria from freezing under extremely cold conditions and may be suitable for cryopreservation of RBCs. The active region of MpAFP is located in region IV and is called MPAFP_RIV. In this paper, the gene of region IV of MpAFP is introduced into BL21 (DE3) competent cells, and MpAFP_RIV is obtained after culture, separation, and purification. The improved splat assay is proposed, and this method first proves that MpAFP_RIV has strong ice recrystallization inhibition (IRI) activity without Ca2+. The improved splat assay is easier to operate and lower the cost compared to the traditional one, and the results are consistent with the classic sucrose sandwich assay, proving that this method can accurately detect IRI activity. The feasibility of MPAFP_RIV combined with classical CPA for cryopreservation of RBCs and the methods to increase the yield of MPAFP_RIV are proposed.

Improving adverse drug event (ADE) prediction is highly critical in pharmacovigilance research. We propose a novel information component guided pharmacological network model (IC-PNM) to predict drug-ADE signals. This new method combines the pharmacological network model and information component, a Bayes statistics method. We use 33,947 drug-ADE pairs from the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) 2010 data as the training data, and the new 21,065 drug-ADE pairs from FAERS 2011-2015 as the validations samples. The IC-PNM data analysis suggests that both large and small sample size drug-ADE pairs are needed in training the predictive model for its prediction performance to reach an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve $(\text{AUROC})= 0.82$ ( AUROC ) = 0 . 82 . On the other hand, the IC-PNM prediction performance improved to $\text{AUROC}= 0.91$ AUROC = 0 . 91 if we removed the small sample size drug-ADE pairs from the prediction model during validation.

Batched data is a type of data where each observed data value is the sum of a number of grouped (batched) latent ones obtained under different conditions. Batched data arises in various practical backgrounds and is often found in social studies and management sector. The analysis of such data is analytically challenging due to its structural complexity. In this article, we describe how to analyze batched service time data, estimate the mean and variance of each batch that are latent. We in particular focus on the situation when the observed total time includes an unknown proportion of non-service time. To address this problem, we propose a Gaussian model for efficiency as well as a semi-parametric kernel density model for robustness. We evaluate the performance of both proposed methods through simulation studies and then applied our methods to analyze a batched data.

To investigate the effects of (Al0.5Ta0.5)4+ substitution on the crystal structure and dielectric characteristics of Li2Mg3TiO6, a set of Li2Mg3Ti1-x (Al0.5Ta0.5)xO6 (x = 0.0–0.12) samples were fabricated via solid-state process. XRD and Rietveld refinement results confirmed the formation of single rock salt structure in the space group Fm3m (No.225) within 0.0 ≤ x ≤ 0.12. Subsequently, some intrinsic factors were introduced to evaluate the structure dependence of dielectric characteristics in Li2Mg3Ti1-x (Al0.5Ta0.5)xO6 ceramics based on the unit cell parameters. The variation trend of dielectric constant (er) was explained by the relative density and average ionic polarizability. The quality factor (Q × f) showed the same trend as the packing fraction and lattice energy, indicating the intrinsic lattice anharmonicity might play vital roles in dielectric loss. Additionally, the temperature coefficient of resonant frequency (τf) was strongly associated with the bond energy of Etotal. Typically, the Li2Mg3Ti0.91(Al0.5Ta0.5)0.09O6 sample obtained at 1310 °C possessed remarkable dielectric performances: er = 15.06, Q × f = 169,600 GHz and τf = −27.45 ppm/°C.

Stick-slip vibration reduces the drilling rate of penetration, causes early wear of bits, and threatens the safety of downhole tools. Therefore, it is necessary to study suppression methods of stick-slip vibration to achieve efficient and safe drilling. Field tests show that the use of downhole axial impactors is helpful to mitigate stick-slip vibration and improve rock-breaking efficiency. However, there are many deficiencies in the study of how axial impact load affects stick-slip vibration of a PDC bit. In this paper, based on the two-degrees-of-freedom spring-mass-damper model and similarity theory, a laboratory experiment device for suppressing stick-slip vibration of a PDC bit under axial impact load has been developed, and systematic experimental research has been carried out. The results show that the axial impact force can suppress the stick-slip vibration by reducing the amplitude of weight on bit and torque fluctuations and by increasing the main frequency of torque. The amplitude of impact force affects the choice of the optimal back-rake angle. The impact frequency is negatively correlated with the fluctuation amplitude of the rotary speed. When the impact frequency is greater than 100 Hz, the fluctuation amplitude of the rotary speed will not decrease.

MoS2, as a promising alternative to Pt-based electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) aroused more and more interests owing to its low-cost and Pt-like activity. However, its practical application is severely restricted due to the insufficient active sites and poor conductivity of MoS2. Herein, ethylene glycol (EG) modified MoS2 grown on carbon nanotubes (EG-MoS2@CNTs) were synthesized via a solvent thermal method. At a Mo loading of 4.64 wt%, EG-MoS2@CNTs exhibited dramatic electrochemical HER performance compared with MoS2 and MoS2@CNTs in acid solution. The overpotential value and Tafel slope of EG-MoS2@CNTs were 188 mV and 87 mV/dec, respectively. As X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Raman spectra and Zeta potential show that EG could not only increase the basal-edge-rich defects and the defects between Mo and S atoms, but also induce the charge transferred from MoS2@CNTs to EG which are more favorable of adsorbing H∗. In addition, EG could enrich the proton concentration around MoS2. As a result, the HER kinetics are dramatically improved for EG-MoS2@CNTs compared with MoS2@CNTs under the same condition. This study suggested that the introduction of EG could significantly increased the HER kinetics of MoS2@CNTs and transform inert CNTs into highly active HER electrocatalysts with low Mo loading.

CaTi1-x (Mg1/2W1/2)xO3 (x = 0, 0.02, 0.04, 0.06, 0.08) dielectric ceramics were synthesized via the traditional solid-state reaction method. Crystal structure and microwave dielectric properties of CaTi1-x (Mg1/2W1/2)xO3 system were systematically investigated based on chemistry bond theory (P–V-L theory) for the first time. The pure perovskite phase was obtained for all doped samples, as confirmed through the XRD and Rietveld refinement results. The lattice characteristics were closely related to the microwave dielectric properties. The bond ionicity, lattice energy, and bond energy affected the dielectric constant, quality factor, and temperature stability of the ceramic material. Through the use of (Mg1/2W1/2)4+ doped on B-site, the CaTi1-x (Mg1/2W1/2)xO3 system can maintain a high dielectric constant (er > 100) while effectively reducing the τf value from 800 ppm/°C to less than 300 ppm/°C and improving the Q × f value to 9650 GHz (at 3.76 GHz).

A novel ratiometric electrochemical (EC) sensing platform was established for sensitive immunoassay of target cytokeratin 19 fragment 21-1 (CYFRA21-1) biomarker by combining competitive immunoreact...

The development of photocatalysts with high catalytic activity that are capable of full utilization of solar energy is a challenge in the field of photocatalysis. Accordingly, in the present study, an efficient Z-scheme cage-structured Co9S8/g-C3N4 (c-CSCN) photocatalyst was constructed for the degradation of tetracycline antibiotics under visible-light irradiation. The Z-scheme charge-transfer mechanism accelerates the separation of photogenerated charge carriers and effectively improves photocatalytic activity. Moreover, c-CSCN has a hollow structure, allowing light to be reflected multiple times inside the cavity, thereby effectively improving the utilisation efficiency of solar energy. As a result, the photocatalytic activity of c-CSCN is 1.5-, 2.5-, and 5.8-times higher than those of sheet-type Co9S8/g-C3N4 (s-CSCN), c-Co9S8, and g-C3N4, respectively, for the degradation of tetracycline. c-CSCN maintains favourable photocatalytic activity over five consecutive degradation cycles, demonstrating its excellent stability. In addition, c-CSCN performs efficient tetracycline removal in different water substrates. Moreover, c-CSCN exhibits excellent ability to remove tetracycline under direct natural sunlight. This work fully demonstrates that c-CSCN has high catalytic activity and the potential for practical application as a wastewater treatment material.

In fishery aquaculture, water quality directly determines the economic benefits of aquatic products, and dissolved oxygen is an important factor affecting water quality. To accurately grasp the trends of variation in dissolved oxygen, a dissolved oxygen concentration forecasting model based on an enhanced clustering algorithm and Adam with a radial basis function neural network (ECA-Adam-RBFNN) is proposed. An enhanced clustering algorithm (ECA) combining K-means with ant colony optimization is introduced in place of random selection to determine the center positions of the neural network hidden layer units. If the number of center points is too high, the neural network will be overfit, whereas if it is too low, sudden changes will appear in the results. Once the hidden layer centers have been determined, the radial basis function (RBF) width is calculated from the maximum center distance and the number of center points to avoid the two extreme cases of RBF that are too peaked or flat. The recursive least squares (RLS) algorithm is introduced to obtain the connection weights from the hidden layer to the output layer. The Adam algorithm is introduced to iteratively differentiate the objective function to adjust the center values, weights and width while adaptively varying the learning rates for these three types of parameters. Finally, the improved forecasting algorithm is applied for the prediction of the dissolved oxygen concentration in fishery aquaculture. The experimental results show that under identical conditions, compared with a long short-term memory (LSTM) network, a backpropagation neural network (BPNN), a traditional RBF neural network, a support vector regression (SVR) model, an autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA), K-MLPNN (K-means muhilayer perceptron neural networks), and SC-K-means-RBF model, the improved algorithm achieves significant reductions in the mean absolute error (MAE), mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) and root mean square error (RMSE) as model evaluation indicators.

The increasing computational cost of deep neural network models limits the applicability of intelligent applications on resource-constrained edge devices. While a number of neural network pruning methods have been proposed to compress the models, prevailing approaches focus only on parametric operators (e.g., convolution), which may miss optimization opportunities. In this paper, we present a novel fusion-catalyzed pruning approach, called FuPruner, which simultaneously optimizes the parametric and non-parametric operators for accelerating neural networks. We introduce an aggressive fusion method to equivalently transform a model, which extends the optimization space of pruning and enables non-parametric operators to be pruned in a similar manner as parametric operators, and a dynamic filter pruning method is applied to decrease the computational cost of models while retaining the accuracy requirement. Moreover, FuPruner provides configurable optimization options for controlling fusion and pruning, allowing much more flexible performance-accuracy trade-offs to be made. Evaluation with state-of-the-art residual neural networks on five representative intelligent edge platforms, Jetson TX2, Jetson Nano, Edge TPU, NCS, and NCS2, demonstrates the effectiveness of our approach, which can accelerate the inference of models on CIFAR-10 and ImageNet datasets., Published in IEEE Transactions on Computer-Aided Design of Integrated Circuits and Systems (TCAD)

Carbonic anhydrase (CA) as a typical metalloenzyme in biological system can accelerate the hydration/dehydration of carbon dioxide (CO2, the major components of greenhouse gases), which performer with high selectivity, environmental friendliness and superior efficiency. However, the free form of CA is quite expensive (~ RMB 3000/100 mg), unstable, and non-reusable as the free form of CA is not easy for recovery from the reaction environment, which severely limits its large-scale industrial applications. The immobilization may solve these problems at the same time. In this context, many efforts have been devoted to improving the chemical and thermal stabilities of CA through immobilization strategy. Very recently, a wide range of available inorganic, organic and hybrid compounds have been explored as carrier materials for CA immobilization, which could not only improve the tolerance of CA in hazardous environments, but also improve the efficiency and recovery to reduce the cost of large-scale application of CA. Several excellent reviews about immobilization methods and application potential of CA have been published. By contrast, in our review, we stressed on the way to better retain the biocatalytic activity of immobilized CA system based on different carrier materials and to solve the problems facing in practical operations well. The concluding remarks are presented with a perspective on constructing efficient CO2 conversion systems through rational combining CA and advanced carrier materials.

Extensive studies have been carried out on vertical or horizontal impact cutting because they are both high-efficiency rock breaking methods, but little attention has been paid to impact cutting with simultaneous vertical and horizontal impact loads. In this work, we conducted numerical simulations to study the mechanism of compound vertical and horizontal impact (CVHI) cutting. Firstly, a finite element analysis model considering the strain rate effect was established, and the parameters of the rock were adjusted by fitting laboratory test data of granite. Then, the differences in the cutting process between conventional cutting and CHVI cutting were analyzed, and a series of simulations were conducted to research how the vertical impact load affects the cutting mode. Finally, other simulations were performed with different horizontal impact loads to reveal the reason for improving cutting efficiency. Due to the applied vertical impact load, the rock failure mode is transformed from the ductile mode into the brittle mode. Besides, the torsional impact load can speed up the cutting process by promoting the generation, propagation, and connection of cracks. Therefore, the cutting efficiency is significantly improved with the action of CVHI loads.

Recently, the two-dimensional (2D) ruddlesden-popper (RPP) perovskite has been successfully attracting great attention owing to their excellent electronic property and superior ambient stability. But 2D perovskite solar cells (PVSCs) with insulating large cations show a worse performance than three-dimensional (3D) PVSCs in general because of the worse charge transportation. In this work, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and KI were incorporated simultaneously to produce a synergistic effect on both film quality and orientation of 2D perovskite. With this strategy, a cavity-free 2D perovskite film was formed with vertically oriented crystal, and high quality film was obtained with decreased defects and increased crystallinity. Besides, profitable multiple phases were obtained for better spontaneous carrier separation and transportation. The 2D PVSCs based on (PEA)2(MA)n−1PbnI3n+1 (n=5) delivered a higher power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 13.4%. In addition, the perovskite with KI and DMSO contained more stable low-dimension phase at the bottom of perovskite film, which could act as a barrier to prevent moisture from further eroding internal perovskites. The optimized 2D PVSCs remained 90% of the PCE after being exposed in air (50%–60% humidity, room temperature) with a continuous illumination for 300 h.

The phase equilibrium of the quaternary system Na+, K+, Mg2+//Cl−–H2O and the quinary system Na+, K+, Mg2+//Cl−, $${\text{NO}}_{3}^{ - }$$ –H2O were investigated at 258 K using the isothermal dissolution equilibrium method. The phase diagrams were obtained based on the measured data. Double salt KCl·MgCl2·6H2O was found in the quaternary and the quinary systems at 258 K. In the quaternary system Na+, K+, Mg2+//Cl−–H2O, there are two invariant points, five univariant curves, and four crystallization fields. The quinary system saturated with NaCl·2H2O contains four invariant points, nine univariant curves, and six crystallization fields corresponding to KCl, NaNO3, KNO3, Mg(NO3)2·6H2O, KCl·MgCl2·6H2O and MgCl2·8H2O. Mg(NO3)2·6H2O and MgCl2·8H2O that have higher concentrations and stronger salting-out effect on other salts. Therefore, low-temperature pretreatment can offer an alternative treatment of brines in accordance with the necessity for current brine treatment processes to reduce the presence of double salts and be crucial for purer products to be separated.

Poor crystalline MoS2 was synthesised by a novel two-step hydrothermal method, including aging and hydrothermal stages. The structures were characterised by different analytical methods such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller, field emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The synthesised products were typical mesoporous materials with a high specific surface area (273 m2/g). XRD and XPS displayed that the products were poor crystalline MoS2 mixed with metal Mo and Mo4+/(Mo + Mo4+) was 72.6%. The electron microscopy results showed that the products were uniform bent nanosheets with150 nm diameter and 3–5 layers. Furthermore, the product displayed excellent hydrodesulphurisation performance of dibenzothiophene (DBT) and the DBT conversion reached 87.3%. Compared with the one-step hydrothermal method, the two-step one was able to shorten the reaction time by 12 h, create more active sites and affect crystalline, composition, specific surface area and morphology of products.

The task of temporal slot filling (TSF) is to extract values of specific attributes for a given entity, called “facts”, as well as temporal tags of the facts, from text data. While existing work denoted the temporal tags as single time slots, in this paper, we introduce and study the task of Precise TSF (PTSF), that is to fill two precise temporal slots including the beginning and ending time points. Based on our observation from a news corpus, most of the facts should have the two points, however, fewer than 0.1% of them have time expressions in the documents. On the other hand, the documents’ post time, though often available, is not as precise as the time expressions of being the time a fact was valid. Therefore, directly decomposing the time expressions or using an arbitrary post-time period cannot provide accurate results for PTSF. The challenge of PTSF lies in finding precise time tags in noisy and incomplete temporal contexts in the text. To address the challenge, we propose an unsupervised approach based on the philosophy of truth finding. The approach has two modules that mutually enhance each other: One is a reliability estimator of fact extractors conditionally on the temporal contexts; the other is a fact trustworthiness estimator based on the extractor’s reliability. Commonsense knowledge (e.g., one country has only one president at a specific time) was automatically generated from data and used for inferring false claims based on trustworthy facts. For the purpose of evaluation, we manually collect hundreds of temporal facts from Wikipedia as ground truth, including country’s presidential terms and sport team’s player career history. Experiments on a large news dataset demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of our proposed algorithm.

Mg0·8Cd0·2Fe1.9Ga0.1O4 ceramic ferrites were synthesized using a solid-state reaction method at 900, 915, 930 and 945 °C. Crystallization analysis indicated that the change in temperature resulted in obvious changes in the microstructure. SEM images indicated that the grain size increased from 0.8 to 1.8 μm. Elevated saturation magnetization (Ms ≈ 26 emu/g) and reduced coercivity (Hc ≈ 53 Oe) indicated the excellent soft-magnetic behavior of the ceramics. The real part of the permeability correspondingly increased (29–51), and the real part of permittivity showed a slight fluctuation (20–25) with an increase in the temperature. Consequently, an upward bandwidth ratio (BWR ≈ 0.2, 915 °C) and matching characteristic impedance were obtained over a wide frequency range of 1–100 MHz. Additionally, with the low magnetic (tanδμ ~10−2) and dielectric (tanδe ~ 10−4-10−3) tangent values, the proposed materials can act as potential agents for enhancing the bandwidth and miniaturization of antennas operating at high frequencies.

To analyze the impacts of intrinsic factors on the dielectric properties, LiF was introduced to eliminate impurity phase Mg2SnO4, and a set of Li2Mg3Sn1-xTixO6-4 wt.% LiF (x = 0.0–1.0) ceramics were prepared by the solid-state reaction method. The XRD and SEM results indicated that all the compositions displayed a pure cubic phase (space group: Fm-3m, 225) and compact microstructure with increasing Ti4+ concentration, accompanied by a decrease in the average crystallite size from 2.54 μm to 1.92 μm. Based on the chemical bond theory and refinement data, several structural factors were determined to evaluate the relationship between the structural characteristics and dielectric properties. The increase in the dielectric constant (er) was ascribed to the improved average ionic polarizability αth/Vm. The trend of the change in the quality factor (Q × f) was closely related to the packing fraction and lattice energy. Additionally, the temperature coefficient of the resonant frequency (τf) changed within a narrow range, which could be attributed to the minor deviation in the octahedron bond energy. These results demonstrated that structural characteristics are key factors influencing the dielectric properties.

NiCuZn ferrites with high permeability and low magnetic loss have great application potential in high-frequency electronics. In this study, the excellent magnetic properties of (Ni0.2Cu0.2Zn0.6O)1.03(Fe2O3)0.97 ferrites are explored by doping low-melting point V2O5. The results demonstrate that the introduction of V2O5 can promote grain growth, reduce pores between grains, and obtain a denser microstructure of NiCuZn ferrites. NiCuZn ferrites with high permeability (μ’≈693.2), high saturation magnetic flux density (Bs = 325.1 mT), high remanence (Br = 174.3 mT), high Q value (~47.60), and low coercivity (Hc = 69.06 A/m) are obtained when the samples are sintered at 900 °C. However, when excessive V2O5 is added, the presence of the non-magnetic V2O5 liquid phase weakens the magnetic properties and deteriorates the grain uniformity. A dense and uniform NiCuZn ferrite sample with excellent magnetic properties can be obtained by doping 0.50 wt% V2O5. The results indicate that V2O5 can be a good candidate for low-temperature sintering.

The influence of Mg2+-ion substitution on the sintering and microwave dielectric properties of Li2CaSiO4 ceramic was investigated using the traditional solid-state reaction method and density functional theory. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, Raman spectrometry, network analysis and simultaneous thermal analysis were used to characterise the macro properties. The replacement of Ca2+-ion with Mg2+-ion led to the transformation of dodecahedron into tetrahedron. In addition, the bond length and bond population related to the calcium site decreased. The atom vibration and microstructure characteristics were modified due to the lattice distortion. The densification temperature decreased from 1000 °C to 925 °C. The relative density increased from 70% to 80.5%. The dielectric properties were improved, that is, er = 5.63, tanδ = 0.0019 at 8 GHz as 4% (molar ratio) Ca2+-ions were replaced by Mg2+-ions.

Porous carbon materials are highly attractive in the research field of adsorption, particularly, for treating organic pollutants in wastewater, of which the facile yet generic methods is highly pur...

Mg ferrites are essential to stabilize the spinel structure of magnetic-dielectric composites. This study investigates the effect of Ga ions on the magnetic and dielectric properties and low-loss characteristics of Mg–Cd composites sintered at low temperature with the addition of 2.5 wt% Bi2O3. The variation in the Ga substitution of Fe at the octahedral site, with x increasing from 0.00 to 0.18 (Mg0.8Cd0.2Fe2-xGaxO4), increases magnetization, which plays the key role in determining the permeability. The real part of the permeability (μ′) of the Ga-substituted ferrites was reported to increase monotonically from 10 H/m to 56 H/m. Meanwhile, the real part of the permittivity (e′) was optimized by the Ga ions. Consequently, relatively matching impedance factor (Z ≈ 1.34) and wideband characteristic factor (BWR ≈ 2.5 × 10−3) were obtained to achieve miniaturization and high radiation performance of antennas. Additionally, enhanced magnetization (Ms = 22.32 emu/g, Hc = 55.07 Oe) as well as magnetic (tanδμ~10−2) and dielectric tangents (tanδe~10−4-10−3) of low orders of magnitude promise outstanding operating performance in the high-frequency region.

Spinel Mg ferrites Mg1-xCdxCo0.05Fe1.95O4 (x=0.0, 0.2, 0.3 and 0.4) as potential agents for the miniaturization of high frequency antennas are presented. All the synthesized compositions were experimentally revealed to possess pure spinel phase. Dual-equivalent permeability and permittivity (μ'≈26, e'≈25, x=0.3 and μ'≈29, e'≈28, x=0.4) from 5 to 100 MHz can be achieved by introducing Cd2+ ions, yielding large miniaturization factors of up to 25 and 28. To figure out the effects of Cd2+ ions substitution on magnetic and dielectric properties, the change in microstructure is mainly investigated. Meanwhile, enhanced magnetic properties including upward saturation magnetization (Ms) (approximately 47.60 emu/g) and reduced coercivity (approximately 54.22 Oe) are obtained due to increased grain size and denser microstructure arrangements reflected from scanning electron microscopy images. With low magnitude order of magnetic and dielectric losses factors (tanδe reaches 10-4, tanδμ reaches 10-2), the composites can potentially exhibit high operating efficiencies at high frequencies.

Thrombin is a marker of blood-related diseases, and its detection is of great significance in the fields of medical and biological research. Herein, a novel chemiluminescence (CL) sensor for thrombin detection was prepared based on dual-aptamer biorecognition and mesoporous silica encapsulated with iron porphyrin. Mesoporous silica encapsulated with hematin by aptamer1 (Apt1/hematin/M-SiO2) and magnetic microspheres modified with aptamer2 (Apt2/NH2-MS) were successfully prepared, and the two materials were used to construct a CL sensor to detect thrombin. Primarily, Apt2/NH2-MS is used for pretreatment separation of thrombin samples by the biorecognition effect between the aptamer (Apt2) and target (thrombin). Then, thrombin/Apt2/NH2-MS is again recognized with Apt1 on the surface of Apt1/hematin/M-SiO2 and Apt1/thrombin/Apt2/NH2-MS is formed, so dual-aptamer biorecognition is realized. Meanwhile, the generated Apt1/thrombin/Apt2/NH2-MS makes Apt1 shed off the surface of M-SiO2 and release hematin. The released hematin can catalyze the luminol-H2O2 CL reaction. Therefore, a sandwich-type CL sensor was constructed based on dual-aptamer biorecognition and hematin catalysis for the detection of thrombin. The sensor has a linear range of 7.5 × 10-15 to 2.5 × 10-10 mol·L-1 and a detection limit of 2.2 × 10-15 mol·L-1 and also exhibits excellent selectivity, reproducibility, and stability. The sensor was successfully used for the detection of thrombin in serum samples, which makes it possible to apply the sensor in the detection of thrombin in actual samples.

A novel, highly selective and sensitive chemiluminescence (CL) biosensor for insulin (INS) detection was proposed based on aptamer and oligonucleotide-gold nanoparticles functionalized nanosilica @ graphene oxide aerogel. Initially, nanosilica functionalized graphene oxide aerogel (SiO2@GOAG) was successfully prepared and the composite showed rich pore distribution, large specific surface area and good biocompatibility. Insulin aptamer (IGA3) was used as a biorecognition element and oligonucleotide functionalized gold nanoparticles (ssDNA-AuNPs) was used as CL signal amplification materials, which were functionalized on the surface of SiO2@GOAG. The multi-functionalized composite - ssDNA-AuNPs/IGA3/SiO2@ GOAG was obtained and used to construct the CL biosensor for insulin detection. When insulin is present in a sample, the insulin will bind to the IGA3, which will result in the release of ssDNA-AuNPs. The released ssDNA-AuNPs would catalyze the luminescence of luminol and H2O2. The linear range of the CL biosensor for insulin detection was 7.5 × 10−12 to 5.0 × 10−9 moL/L and the detection limit was 1.6 × 10−12 moL/L (S/N = 3). The selectivity and stability of the CL biosensor were also studied and the results showed that the biosensor exhibited high selectivity and good stability due to the introduction of ssDNA-AuNPs/IGA3/SiO2@GOAG. The CL biosensor was finally used for recombinant human insulin detection in recombinant human insulin injection and the results were satisfactory.

Bis(monoacylglycero)phosphate (BMP) and phosphatidylglycerol (PG) are structural isomeric phospholipids with very different properties and biological functions. Due to their isomeric nature, it has thus far been challenging to simultaneously quantify BMP and PG lipids in tissue samples by mass spectrometry. Therefore, we have developed a sensitive LC-MS/MS based approach with prior methylation derivatization that is able to handle large batches of samples. Using this high throughput platform, a simulated MS/MS database was established for confident lipid assignment. In this work, we have simultaneously identified and quantified BMP and PG lipid molecules in different body tissues of rats and mice. We report for the first time a quantitative molecular atlas of BMP and PG lipids for 14 different tissues and organs in Wistar rats, NMRI and CD1 mice. Organ- and species-specificity was analyzed and compared for both lipid molecule classes. A total of 34 BMP and 10 PG molecules were quantified, with PG concentrations being generally much higher across tissues than BMP, but BMP lipids showing a much higher molecular diversity between animal organs. The large diversity of the BMP lipids with regard to their abundance and molecular composition suggests distinct biological function(s) of the individual BMP molecules in different tissues and organs of body. Particularly high tissue levels of BMP were seen in spleen, lung, liver, kidney and small intestines, i.e. tissues that are known for their high abundance and/or activity level of lysosomes late and endosomes. Elevated BMP levels in brain tissue of APP/PSEN transgenic compared to age matched wild-type mice were also observed using this platform. This analytical methodology presented a high throughput LC-based approach incorporating simulated MS/MS database to identify and quantify BMP lipids as well as PG molecules.

Gel polymer electrolytes have the advantages of both a solid electrolyte and a liquid electrolyte. As a transitional product before which a solid electrolyte can be comprehensively used, gel polymer electrolytes are of great research value. They can reduce the risk of spontaneous combustion and explosion caused by leakage during the use of conventional liquid electrolytes. Poly(vinylidene-fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) (PVDF–HFP), a material with excellent performance, has been widely utilized in the preparation of gel polymer electrolytes. Here, PVDF–HFP-based gel polymer membranes with polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) pores were prepared using a phase inversion method, and Octavinyl-polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (OVAPOSS) was doped to improve its temperature resistance as well as its ionic conductivity, to enhance its safety and electrochemical performance. The final prepared polymer membrane had a porosity of 85.06% and still had a certain mechanical strength at 160 °C without any shrinkage. The gel polymer electrolyte prepared with this polymer membrane had an ionic conductivity of 1.62 × 10−3 S·cm−1 at 30 °C, as well as an electrochemical window of about 5.5 V. The LiCoO2-Li button half-cell prepared therefrom had a specific capacity of 141 mAh·g−1 at a rate of 1C. The coulombic efficiency remained above 99% within 100 cycles and the capacity retention rate reached 99.5%, which reveals an excellent cycling stability.

In our work, aptamers and hemin/G-quadruplex DNAzyme modified sandwich-rod graphene quantum dots @ graphene oxide @ carbon fiber composite (DNAzyme/L-Apt/GQDs@GO@CF) was successfully prepared for sensitive and selective chemiluminescence (CL) detection of lysozyme (LZM). Initially, GQDs@GO@CF was successfully prepared and characterized. Lysozyme aptamers (L-Apt) as a recognition element and hemin/G-quadruplex DNAzyme (DNAzyme) as a catalyst of luminal - H2O2 were modified on the surface of GQDs@GO@CF, sequentially. The immobilization properties of GQDs@GO@CF to L-Apt and the adsorption properties of L-Apt/GQDs@GO@CF to DNAzyme were also researched, respectively. Then, the modified sandwich-rod carbon fiber composite was applied to the construction of CL biosensor for LZM detection. When LZM existed, DNAzyme would be released from the surface of L-Apt/GQDs@GO@CF and catalyzed the reaction of luminal - H2O2. Under optimized conditions, the CL biosensor for LZM detection showed wide linear range of 2.64 × 10−10 to 6.6 × 10−8 g/L and low detection limit of 1.25 × 10–11 g/L (3δ). Finally, the CL biosensor was successfully used for LZM detection in human urine samples and illustrated the potential application in pratical samples.

The effects of microstructure on the magnetic and dielectric properties of Mg0.6Cd0.4Co0.05Fe1.95O4 spinel ferrites with the addition of 2.5 wt% Bi2O3 are investigated mainly for high frequency applications. The measurement results reveal that composites processed via low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) technology at different sintering temperatures (900 °C, 920 °C, 930 °C, and 940 °C) possess excellent equivalent permeability (μ′) and permittivity (e′) (at 940 °C, μ′≈e′≈25), over a long frequency range from 1 to 100 MHz. The results also indicate that densification sintering results in ultra low dielectric loss tanδe and magnetic loss tanδμ (tanδe≈0.003, tanδμ≈0.035). In addition, the samples present enhanced magnetic properties, such as high saturation magnetization (approximately 37.94 emu/g) and appropriate coercivity (approximately 60.5 Oe) at 940 °C. This research presents the prospect of wide application of Mg Cd ferrites in high frequency applications.

In this work, target-responsive DNA hydrogel with high loading and good biocompatibility was used to construct chemiluminescent biosensor for specific detection of adenosine. Acrydite-modified adenosine aptamer (Acry-A-Apt), acrydite-modified single-strand DNA (Acry-ssDNA) and hemin aptamer (H-Apt) were used to prepared the DNA hydrogel, and the three single-strand DNA were partially complementary to each other. Thus, the DNA hydrogel only dissolved when adenosine and hemin were present simultaneously. HKUST-1 is a Cu-based MOFs with peroxidase-like activity. Au NPs were coated into cavities of HKUST-1 to obtain Au@HKUST-1, and the Au@HKUST-1 had a stronger peroxidase-like activity than HKUST-1. Au@HKUST-1 was coated in the DNA hydrogel. When only hemin was present, hemin bound to the H-Apt to form the G-quadruplex/hemin and the DNA hydrogel remained in the gel state. Therefore, the G-quadruplex/hemin was formed in the hydrogel and the excess hemin can be removed, avoiding background signal interference. Adenosine was then added and the preferential interaction between adenosine and adenosine aptamer resulted in complete dissolution of the DNA hydrogel. Subsequently, G-quadruplex/hemin and Au@HKUST-1 were released simultaneously, enabling dual signal amplification of chemiluminescent biosensor, yielding a “signal on” readout. As a result, the biosensor could quantify adenosine from 4 × 10−13 – 1.5 × 10-10 mol/L with a detection limit as low as 1.04 × 10−13 mol/L. The DNA hydrogel system provides a simple, sensitive and biocompatible method for the detection of adenosine which is useful in the field of biotechnology.

There is an upper limited temperature of about 1200 °C for yttrium oxide partially stabilized zirconia coatings. With the increasing temperature of inlet gas (>1200 °C), new thermal barrier coatings are urgently needed to replace traditional yttrium oxide partially stabilized zirconia. Ti4+ ion doping has been recognized as an effective method to achieve this. In this work, a novel ceramic coating with low thermal conductivity at 1600 °C is synthesized, and the microstructure, chemical components, phase structures are analyzed. The thermal diffusivity and thermal conductivity of the as-sprayed coatings initially exhibited low values up to 1600 °C. The mechanism of low thermal conductivity is analyzed. The oxygen vacancies effectively reduce thermal conductivity, which can be proved by the ablation experiment (at 1600 °C). The effect of lattice defects caused by differences in the masses and radii of Ti4+ and Zr4+ ions on the phonon scattering coefficient is analyzed quantitatively. These results indicate that this coating is a promising candidate for thermal barrier coatings at high temperatures.

In 2013–2014, we carried out a case-control study in Shanghai, China and collected dust samples from 453 children's beddings (pillow and mattress). Here we investigated associations of bed dust mites (Der p 1 and Der f 1) with childhood health outcomes. These dust mites were analyzed by enzyme-linked immune-sorbent assay (ELISA). The child's health outcomes were reported by parents. Der f 1 concentration among cases were significantly higher than controls for current rhinitis and eczema, but Der p 1 concentration among cases were significantly lower than controls for lifetime-ever croup and asthma. In the multivariate logistic regression analyses, Der p 1 (increment: 0.98 μg/g) and Der f 1 (0.28 μg/g) were associated with the increased odds of dry cough (Der p 1: adjusted odds ratio (AOR), 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.48, 1.01–2.17, p-value: 0.047; Der f 1: 1.52, 1.09–2.12, 0.013) and rhinitis (Der p 1: 1.44, 1.05–1.97, 0.025; Der f 1: 1.25, 0.98–1.60, 0.078). Der f 1 (increment: 0.28 μg/g) had significant associations with the decreased odd of lifetime-ever asthma (OR, 95%CI: 0.75, 0.58–0.97). Significantly higher proportions of families with habits for frequently bed-cleaning were found among cases than among controls according to the most studied illnesses. Our results indicate that exposure to bed dust Der p 1 and Der f 1 could be risk factors for childhood allergic symptoms. Avoidance behaviors with respect to household dust mites among families with case children perhaps mask the real associations of these dust mites with childhood health outcomes in the retrospective case-control study.

Toolface control is an important issue when drilling directional wells with steerable motors. In this paper, a new experimental apparatus has been built to study the toolface behavior while slide drilling. In experiments, weight on bit and toolface orientation during the simulated slide drilling are recorded and analyzed. Experimental results indicate that axial stick-slip motion of the drillstring that occurs in the presence of large friction causes toolface disorientation. In addition, the phenomenon of toolface hysteresis in horizontal wells is identified. The asymmetric loading and unloading rates of weight on bit result in toolface hysteresis, and toolface hysteresis worsens toolface disorientation. A new method of correcting toolface by quickly eliminating toolface hysteresis is proposed. Four torque-related parameters are used in the method, and each has a specific implication. The proposed method has been examined using the experimental apparatus and has been proven to work. The experimental results and related analysis in this paper can help to further improve the efficiency of toolface control during slide drilling.

Although a number of cost-e ective strategies have been proposed for the chemotherapy of HIV infection, the termination level of viral load and latent reservoir is barely considered. However, the viral load at the termination time is an important biomarker because suppressing viral load to below the detection limit is a major objective of current antiretroviral therapy. The pool size of latently infected cells at the termination time may also play a critical role in predicting a rapid viral rebound to the pretreatment level or post-treatment control. In this work, we formulate an optimal control problem by incorporating the termination level in terms of viral load, latently and productively infected T cells into an existing HIV model. The necessary condition for this optimal system is derived using the Pontryagin's maximum principle. Numerical analysis is carried out using Runge-Kutta 4 method for the forward-backward sweep. Our results suggest that introducing the termination viral load into the control provides a better strategy in HIV chemotherapy.

Tungsten trioxide (WO3) nanoplates (NPs) were modified on fluorine-doped SnO2 transparent conductive glass (FTO) electrodes by the wet chemical route, and oriented titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoprickles were tightly and uniformly synthesized on the surface of WO3 by the chemical bath deposition (CBD) method to obtain the WO3/TiO2 composite. Thereafter, Ag2O nanoparticles were formed on the surface of the WO3/TiO2 composite by an in situ growth method. With glutathione (GSH) as the electron donor and visible-light excitation, the WO3/TiO2/Ag2O composite exhibited a worthwhile photoelectric signal, reaching about 56 μA. Therefore, the label-free PEC sensor was successfully prepared for the supersensitive detection of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1). When the concentration of AFB1 was within 0.005–0.4 ng mL−1, the photocurrents showed a linear downward trend with a detection limit of 1.67 pg mL−1. Moreover, AFB1 was satisfactory in the selectivity tests involving zearalenone (ZEN), vomitoxin (DON), and ochratoxin A (OTA). Furthermore, the PEC sensor exhibited the characteristics of stability and good reproducibility, which has broad application prospects in the detection of other toxic small molecules as well as in the preparation of a photoelectric material.

A rock physics model was established to calculate the P-wave velocity dispersion and attenuation caused by the squirt flow of fluids in gas hydrate-bearing sediments. The critical hydrate saturation parameter was introduced to describe different ways of hydrate concentration, including the mode of pore filling and the co-existence mode of pore filling and particle cementation. Rock physical modeling results indicate that the P-wave velocity is insensitive to the increase in gas hydrate saturation for the mode of pore filling, while it increases rapidly with increasing gas hydrate saturation for the co-existence mode of pore filling and particle cementation. Meanwhile, seismic modeling results show that both the PP and mode-converted PS reflections are insensitive to the gas hydrate saturation that is lower than the critical value, while they tend to change obviously for the hydrate saturation that is higher than the critical value. These can be interpreted that only when gas hydrate begins to be part of solid matrix at high gas hydrate saturation, it represents observable impact on elastic properties of the gas hydrate-bearing sediments. Synthetic seismograms are calculated for a 2D heterogeneous model where the gas hydrate saturation varies vertically and layer thickness of the gas hydrate-bearing sediment varies laterally. Modeling results show that larger thickness of the gas hydrate-bearing layer generally corresponds to stronger reflection amplitudes from the bottom simulating reflector.

Tensor-specialized hardware for supporting low-precision arithmetic has become an inevitable trend due to the ever-increasing demand on computational capability and energy efficiency in intelligent applications. The main challenge faced when accelerating a tensor program on tensor-specialized hardware is how to achieve the best performance possible in reduced precision by fully utilizing its computational resources while keeping the precision loss in a controlled manner. In this paper, we address this challenge by proposing QUANTENSOR, a new approach for accelerating general-purpose tensor programs by replacing its tensor computations with low-precision quantized tensor computations on NVIDIA Tensor Cores. The key novelty is a new residual-based precision refinement technique for controlling the quantization errors, allowing tradeoffs between performance and precision to be made. Evaluation with GEMM, deep neural networks, and linear algebra applications shows that QUANTENSOR can achieve remarkable performance improvements while reducing the precision loss incurred significantly at acceptable overheads.

In this paper, deterministic and stochastic models are proposed to study the transmission dynamics of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Wuhan, China. The deterministic model is formulated by a system of ordinary differential equations (ODEs) that is built upon the classical SEIR framework. The stochastic model is formulated by a continuous-time Markov chain (CTMC) that is derived based on the ODE model with constant parameters. The nonlinear CTMC model is approximated by a multitype branching process to obtain an analytical estimate for the probability of a disease outbreak. The local and global dynamics of the disease are analyzed by using the deterministic model with constant parameters, and the result indicates that the basic reproduction number $ \mathcal{R}_0 $ serves as a sharp disease threshold: the disease dies out if $ \mathcal{R}_0\le 1 $ and persists if $ \mathcal{R}_0 > 1 $. In contrast to the deterministic dynamics, the stochastic dynamics indicate that the disease may not persist when $ \mathcal{R}_0 > 1 $. Parameter estimation and validation are performed to fit our ODE model to the public reported data. Our result indicates that both the exposed and infected classes play an important role in shaping the epidemic dynamics of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China. In addition, numerical simulations indicate that a second wave of the ongoing pandemic is likely to occur if the prevention and control strategies are not implemented properly.

A connectivity graph of neurons at the resolution of single synapses provides scientists with a tool for understanding the nervous system in health and disease. Recent advances in automatic image segmentation and synapse prediction in electron microscopy (EM) datasets of the brain have made reconstructions of neurons possible at the nanometer scale. However, automatic segmentation sometimes struggles to segment large neurons correctly, requiring human effort to proofread its output. General proofreading involves inspecting large volumes to correct segmentation errors at the pixel level, a visually intensive and time-consuming process. This paper presents the design and implementation of an analytics framework that streamlines proofreading, focusing on connectivity-related errors. We accomplish this with automated likely-error detection and synapse clustering that drives the proofreading effort with highly interactive 3D visualizations. In particular, our strategy centers on proofreading the local circuit of a single cell to ensure a basic level of completeness. We demonstrate our framework's utility with a user study and report quantitative and subjective feedback from our users. Overall, users find the framework more efficient for proofreading, understanding evolving graphs, and sharing error correction strategies., Comment: This paper has been accepted for publication and presentation at the 23rd EG Conference on Visualization (EuroVis 2021)

A microfluidic chip integrated with a microelectrode and a cathodic photoelectrochemical (PEC) biosensor for the ultrasensitive detection of non-small cell lung cancer cytokeratin fragments based on a signal amplification strategy was designed. The mechanism for signal amplification is developed based on the p-n junction of AgI/Bi2Ga4O9, with dissolved O2 as an electron acceptor to produce the superoxide anion radical (˙O2-) as the working microelectrode. By combining this with a novel superoxide-dismutase-loaded honeycomb manganese oxide nanostructure (SOD@hMnO2) as the co-catalyst signal amplification label, ˙O2- can be catalyzed by SOD via a disproportionation reaction to produce O2 and H2O2; then, hMnO2 is able to trigger the decomposition of H2O2 to generate O2 and H2O. Therefore, the increased O2 promotes the separation of electron-hole pairs via consuming more electrons, leading to an effective enhancement of the cathodic PEC behavior. Under optimum conditions, with the cytokeratin 19 fragments 21-1 (CYFRA 21-1) as the targeted detection objects, the microfluidic cathodic PEC biosensor chip exhibited excellent linearity from 0.1 pg mL-1 to 100 ng mL-1, with a detection limit of 0.026 pg mL-1 (S/N = 3). The exciting thing that this work offers is a new strategy for the detection of other important cancer biomarkers for disease diagnosis and prognosis.

The concentration of dissolved oxygen is an important water quality parameter in aquaculture. In order to accurately grasp its tendency, we proposed a prediction model, namely ICG-RBF, a RBF neural network model based on improved conjugate gradient method. The model optimizes the search direction and learning rate of conjugate gradient method. We propose a hybrid conjugate gradient method which combining FR method and PRP method to optimize the search direction. And at the same time, we improve the “reward-punish” strategy to optimize the learning rate. Compared with traditional RBF neural network model, the simulation results of the ICG-RBF model has fewer iterations, faster convergence rate and higher accuracy.

Although there is abundant evidence that online consumer ratings have significant impacts on firms’ pricing strategies, it is unclear how such impacts are influenced by the degree of product customization. This paper sets up a two-period dynamic model to analyze a firm’s pricing strategies and the changes in its profitability when it sells products with different customization degrees (i.e., niche, neutral or mainstream). Consumers are uninformed of the product value. However, the first-period consumers generate online consumer ratings after their consumptions, and such ratings enable the second-period consumers to better understand the product value and thus to improve their purchasing decisions. Our results show that, in anticipation of the impacts of online consumer reviews, the firm should adjust its pricing strategy according to the customization degree of its product. In particular, for neutral products, the firm should lower its expected price in the second period comparing to its first period price, but for niche and mainstream products, the pricing adjustments over periods depend on the product value.

A nanocomposite consisting of CeO2 nanoparticle-decorated MnO2 nanospheres (CeO2@MnO2) was synthesized for the first time via a hydrothermal method. CeO2@MnO2 was exploited to construct an electrochemical assays for detecting H2O2 and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) with square wave voltammetry (SWV). The electrochemical results proved that CeO2@MnO2 owned a better electrocatalytic effect towards H2O2 reduction than pure MnO2 NS and CeO2 NP due to the synergistic effect between MnO2 NS and CeO2 NP. Under optimized conditions, CeO2@MnO2-based assay can be applied to detect H2O2 in the range 1 to 3.0 × 103 μmol L−1. The label-free electrochemical immunoassay based on CeO2@MnO2 displayed linearly with concentrations of PSA from 0.005 to 50.0 ng mL−1. The electrochemical assays also possessed acceptable sensitivity, selectivity, and stability. The study showed that CeO2@MnO2 hold great potential as a biosensing platform and the clinical determination of tumor markers in human serum.