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Animal manure used to be the major source of additional nutrients and crucial for maintaining soil fertility and crop yield in traditional farming systems. However, it is increasingly not recycled, wasting vital resources and damaging the environment. By using long-term (1986–2017) data from a rural household survey (>20,000 households) across China, here we show that the share of rural households with both crop planting and livestock raising (CPLR) has sharply declined from 71% in 1986 to only 12% in 2017. Compared with households with only crop planting, the CPLR households apply less synthetic fertilizer and more manure per cropland area. However, manure production in one-third of CPLR households has exceeded the nutrient requirement of crop growth on their croplands. Rebuilding the links between livestock and croplands at a regional scale thus provides vital opportunities for the sustainable intensification of agriculture in China. Recycling nutrient-rich manure helped fertilize traditional farms. This study finds a near 60% drop in the share of rural Chinese households raising livestock and planting crops, a link worth rebuilding regionally to intensify agriculture sustainably.

With the increasing improvement of people's living standards, hyperglycemia has become one of the most frequent diseases in the world. The current drug therapy may have some negative effects and even cause some complications. As one of the most popular functional ingredients, probiotic bacteria have been proven to play important roles in balancing the glucose homeostasis level in animal and human clinic trials. In this perspective, we sorted three types of probiotics, discussed probiotic safety evaluation, and listed the known probiotic functional foods that assist to control glucose homeostasis. Then, the further summarization of the mechanisms on how probiotic bacteria could regulate glucose homeostasis and the developing trend of probiotic functional foods were discussed.

We propose a spinning nonlinear resonator as an experimentally accessible platform to achieve nonreciprocal control of optical solitons. Nonreciprocity here results from the relativistic Sagnac-Fizeau optical drag effect, which is different for pump fields propagating in the spinning direction or in the direction opposite to it. We show that in a spinning Kerr resonator, different soliton states appear for the input fields in different directions. These nonreciprocal solitons are more stable against losses induced by inter-modal coupling between clockwise and counterclockwise modes of the resonator. Our work builds a bridge between nonreciprocal physics and soliton science, providing a promising route towards achieving soliton-wave optical isolators and one-way soliton communications., Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures Accepted by Physical Review A

Automatic modulation classification (AMC) is an essential and meaningful technology in the development of cognitive radio. It can judge the modulation mode according to the signal acquired by the receiver. In recent years, the deep learning (DL) method has been used to take the place of modulation signal recognition based on decision theory and pattern recognition, which has achieved very effective results. The development of the neural network classification model focuses on architectural engineering. Discovering state-of-the-art neural network architectures requires substantial prior knowledge and effort of human experts. Neural architecture search (NAS) can be viewed as a subdomain of automatic machine learning (AutoML), which uses a neural network to automatically adjust the structures and parameters to obtain a network that researchers need by following search strategies that maximize performance. In this paper, we propose a differentiable architecture search (DARTS) based AMC method. In addition, we also consider six other methods, including convolutional neural network (CNN), simple recurrent unit (SRU), a convolutional-recurrent neural network (CRFN-CSS), Residual Networks (ResNet), Inception Modules (Inception) and MobileNet. Simulation results show that the proposed method can achieve the optimal classification accuracy at low parameters and floating-point operations (FLOPs) without manual architecture engineering.

Innovations in food manufacturing support the agenda for sustainable development goal 9 (SDG9) on industry, innovation and infrastructure. Pursuant to this goal, this study aims to develop an automated multi-spit lamb rotisserie machine that potentially improves the lamb-roasting productivity for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The conceptualisation involved patents, scholarly literature and product reviews of lamb-roasting devices. The design and analysis are performed using Autodesk Inventor 2019. A scaled-down prototype is developed and tested with (1) roasting output, (2) roasting time and (3) temperature stability tests. The data for test (1) are analysed by comparing the means between control and experimental groups. The data for tests (2) and (3) are analysed using the t-test and Mann–Whitney U test, respectively. Significant differences are observed in tests (1) and (2), with outcomes being in favour of the proposed invention. The prototype cooks 92.27% faster with 700% more meat than a regular lamb roaster. It also cooks at a stable temperature. The cost analysis indicated that this invention could be sold at USD 278 if mass-produced. The design is structurally simple, inexpensive and easy to manufacture, allowing SMEs that rely on traditional spit-based machines to enhance their ability in producing roast lamb.

We propose how to realize nonreciprocity for a weak input optical field via nonlinearity and synthetic magnetism. We show that the photons transmitting from a linear cavity to a nonlinear cavity (i.e., an asymmetric nonlinear optical molecule) exhibit nonreciprocal photon blockade but no clear nonreciprocal transmission. Both nonreciprocal transmission and nonreciprocal photon blockade can be observed, when one or two auxiliary modes are coupled to the asymmetric nonlinear optical molecule to generate an artificial magnetic field. Similar method can be used to create and manipulate nonreciprocal transmission and nonreciprocal photon blockade for photons bi-directionally transport in a symmetric nonlinear optical molecule. Additionally, a photon circulator with nonreciprocal photon blockade is designed based on nonlinearity and synthetic magnetism. The combination of nonlinearity and synthetic magnetism provides us an effective way towards the realization of quantum nonreciprocal devices, e.g., nonreciprocal single-photon sources and single-photon diodes., 11 pages, 9 figures

With the development of society and the improvement of consumer’s living standards, healthy, safe, and high-quality foods are preferred. As an emerging technology in food industry, food physical processing has attracted significant attention in recent years. This chapter introduces the current status of various food physical processing technologies—such as high hydrostatic pressure, irradiation, microwave, ultrasound, pulsed electric field and cold plasma—in some countries and regions like the United States of America (USA), Europe, and China. The last 10-year data relating to physical food processing technology has been collected from scientific research, research platforms, and industrial support and analyzed to evaluate the development and innovation in food physical processing technologies around the world, and specifically in China. This is expected to help the reader to understand the present advances and future trends of typical food physical processing technologies.

We propose a three-mode optomechanical system to realize optical nonreciprocal transmission with unidirectional amplification, where the system consists of two coupled cavities and one mechanical resonator which interacts with only one of the cavities. Additionally, the optical gain is introduced into the optomechanical cavity. It is found that for a strong optical input, the optical transmission coefficient can be greatly amplified in a particular direction and suppressed in the opposite direction. The expressions of the optimal transmission coefficient and the corresponding isolation ratio are given analytically. Our results pave a way to design high-quality nonreciprocal devices based on optomechanical systems.

We propose how to achieve quantum nonreciprocity via unconventional photon blockade (UPB) in a compound device consisting of an optical harmonic resonator and a spinning optomechanical resonator. We show that, even with an extremely weak single-photon nonlinearity, nonreciprocal UPB can emerge in this system, i.e., strong photon antibunching can emerge only by driving the device from one side, but not from the other side. This nonreciprocity results from the Fizeau drag, leading to different splitting of the resonance frequencies for the counter-circulating modes. Such nonreciprocal quantum UPB devices can be particularly useful in achieving e.g., few-photon diodes or circulators, and quantum chiral photonic engineering., Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures, accepted by Photonics Research

This chapter provides an introduction to interdisciplinary food physical processing as well as applications of food processing in research and industry production, and the effects of food physical processing on food quality. This chapter introduces the main research work on food physical processing by Professor Haile Ma’s team from Jiangsu University; this includes ultrasonic-assisted enzymatic hydrolysis of protein, ultrasonic-assisted fermentation, ultrasonic-assisted extraction, ultrasonic cleaning of food, ultrasonic degradation of polysaccharides, ultrasonic-assisted transesterification of triglycerides, ultrasonic-assisted osmotic dehydration of vegetables, ultrasonic-assisted aging of vinegar, magnetism-assisted fermentation, infrared blanching and dehydration of fruit and vegetables, combined Laser and UV irradiation breeding of microorganism, and pulsed light processing of food.

We investigated the effects of a dual-frequency frequency-sweeping ultrasound (DFFSU) treatment on the functional properties and structure of zein. The solubility of ultrasound-treated zein proteins increased slightly but significantly as the treatment time increased. The results showed that the DFFSU treatment had an obvious influence on the mean particle size and the size distribution. A significant (P < 0.05) increase in the size of the particles with respect to time was observed after a sonication time of more than 20 min in zein solutions. Differential scanning calorimetry results showed that sonication alters the thermal behavior of zein. Circular dichroism spectra showed a small increase in the percentage of ordered structure elements within the protein molecule. After 60 min of ultrasonication, the percentage of α-helix structures increased by 0.9%, whereas the percentage of β-sheets and β-turns decreased by 0.5%. Microstructural analyses by scanning electron microscopy showed that several microho...

We propose to create optical nonreciprocity in a three-mode optomechanical system comprising one mechanical and two optical modes, where the mechanical mode is coupled with only one of the optical modes. The optical nonreciprocal response of the system is based on the nonlinearity induced by the optomechanical interaction. However, nonlinearity is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for observing nonreciprocity. Another necessary condition for nonreciprocal response of the system to a classical driving field is demonstrated analytically. The effects of the parameters on the nonreciprocal response of the system are discussed numerically. The three-mode optomechanical system provides a platform to realize nonreciprocity for strong optical signal fields., Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures

We propose to construct a nonreciprocal single-photon frequency converter via multiple semi-infinite coupled-resonator waveguides (CRWs). We first demonstrate that the frequency of a single photon can be converted nonreciprocally through two CRWs, which are coupled indirectly by optomechanical interactions with two nondegenerate mechanical modes. Based on such nonreciprocity, two different single-photon circulators are proposed in the T-shaped waveguides consisting of three semi-infinite CRWs, which are coupled in pairwise by optomechanical interactions. One circulator is proposed by using two nondegenerate mechanical modes and the other one is proposed by using three nondegenerate mechanical modes. Nonreciprocal single-photon frequency conversion is induced by breaking the time-reversal symmetry, and the optimal conditions for nonreciprocal frequency conversion are obtained. These proposals can be used to realize nonreciprocal frequency conversion of single photons in any two distinctive waveguides with different frequencies and they can allow for dynamic control of the direction of frequency conversion by tuning the phases of external driving lasers, which may have versatile applications in hybrid quantum networks., 13 pages, 10 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1703.03969

Diabetes is becoming a more and more serious health challenge worldwide with the yearly rising prevalence, especially in developing countries. The vast majority of diabetes are type 2 diabetes, which has been indicated that about 80% of type 2 diabetes complications can be prevented or delayed by timely detection. In this paper, we propose an ensemble model to precisely diagnose the diabetic on a large-scale and imbalance dataset. The dataset used in our work covers millions of people from one province in China from 2009 to 2015, which is highly skew. Results on the real-world dataset prove that our method is promising for diabetes diagnosis with a high sensitivity, F3 and G --- mean, i.e, 91.00%, 58.24%, 86.69%, respectively.

As a new social networking media, Micro-blog is recognized by more and more people gradually, the orientation analysis of Micro-blog short text messages has become a hotspot in the field of data mining. At present, the research of Micro-blog orientation analysis mainly concentrate in the text, without considering the impact of other emotional factors. By analyzing and studying Sina Micro-blog, this paper added new words and emoticons in the basis of traditional emotional dictionary to construct special Micro-blog dictionary. Meanwhile, it analyzed rhetoric and sentence to improve the effect of orientation analysis. The experimental results showed that the method in Micro-blog orientation analysis obtained better performance.

For awareness of the network situation, this paper proposes a set of indicators that can assess the importance of nodes and links combining with network topology and traffic information, their generating algorithm is given at the same time. Under the premise of determined network routing protocols, this algorithm is capable of assessing the importance of nodes and links based on the structure and operation state of network. In this way, it can show the special property of the unit position in the network, and can reflect the impact to each part due to the network state change so that network administrators can manage network reasonably.

A face recognition method on mobile terminals based on manifold learning was proposed. Firstly, the modified Snake model was set in order to improve the accuracy and effectiveness of facial feature point labeling. Then, the partial mapping method was carried out to map the face images to a subspace for further analysis. Finally, the nearest neighbor classifier was enhanced to show the recognition results. The experimental results indicate that the performance of this method is excellent. It is boasts a higher accuracy rate and bigger robustness than the ordinary methods.

Background and Objectives Spinal metastasis with epidural encroachment is regarded by several authors to be a contraindication to percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP) because of the risk of increasing symptomatic leakage of cement. This analysis aims to evaluate the safety and efficacy of PVP in patients with painful spinal metastasis and encroachment of epidural space. Methods A retrospective study was conducted to review 43 consecutive patients with spinal metastasis that underwent PVP, for a total of 69 affected levels. All patients had at least 1 level associated with epidural encroachment related to metastasis. Among these patients, 14 had signs of spinal cord or cauda equina compression. Pain intensity was scored on a visual-analog scale (VAS). The analgesic efficacy was defined as at least 50% improvement in pain score as compared with the pre-procedure baseline and post-procedure. Clinical improvement of neurological compressive symptoms was defined as a decrease in ASIA impairment scale from baseline of 1 point or more. Results The analgesic efficacy was achieved in 89.7% of survival patients at 1 month, 87.5% at 3 months, 86.9% at 6 months, and 84.6% at 1 year. Small amount cement leakages were detected in 69.6% of treated levels without clinical complications. No deterioration of spinal cord or cauda equina compression symptoms was observed after a PVP in any patients. The different grade of epidural encroachment of the lesions was not correlated with filling volume or extraosseous leakage (P > 0.05). The treated levels with epidural encroachment showed a statistically significant relationship to spinal-canal leakage (P

It is an innovative design method in physics that product layout design is abstracted into convex hull plus rubber band simulation layout mode by setting up the optimized model. Based on the physics model of Newtons Second Law, this paper analyzed collision detection methods during the process of realizing reasonable layout, and it is founded that real-time collision detection and collision response during movement, produced components within the given beat, appeared to be the key content of resolving digital model design. In this paper, Area Difference method was adopted to detect when the collision occurred during component movement and what kind of state the component tended to be in collision. At the same time, it also determined the interference degree, solved critical point pose for collision response as well as its generation time and related torque and force, which can confirm the components continued movement model of rotation and sliding. Meanwhile, it employed the Judgment Matrix method to analyze collision response so as to confirm the collision interference relationship and collision action state, movement possessing mode (rotation, sliding and retraction, etc.) within the remaining time after collision with given beat during the layout process. All these provided with a practical solution for digital design of optimized model based on convex hull plus rubber band simulation compact layout.

Background: Associations between long-term exposure to ambient particulate matter (PM) and cardiovascular (CVD) mortality have been widely recognized. However, health effects of long-term exposure to constituents of PM on total CVD mortality have been explored in a single study only. Aims: The aim of this study was to examine the association of PM composition with cardiovascular mortality. Methods: We used data from 19 European ongoing cohorts within the framework of the ESCAPE (European Study of Cohorts for Air Pollution Effects) and TRANSPHORM (Transport related Air Pollution and Health impacts — Integrated Methodologies for Assessing Particulate Matter) projects. Residential annual average exposure to elemental constituents within particle matter smaller than 2.5 and 10 μm (PM2.5 and PM10) was estimated using Land Use Regression models. Eight elements representing major sources were selected a priori (copper, iron, potassium, nickel, sulfur, silicon, vanadium and zinc). Cohort-specific analyses were conducted using Cox proportional hazards models with a standardized protocol. Random-effects meta-analysis was used to calculate combined effect estimates. Results: The total population consisted of 322,291 participants, with 9545 CVD deaths. We found no statistically significant associations between any of the elemental constituents in PM2.5 or PM10 and CVD mortality in the pooled analysis. Most of the hazard ratios (HRs) were close to unity, e.g. for PM10 Fe the combined HR was 0.96 (0.84–1.09). Elevated combined HRs were found for PM2.5 Si (1.17, 95% CI: 0.93–1.47), and S in PM2.5 (1.08, 95% CI: 0.95–1.22) and PM10 (1.09, 95% CI: 0.90–1.32). Conclusion: In a joint analysis of 19 European cohorts, we found no statistically significant association between long-term exposure to 8 elemental constituents of particles and total cardiovascular mortality. Keywords: Long-term exposure, Particulate matter, Constituents, Cardiovascular mortality, ESCAPE, TRANSPHORM

To illustrate the effect of treatment with cementoplasty in patients with painful bone metastases in the extraspinal region. A retrospective study was conducted to review 51 consecutive patients who underwent cementoplasty under CT or fluoroscopic guidance, a total of 65 lesions involving the ilium, ischium, pubis, acetabulum, humeral, femur and tibia. In 5 patients with a high risk of impending fracture in long bones based on Mirels’ scoring system, an innovative technique using a cement-filled catheter was applied. The clinical effects were evaluated using the visual analogue scale (VAS) preoperatively and postoperatively. All patients were treated successfully with a satisfying resolution of painful symptoms at 3 months’ follow-up. Cement leakage was found in 8 lesions without any symptoms. VAS scores decreased from 8.19 ± 1.1 preoperatively to 4.94 ± 1.6 at 3 days, 3.41 ± 2.1 at 1 month and 3.02 ± 1.9 at 3 months postoperatively. There was a significant difference between the mean preoperative baseline score and the mean score at all of the postoperative follow-up points (P

In the Zongzi manufacturing industry, the traditional Zongzi piecework way not only consumes huge manpower, but also has low efficiency, and prone to error. In this paper, Zongzi piecework system is designed, PLC is adopted as the control center, piecework subsystem and sampling subsystem are developed to implement Zongzi high-speed count and sampling control of multiple production lines in the same time. Practical application shows that the system can greatly improve the speed and precision of Zongzi piecework.

In the process of erotic image detection, a kind of beach images is often error detected. To solve this problem, a detection model of beach image is designed, which divides the image into two parts to detect: the blue sky in the upper portion and the beach in the lower part. At the same time, a beach naked body detection model is designed to deal with the beach images with naked body, in which OpenCV is used to detect face and naked body. The experimental results show that the proposed method can detect beach image accurately, effectively reduce the error rate of normal image.

Slicing jamming is a kind of un-continuous jamming formed based on dense repeater jamming principle. For the strongly slicing jamming received from antenna sidelobe, sidelobe blanking technique does not work while sidelobe cancellation is commonly used to suppress continuous wave jamming. General sampling method in radar resting period occurred sidelobe canceling failure, so it was crucial to choose an appropriate location of sampling window for jamming sampling. This new sampling method by comparing the correlation coefficients between the main channel and auxiliary channels in two-dimensional digital array radar succeed to get jamming samples, then adaptive cancellation weights can be calculated by sample matrix inversion. First slicing jamming model was established, then calculated correlation coefficients to choose appropriate location of sampling window for jamming sampling and make use of the adaptive sidelobe cancellation to suppress slicing jamming. Finally the simulation results showed that it can effectively reduce the jamming power after cancellation and obtain a better jamming cancellation ratio.

Nowadays, most wireless devices are well suited for the fast evolving technology of Software-Defined Radios, which is a radio technology that most wireless signal processing components are implemented digitally in software. This paper presents a low cost, portable, and flexible frequency hopping signal record and playback system based on a general purpose software radio front end, the Universal Serial Radio Peripheral (USRP) family of devices. We paired the newest USRP-X310 mother board with the UBX-40 daughter controlled by a personal computer. Theoretically, the implemented system has the ability to record and play back hopping frequency signals up to 6GHz hopping bandwidth with transcendental hopping map knowledge and under 500H/s hopping rate. Essential testing results are provided to validate the effectiveness of our designed system. Also, some limitations and advance plan for the future use of the devised system are discussed.

To evaluate effects of vertebroplasty on restoration of vertebral body height and wedge angle and relief from pain in patients with osteoporotic compression fractures.A retrospective study of 156 patients (232 levels) who had undergone vertebroplasty was conducted. Treated vertebrae with cleft included 49 patients (49 levels) and that without cleft 107 patients (183 levels). Effects on restoration of vertebral body height and wedge angle, and pain scores between pre- and post-procedure were statistically analyzed by using a paired-sample t test, and Kruskal Wallis test.The height and wedge angle of the fractured vertebral body, and pain score, improved significantly after vertebroplasty. On a vertebra-by-vertebra analysis, the vertebral body height and wedge angle in the cleft group, were statistically significantly better post-procedure (P 0.01); in the non-cleft group, there was nosignificant improved (P 0.05). Pain relief was not statistically significant different between the two groups (P 0.05).Most patients experienced pain relief after vertebroplasty. After vertebroplasty, the height and wedge angle were significantly improved in the cleft group (p 0.01), with no significant improvement in the non-cleft group (p 0.05). Key Points • Vertebra with cleft is attributed to improvement of the spinal deformity • Vertebra without cleft was not associated with improvement of the spinal deformity • Vertebroplasty is an effective treatment strategy for osteoporotic compression fractures.

The general behavior of micron-particles in the inner domain of porous ceramic vessel was simulated by computational fluid dynamics software in terms of sampling experimental data. The results show that there is an optimum porosity of 0.32 to get a higher efficiency and lower pressure drop during filtration. According to the results of simulation and experiment, it is evident that lower inlet velocity can maintain lower pressure drop and obtain higher collection efficiency and inlet concentration also has a crucial influence on the collection efficiency. The collection efficiency of equipment increases significantly with the increase of inlet concentration when the inlet concentration is less than 6.3 g/m 3 , but it gradually tends to be stable in the range of 97.3%-99.7% when the inlet concentration is over this concentration.

In order to obtain the desired mechanical properties of connecting bar after quenching and tempering, and reduce the cracking tendency and distortion, a program of controllable quenching was established. Furthermore, a computer-aided quenching (CAQ) system was developed. The applications show satisfactory results.

The absorption–dispersion spectra of a six-level atom embedded in double-band photonic crystals are investigated. It is shown that if there is no defect mode in the photonic band gap, there are three types of transparency windows appear in the absorption–dispersion spectra. If a defect mode is introduced into the photonic band gap, we found some additional transparency windows in the absorption–dispersion spectra. One type of them appears as long as the defect mode exists, but the others appear only when the quantum interference occurs. The transparency windows can be changed by varying the parameters of the defect mode.

Knitted fabric reinforcements gain interest in the composite industry for their excellent drapability, impact resistance and net-shape manufacturability. However, little attention has been given to the fabrication damages on high-performance yarns during the knitting process, which were proved to be of strong influence on the final composite performance. In this paper, investigations were carried out on the knittability of glass yarn. By simplifying the knitting process into separate yarn-needle hook systems, designed experiments were carried out to evaluate the yarn-breaking process under tensile, bending and abrasive actions. Acoustic emission (AE) technology was used during the above tests to represent the fiber-breakage history. Together with the SEM photos and theoretical analysis, the reasons for glass filament breakage at low yarn tension were found to be the compound results of the bending stress and shear stress generated by contact stress concentration.

Water and air are commonly used quench media with very different quenching powers; further, they are environmentally friendly and of very low cost. Theoretically, alternate quenching by water and a...

We study the tunable photonic distribution in an optical molecule consisting of two linearly coupled single-mode cavities. With the inter-cavity coupling and two driving fields, the energy levels of the optical-molecule system form a closed cyclic energy-level diagram, and the phase difference between the driving fields serves as a sensitive controller on the dynamics of the system. Due to the quantum interference effect, we can realize a partially dark optical molecule, where the steady-state mean photon number in one of the cavities achieves zero even under the external driving. And the dark cavity can be changed from one of the cavities to the other by only adjusting the phase difference. Furthermore, we show that when one of the cavities couples with an atomic ensemble, it will be dark under the same condition as that without atoms, but the condition for the other cavity to be dark is modified., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, comments are welcomed

To compare the efficacy of percutaneous long bone cementoplasty (PLBC) with and without embedding a cement-filled catheter in the medullary canal (ECFC) for painful long bone metastases with impending fracture. A retrospective study was conducted in 36 consecutive patients undergoing PLBC and ECFC combination (n = 17, group A) or PLBC alone (n = 19, group B). All patients had a high risk of impending fracture in the long bone based on Mirels’ scoring system. Clinical effects were evaluated using both a pre- and a postoperative visual analogue scale (VAS) and Karnofsky performance scale (KPS). Overall pain relief rate with excellent (VAS 0–2) and good (VAS 2.5–4.5) results during follow-up was significantly higher in group A than in group B (88.2 % vs. 57.9 %, P

We investigate the properties of the optical output fields from a cavity optomechanical system, where the cavity is driven by a strong coupling and a weak probe optical fields and the mechanical resonator is driven by a coherent mechanical pump. When the frequency of the mechanical pump matches the frequency difference between the coupling and probe optical fields, due to the interference between the different optical components at the same frequency, we demonstrate that the large positive or negative group delay of the output field at the frequency of probe field can be achieved and tuned by adjusting the phase and amplitude of the mechanical driving field. Moreover, the strength of the output field at the frequency of optical four-wave-mixing (FWM) field also can be controlled (enhanced and suppressed) by tuning the phase and amplitude of the mechanical pump. We show that the power of the output field at the frequency of the optical FWM field can be suppressed to zero or enhanced so much that it can be comparable with and even larger than the power of the input probe optical field., 7 pages, 9 figures. Comments are welcome!

We demonstrate the possibility of optical nonreciprocal response in a three-mode optomechanical system where one mechanical mode is optomechanically coupled to two linearly coupled optical modes simultaneously. The optical nonreciprocal behavior is induced by the phase difference between the two optomechanical coupling rates which breaks the time-reversal symmetry of the three-mode optomechanical system. Moreover, the three-mode optomechanical system can also be used as a three-port circulator for two optical and one mechanical modes, which we refer to as optomechanical circulator., 8 pages, 7 figures

Objective * These authors contributed equally to this work. At present, they work at the Hezhou People’s Hospital, Hezhou, China. To retrospectively compare differences in the prevalence of hypertension and associated risk factors between the Chinese Jing and Mulao populations. Methods Subjects of Jing and Mulao ethnicities were surveyed using stratified randomized sampling. Demography, diet and lifestyle data were collected using standardized questionnaires. Several anthropometric parameters, blood pressure (BP) levels and serum lipid concentrations were obtained. Results Data from 915 Jing and 911 Mulao subjects aged ≥35 years were included. Diastolic BP levels and prevalence of hypertension were lower, but prevalence of isolated systolic hypertension was higher, in the Jing compared with the Mulao population. Prevalence of hypertension in the age 60–69 years, body mass index (BMI) > 24 kg/m2, and smoker subgroups was lower in the Jing compared with the Mulao populations. Prevalence of hypertension correlated with age, cigarette smoking, triglyceride level, waist circumference, sodium intake and total dietary fibre in the Jing population; hypertension prevalence also correlated with age, triglyceride level, BMI, total fat, sodium intake and total dietary fibre in the Mulao population (unconditional logistic regression analyses). Conclusions Prevalence of hypertension and associated risk factors were different between the two ethnic minorities, which might result from the combined effects of differences in their geographic, dietary, lifestyle, and genetic backgrounds.

In this paper, an experimental and numerical study on the energy absorption characteristics due to the low-velocity impact of the composites reinforced by the multiaxial warp knitted (MWK) structures with double loop pillar stitch and common tricot stitch are presented. The influences of the MWK structural parameters on the impact behavior and energy absorption properties are discussed. A good agreement between the experimental results and simulation is obtained.

In this paper, we proposed to observe a phonon blockade in multimode optomechanical system. The multimode optomechanical system is consisting of one mechanical mode driven by a weakly mechanical field and two optical modes driven by two optical fields (a weak one and a strong one). Under the interaction of the strong optical driving field, the multimode optomechanical system can be reduced to a much simple model for a mechanical mode linearly coupled to an optical mode with Kerr nonlinearity. Our calculations show that strong phonon antibunching effects can be observed even with weak optomechanical coupling. This counter-intuitive phenomenon, i.e., unconventional phonon blockade, results from the destructive interference between different paths for two-phonon excitation and the optimal conditions for unconventional phonon blockade are obtained analytically. Moreover, the statistical properties of the phonons can be controlled by regulating the strength ratio and the relative phase between the weakly driving fields, and this provides us an effective way to realize tunable single-phonon sources. Finally, we show that the thermal phonons have a detrimental impact on the unconventional phonon blockade and a proper increase of the strengths of the weakly driving fields can be helpful to overcome the detrimental impact induced by the thermal phonons.

We propose to demonstrate nonreciprocal conversion between microwave and optical photons in an electro-optomechanical system where a microwave mode and an optical mode are coupled indirectly via two non-degenerate mechanical modes. The nonreciprocal conversion is obtained in the broken time-reversal symmetry regime, where the conversion of photons from one frequency to the other is enhanced for constructive quantum interference while the conversion in the reversal direction is suppressed due to destructive quantum interference. It is interesting that the nonreciprocal response between the microwave and optical modes in the electro-optomechanical system appears at two different frequencies with opposite directions. The proposal can be used to realize nonreciprocal conversion between photons of any two distinctive modes with different frequencies. Moreover, the electro-optomechanical system can also be used to construct a three-port circulator for three optical modes with distinctively different frequencies by adding an auxiliary optical mode coupled to one of the mechanical modes., Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures

The mechanical properties of AISI 4140 steel shaft with a diameter larger than 200 mm are difficult to meet the requirements and cracking occurs easily in water quenching, due to insufficient cooling ability of oil quenching. A new technology, named alternately timed quenching (ATQ), using water and air in turn as quenching media instead of oil or polymer aqueous solution, is applied to quench the large-scale AISI 4140 steel shaft. Two ATQ processes are determined with the aid of computer simulation first and the corresponding experiments are carried out consequently. The results show that the proposed technology can significantly reduce the surface cracking tendency and improve the mechanical properties in practical production of such large-scale shaft forgings.

Background: Air pollution has been associated with cardiovascular mortality, but it remains unclear as to whether specific pollutants are related to specific cardiovascular causes of death. Within the multicenter European Study of Cohorts for Air Pollution Effects (ESCAPE), we investigated the associations of long-term exposure to several air pollutants with all cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality, as well as with specific cardiovascular causes of death. Methods: Data from 22 European cohort studies were used. Using a standardized protocol, study area-specific air pollution exposure at the residential address was characterized as annual average concentrations of the following: nitrogen oxides (NO2 and NOx); particles with diameters of less than 2.5 [mu]m (PM2.5), less than 10 [mu]m (PM10), and 10 [mu]m to 2.5 [mu]m (PMcoarse); PM2.5 absorbance estimated by land-use regression models; and traffic indicators. We applied cohort-specific Cox proportional hazards models using a standardized protocol. Random-effects meta-analysis was used to obtain pooled effect estimates. Results: The total study population consisted of 367,383 participants, with 9994 deaths from CVD (including 4,992 from ischemic heart disease, 2264 from myocardial infarction, and 2484 from cerebrovascular disease). All hazard ratios were approximately 1.0, except for particle mass and cerebrovascular disease mortality; for PM2.5, the hazard ratio was 1.21 (95% confidence interval = 0.87-1.69) per 5 [mu]g/m3 and for PM10, 1.22 (0.91-1.63) per 10 [mu]g/m3. Conclusion: In a joint analysis of data from 22 European cohorts, most hazard ratios for the association of air pollutants with mortality from overall CVD and with specific CVDs were approximately 1.0, with the exception of particulate mass and cerebrovascular disease mortality for which there was suggestive evidence for an association.

Background: Long-term exposure to air pollution has been hypothesized to elevate arterial blood pressure (BP). The existing evidence is scarce and country specific. Objectives: We investigated the cross-sectional association of long-term traffic-related air pollution with BP and prevalent hypertension in European populations. Methods: We analyzed 15 population-based cohorts, participating in the European Study of Cohorts for Air Pollution Effects (ESCAPE). We modeled residential exposure to particulate matter and nitrogen oxides with land use regression using a uniform protocol. We assessed traffic exposure with traffic indicator variables. We analyzed systolic and diastolic BP in participants medicated and nonmedicated with BP-lowering medication (BPLM) separately, adjusting for personal and area-level risk factors and environmental noise. Prevalent hypertension was defined as ≥ 140 mmHg systolic BP, or ≥ 90 mmHg diastolic BP, or intake of BPLM. We combined cohort-specific results using random-effects meta-analysis. Results: In the main meta-analysis of 113,926 participants, traffic load on major roads within 100 m of the residence was associated with increased systolic and diastolic BP in nonmedicated participants [0.35 mmHg (95% CI: 0.02, 0.68) and 0.22 mmHg (95% CI: 0.04, 0.40) per 4,000,000 vehicles × m/day, respectively]. The estimated odds ratio (OR) for prevalent hypertension was 1.05 (95% CI: 0.99, 1.11) per 4,000,000 vehicles × m/day. Modeled air pollutants and BP were not clearly associated. Conclusions: In this first comprehensive meta-analysis of European population-based cohorts, we observed a weak positive association of high residential traffic exposure with BP in nonmedicated participants, and an elevated OR for prevalent hypertension. The relationship of modeled air pollutants with BP was inconsistent. Citation: Fuks KB, Weinmayr G, Foraster M, Dratva J, Hampel R, Houthuijs D, Oftedal B, Oudin A, Panasevich S, Penell J, Sommar JN, Sørensen M, Tittanen P, Wolf K, Xun WW, Aguilera I, Basagaña X, Beelen R, Bots ML, Brunekreef B, Bueno-de-Mesquita HB, Caracciolo B, Cirach M, de Faire U, de Nazelle A, Eeftens M, Elosua R, Erbel R, Forsberg B, Fratiglioni L, Gaspoz JM, Hilding A, Jula A, Korek M, Krämer U, Künzli N, Lanki T, Leander K, Magnusson PK, Marrugat J, Nieuwenhuijsen MJ, Östenson CG, Pedersen NL, Pershagen G, Phuleria HC, Probst-Hensch NM, Raaschou-Nielsen O, Schaffner E, Schikowski T, Schindler C, Schwarze PE, Søgaard AJ, Sugiri D, Swart WJ, Tsai MY, Turunen AW, Vineis P, Peters A, Hoffmann B. 2014. Arterial blood pressure and long-term exposure to traffic-related air pollution: an analysis in the European Study of Cohorts for Air Pollution Effects (ESCAPE). Environ Health Perspect 122:896–905; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1307725

We study the photon statistics of symmetric and antisymmetric modes in a photonic molecule consisting of two linearly coupled nonlinear cavity modes. Our calculations show that strong photon antibunching of both symmetric and antisymmetric modes can be obtained even when the nonlinearity in the photonic molecule is weak. The strong antibunching effect results from the destructive interference between different paths for two-photon excitation. Moreover, we find that the optimal frequency detunings for strong photon antibunching in the symmetric and antisymmetric modes are linearly dependent on the coupling strength between the cavity modes in the photonic molecule. This implies that the photonic molecules can be used to generate tunable single-photon sources by tuning the values of the coupling strength between the cavity modes with weak nonlinearity., Comment: 6 pages, 8 figures

Background and aimsFew studies on long-term exposure to air pollution and mortality and lung cancer incidence have been reported from Europe. Within the multi-center European Study of Cohorts for Air Pollution Effects (ESCAPE) we investigated the association between mortality and lung cancer incidence, and long-term exposure to multiple air pollutants. MethodsData from 16-22 European cohort studies were used. Residential exposure was assessed following a strictly standardized protocol as annual average concentrations of particles less than 2.5µm (PM2.5), less than 10µm (PM10), and between 10µm and 2.5µm (PMcoarse), PM2.5 absorbance, and nitrogen oxides (NO2 and NOx) using Land Use Regression (LUR) models. Cohort-specific statistical analyses using confounder models with increasing level of adjustment were conducted using Cox proportional hazards models using a common protocol. Random-effects meta-analysis was used to obtain pooled effect estimates.Results The total study population consisted of ~300,000 p...

The purpose of this study is to identify risk factors related to the development of subsequent fractures after vertebroplasty. A retrospective study was conducted to review 175 patients with a 1-year follow-up who underwent vertebroplasty for first-time and single-level osteoporotic vertebral fractures. Subsequent fractures were diagnosed as recurrent intractable back pain, post-operatively correlated with MR image. Clinical parameters, such as age, gender, baseline VAS-score, lumbar bone mineral density (BMD) T-score, history of use of steroids, bisphosphonate therapy, symptom-free interval, the amount of bone cement injected, vacuum clefts, leakage of cement into the disk space, treated level and the changes of spinal geometry were recorded. During the follow-up period, subsequent fractures developed in 37 (21.1 %) of 175 patients. Significant differences (P