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Microarray chip is a highly sensitive and high-throughput genetic detection technology based on the principle of complementary pairing of nucleic acid sequence bases and using polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and its chip structure and material have a great impact on the detection. Therefore, a new type of PCR chip is designed. The large multi-physical field simulation software Comsol is used to simulate the coupling of thermodynamics and structural mechanics of the designed chip. Finite element simulation is used to experimentally optimize the chip material selection in practice, find the composite material (cyclic olefin copolymer (COC)) that has the least effect on signal processing and does not require polar treatment of the chip substrate, and design the optimal chip structure. Three kinds of standard chips (internal reference, negative and positive) were prepared by using FAM fluorescent probe. Positive luminescent spots were randomly labeled for detection. This detection is used to evaluate the value of practical application of this chip. The results show that the maximum deformation displacement of the chip is 0.6 mm at 4–100℃, which is instantaneously irradiated by a 1 KW radiation light source, and the transmittance of the model calculated by the penetrated radiation power is 83.7%. In practical application, several materials are irradiated with excitation light to detect their excitation effect, and COC has the smallest excitation effect and the lowest background signal value. A chip containing 203 microarray spots was prepared according to the above conclusions, and the detection results were 100% consistent.

Modified Huangqi Chifeng decoction (MHCD) has been used to reduce proteinuria in immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN) for many years. Previously, we have demonstrated its protective role in glomerular mesangial cells. Podocyte injury, another key factor associated with proteinuria in IgAN, has also attracted increasing attention. However, whether MHCD can reduce proteinuria by protecting podocytes remains unclear. The present study aimed to investigate the protective effects of MHCD against podocyte injury in a rat model of IgAN. To establish the IgAN model, rats were administered bovine serum albumin, carbon tetrachloride, and lipopolysaccharide. MHCD in three doses or telmisartan was administered once daily for 8 weeks (n = 10 rats/group). Rats with IgAN developed proteinuria at week 6, which worsened over time until drug intervention. After drug intervention, MHCD reduced proteinuria and had no effect on liver and kidney function. Furthermore, MHCD alleviated renal pathological lesions, hyperplasia of mesangial cells, mesangial matrix expansion, and podocyte foot process fusion. Western blot analysis revealed that MHCD increased the expression of the podocyte-associated proteins nephrin and podocalyxin. Additionally, we stained podocyte nuclei with an antibody for Wilms’ tumor protein one and found that MHCD increased the podocyte number in rats with IgAN. In conclusion, these results demonstrate that MHCD attenuates proteinuria by reducing podocyte injury.

Land subsidence is the ground surface response to underground space development, utilization and evolution. Presently, land subsidence has developed into a global, comprehensive and interdisciplinary complex systems problem. More than half a century has passed since the discovery of subsidence in the Beijing Plain in the 1960s. In this study, we investigate the land subsidence in the Beijing Plain over the period of 2003–2015 using ENVISAT ASAR and RADARSAT-2 interferometric datasets and the small baseline subset interferometric synthetic aperture radar (SBAS-InSAR) technique. Furthermore, we introduced the data field model and index-based built-up index (IBI) to obtain the dynamic and static load information of the Beijing Plain. Then, based on a machine learning method, we selected the gradient lifting decision tree (GBDT) model to quantitatively analyze the contributions of groundwater level change, compressible deposit thickness and dynamic and static loads to land subsidence. The results showed that the maximum land subsidence rate was 122 and 141 mm/year in 2003–2010 and 2010–2015, respectively. Comparisons between the SBAS-InSAR results and leveling measurements showed that the minimum absolute error achieved was only 0.2 mm/year. We suggest that the groundwater exploitation in the third confined aquifer has greater impacts on land subsidence in the Beijing Plain than the other factors. The land subsidence likely occurred in compressible deposit thicknesses exceeding 90 m. Moreover, we found that the compressible thickness and groundwater level contributions to land subsidence exceeded 60%. Our results provide a scientific basis for the regulation and control of regional land subsidence.

Orthotic bracing and minimally invasive surgery are currently the treatment methods for pectus carinatum. We present our experience with the advantages, method selection criteria, and precautions for both treatment methods. A total of 767 pediatric patients (596 boys and 171 girls) with pectus carinatum were retrospectively analyzed. All of them received orthotic bracing, and 108 pediatric patients received minimally invasive surgery, achieving good outcomes. Among the 767 pediatric patients, 644 obtained satisfactory chest appearance through orthotic bracing, with a success rate of 84.0%. Younger pediatric patients had better orthotic outcomes. Among the 123 failure cases, 108 pediatric patients underwent minimally invasive surgery as the treatment. Seventy-six pediatric patients with simple chondrogladiolar prominence underwent a minimally invasive sternal depression procedure, whereas 32 pediatric patients with complex chondromanubrial prominence underwent surgery. All 108 pediatric patients successfully completed the surgery. The operation time was 112.8 ± 23.5 min, and the average length of hospital stay after the surgery was 7 days. A follow-up was conducted for at least 3 months and up to 3 years. The orthotic effect was satisfactory. For younger pediatric patients with pectus carinatum, noninvasive orthotic bracing treatment should be considered first. For older pediatric patients, the failure rate of the bracing was higher, and the outcomes were often unsatisfactory. Especially for patients over 15 years old, minimally invasive sternal depression may be the preferred treatment for pectus carinatum.

In order to ensure the detection accuracy of laser-induced fluorescence detection, the micro droplet digital PCR material was required to have weak autofluorescence. The autofluorescence characteristic of micro droplet digital PCR chip was studied in this paper. Firstly, the chip was designed according to the principle of micro droplet digital PCR. Cycloolefin copolymers (COP) and cycloolefin polymers (COP) in organic polymers were selected as the materials of the chip because of their excellent biological characteristics. The laser induced fluorescence device was build. The excitation laser wavelength were FAM (Emission band:522nm, Excitation band:470nm) and HEX (Emission band:553nm, Excitation band:530nm) respectively. The fluorescence image of chip under different exposure time and different band was extracted by COMS camera. And read the fluorescence value through the computer software ImageJ. The glass plate was used as the reference for autofluorescence measurement of chip. From the test results, COC chip showed a good autofluorescence property compared with COP chip, which has lower autofluorescence value under laser excitation. Therefore, for the quantitative detection of trace nucleic acid, the high fluorescent background noise of COP chip will increase the threshold of negative positive discrimination which cloud lead to discrimination error and influence the requirements of detection accuracy. The research results provide a basis for the selection of high-precision micro droplet digital PCR chip materials.

Changes in lipid metabolism affect numerous cellular processes that are relevant to cancer biology, including cell proliferation, death, differentiation and motility. In the phosphatidylcholine biosynthesis pathway, the conversion of lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC) to phosphatidylcholine is catalyzed by cytosolic enzymes of the LPC acyltransferase (LPCAT) family. A number of studies have demonstrated that LPCAT1 overexpression is a frequent event in diverse human cancer types, and that it is associated with unfavorable pathological characteristics and patient survival. The aim of the present study was to explore the prognostic role of the expression of LPCAT family members in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Using Cox regression analysis, only LPCAT1 expression was identified as an independent prognostic biomarker in AML. In a cohort from The Cancer Genome Atlas, Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed that patients with AML and higher expression levels of LPCAT1 had shorter overall survival (OS) and leukemia-free survival (LFS) times compared with those with lower expression levels of LPCAT1. This was further confirmed using an independent cohort from the Gene Expression Omnibus. Using a third cohort comprising patients with AML and healthy volunteers, it was confirmed that LPCAT1 expression was significantly increased in newly diagnosed AML cases compared with healthy controls. Moreover, higher expression of LPCAT1 was associated with French-American-British subtype-M4/M5 and nucleophosmin 1 mutations. Notably, patients who underwent hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) following induction therapy exhibited significantly longer OS and LFS times compared with patients who only received chemotherapy after induction therapy in the higher LPCAT1 expression group, whereas no significant differences in OS and LFS times were observed between the HSCT and chemotherapy groups among total cases of AML in the lower LPCAT1 expression group. These results suggest that patients with AML who exhibit higher LPCAT1 expression levels may benefit from HSCT. Collectively, the findings of the present study indicate that LPCAT1 expression may serve as an independent prognostic biomarker that can guide the choice between HSCT and chemotherapy in patients with AML.

Deep learning methods provide an effective tool for processing massive data obtained in data-driven machine health monitoring because of their powerful feature self-learning ability from raw data. As one of popular deep networks, the convolutional neural networks (CNNs) show successful applications in various fields. However, a full CNN with a large amount of parameters suffers from the problem of long latency and high memory cost and a much smaller network can achieve similar generalization ability. In this paper, the network pruning based on the Taylor expansion criterion is introduced to process bearing vibration data and then conduct intelligent fault diagnosis. Experimental data collected from different bearings are used to access the efficiency and accuracies of the original and pruned networks. The results demonstrate that the network pruning on large pretrained CNN can keep a balance between the classification accuracy and compact structure and can be further extended to applications of online condition monitoring and intelligent fault diagnosis of bearings.

Background Percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) is a safe and efficient treatment for intro-renal diseases, most of which are calculus disease. In this study, we carried out percutaneous endoscopic nephron-sparing ablation for renal carcinoma in carefully selected patients. Our aim was to evaluate whether percutaneous endoscopic nephron-sparing operation was feasible for patients with renal cell carcinoma.Methods A total of 15 patients with renal pelvis carcinoma were treated with laser evaporation under percutaneous endoscopy between January 2015 and September 2019 ( group I ). Another 13 patients who received standard radical nephroureterectomy were recruited as the control group (group II). We recorded demographic data of the patients, the indication for surgery, tumor pathological grade, size and side of tumor, and the intraoperative and postoperative outcome, including the duration of surgery, length of hospital stay, and complication rate, as well as progression-free survival (PFS).Results In both groups, all of the patients received flexible ureteroscopy. In group I, 14 patients had transitional renal cell carcinoma (UCC), four had pathological grade I, nine had grade II, and one had hemangiopericytoma. In group II, all patients had UCC, five had pathological grade I, and eight had grade II. In group I, the mean operation time was 118 min (65–236 min), the mean blood loss was 110 ml (55–220 ml), and the mean hospital stay was 9 days (7–12 days). During follow-up, two patients died and two had recurrence; among them, one had systematic bone metastasis. The PFS rate was 66.7% (10/15). In group II, the mean operation time was 265 min (185–436 min), the mean blood loss was 133 ml (85–240 ml), and the mean hospital stay was 13 days (9–16 days). During the follow-up, two patients died and there was no local or systematic metastasis. The PFS rate was 84.6% (11/13). There was no significant difference in blood loss between the groups. However, the operation time and mean hospital stay were significantly shorter in group I compared with that in group II ( P

The energetic alignment of band edges at the interface plays a central role in determining the properties and applications of two-dimensional (2D) van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures. Generally, three conventional heterojunction types (type-I, type-II, and type-III) have widely been investigated and used in diverse fields. Unconventional band alignments (type-IV, type-V, and type-VI) are, however, hitherto unreported in the vdW heterostructures. We find that 2D binary semiconductors composed of group IV–V elements manifest a similar electronic structure, offering in principle the possibility of designing heterostructures with novel band alignments due to the hybridization of band-edge states. We first show here that a 2D SiAs/GeP heterostructure exhibits a type-VI band alignment, which is induced by the interlayer pz orbital hybridization, and a transition of band alignment from type-VI to type-V occurs when strain or electric field is applied over a critical value. The unconventional band alignments and their transition natures enable broad application of these vdW heterostructures in special opto-electronic devices and energy conversion.

A hierarchical energy management control strategy was proposed to realize the global optimal energy management for a group of four-wheel-drive hybrid electric vehicles (4WD HEVs) in connected vehicle environment. The higher level controller utilized signal phase and timing (SPAT) for the evaluation of the target velocities and optimal target velocity prediction objective function model was established based on model predictive control (MPC). The lower level controller adopted dynamic programming (DP) for the energy management of the vehicles. dSPACE-based simulation results validate that the higher level controller can avoid the 4WD HEVs from red light stopping and avoid collisions of the vehicles. Compared with the Gipps car following model, the fuel economy is increased by 21.4%, 21.5% and 20.6% when the lower level controller is based on DP, ECMS and the rule-based strategy, respectively. In addition, the DP-based lower level controller can achieve good velocity tracking and SOC balance. Compared with ECMS and rule-based control strategies, the average fuel economy for the group of 4WD HEVs with DP-based strategy is improved by 7.8% and 15.9% , respectively.

Since the 21st century, the natural runoff from the headwater region of the Yellow River has generally been decreasing, resulting in a particularly prominent contradiction in utilization of water resources. In this study, key components were identified from the perspective of water-energy-food (WEF) nexus, and a WEF nexus model was established for the Upper Yellow River Basin (UYRB), taking into consideration the benefits of water supply to the middle and lower reaches of Yellow River, food growth in major food-producing areas in the UYRB and hydropower utilization of the UYR reservoir system. The Multi-start Solver of LINGO and the e constraint method were used to carry out multi-objective optimization, revealing the trade-off between the WEF benefits. 1) The model computed the Pareto non-inferior set of solutions for the electricity generated by the UYR reservoir system and the degree to which the water demands of the main intake areas (Ningxia and Inner Mongolia irrigated areas, and Toudaoguai section) are satisfied, quantifying the improvement room for the overall benefits brought about by the jointly optimal operation of the WEF sectors. 2) The historical operation of Longyangxia Reservoir, a multi-year storage reservoir, was evaluated, the results of which show that the realization of the WEF benefits is determined by the proper operation of Longyangxia Reservoir. To guarantee the overall benefits in the long term, Longyangxia Reservoir should maintain a high water level. 3) The trade-offs between the WEF benefits under different boundary conditions were discussed, including various initial/final fore-bay water levels of Longyangxia Reservoir and inflows of various total water amounts from the headwater region of the UYRB. The research reveals the WEF nexus in the UYRB under different scenarios, and moreover, the formulated multi-objective optimization model is a good example that can be extended to other similar WEF nexus systems worldwide.

Two-dimensional (2D) materials with semiconducting properties have attracted increasing research interest, but those having metallic character are not conducive to the application in nanodevices. As a novel metal-free 2D material, phosphorus carbide (PC) monolayer is greatly hampered to be useful in various fields by its metallic character. Herein, we propose effective strategies —— functionalizing, applying strain or constructing heterostructure —— to tune the electronic properties of PC from a monolayer to various lateral heterostructures. Using first-principles calculations, we report that hydrogenating/fluorinating at P (HPC/FPC) or C (PCH/PCF) atoms, or hydroxylating at P (HO-PC) atoms of PC monolayer results into a transition from metal to semiconductor. To further realize the evolution of electronic properties, three lateral heterostructures (LHS) (i.e., HPC-PCH, HPC-FPC, and HPC-HO-PC) are constructed by stitching two functionalized PC monolayers together. It is found that the electronic properties of HPC-PCH LHS depend on the size of heterostructure, and the band gap decreases with the width of LHS increasing. When stitching HPC with FPC or HO-PC, the semiconductor character retains and quasi-type II band alignment is observed in HPC-FPC, and zero-band offset type in HPC-HOPC at interface. Moreover, the electronic properties of LHSs can be modulated by applying strain: the band gap increases as applying 2% tensile, then decreases as applied tensile further increases; and transition between direct and indirect band gap is found as tensile increases, which all can be understood by the change of wave function distribution corresponding to high symmetry point in the first Brillouin zone. Tunability of electronic properties indicates that functionalized PC monolayer is a potential candidate for electronic, photovoltaic and photo response nanodevices.

The hydropower system in the Upper Yellow River (UYR), one of the largest hydropower bases in China, plays a vital role in the energy structure of the Qinghai Power Grid. Due to management difficulties, there is still considerable room for improvement in the joint operation of this system. This paper presents a general LINGO-based integrated framework to study the operation of the UYR hydropower system. The framework is easy to use for operators with little experience in mathematical modeling, takes full advantage of LINGO's capabilities (such as its solving capacity and multi-threading ability), and packs its three layers (the user layer, the coordination layer, and the base layer) together into an integrated solution that is robust and efficient and represents an effective tool for data/scenario management and analysis. The framework is general and can be easily transferred to other hydropower systems with minimal effort, and it can be extended as the base layer is enriched. The multi-objective model that represents the trade-off between power quantity (i.e., maximum energy production) and power reliability (i.e., firm output) of hydropower operation has been formulated. With equivalent transformations, the optimization problem can be solved by the nonlinear programming (NLP) solvers embedded in the LINGO software, such as the General Solver, the Multi-start Solver, and the Global Solver. Both simulation and optimization are performed to verify the model's accuracy and to evaluate the operation of the UYR hydropower system. A total of 13 hydropower plants currently in operation are involved, including two pivotal storage reservoirs on the Yellow River, which are the Longyangxia Reservoir and the Liujiaxia Reservoir. Historical hydrological data from multiple years (2000-2010) are provided as input to the model for analysis. The results are as follows. 1) Assuming that the reservoirs are all in operation (in fact, some reservoirs were not operational or did not collect all of the relevant data during the study period), the energy production is estimated as 267.7, 357.5, and 358.3×108 KWh for the Qinghai Power Grid during dry, normal, and wet years, respectively. 2) Assuming that the hydropower system is operated jointly, the firm output can reach 3110 MW (reliability of 100%) and 3510 MW (reliability of 90%). Moreover, a decrease in energy production from the Longyangxia Reservoir can bring about a very large increase in firm output from the hydropower system. 3) The maximum energy production can reach 297.7, 363.9, and 411.4×108 KWh during dry, normal, and wet years, respectively. The trade-off curve between maximum energy production and firm output is also provided for reference.

Dietary supplementation of glucomannan has been shown to have multiple health benefits, but its effect on life span has not been investigated. Here, we show that glucomannan hydrolysate (GMH) treatment extends mean life span of the model organism Drosophila melanogaster. To unravel the underlying mechanisms, we first examined the effect of GMH on the gut microbiota. We found that GMH treatment is associated with an elevated bacterial load in aged flies but overall has limited effects on the relative microbiota composition. We also demonstrated that GMH inhibits age-associated hyperproliferation of intestinal stem cells and thus delays the deterioration of gut integrity. Further analysis of the midgut transcriptome revealed that both EGFR/MAPK and JAK/STAT signaling pathways are suppressed in GMH groups. Multiple key regulators or effectors of EGFR/MAPK pathway, Ets21c, Mkp3, and Rho, are downregulated by GMH treatment. In the JAK/STAT pathway, major ligands (eg, Upd2 and Upd3) and negative feedback inhibitors (eg, Socs36e) are all significantly downregulated. Additionally, the expression of genes encoding antimicrobial peptides is elevated by GMH treatment. Taken together, our study shows that dietary supplementation of GMH can prolong life span, possibly through regulating gut proliferative homeostasis.

A pose balance method based on dual ultrasonic data fusion is proposed in order to solve problems such as huge computation and low real-time handling ability caused by over relying on the gyro and acceleration transducer in correcting the fast-changing deviation for the two-wheel-driven robot. The distances between the ultrasonic sensors and the ground are sampled in real time and the data fusion with filtering is carried out simultaneously. The balance state is adjusted rapidly while the two-wheel robot is moving. The validation of this method is proved by experiments.

With the implementation of mumps virus (MuV) vaccination in the expanded program on immunization (EPI) in mainland China since 2008, the incidence of mumps has decreased, and the natural epidemic pattern of mumps has slightly changed during 2013-2015. The two epidemic peaks (April-July and November-December) became less obvious than those observed from 2004 to 2012. Children and adolescents younger than 15, particularly in the five-to-nine-year-old age group, remain the target group and should be the focus of high-quality immunization activities in mainland China. However, it was also found that the incidence and reported cases of mumps decreased in each age group during 2013-2015, particularly in the five-to-nine-year-old and ten-to-fourteen-year-old age groups. The proportion of mumps cases among adults in some provinces also increased. Unlike the changes in the epidemiological characteristics of mumps affected by vaccination, the data of MuV virology surveillance indicated that most of the MuV transmission chains have not yet been effectively interrupted, and MuV remains a natural epidemic pattern in mainland China. In the MuV virology surveillance, 194 MuV strains during 2013-2015 were isolated from 10 of 31 provinces in mainland China. Based on the phylogenetic analysis of the small hydrophobic (SH) gene, both genotype F (99.0%) and G (1.0%) were identified, and genotype F was still the predominant genotype continuously circulating in mainland China. Representative genotype F and G strains isolated in China from 1995 to 2012 were selected for further analysis. The results indicated that there were multiple transmission chains within genotype F, with no obvious geographical or time differences. The high genetic diversity of genotype F strains could be a result of the continuous transmission and evolution of the MuV in mainland China. Genotype G was also detected in four provinces in mainland China. Because of the limited epidemiological data, it was uncertain whether the genotype G MuV strains found in 2011 and 2013 were imported from other countries. Therefore, combined high-quality epidemiological and virological surveillance is necessary for mumps control; it can also be used to observe the changes in epidemiological characteristics and viral transmission of mumps over time after mumps-containing vaccine (MuCV) implementation and to provide a comprehensive epidemiological and genetic baseline for mumps elimination in mainland China.

Ferroelectric materials have exhibited immense promise for the control of optoelectronic processes in emerging devices. However, the utilization of ferroelectric materials to directly modulate the energy band at the junction interface has rarely been investigated. Here, a ferroelectric V-doped ZnO nanosheets/p-Si heterojunction photodetector (VZnO/Si PD) has been prepared, and the effect of ferroelectricity on the photoresponse performance of the VZnO/Si PD is studied deeply. Due to the existence of aligned ferroelectric spontaneous polarization charges under applied electrical field, the junction interface energy band can be modulated directly and effectively, which greatly improves the generation, separation and transportation efficiency of photogenerated electron-hole pairs. In contrast with the non-ferroelectric ZnO/Si PD, the VZnO/Si PD has a large enhancement in photoresponse performance with a twelve-fold increase in the photoresponsivity (R) under +1 V bias, accompanied by fast response speed in a broad spectral range. Interestingly, even under the −1 V bias voltage, the reverse ferroelectric polarizations also can improve the photoresponse behavior. These results prove the feasibility of direct modulation on energy band structure at the junction interface by ferroelectricity, which provides a new perspective for energy band engineering.

A twenty-eight-year-old male patient with five-day’s fever (the highest body tempreture reached 39.4°C) and 10-hour’s rash (first on face) presented to the department of emergency for “drug rash”, at that time his temperature was 38.6°C. Two hours later, his temperature fell to normal. Then this patient’s entire body rash increased significantly and lasted for 13 hours. Serum measles antibody IgM(+) confirmed the measles diagnosis. He had received measles vaccine as a baby. Clinicians should be aware of this atypical clinical manifestation of adult measles. If this kind of patients were misdiagnosed as drug rash and given corticosteroid, measles disease may be aggravated. Specific serum measles antibody testing may be the only reliable method for differential diagnosis, but the earliest time point for examining the antibodies of measles still needs precise research.

The basic principles of IF/THEN rules in rough set theory are analyzed first, and then the automatic process of knowledge acquisition is given. The numerical data is qualitatively processed by the classification of membership functions and membership degrees to get the normative decision table. The regular method of relations and the reduction algorithm of attributes are studied. The reduced relations are presented by the multi-representvalue method and its algorithm is offered. The whole knowledge acquisition process has high degree of automation and the extracted knowledge is true and reliable.

In industry 4.0 society, the development of smart grid requires to realize the conversion of substation equipments from CDT protocol to IEC61850 protocol. CDT (Cyclic Digital Transmission) protocol provides the function, the frame structure, the information word structure and transfer rules in the grid data collection and monitoring system. In this paper, the CDT protocol that uses STM32 as the master chip is developed, in order to realize a high degree of automation in the grid scheduling and a stable and reliable communication. Some technologies and functions of STM32 such as DMA, USART, Timer, and so on are applied into the design. The results show that CDT protocol can be applied in the communication between STM32 and peripheral, and using the conversion board to implement the link of CDT and IEC61850 is feasible.

Doping is an effective strategy to tune the electronic properties of semiconductors, but some side effects caused by mono-doping degrade the specific performance of matrixes. As a model system to minimize photoproduced electron-hole pairs recombination by anion–cation co-doping, we investigate the electronic structures and optical properties of (Fe[Formula: see text]+[Formula: see text]N) co-doped Cu2O using the first-principles calculations. Compared to the case of mono-doping, the Fe[Formula: see text]N[Formula: see text] (a Fe (N) atom substituting a Cu (O) atom) co-doping reduces the energy cost of doping as a consequence of the charge compensation between the iron and nitrogen impurities, which eliminates the isolated levels (induced by mono-dopant) in the band gap. Interestingly, it is found that the contributions of different host atoms (Cu and O) away from anion (N) and cation (Fe) dopants to the variation of near band gap electronic structure of the co-doped Cu2O are different. Moreover, co-doping reduces the band gap and increases the visible-light absorption of Cu2O. Both band gap reduction and low recombination rate are critical elements for efficient light-to-current conversion in co-doped semiconductor photocatalysts. These findings raise the prospect of using co-doped Cu2O with specifically engineered electronic properties in a variety of solar applications.

Water system is the most active, most dynamic parts in the modern urban. With the intensification of urban water pollution and water demand increases, the modern urban water system planning play an active role in optimal allocation of water resources, promote a virtuous circle of water systems and cities' healthy development. In this paper, Xi'an International Port District as an example, introduced the basic situation of port areas, water features, on the basis of these researched the Port District water system planning, overall layout, water planning and water function zoning.

Taking advantage of the availability and reliability of currently available ordinary differential equation (ODE) software for efficient and accurate analysis of the optimum shape of a clamped column with given length and volume, maximum buckling loads are obtained. In this approach, the non-standard ODEs, which result from the single-mode and bimodal formulations of the clamped column in buckling with or without minimum cross-section constraints, are converted to an equivalent standard nonlinear ODE system by using a number of novel ODE techniques. The ODE system is then directly and efficiently solved by the robust ODE code COLSYS. The optimum longitudinal shape, the maximum buckling loads and the switching interface points are explicitly given as part of the solutions, with an accuracy which satisfies error tolerances pre-specified by the user.

Based on the theory of instantaneous frequency measurement, a method of demodulation for PCM/FM signal with Doppler frequency offset is presened. Firstly, through estimating Doppler frequency offset by instantaneous frequency measurement, the method corrects the frequency offset of PCM/FM signal and improves the precision of bit synchronization. Then, according to the relation between two adjacent points of bit synchronization, it realizes demodulation. The paper discusses the basic principle and the implementation of the method, analyses some factors that can affect the precision of instantaneous frequency measurement and the effect of Doppler frequency offset on demodulation, and proposes methods to improve the precision of instantaneous frequency measurement and the performance of demodulation. The results of computer simulation show that the method with a bright future for application is good at anti-jamming, better than other methods of demodulation and convenient to be realized by software and DSP.

The proportion of senile people tends to increase in the global population. The cognitive impairment in the three dimensional (3D) space is usually associated with senile dementia. This paper presents a computer-aid tool developed to evaluate and train the cognitive ability in the 3D space by using the virtual reality technique. Once the norm is developed, this tool can assist the physiotherapist to evaluate the patients’ 3D cognitive function in a more objective and efficient way. The viability of 3D cognitive training will be evaluated among the normal subjects prior to clinical trials.

A three-dimensional finite element computer program is presented for the prediction of crack initiation and growth (especially stable crack growth). The program is based on element-oriented crack modeling and uses a standard eight-noded isoparametric solid element and a self-adjusted stress redistribution logic. A center cracked panel is studied using the present program. The numerical results obtained using this three-dimensional program are found to be close to the computational results of Miller et al . ( Comput. Struct . 7 , 315–326) using a two-dimensional plane stress program.

The ability to strongly absorb light is central to solar energy conversion. We demonstrate here that the hybrid of monolayer ZrS2 and double-ring tubular B20 cluster exhibits dramatically enhanced light absorption in the entire visible spectrum. The unique near-gap electronic structure and large built-in potential at the interface will lead to the robust separation of photoexcited charge carriers in the hybrid. Interestingly, some Zr and S atoms, which are catalytically inert in isolated monolayer ZrS2, turn into catalytic active sites. The dramatically enhanced absorption in the entire visible light makes the ZrS2/B20 hybrid having great applications in photocatalysis or photodetection.