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In this paper, we examine sparse array quiescent beamforming for multiple sources in interference-free environment. To maximize the output signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), the beamformer design comprises two intertwined stages, the determination of beamforming weights and the reconfiguration of array structure. The SNR maximization may produce high sidelobe levels, making the receiver vulnerable to interferences. We consider the problem of achieving maximum SNR beamforming subject to specified quiescent pattern constraints and, as such, combine both adaptive and deterministic approaches for sparse array configurations. We employ two convex relaxation methods and an iterative linear fractional programming algorithm to solve the nonconvex antenna selection problem for sparse array beamformers. Simulation examples demonstrate that the array configuration plays a vital role in determining the beamforming performance in interference-free scenarios.

In this paper, a fault-tolerant control scheme is proposed for the rigid spacecraft attitude control system subject to external disturbances, multiple system uncertainties, and actuator faults. The angular velocity measurement is unavailable, which increases the complexity of the problem. An observer is first designed based on the super-twisting sliding mode method, which can provide accurate estimates of the angular velocity in finite time. Then, an adaptive fault-tolerant controller is proposed based on neural networks using the information from the observer. It is shown that the attitude orientations converge to the desired values exponentially. Finally, a simulation example is utilized to verify the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.

A highly flexible and stretchable strain sensor has been prepared by coating chemical reduction of graphene oxide on electrospun polyurethane nanofiber mats. The sensor exhibits an ohmic behavior regardless of applied strains and the current monotonically increases with the increase of the tensile strain. The morphology and stability of electrospun polyurethane nanocomposite mats were also studied. The flexible and stretchable strain sensor has great potential for practical application such as efficient human-motion detection. This cheap and simple process of graphene layer provides an effective fabrication for graphene stretchable electronic devices and strain sensors due to excellent stability and electrical proper.

We found reversible photo/thermal isomerization of the α-cyanostilbenic derivative ( Z )-2-(4-aminophenyl)-3-(4-(dodecyloxy)phenyl)-acrylonitrile, ( Z )-CN-APHP, which is accompanied by a large decrease in compatibility when mixed with a nematic liquid crystal. Moreover, a novel optical switch using a CN-APHP doped liquid crystal that emits partially linearly polarized light is investigated. By controlling the trans–cis isomerization of CN-APHP, it is possibly to modulate not only photoluminescence intensity but also its polarization. This could open possibilities to design improved optical devices.

BACKGROUND Preeclampsia (PE) is a serious complication of pregnancy with no effective therapy. This study assessed whether epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) could reduce the production of anti-angiogenic factors, improve cell viability, and suppress endothelial dysfunction in vitro via regulating high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) in preeclampsia. MATERIAL AND METHODS Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) grown in conditioned medium from hypoxic JEG-3 cells were used to investigate the effects of EGCG on anti-angiogenic state, cell viability, and markers of endothelial dysfunction. To confirm that EGCG exerted its effects via HMGB1, we also examined the impact of EGCG on anti-angiogenic state, cell viability, and endothelial dysfunction following HMGB1 treatment in vitro. RESULTS EGCG inhibited HMGB1 expression in hypoxic trophoblast cells in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, EGCG relieved anti-angiogenic state and endothelial dysfunction in hypoxic trophoblast cells by downregulating HMGB1. Moreover, EGCG dose-dependently promoted cell proliferation by downregulating HMGB1. CONCLUSIONS Taken together, our data show the protective role of EGCG in preeclampsia and revealed EGCG-mediated effects on the production of anti-angiogenic factors, cell viability, and endothelial dysfunction through downregulating HMGB1. These observations suggest that EGCG is a novel therapeutic candidate for preeclampsia.

The surface polarity of nanocrystalline ZnO film, a typical electron transport material in optoelectronics, is chemically modified using self-assembled monolayer (SAM) of phenethyl trichlorosilane (PETS). The surface treatment is proved to generate a hydrophobic surface by removing the hydroxyl groups on the oxide layer, which reduces the emission quenching of the subsequent CsPbBr3 quantum dot film. In addition, the surface polarity was engineered with varying PETS concentration, thereby contribute to an increased photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) by up to 50%. Meanwhile, the thermal stability of photoluminescence was enhanced showing a wide-range temperature tolerance up to 140 °C.

Massive emission of carbon dioxide and supply and safe use of traditional fossil energy have become the most important and urgent problems for the sustainable development of human society. Starting in 2013, China began to gradually set up seven carbon trading pilot areas, for the purpose of controlling the emission of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and driving the sustainable development of energy with the help of the market mechanism of carbon trading. From the perspective of Chinese carbon trading market, this article conducts an in-depth analysis of the current situation of Chinese new energy industry in the carbon trading market and a correlation analysis of the influences of carbon trading market on the new energy industry. The results show that carbon trading market has a significant influence on Chinese new energy industry, as carbon trading market increases the demand for new energy and prompts enterprises to conduct industrial optimization and structural adjustment. On this basis, this article points out the problems existing in Chinese carbon trading market and new energy industry and proposes corresponding countermeasures and suggestions for their healthy development.

The China National Health Survey (CNHS) is the first nationwide multi-ethnic cross-sectional interview and health examination conducted from 2012 to 2017. The survey is designed to study reference intervals for physiological constants as well as determinants of noncommunicable diseases among different ethnic populations in different areas, so that the data can be used to enhance clinical diagnosis strategies and health promotion. CNHS used a stratified, multistage cluster sampling method to obtain a sample of 53 895 people aged 20-80 years in 10 ethnic groups from 11 provinces or autonomous regions all over China. Blood samples were collected from each participant for the establishment of the China Multi-Ethnic Biobank (CMEB). CNHS collected data on demographic and socioeconomic information, lifestyle factors, anthropometric measures, laboratory tests and clinical profiles. These data provide a comprehensive resource for further study on risk factors of noncommunicable disease among different ethnic groups. Information about the CNHS database, including publication list, introduction of the survey design and methods, and guidelines for submitting electronic forms of data application, is available at [http://www.bmicc.cn/web/share/home].

We evaluated the safety and efficacy of 2 conditioning regimens (busulfan/fludarabine vs modified busulfan/cyclophosphamide) in patients with acute myeloid leukemia undergoing haploidentical hematopoietic stem cell transplant.Twenty patients with primary acute myeloid leukemia had been randomized into busulfan/fludarabine and modified busulfan/cyclophosphamide groups. We retrospectively compared hematopoietic engraftment, regimen-related toxicity, graft-versus-host disease, transplant-related mortality, leukemia-free survival, and overall survival between the groups.All patients achieved engraftment with 100% donor chimerism. The median times for the neutrophil and platelet engraftment in the busulfan/fludarabine and modified busulfan/cyclophosphamide groups were 14.1 versus 14.3 days and 12.7 versus 12.2 days, respectively. Significantly lower incidences of pretreatment toxicity, blood transfusion, and virus activation were observed in the busulfan/fludarabine group. Acute grade 1 graft-versus-host-disease developed in all patients, which was successfully controlled with methylprednisolone. There were no significant differences in engraftment, graft-versus-host disease, leukemia-free survival, and overall survival between groups. Both of these conditioning regimens achieved stable engraftment. Regimen-related toxicity in the busulfan/fludarabine group was well tolerated compared with that in the modified busulfan/cyclophosphamide group, without an increase in relapse rate.Our results demonstrated that myeloablative busulfan/fludarabine might be a highly effective and low-toxicity alternative for patients with acute myeloid leukemia.

Three copolymers ( P1 , P2 , and P3 ) based on benzodithiophenedione and diketopyrrolopyrrole units were synthesized by Suzuki reaction. The thermal, optical, electrochemical, microstructure, charge transport and phototransistor properties of the copolymers were also investigated. The field-effect performances of the copolymers were optimized by tailoring their structure and using thermal annealing. The three copolymers exhibited ambipolar transport under vacuum, but hole characteristics in air. The optimized copolymer P3 exhibited a balanced hole and electron mobility of 0.022 and 0.028 cm 2 V −1 s −1 , respectively, under vacuum conditions, but hole transport in air with a hole mobility of as high as 0.034 cm 2 V −1 s −1 . Phototransistors based on P3 showed a photocurrent/dark current ratio of 6.4 × 10 3 under near-infrared light illumination (808 nm). This is the first investigation on the field-effect and phototransistor performances of benzodithiophenedione-based copolymers.

Kalman filtering problem for singular systems is dealt with, where the measurements consist of instantaneous measurements and delayed ones, and the plant includes multiplicative noise. By utilizing standard singular value decomposition, the restricted equivalent delayed system is presented, and the Kalman filters for the restricted equivalent system are given by using the well-known re-organization of innovation analysis lemma. The optimal Kalman filter for the original system is given based on the above Kalman filter by recursive Riccati equations, and a numerical example is presented to show the validity and efficiency of the proposed approach, where the comparison between the filter and predictor is also given.

We investigate the process and the resulting properties of the curing electric-field-induced segregation of reactive monomers (containing polar groups) in a host liquid crystal. The obtained dielectric spectrum of these cholesteric liquid crystals (CLCs) reveals polarisation at low frequencies. This is a strong indication that charge carriers accumulate at the interface between the sample and the electrodes in these compounds and consistent with Maxwell–Wagner–Sillars (MWS) polarisation. A polymer film forms on the substrate with its thickness determined by the MWS polarisation strength. The SEM images show that the polymer network becomes less dense when MWS polarisation increases. The results are a higher operating voltage and faster response time.

A tristable and electrically switchable optical switch based on luminescent molecule and cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) is demonstrated. The CLC can be switched among the planar state, focal conic state and fingerprint state using the electric field. The interaction between the luminescent molecules and indium tin oxide substrate can be modulated by controlling the orientation of the luminescent molecules, which determine the stability of the three states. The optical property and fluorescent intensity of these states depend on the arrangement of liquid crystal molecules and all the three states can exist for several hours at room temperature without any observable change. Such a multi-stable electrical switch is simple to be fabricated, easy to be operated, and has low power consuming. It, therefore, has the potential to be used in practical portable information systems.

Novel sliding-mode control laws are proposed in this paper to stabilize a class of uncertain nonlinear systems. Considering that the sign function, which is often used in the sliding-mode control can cause chattering of control input, the saturation function is used to take its place in proposed controllers. What is more, not only the proposed controllers are continuous but also convergence to the origin asymptotically and in finite time can both be guaranteed in theory. For asymptotic convergence, it is only required that uncertainties and disturbances are bounded and the bounds may be unknown by virtue of adaptive laws. The obtained results are then applied to partial integrated guidance and control design for a missile, completing desired terminal impact angle and hit-to-kill interception. Finally, simulations are conducted on the nonlinear longitudinal missile model and results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

An inkjet printing method for directional crystallization was proposed that employs difference in surface energy to induce film growth with higher crystallinity and orderliness. Inkjet printing of 6,13-bis(triisopropyl- silylethynyl) pentacene, a small-molecule semiconductor was performed as a single-line film with the starting point set on a patch of Au film, which had been surface-treated to have a slightly higher dispersive surface energy than the dielectric substrate. A larger dispersive surface energy on the metal resulted in advanced contact-line pinning thereof between the liquid and the substrate and induced film growth along the printing direction. With the influence of the differential surface energy, larger grain size as well as more convergent crystalline microstructure was obtained, which is beneficial to the fabrication of organic thin-film transistors with improved electrical performance and device-to-device uniformity.

The effects of semiconductor/electrode interface on the performance of pentacene thin film transistors using graphene as electrodes are investigated. The morphology and properties of graphene electrodes were varied by controlling the number of graphene layers through a layer-by-layer (LBL) stacking method. It was discovered that increasing the stacking layers of graphene films resulted in an increased surface roughness and accompanied by a decrease in sheet resistance as well as an increase in work function. Although an increase in stacking layers provide better conductivity and energy level match between electrode and pentacene semiconductor, the spontaneous increase surface roughness disorder the growth of pentacene crystals adjacent to the electrodes and breaks the connectivity of a single-phase domain in the active film. As a result, the field-effect performance is substantially decreased by increasing the graphene films. It is shown that the morphology rather than the work function of graphene electrodes plays a dominant role in the optimization of the device performance of organic thin-film transistor using graphene electrodes.

Dip-coating is a conventional solution processing technology to prepare large-area films at a low cost and with cheap facilities. For semiconductor film processing, crystal orientation and thickness uniformity are the primary factors that determine the film quality and its electrical performance. These requirements are readily satisfied with the dip-coating method because the film morphology can be effectively optimized by tuning the withdrawal speed. This work optimizes the withdrawal speed for the dip-coating of patterned semiconductor films of 400×500 mm2 as well as that for film dip-coating on the whole surfaces of the substrate. For both experiment, optimized electrical mobility is achieved at the same withdrawal speed, however, the random crystal orientation of the patterned films causes a remarkable decrease in device performance.

Inkjet printing of 6,13-bis(triisopropylsilylethynyl) pentacene (TIPS-PEN), a small molecule organic semiconductor, is performed on two types of substrates. Hydrophilic SiO 2 substrates prepared by a combination of surface treatments lead to either a smaller size or a coffee-ring profile of the single-drop film. A hydrophobic surface with dominant dispersive component of surface energy such as that of a spin-coated poly(4-vinylphenol) film favors profile formation with uniform thickness of the printed semiconductor owing to the strong dispersion force between the semiconductor molecules and the hydrophobic surface of the substrate. With a hydrophobic dielectric as the substrate and via a properly selected solvent, high quality TIPS-PEN films were printed at a very low substrate temperature of 35 °C. Saturated field-effect mobility measured with top-contact thin-film transistor structure shows a narrow distribution and a maximum of 0.78 cm 2 V − 1 s − 1 , which confirmed the film growth on the hydrophobic substrate with increased crystal coverage and continuity under the optimized process condition.

The effects of cell gap on the electro-optical properties of normal-mode polymer-stabilised cholesteric texture (PSCT) have been investigated. In this study, the size of the domain and electro-optical properties of PSCT are analysed as a function of the thickness of the cells. Increasing cell gap helps to improve the contrast ratio, but the threshold voltage would increase simultaneously. The scanning electron microscopy indicates that the polymer networks are tightened with increasing cell gap. A denser polymer network leads to smaller domain size, higher effective electric field and decreased field-off response time.

A novel semiconductor–rubber–semiconductor (P3HT–PMA–P3HT) triblock copolymer has been designed and prepared according to the principle of thermoplastic elastomers. It behaves as a thermoplastic elastomer with a Young's modulus (E) of 6 MPa for an elongation at break of 140% and exhibits good electrical properties with a carrier mobility of 9 × 10−4 cm2 V−1 s−1. This novel semiconductor may play an important role in low-cost and large-area stretchable electronics.

Baseline is an important parameter of radar interferometry. Generally, it can be estimated by satellite orbital data or ground control points. In this paper, an adaptive method is proposed to estimate it with combination satellite orbital data, and the accuracy of baseline estimated can be improved without ground control points; actual data of ERS and ENVISAT ASAR have been used in algorithm development and the final obtained elevation shows that the precise orbit data is more accurate than original orbit data in estimating baseline.

A photoresponsive polymer thin-film transistor based on a donor–acceptor conjugated polymer ambipolar semiconductor (PBIBDF-BT) is proposed in this report. The device exhibited both hole- and electron-carrier transport response to incident light with photoswitching speeds below 14 ms. In addition, the photocurrent/dark-current ratio and the photoresponsivity were 4552 and 108.43 mA W−1 for the p-type channel, and 1044 and 38.72 mA W−1 for the n-type channel, respectively. The PBIBDF-BT films exhibit more pronounced sensitivity to red light than previous polymer semiconductors, and the drain current gradually increased with an increase in the illumination intensity, resulting in typical output field-effect transistor characteristics. The influence of mobility of PBIBDF-BT thin films, which were formed via spin coating at different spinning speeds on the OTS/SiO2/Si substrate, on the phototransistor response to light illumination was further investigated.

An acceptor–π–acceptor (A1–π–A2) type polymer based on phthalimide and diketopyrrolopyrrole units has been designed and synthesized by Stille cross-coupling reaction. The photo-physical, electrochemical and transistor properties have been also investigated. The polymer exhibited broad absorption in the near infrared region and low LUMO/HOMO energy levels. Organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) devices with common architectures were fabricated to evaluate the device properties. Polymer-based OTFTs devices exhibited n-type charge transfer under vacuum and yielded an electron mobility as high as 0.52 cm2 V−1 s−1. This is a record value for n-type polymers based on phthalimide structure. The OTFTs devices were also investigated in air and displayed p-type transporting behavior with a hole mobility of up to 0.13 cm2 V−1 s−1. The corresponding thin film morphology and polymer packing were also investigated in detail by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) to correlate with the mobility. The results showed that the polymer film possessed highly uniform polymer nanofibers, a long-range-ordered lamellar structure and a small π–π stacking distance.

The reflection bandwidth of cholesteric liquid crystals is typically on the order of 50–100 nm in the visible region. Static bandwidths greater than 100 nm can be observed in polymer stabilized cholesteric liquid crystals (PSCLCs) that possess a pitch gradient throughout the thickness of the cell. This work presents PSCLCs based on ionic polymer networks and chiral ions, which exhibit large reflection bandwidth tunability under a small applied direct current (DC) electric field. The reflection colors dynamically switch between white, orange, red and transparent. The underlying mechanism of the electrically controllable bandwidth in PSCLCs is the redistribution of the chiral ions under DC electric fields resulting in a pitch gradient variation along the optical axis. Removal of the electric field returns the PSCLC to its original optical properties due to the strong electronic attraction between the ionic polymer network and chiral ions. Moreover, the reflection bandwidth is also sensitive to the temperature.

In this paper, a novel cooperative guidance law is proposed to make multiple missiles hit simultaneously the same target at a pre-specified impact angle. Firstly, the normal acceleration which changes the velocity direction is designed such that all missiles will fly along the desired line of sight (LOS) after a given time which ensures the hit-to-kill interception; then the consensus variable is constructed using available information and can reach consensus under the proposed the tangential acceleration command which determines the velocity magnitude. Hence simultaneous hit-to-kill attack is achieved. Finally, some simulation studies are performed to verify the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.

In this paper, we propose a partial integrated guidance and control (PIGC) scheme for missiles. Firstly, the model including the outer and inner loop models is derived. Then the outer controller where the pitch rate is regarded as the virtual control input is designed to send the line-of-sight angle tracking error and its derivatives to zero (hence the missile will be on a desired collision course). Next, the inner loop controller is proposed to make the actual pitch rate track the pitch rate command from the outer loop, which is robust to the actuator fault. More importantly, by the introduction of the auxiliary dynamic, the outer and inner loop commands are both within the reasonable limits. Finally, a simulation example is presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

In this paper, the problem of global regulation for lower-triangular systems with high relative degree, disturbed by mismatched disturbances is investigated. Dynamic gain scaling technique combined with adaptive control is used to not only avoid “explosion of complexity” which is the disadvantage of backstepping method but also depress the effect of mismatched disturbances. With the the proposed scheme, the system states are precisely driven to the equivalent point as time goes to infinity, which is proved by the Lyapunov stability theory. Finally, an example is provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed design scheme.

This paper conducts a partial integrated guidance and control design for missile interception. With only the output available for feedback, a novel state observer is firstly proposed in the presence of unknown disturbances. The proposed observer reconstructs full system states in finite time. Interestingly, observer parameter is updated by an adaptive law. Then, a terminal sliding mode controller based on the proposed observer ensures the system states converge to zero in finite time, which is proved by the Lyapunov stability theory. The obtained result is applied to partial integrated guidance and control design of missile and hit-to-kill interception is achieved. Finally, a simulation example is presented, and a comparison to standard sliding mode observer is discussed to illustrate effectiveness of the proposed method.

The surface solubility and wettability of photosensitive layers of polystyrene (PS) were engineered to evaluate its effect on the crystalline microstructure and film morphology of inkjet-printed 6,13-bis(triisopropylsiylethynyl) pentacene (TIPS-pentacene). UV exposure proved to be a simple and effective method for modulating the solubility of PS films with controllable crosslinking. As compared with the untreated PS film, the film morphology of the printed semiconductor on the UV-irradiated crosslinked PS films was significantly optimized. The optimal degree of crosslinking and solubility of the PS film were achieved by UV irradiation at a dose of 0.417 J cm−2. Field-effect transistors fabricated using well-organized crystals on the optimal crosslinked PS film exhibited a maximum mobility of 0.48 cm2 V−1 s−1 and an average value of 0.19 cm2 V−1 s−1. The performance is clearly superior to that of devices prepared on a pristine PS film (0.02 cm2 V−1 s−1).

A series of benzodithiophene (BDT) and benzotrithiophene (BTT)-based conjugated polymers (P1–P4), with/without conjugated- and acyl-side chain, have been synthesized by Stille cross-coupling reaction. Their thermal, photophysical, electrochemical properties, devices performances, and microstructure have been investigated. Conjugated-side chain can significantly raise the thermal stability and acyl-side chain can lower HOMO/LUMO energy levels. Organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) based on conjugated polymers were fabricated and the transistor electrical characterization showed the device performance was sensitive to the conjugated- and acyl-side chain substituent of polymers. A maximum hole mobility of 1.70 × 10−3 cm2 V−1 s−1 was obtained for P1-based devices, which is an order of magnitude higher than those of P3 and P4-based devices. The corresponding microstructures were investigated by grazing-incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXD) to correlate with conjugated- and acyl-side chain dependent carrier mobility of P1–P4. The results showed that the conjugated- and acyl-side chain have an impact on the polymer packing models and device performances.

Jatropha curcas is a new promising bioenergy crop due to the high oil content in its seeds that can be converted into biodiesel. Seed size, a major determinant of Jatropha oil yield, is a target trait for Jatropha breeding. Due to the vital roles of phytohormone auxin in controlling seed and fruit development, we screened key genes in auxin pathway including ARF and IAA families and downstream effectors to identify candidate genes controlling seed size in Jatropha. As a result, JcARF19 was mapped in the major quantitative trait locus (QTL) region and significantly associated with seed length. By using expression QTL (eQTL) analysis to link variants with functional candidate genes, we provided evidences that seed traits were affected by the interaction of JcARF19 and JcIAA9. ARF19 and IAA9, involved in auxin signal transduction, were conserved in higher plants. These data including the single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the two genes could lead to utilization of the genes by integrating favored alleles into elite varieties through marker-assisted selection.

The fabrication of the self-patterned OTFTs based on a blend of 6,13-bis(triisopropylsilylethynyl) pentacene (TIPS-pentacene) and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) were investigated. Structural analysis revealed a well-defined TIPS-pentacene-top/PMMA-bottom bilayer structure formed in the blend film. Because the PMMA underlayer acts as a modification layer at the semiconductor/dielectric interface, the blend OTFTs exhibited over 5 times higher mobility and significantly reduced hysteresis than pristine TIPS-pentacene device. This selective wetting/dewetting process based on polymer blends allows the formation of patterned films with a self-organized modification layer and has great potential for economical processing of large-area and high-performance electronic devices.

The cell gap dependence of the electro-optical properties of reverse-mode polymer-stabilised cholesteric texture has been investigated. In this study, the morphology and electro-optical properties were analysed as a function of the thickness of the cells. The scanning electron microscopy indicates that the polymer networks become tighter with the decrease of cell gap. Increasing cell gap can improve the contrast ratio exponentially, while the threshold voltage increases linearly. The field-off response time increases, which is ascribed to the decreasing elastic force between the polymer network and the LC molecules.

A simple and efficient method based on gold catalysis is reported for the synthesis of halogen-functionalized pyrrolidine ­aminals. A new alkyne tetrafunctionalization strategy is proposed for the first time.

This paper presents a solid-state volumetric 3-D display system utilizing 20 LC light shutters as a display module, which provides viewers with true depth cues. The electro-optic properties of light shutters based on normal-mode PSCT were investigated. The device shows a field-on transmittance of 86.2%. When applied an operation voltage of 100 V at 28 °C, the response time is 540 μs for switching-on and 180 μs for switching-off, which is suitable for the solid-state volumetric 3-D display. The stability, reliability, and repeatability of the device have also been characterized.

Organic thin film transistors (OTFTs) with bottom gate and top contact structure had been prepared by inkjet printing. It is found that the surface properties of the substrates have a great influence on the morphology of the inkjet printed droplet and film. An appropriate surface was vital to form a uniform semiconducting film by inkjet printing and also strongly improved the electric characteristics. When a bare SiO2 layer was applied, the best field-effect mobility of inkjet printed OTFT devices was only 2.37 × 10−3 cm2V−1s−1, with an on/off current ratio of 102. When the PETS treatment or the PTS treatment was applied on the SiO2 dielectric layer, the field-effect performances were substantially improved and the best field-effect mobility was enhanced to 8.07 × 10−3 cm−2V−1s−1 and 7.95 × 10−3 cm−2V−1s−1, respectively and with an on/off current ratio of 103.

As an important type of (non-structural) fracture, diagenetic shrinkage fractures of shale play an important role in the storage, seepage, and, in particular, the fracturing production of shale oil and gas. However, there are few studies on this type of fracture. Based on the similarities between desiccation cracks in clayed soil and diagenetic shrinkage macro-fractures in shale (DSMFS), we performed an analogous study on the influence of four factors on DSMFS via experiments using shale core powder. The studies showed that the greater the thickness, the later the time of fracture initiation (TFI) and the higher the critical water content (CWC) of fracture initiation. Additionally, the greater the average fracture length, width, and fracture ratio, the lower the surface density of the fractures. Samples with different water salinities have similar TFIs and CWCs. As water salinity increases, the width, length, and fracture ratio of the DSMFS tend to slightly decrease, and surface density marginally increases. The high content of clay minerals exerts a tremendous influence on the DSMFS. Higher clay minerals result in later TFI and a higher CWC; the fracture length and fracture ratio increase, and in particular, the width increases sharply, whereas the surface density decreases. The influence degrees of each clay mineral are montmorillonite, chlorite, kaolinite, and illite from big to small. With a higher temperature, the TFI, length, width, and fracture ratio decrease; however, the CWC and surface density increase. Therefore, we observed the largest influence of clay mineral content and composition on the DSMFS, followed by the effect of thickness and temperature, whereas water salinity influenced the DSMFS the least. The DSMFS generally has four developmental stages: formation of the main fractures, formation of the sub-fractures, a stabilization, and a fixed stage.

Introduction: B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma is the most frequent type of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. RCHOP regimen is established as the standard therapy for aggressive and indolent B-cell NHL, which has a 10%-20% rate of febrile neutropenia (FN). Recently, pegylated recombinant human granulocyte colony stimulating factor (PEG-rhG-CSF) is frequently used in clinical practice. This randomized controlled clinical study was conducted to investigate the efficacy and safety of prophylactic PEG-rhG-CSF in patients with B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma on RCHOP chemotherapy. Methods:We included 162 patients with pathological diagnosis of B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma including diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, follicular lymphoma and mantle cell lymphoma (MCL),from October 2016 to May 2019 at Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University. All patients gave written informed consent in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. The patients were randomized into PEG-rhG-CSF and rhG-CSF groups. Each patient received three cycles of chemotherapy with identical RCHOP regimens. In the study group, the patients received PEG-rhG-CSF 6mg(weight≥45Kg)or 3mg(weight≤45Kg)once 24 hours after the end of chemotherapy drugs of every chemotherapy cycle. In the control group, they weren't preventively administered rhG-CSF. If their neutrophil count (ANC)≤1.0×109/L, they were administered rhG-CSF:5ug/kg/day until their neutrophil count (ANC)≥2.0×109/L. The primary endpoint was the incidence of III/IV grade neutropenia and febrile neutropenia(FN) after each chemotherapy cycle. Meanwhile the rate of antibiotics application and safety were observed. Analyses were performed with SPSS Statistics 20.0 (IBM-SPSS, Chicago, Illinois). The numerical data was presented as mean ± SD. Statistical analysis was performed using one-way analysis of variance and chi-square test. A p-value Results: Clinical characteristics for PEG-rhG-CSF and rhG-CSF groups were shown in Table1. There were no significant differences in age, gender,height, body weight, body mass index, Ann Arbor and IPI staging. The incidence of IV grade neutropenia during cycle 1 in 81 evaluable study cycles and 81 evaluable control cycles were 7.41% and 35.80%( P0.05). The differences in I/II/III grade neutropenia between study and control groups weren't statistically significant (Table2,Fig.1). After secondary prophylactic use of PEG-rhG-CSF In the study group, the incidences of III/IV grade neutropenia decreased from 77.78% to 14.81% (P0.05 ), which were mostly mild or moderate. Patients receiving PEG-rhG-CSF who developed III/IV grade neutropenia were significantly older than those without neutropenia (53.41±14.96 vs. 63.64±4.65;years; p=0.01) (Fig.3).The incidence of III/IV grade neutropenia in patients older than 60 years was significantly higher than that in patients younger than 60 years(24.44% vs. 6.38%; P =0.038). Conclusions: Prophylactic use of PEG-rhG-CSF could effectively reduce the incidences of grade III/IV neutropenia and FN, which ensures that patients with lymphoma receive standard-dose chemotherapy to improve prognosis. III/IV grade neutropenia after prophylactic use of PEG-rhG-CSF were more likely to occur in patients older than 60 years. After the use of PEG-rhG-CSF, the elderly patients should be pay more attention to them. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

A partial integrated guidance and control design for an interception with terminal impact angle constraints in three-dimensional space is presented in this paper. A three-dimensional nonlinear engagement dynamic is considered here and full nonlinear six-degrees-of-freedom model of the interceptor with aerodynamic uncertainties has been accounted for. The partial integrated guidance and control design contains a two-loop controller structure. The outer loop, which generates directly the commanded body rates, is constructed, and then the inner loop is designed to track the outer loop commands. The main feature of the partial integrated guidance and control design is that it accurately satisfies terminal impact angle constraints in both azimuth and elevation, in addition to being capable of hitting the target with high accuracy. Moreover, the aerodynamic uncertainties and the target acceleration, which are assumed to be bounded, are considered by virtue of the proposed adaptive multiple input multiple output...

Summary This paper investigates fault-tolerant control (FTC) for feedback linearizable systems (FLSs) and its applications. The dynamic effects caused by the actuator faults on the feedback linearized model are firstly analyzed, which reveals that under actuator faults, the control input in the linearized model is affected by uncertain terms. In the framework of model reference control, the first FTC strategy is proposed as a robust controller, which achieves asymptotic tracking control of the FLS under actuator faults. A disadvantage of this strategy is that it relies on explicit information about several parameters in the actuator faults. This requirement is later relaxed by combining the robust FTC strategy with an adaptive technique to generate the adaptive FTC law, which is then improved to alleviate possible chattering of the actuator and estimation drifting of the adaptive parameter. Finally, the proposed FTC strategies are evaluated by reference command tracking control of a pendulum and an air-breathing hypersonic vehicle under actuator faults. Simulation results demonstrate good tracking performance, which confirms effectiveness of the proposed strategies. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The effect of curing frequency on the morphology of polymer networks and the electro-optical property of normal-mode polymer-stabilized cholesteric textures (PSCTs) has been investigated. The scanning electron microscopy indicates that the shape of polymer networks transforms from honeycomb-like to fiber-like due to the increased solubility of the monomer at higher curing frequencies. The PSCTs cured at lower frequencies with sufficiently large network voids show a two-stage reorientation process that correlates with two kinds of cholesteric liquid crystal (LC) under different environments. The threshold voltage decreases as the curing frequency increases from 1 Hz to 10,000 Hz, while the field-off response time increases.

A novel method of adaptive nonsingular terminal sliding mode control is proposed for a class of nonlinear systems subject to disturbances and uncertainties. The obtained results are applied to integrated guidance and control design for a missile. Using the Lyapunov stability theory, it is shown that the finite time convergence in both reaching and sliding phase is achieved by virtue of a terminal sliding surface and a switching controller that avoids singularity. With the assumption that the disturbances and uncertainties are bounded and the bounds are unknown, the adaptive method is incorporated with the controller design, which makes the proposed adaptive nonsingular terminal sliding mode control with better robustness. Due to the inherent property of time-scale separation between the translational and rotational dynamics, partial integrated guidance and control with a two-loop controller structure is designed for a missile based on the proposed adaptive nonsingular terminal sliding mode control. The ou...

Seed size is a major determinant of seed yield but few is known about the genetics controlling of seed size in plants. Phytohormones cytokinin and brassinosteroid were known to be involved in the regulation of herbaceous plant seed development. Here we identified a homolog of Auxin Response Factor 19 (JcARF19) from a woody plant Jatropha curcas and genetically demonstrated its functions in controlling seed size and seed yield. Through Virus Induced Gene Silencing (VIGS), we found that JcARF19 was a positive upstream modulator in auxin signaling and may control plant organ size in J. curcas. Importantly, transgenic overexpression of JcARF19 significantly increased seed size and seed yield in plants Arabidopsis thaliana and J. curcas, indicating the importance of auxin pathway in seed yield controlling in dicot plants. Transcripts analysis indicated that ectopic expression of JcARF19 in J. curcas upregulated auxin responsive genes encoding essential regulators in cell differentiation and cytoskeletal dynamics of seed development. Our data suggested the potential of improving seed traits by precisely engineering auxin signaling in woody perennial plants.