Search

We analyze new HST/COS spectra for two quasar absorption outflows seen in the quasi-stellar object LBQS 1206+1052. These data cover, for the first time, absorption troughs from $S_{IV}$, $Si_{II}$, and $P_V$. From the ratio of the $S_{IV}$* to $S_{IV}$ column densities, we measure the electron number density of the higher-velocity ($-1400$ km s$^{-1}$, v1400) outflow to be log($n_e$) = $4.23^{+0.09}_{-0.09}$ cm$^{-3}$ and constrain the lower-velocity ($-730$ km s$^{-1}$, v700) outflow to log($n_e$) $>$ $5.3$ cm$^{-3}$. The $n_e$ associated with the higher-velocity outflow is an order of magnitude larger than reported in prior work. We find that the previous measurement was unreliable since it was based on density-sensitive absorption troughs that were likely saturated. Using photoionization models, we determine the best $\chi^2$-minimization fit for the ionization parameter and hydrogen column density of the higher-velocity outflow: log($U_H$) = $-1.73^{+0.21}_{-0.12}$ and log($N_H$) = $21.03^{+0.25}_{-0.15}$ cm$^{-2}$, respectively. We calculate from $U_H$ and $n_e$ a distance of $500^{+100}_{-110}$ pc from the central source to the outflow. Using an SED attenuated by the v700 outflow yields a two-phase photoionization solution for the v1400 outflow, separated by a $\Delta U \approxeq 0.7$. Otherwise, the resultant distance, mass flux, and kinetic luminosity are similar to the unattenuated case. However, the attenuated analysis has significant uncertainties due to a lack of constraints on the v700 outflow in 2017., Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, 4 tables, accepted for publication in ApJ

In this work, nickel/carbon fiber composites with excellent conductivity were successfully prepared by an electroless plating method in alkaline media, in which sodium hypophosphite was used as reducing agent. The composition, microstructure, electrical, and magnetic properties of samples were investigated by XRD, SEM, VSM, and four-probe meter techniques, respectively. It was found that the volume of aqueous ammonia and concentration of sodium hypophosphite played important roles on the microstructure of nickel coatings. The composites with compact and uniform nickel layer on the surface of carbon fiber possessed face-centered cubic phase, and the volume resistivity could reach 1.49 × 10−3 Ω cm. In addition, magnetic hysteresis measured at room temperature demonstrated that the nickel-coated carbon fiber composites showed ferromagnetic behavior with saturation magnetization (M s ) and coercivity (H c ) of 5.2 emu/g and 144.9 Oe, respectively.

The attempt to obtain long-term observed data around some sea areas we concern is usually very hard or even impossible in practical offshore and ocean engineering situations. In this paper, by means of linear mean-square estimation method, a new way to extend short-term data to long-term ones is developed. The long-term data about concerning sea areas can be constructed via a series of long-term data obtained from neighbor oceanographic stations, through relevance analysis of different data series. It is effective to cover the insufficiency of time series prediction method’s overdependence upon the length of data series, as well as the limitation of variable numbers adopted in multiple linear regression model. The storm surge data collected from three oceanographic stations located in Shandong Peninsula are taken as examples to analyze the number-selection effect of reference oceanographic stations (adjacent to the concerning sea area) and the correlation coefficients between sea sites which are selected for reference and for engineering projects construction respectively. By comparing the N-year return-period values which are calculated from observed raw data and processed data which are extended from finite data series by means of the linear mean-square estimation method, one can draw a conclusion that this method can give considerably good estimation in practical ocean engineering, in spite of different extreme value distributions about raw and processed data.

This work investigated the transportation and recombination mechanisms of carriers in organic photovoltaic by using calcium (Ca 10 to 50 nm) as the Electron Transportation Layer (ETL). Compared with the sample without ETL layer, the Fermi Energy Level ( E F ) moved at least 0.4 eV towards the Lowest Unoccupied Molecular Orbit (LUMO) of P3HT after Ca was inserted. Ca–S bonds at the interface resulted in the shift of Highest Occupied Molecular Orbit (HOMO) which increased V o c to 0.58 V. Meanwhile, the shift of HOMO and low work function of Ca decreased the recombination possibility (from 1.38% to 0.403%), which resulted in 1% improvement of Fill Factor (FF). The experimental results were coincide with theoretical explanation. Additionally, the existence of accumulative error during the thermal evaporation cannot be neglected. This is the main reason for the decrease of I s c and FF.

The frequency and amplitude of water level fluctuations were major driving forces for wetland vegetation evolution in the Poyang Lake Deltas. This study examined changes in wetland vegetation evolution of two deltas, namely Ganjiang Main-branch Delta wetland (GMD) and Ganjiang Southern-branch Delta wetland (GSD), in autumns from 1973 to 2009. Wetland vegetation evolution monitoring using Landsat remotely sensed imageries was related to changes in hydrology stemming including the annual peak, lowest water levels and number of flooded days at four characteristic water levels (10, 13, 15 and 17 m) from natural climatic variations. Results showed that the annual peak water level of GMD (Xingzi station) decreased by 5.78 m and the annual lowest water level decreased by 2.27 m; while the annual peak water level of GSD (Tangyin station) decreased by 6.41 m and the annual lowest water level decreased by 2.53 m. The number of flooded days at water levels 15 and 17 m indicated a consistent trend while flooded days at water levels 10 and 13 m were significantly different. Vegetation coverage of both deltas showed trends of increasing and expanded fan-shaped towards the middle of the lake area. The annual peak and lowest water levels had negative correlation with the vegetation coverage areas for both deltas. The flooded days at water level 13 m had the greatest effect on the vegetation coverage area at GMD; while the flooded days at water level 17 m had the greatest effect on the vegetation coverage area at GSD.

Ketamine (KTM), a N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist, was found to has an anti-inflammatory effect, but some patients suffered from exacerbated pro-inflammatory reactions after anesthesia with KTM. The present study was aimed to examine the underlying mechanism of pro-inflammatory effects of KTM. In this study, RAW264.7 cells were exposed to KTM and NMDA alone or combined for 30 min before lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulation. The expression levels of IL-6 and TNF-α were detected by RT-PCR and ELISA, and those of NMDA receptors by RT-PCR in RAW264.7 cells. Additionally, the TLR4 expression was determined by RT-PCR and flow cytometry, respectively. The results showed that in RAW264.7 cells, KTM alone promoted the TLR4 expression, but did not increase the expression of IL-6 or TNF-α. In the presence of LPS, KTM caused a significantly higher expression of IL-6 and TNF-α than LPS alone. NMDA could neither alter the IL-6 and TNF-α mRNA expression, nor reverse the enhanced expression of IL-6 and TNF-α mRNA by KTM in LPS-challenged cells. After TLR4-siRNA transfection, RAW264.7 cells pretreated with KTM no longer promoted the IL-6 and TNF-α expression in the presence of LPS. In conclusion, KTM accelerated LPS-induced inflammation in RAW264.7 cells by promoting TLR4 expression, independent of NMDA receptor.

S-SiC ceramics with >96% of densification degree were derived from 0.8- to 8.6-μm graded powders for the first time after sintered at 2210°C. Grain grading generated a 21.8% increase in green density and a 40.8% decrease in sintering shrinkage (low to 12.2%). The introduction of micrometer-sized coarse particles suppressed abnormal grain growth owing to their pinning effect, thus resulting in equiaxial grains. Dramatically improved fracture toughness peaked to 3.77 MPa·m1/2 at 50 wt% of added coarse powder. Sintering mechanism of graded powders can be deduced as the bonding of coarse SiC particle through solid-state sintering of fine powder.

Electromagnetic Ni@glass fiber composite with perfect Ni layers were successfully obtained by a versatile electroless deposition method. Glass fibers were firstly pretreated by roughing, sensitization, and activation. Then the glass fibers after pretreatment were conducted the electroless nickel process. We have investigated the influence of bath solution parameters on the morphology, chemical composition, magnetic property, and conductivity of the Ni@glass fiber composites using scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, vibrating sample magnetometry, transmission electron microscope, and four-probe meter techniques, respectively. The deposited nickel coatings and volume resistivity of the obtained samples were dependent on the bath temperature, pH value, dosage of complexing agent and reductant. Uniform and compact Ni film could be deposited on the surface of glass fibers, with which the optimal volume resistivity could reach (7.36 ± 0.37) × 10−3 Ω cm, and the saturation magnetization (M s ) and coercivity (H c ) were confirmed to be 3.0 emu/g and 164.5 Oe, respectively. The current synthetic process may prompt the applicability in electromagnetic shielding field with industrial scale production.

The synthesis of copper-coated carbon fibers (CFs) by a simple electroless deposition method in aqueous solution was conducted in this work, and hydrazine hydrate was employed as reducing reagent. The composites were characterized by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy techniques. The experiment results showed that the reaction temperature and dosage of sodium hydroxide played important roles in the deposition of copper layers. The CFs covered by a compact and continuous copper coating possessed an excellent conductivity with volume resistivity of 6.63×10 −3 Ω cm. Such copper@carbon fibers can be used as shielding materials, fiber-matrix composites, and so on.

We report on a combinatorial optimization procedure applied to heterojunction small molecule organic solar cells made of evaporated copper phthalocyanine (CuPc) and 3,4,9,10-perylenetetracarboxylic bisbenzimidazole (PTCBI). Our strategy consists of depositing both light harvesting compounds as orthogonally arranged wedge-shaped layers to then determine the optimum thicknesses which yield the highest photoconversion efficiency. The device performance is locally assessed by means of light-beam induced current images. A quantitative model of co-locally measured Raman images allows determining the corresponding local thicknesses of the active layers. The spatial correlation of both datasets (i.e. local photocurrent density and active layer film thicknesses) enables the rapid optimization of the photovoltaic system studied employing a single functional device, reducing in approximately 20 times the use of resources and time., The Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO) is gratefully acknowledged for its support through Grant No. SEV-2015-0496 in the framework of the Spanish Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence program. J.C.-G. acknowledges funding from the MINECO through projects MAT2014-57652-C2-1-R and PCIN-2015-169-C02-01 and from the Madrid Regional Government through MAD2D project. M.A.N. acknowledges support from the MINECO through MAT2014-59315-R project. G.L. thanks the China Scholarship Council for financial support (201406790019). X.R.-M., A.S.-D. and M.C.-Q. acknowledge financial support from the European Research Council through project ERC CoG648901.

The most robust way for determining the distance of quasar absorption outflows is the use of troughs from ionic excited states. The column density ratio between the excited and resonance states yields the outflow number density. Combined with a knowledge of the outflow's ionization parameter, a distance from the central source (R) can be determined. Here we report results from two surveys targeting outflows that show troughs from S IV. One survey includes 1091 SDSS and BOSS quasar spectra, and the other includes higher-quality spectra of 13 quasars observed with the Very Large Telescope. Our S IV samples include 38 broad absorption line (BAL) outflows, and four mini-BAL outflows. The S IV is formed in the same physical region of the outflow as the canonical outflow-identifying species C IV. Our results show that S IV absorption is only detected in 25% of C IV BAL outflows. The smaller detection fraction is due to the higher total column density ($N_H$) needed to detect S IV absorption. Since R empirically anticorrelates with $N_H$ the results of these surveys can be extrapolated to C IV quasar outflows with lower $N_H$ as well. We find that at least 50% of quasar outflows are at distances larger than 100 pc from the central source, and at least 12% are at distances larger than 1000 pc. These results have profound implications for the study of the origin and acceleration mechanism of quasar outflows and their effects on the host galaxy., Comment: 21 pages, 6 figures, 8 tables. Published, 2018, ApJ, 857, 60. Title typo corrected

This paper presents the temperature effects on the emission spectra of Rhodamine B in ethylene glycol solution mixed with 50% pure water. The emission spectra at different Rhodamine B dye concentration were studied in a temperature range of-34 o C through 64 o C. Results show that growing solution temperature reduces the fluorescent emission intensity, and no obvious discrepancy between fluorescent characteristics of RhB in ethylene glycol and in pure water was observed. A dual normalization method was developed to process the experimental data and to correlate the relative intensity with solution temperature, this method effectively eliminates the influence of signal fluctuations during fluorescence detection. Tests of droplets temperature measurements were also carried out to demonstrate the feasibility of the current non-intrusive method in applications concerning droplets temperature monitoring.

The ability to edit materials of objects in images is desirable by many content creators. However, this is an extremely challenging task as it requires to disentangle intrinsic physical properties of an image. We propose an end-to-end network architecture that replicates the forward image formation process to accomplish this task. Specifically, given a single image, the network first predicts intrinsic properties, i.e. shape, illumination, and material, which are then provided to a rendering layer. This layer performs in-network image synthesis, thereby enabling the network to understand the physics behind the image formation process. The proposed rendering layer is fully differentiable, supports both diffuse and specular materials, and thus can be applicable in a variety of problem settings. We demonstrate a rich set of visually plausible material editing examples and provide an extensive comparative study., 14 pages, ICCV 2017

We present Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) MegaCam observations of a galaxy-quasar strong gravitational lens system, SDSS J1640+1932. This system, located at z=0.195 (foreground elliptical galaxy) and z=0.778 (background quasar), was first visually identified by us in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) database. Our CFHT imaging with an angular resolution of 0.7$^{\prime \prime}$ clearly resolves 4 lensed images and a nearly complete Einstein ring. Modeling the system with a singular isothermal ellipsoid (SIE) total mass distribution, we find an Einstein radius of ${2.49^{\prime \prime}}_{-0.049}^{+0.063}$ enclosing a inferred mass of $7.25_{-0.29}^{+0.37}\times10^{11} M_{\odot}$. The quasar and its host galaxy have been magnified by a factor of 23, and the time delay relative to the leading image is determined to be 23.4-25.2 days. These parameters vary minimally when our model is fitted to the {\it{g}}-, {\it{r}}- or {\it{i}}-band images., 7 pages, 5 figures, 3 tables, MNRAS, accepted

Purpose: To determine the impact of the internet+ transitional care on knowledge, attitudes, and practice (KAP) of family caregivers of patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and analyze the practicability of the internet+ Medical Messenger and WeChat network support platforms. Background: The number of AD patients in China has exceeded 10 million, ranking first in the world. Home care is the main way of care for AD patients. We use the Internet platform to implement “online” combined with “offline” continuous care for AD patients and home caregivers, and provide personalized health education and guidance, so that caregivers can easily master disease-related knowledge, establish positive care beliefs, improve care ability, and promote the improvement of patients’ caregivers’ knowledge, attitude and practice. Method: The family caregivers of 77 patients with AD were randomly divided into two groups (intervention group [40 patients] and control group [37 patients]). The intervention group adopted the internet + transitional care, while the control group adopted traditional transitional care. The KAP of the two groups of family caregivers before intervention, 3 months after intervention, and 6 months after intervention were analyzed. Results: The KAP scores of the 77 family caregivers before intervention were 17.39 ± 2.92, 33.42 ± 4.77, and 57.65 ± 13.84. There was no significant difference in the knowledge scores in the care (t=1.89, P=0.062) and symptom (t=1.78, P=0.078) dimensions 3 months after intervention, while there was a significant difference in the other KAP dimensions (P < 0.05). Conclusions: The internet + transitional care improves the level to of KAP among family caregivers of patients with AD and the effect was proportional to time.

The urban heat environment in Nanjing metropolitan region is significantly affected by human activities. The days of high temperature and heat waves became increasingly obvious. Therefore, this paper aimed to reveal the temporal changes in high temperature and heat waves and analyze the relevant disasters. The results showed that the duration and average high temperature were both increasing during 1951–2013. Days of heat waves were mainly concentrated in August. The longest duration of extreme heat was in 2013 lasting 9 days. The major issues caused by high temperature and heat waves were energy consumption, power shortage, human health and human habitat deterioration. Land use change driven by human activities altered the underlying surface and accelerated urban heat island effect. These views provide scientific evidence for assisting urban planning and industrial restructuring in the future.

Arable land change trends, namely stable arable land, change into arable land, change into non-arable land, stable non-arable land and ephemeral arable land were subsequently categorized from the temporal trajectories of arable land changes. To deeper understand the landscape change patterns consequent from arable land use, three metrics at class level were employed. Arable land, in general, decreased by 57.24 % during 1985–2010. The change trajectory from arable to non-arable land was consistent with urban expansion. Change trajectory from arable into non-arable land was mainly located in Jiangning District while stable arable land coverage was high in Liuhe District. Stable arable land was mainly dominant in locations away from the city center. Trends in stable non-arable land, however, had a completely opposite trajectory to that of arable into non-arable land. About 59.26 % change into non-arable land was located within 10–15 km buffers and was more dramatic than other trajectories and characterized with high fragmentation. Rural labor migration, economic development, policies and urban expansion were the major driving force associated with the observed arable land changes.

Display Omitted The weakly alkaline barrier slurry is free of oxidizers and inhibitors.We studied the effect of slurry aging on stability and performance of CMP process.The barrier slurry exhibits a stability having a shelf life of at least 30 days.The barrier slurry can provide a good planarization performance within a month. In order to improve the CMP performance, many methods have been devoted to the development of barrier slurry. H2O2 as an oxidizer and benzotriazole (BTA) as an inhibitor is considered to be an effective method in barrier CMP. In this paper, the high-stability weakly alkaline barrier slurry is presented. Major components include complexing agents, silica, nonionic surfactant and pH-modifier but free of oxidizers and inhibitors. We studied the stability of the slurry using the material removal rate of Cu, Ta and TEOS blanket wafers, particle size, PH-value, viscosity and zeta potential tests as a function of aging time during one month. A 300mm copper pattern wafer was polished by the barrier slurry after one-month time to examine performance of the slurry. The results indicate that as the aging time is increased, the mean particle size, PH-value, viscosity and zeta potential of the slurries fluctuated slightly in time. The polishing results of Cu, Ta and TEOS blanket wafers show that the slurry has high selectivity of Ta and TEOS to Cu even after one-month time. The aging time has little impact on removal rate selection. The dishing values and roughness of Cu wiring after 300mm pattern wafer polishing suggest that the slurry has an effective performance in topography modification. By experiment research, the barrier slurry exhibits a stability having a shelf life of at least 30days.

A versatile electroless copper plating method for the fabrication of Cu-coated glass microspheres was successfully developed using hydrazine hydrate as the reducing reagent. To obtain the best morphology and electrical conductivity of Cu-coated glass microspheres, some main synthetic factors including the concentration of copper salt, volume of aqueous ammonia and bath temperature were investigated in detail. The crystal structure and shape of the copper layer were characterised by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscope techniques. The result showed that the glass microspheres with a uniform copper coating exhibited a face-centred cubic crystal structure and an excellent volume resistivity (ρν ) of 4.28 × 10−4 Ω·cm. This method could also be extended for the fabrication of Ag- and Co-coated glass microspheres with superior conductivity.

Risk analysis and assessment relating coastal structures has been one of the hot topics in the area of coastal protection recently. In this paper, from three aspects of joint return period of multiple loads, dike failure rate and dike continuous risk prevention respectively, three new risk analysis methods concerning overtopping of sea dikes are developed. It is worth noting that the factors of storm surge which leads to overtopping are also considered in the three methods. In order to verify and estimate the effectiveness and reliability of the newly developed methods, quantified mutual information is adopted. By means of case testing, it can be found that different prior variables might be selected dividedly, according to the requirement of special engineering application or the dominance of loads. Based on the selection of prior variables, the correlating risk analysis method can be successfully applied to practical engineering.

BACKGROUND Cropland in Yangtze River Delta has declined drastically since economic reforms in 1978 that led to rapid economic development. Such cropland loss due to population growth has led to a decline in grain production. This study aimed at analyzing the impact of land use changes on grain production. To achieve this, the spatiotemporal dynamics of cropland during 1980–2010 were analyzed. Irrigation and soil fertility data were used as additional lines of evidence. RESULTS Cropland loss had negative impacts on grain production. About 80 and 66% of grain production decreased during 1980–2005 and 2005–2010 respectively. This decline was attributed to the conversion of cropland to built-up areas. Abandoned cropland areas were mainly concentrated in regions with high irrigation capability and high soil fertility, while cropland reclamation was mainly in areas with low irrigation and soil fertility, implying that, although cropland was reclaimed, production remained low. The decline in cropland area has reinforced the chronic food insecurity in Yangtze River Delta. CONCLUSION This study demonstrated the response of grain production to the changes in cropland quantity and quality. It also provides scientific evidence for decision makers to protect cropland and enhance grain production. © 2014 Society of Chemical Industry

The wetland landscape patterns of the Yellow River Delta have undergone an extremely significant change due to rapid economic development since 2000. The aim of this paper is to quantitatively analyze spatial and temporal changes of these wetlands in the recent decade. Three sets of wetland maps were acquired using object–oriented classification method based on remotely sensed imageries in 2000, 2005 and 2010. Then landscape indices from class and landscape level using FRAGSTATS 3.3 software were used to quantify the spatial and temporal dynamics of wetlands. The results showed that wetlands coverage decreased by approximately 2.27%. Natural wetlands decreased while constructed wetlands increased, especially prawn pools, which increased by 268.33%. Wetland landscape patches gradually became more complex and decentralized. Wetlands distribution analysis indicated that wetlands were mainly located in the area 45 km from the coastline. The study indicated a relatively high diversity at the estuary of the river and the north of the study area. However, wetlands were highly fragmented in the south of the study area and urban area. Dynamic of wetlands was mainly caused by human–induced factors, especially GDP and urban built–up area.

The β-Ni(OH)2 platelets and nanorods with length ranging from 2 to 6 μm have been successfully synthesized via a hydrothermal method, and no templates or additives were employed. The products were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction and scanning electron microscopy techniques. The dosage of sodium hydroxide and temperature were found to play important roles in controlling the size and morphology of β-Ni(OH)2. The shape of β-Ni(OH)2 platelets was successfully sustained during the thermal transformation to NiO. Optical property of the NiO platelets was investigated by means of UV–Vis spectrum, exhibiting small red shift compared to the bulk counterpart. Such β-Ni(OH)2 and NiO microstructures may find potential applications in micro/nano-devices.

Novel cobalt dendritic flowers have been successfully synthesized in high yield through a simple, facile, cost-effective solvothermal method. The products were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and vibrating sample magnetometer techniques. The cobalt dendritic frames were composed of a main trunk and side branches covered by many flower-like petals. It was found that dosage of complex reagent, volume ratio of ethanol to water, and reaction time play important roles in controlling the resultant shapes. These cobalt dendritic flowers exhibit ferromagnetic behavior with a saturation magnetization of 154.1 emu/g and an enhanced coercivity up to 229 Oe, respectively, and are expected to have applications in both magnetoelectronic devices and catalysis.

A simple electroless copper plating process was employed to prepare copper-coated glass fibers with excellent conductivity. The glass fibers were pretreated by etching, sensitizing, and activating procedures. Disodium ethylenediamine tetra acetate (EDTA-2Na) and hydrazine hydrate (N2H4·H2O) were employed as complex reagent and reductant, respectively. It was found that the copper deposition was greatly influenced by dosage of EDTA-2Na, concentration of sodium hydroxide (NaOH), temperature, and volume of N2H4·H2O. The optimal temperature for electroless copper plating ranged from 40 to 60 °C. The composites were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy techniques. The result showed that the minimum volume resistivity of 0.0010 Ω cm was obtained for the sample with perfect copper coatings on the surface of glass fibers. This method is simple, low-cost, and large production, and can be extended to fabricate other metal-coated glass fibers with distinct conductivity.

Visible/near-infrared (Vis/NIR) spectroscopy has been proven to be an effective technique for soil total nitrogen (TN) content estimation in the laboratory conditions. However, the transferability of this technique from laboratory study to field application is complicated by soil moisture effects. This study aims to compare the performance of four spectral transformation strategies, namely, Savitzky–Golay (SG) smoothing, SG smoothing followed by first derivative (FD), orthogonal signal correction (OSC), and generalized least squares weighting (GLSW), in the removal of soil moisture effects on TN estimation. The spectral transformations were applied on 8 sets of spectral reflectance measured from 62 soil samples at 8 moisture levels. The air-dried set was used for partial least squares regression (PLSR) calibration, whereas the other seven sets with moisture gradients were used for external validations. Results show that the SG-PLSR model cannot be transferred from the air-dried samples to the samples with...

Two-dimensional semiconductor materials may be of importance in the field of nanophotonics. We design a broadband terahertz (THz) absorber based on molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) metamaterial, consisting of a monolayer MoS2 concentric double rings and a metal mirror separated by a thin SiO2 layer. The plasma hybridization between two MoS2 rings can effectively increase the operating bandwidth of the device under normal circumstances. The absorption rate of the structure and the absorption bandwidth can be also tuned by temperature or voltage-controlled carrier concentration. The special geometry makes our design exhibit properties that are insensitive to the angle of incidence and the polarization state of the pump source. We believe that our devices may pave the way for the design of tunable sensors in terahertz and other frequency bands.

There have been many researches about improving the properties of materials by adding SiC particle in cast iron in recent years. However, researches on the appearance change, action mechanism, etc. of SiC particle in cast iron have not been deepened. We mainly study the appearance change characteristics of additional SiC particle in cast iron melt and its improvement effect in the paper. The results show that additional SiC particle reacts in cast iron solution, and its size decreases. The phenomenon is summarized as fusion crust characteristic of SiC particle in cast iron. The reaction product of SiC particle fusion crust process can be used as additional nucleation of graphite precipitated core during solidification and the reduced SiC particle after reaction also can be used as additional nucleation of nucleation center for graphite and austenite. Meanwhile, SiC is distributed in a scattered mode, and pin inhibits grain growth in grain boundary.

Silver (Ag)-coated carbon fibres (CFs) have been successfully fabricated at 30°C via a simple electroless deposition method, and glucose was used as a green reducing agent. The phase purity and microstructures of the Ag coatings were characterised by X-ray diffraction and a scanning electron microscope equipped with energy-dispersive spectroscopy. It was found that the dosage of sodium hydroxide and the reaction time played important roles in Ag deposition. The CFs with a compact and continuous Ag layer possessed excellent conductivity, and the volume resistivity could reach 5.59 × 10−4 Ω cm. Such composites with high electrical conductivity have potential applications in fibre–matrix composites, shielding materials and so on.

Glass microsphere/cobalt composites were successfully prepared by an electroless plating method in alkaline solution. The as-obtained samples were characterized by XRD, SEM, and VSM techniques. It was found that the concentrations of cobalt salt and aqueous ammonia greatly influenced the microstructure of cobalt coatings. A compact, uniform and continuous cobalt coating could be deposited on the surface of the glass microspheres by adjusting the synthetic parameters. The cobalt layer possessed hexagonal-close-packed phase structure. The magnetic measurement demonstrated that the glass microsphere/cobalt composites exhibited ferromagnetic nature with saturation magnetization of 21.1 emu/g and coercivity of 382.9 Oe, respectively. Compared to the cobalt bulk, the composites showed a decreased saturation magnetization value but an enhanced coercivity.

Objective To investigate the effect of Qindan Capsule (芩丹胶囊, QC) on collagen synthesis and the mechanism underlying the process in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs).

Human-driven dynamics of land cover types in the Tarim Basin are able to affect potential dust source regions and provide particles for dust storms. Analyses about dynamics of potential dust source regions are useful for understanding the effects of human activities on the fragile ecosystem in the extremely arid zone and also provide scientific evidence for the rational land development in the future. This paper therefore selected the Tarim Basin, NW China, as a representative study area to reveal spatiotemporal dynamics of land cover and their impacts on potential dust source regions. The results showed that farmland, desert and forest increased by 28.63, 0.64 and 29.27%, while grassland decreased by 10.29% during 1990–2010. The largest reclamation, grassland loss and desertification were 639.17 × 103, 2350.42 × 103 and 1605.86 × 103 ha during 1995–2000. The relationship between reclamation and grassland loss was a positive correlation, while a highly positive correlation was 0.993 between the desertification and grassland loss at different stages. The most serious dust source region was the desertification during 1990–2010 (1614.58 thousand ha), and the serious region was stable desert (40,631.21 thousand ha). The area of the medium and low dust source region was 499.08 × 103 and 2667.27 × 103 ha. Dramatic reclamation resulted in the desertification by destroying natural vegetation and breaking the balance of water allocation in various regions.

Nanjing (China) has undergone rapid urbanization since the reform and opening up in 1978. The urban heat environment has been affected significantly by human activities. In this paper, we aim at revealing the influence of land cover types on urban heat retrieved from the thermal infrared band of Landsat-5 Thematic Mapper. The results show that the high-temperature area is mainly located in the urban area of Nanjing, while the low-temperature area is located in the forest and water body areas. The average land surface temperature of Qinhuai District is the highest (29.1 °C), while Pukou District has lower temperatures. Geometrically, the city center has the highest temperature, and the land surface temperature gradually decreases with distance from the city center. The land surface temperature of industrial land is the highest, while rivers reveal the lowest temperature in the region (24.3 °C). The size and number of land cover patches have a positive correlation with the heat contribution. The construction land has the significantly positive correlation with land surface temperature, while arable land, forest, water body and wetland have significantly negative correlations. Land surface temperatures in highly growing urban areas are higher than the associated old town, and this is due to the use of new construction materials, and to lower vegetation coverage.

Irrigation is critical for oasis agriculture in Alar irrigated region, Northwestern China. The reference evapotranspiration (ET0) estimation using a modified Penman-Monteith method recommended by FAO is a baseline for rational irrigation scheduling. Thus, crop coefficients (Kc) were estimated using a ratio between reference and observed evapotranspiration. Then, we analyzed the relationship between temporal crop coefficients (Kc) and synchronized normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) derived from multi-temporal remotely sensed images. The results showed that reference evapotranspiration increased from spring to summer hereafter decreased gradually to winter with the peak of ET0 ranging from 8 to 9 mm/day. A closely linear relation between NDVI and Kc of cotton was finally acquired with a coefficient of determination of 0.94. An acceptable accuracy of this model by comparing observed and simulated evapotranspiration illustrated the credibility of this model. This paper provides a scientific approach to estimate regional crop coefficient and evapotranspiration.

This paper aimed to quantitatively analyze the spatial distribution and variations of geographical indications for agricultural products (hereafter, AGIs) in China. A total of 1758 AGIs data were acquired and mapped. Spatial analysis methods were used to reveal their spatial distribution and variation. The results revealed that AGIs in China are clustery distributed with high concentrations in southeastern China, especially in Shandong, Fujian, Zhejiang Province. Fresh fruit and vegetable type had the highest number of AGIs (35.58 %). The spatial distribution of AGIs was mainly influenced by natural factors such as natural resource endowments and anthropogenic activities such as historical farming civilization, local economic development and management level of local governments.

The World Meteorological Organization estimates that about 90 percent of all natural disasters is extreme meteorological hazards like typhoon/hurricane and tropical cyclone triggered disasters. With the increasing tendency of natural hazards, the typhoon induced surge, wave, precipitation, flood and wind as extreme external loads menacing Nuclear Power Plants (NPP) in coastal and inland provinces of China. For all of the planned, designed and constructed NPP in China the National Nuclear Safety Administration of China and IAEA recommended Probable Maximum Hurricane/ Typhoon/(PMH/T), Probable Maximum Storm Surge (PMSS), Probable Maximum Flood (PMF), Design Basis Flood (DBF) as safety regulations recommended for NPP defense infrastructures. This paper discusses the joint probability analysis of simultaneous occurrence typhoon induced extreme external hazards and compared with IAEA 2003-2011 recommended safety regulations for some NPP along China coast to make safety assessment based on the “As Low As Reasonable Practice” (ALARP) principle.

The rainfall induced landslides and debris flows are the major disasters in China, as well in Europe, South America, Japan and Australia. This paper proposes a new type of joint probability prediction model—Double Layer Nested Multivariate Compound Extreme Value Distribution (DLNMCEVD) to predict landslides and debris flows triggered by rainfall. The outer layer of DLNMCEVD is predicting the joint probabilities of different combinations for rainfall characteristics, air temperature and humidity, which should be considered as external load factors with geological and geotechnical characteristics as resistance factors for reliability analysis of slope stability in the inner layer of model. For the reliability and consequence analysis of rainfall-induced slope failure, the Global Uncertainty Analysis and Global Sensitivity Analysis (GUA & GSA) should be taken into account for input-output iterations. Finally, based on the statistics prediction by DLNMCEVD, the geological hazards prevention alarm and regionalization can be provided in this paper.

A three-layer structure of n-type organic semiconductors (PTCDA/PTCDA:PCBM/PCBM) is successfully identified as photoanode for photoelectrochemical water oxidation during the overall splitting of water into hydrogen/oxygen in a nearly stoichiometric ratio (H2:O2 = 2:1) under visible irradiation (λ > 420 nm). A possible charge separation mechanism under visible light illumination was also proposed.

Graphene has lots of applications, such as field-effect transistors, solar cells and transparent electrodes. In this work, we developed a new donor-acceptor graphene hybrid by covalently bonding a donor phenanthrene-9-carboxaldehyde (PCA) onto the acceptor graphene (PCA-graphene) via 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition azomethine ylides. The resulting PCA-graphene is soluble in N,N-dimethyformamide (DMF). The optoelectronic device (photoanode) fabricated by spin-coating DMF solution of the hybrids exhibits an enhanced photocurrent under visible irradiation.

Background:Pigtail catheter drainage has been usually applied for the treatment of pleural effusion and pneumothorax. Our aim was to investigate the application and efficacy of pigtail catheters for pneumothorax.Methods:We carried out a meta-analysis of retro- or pro-spective studies address

Au/TiO2 was used as a highly efficient sonocatalyst to produce H2 from water or aqueous solutions. Au/TiO2 significantly increased the yields of H• and •OH radicals in the sonolysis of water. Product analysis and isotope evidence indicated that hydrogen molecules derived from methanol/water solutions were formed by three pathways: (1) recombination of two H• atoms from the cleavage of water molecules, (2) H-abstraction from methanol by H• generated by water cleavage, and (3) thermal reforming of methanol. The relative importance of each pathway was assessed by carefully analyzing the hydrogen-isotope composition of the evolved hydrogen gas using a modified gas chromatograph. The source of hydrogen in the H2 evolved from methanol/water solutions during sonolysis was also addressed. Data showed that, although the addition of methanol in the presence of Au/TiO2 resulted in a 12-fold increase in the rate of H2 evolution, nearly half of the hydrogen atoms were nevertheless derived from water molecules. Control...

Non-stoichiometric Nd x Ni 1 − x O y nanotube arrays have been fabricated in an anodic alumina membrane (AAM) by filtering at subatmospheric pressure. The images of non-stoichiometric Nd x Ni 1 − x O y nanotube arrays and single nanotubes are observed by a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and a transmission electron microscope (TEM), respectively. Selected area electron diffraction (SAED), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and energy dispersive spectra (EDS) are employed to study the morphology and chemical composition of the nanotubes. The hysteresis loops characterized by a vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) show that the easily magnetized direction of non-stoichiometric Nd x Ni 1 − x O y is perpendicular to the nanotube arrays and that these exhibit magnetic anisotropy as a result of the shape’s anisotropy. The upconversion of a non-stoichiometric Nd x Ni 1 − x O y nanotube is investigated using a HITACHI (F-4500) high-pressure xenon lamp, the results indicate that the blue upconversion emission and the green upconversion emission occur respectively at 480 and 534 nm, excited by 808 nm.

In recent years, the solid loam brick has gradually been forbidden. It made the construction of the solar greenhouse be confronted with a difficulty. In order to solve this problem, and satisfy the requests of the structural design and the heat preservation of solar greenhouse, aerated concrete, a new type of structural material, had been chosen to construct the north wall of solar greenhouse and replace the solid loam brick. The theoretical analysis and the actual tests all indicated that the aerated concrete brick was one of the appropriate structural materials for being used to construct the surrounding structure of the solar greenhouse. At the same time, economizing energy sources and protecting environment of this material would make it widely be used in the solar greenhouse.

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are emerging as a new type of energy device which have drawn tremendous attention in the scientific community. However, details of the fabrication process, such as about the aging time of the hole transport layer, are worth clarified. Commonly, PSCs were sealed in oxygen conditions over 24 h, but further long-time-aging lacks a deep study. In this article, PSCs were sealed in oxygen from 0 h to 120 h. We have found that trapping centers and accumulated charges in perovskite crystals increased after 48-h aging treatment, leading to an increased recombination rate. As a result, the short circuit current density decreased from initially 20 mA/cm2 to lower than 10 mA/cm2, which was the main reason for the decrease in the power conversion efficiency. The current falling was further checked by the transient photocurrent technique. Although the current dropping was slightly related to differential capacitance, the accumulated charge in the bulk of cells strongly increased by 50% along with the aging time. Compared to 24-h-sealed PSCs, the lifetime of free carriers in both open circuit and short circuit conditions was significantly decreased after 48-h aging treatment, indicating that the decomposition occurred inside perovskite crystals.

Background Alveolar macrophages (AMs) activated into M1 phenotype are involved in the development of lipopolysaccharide-induced acute lung injury (ALI). However, whether AMs express amphiregulin and what roles amphiregulin plays in lipopolysaccharide-induced ALI remain poorly understood. Methods Acute lung injury was induced by intratracheal instillation of lipopolysaccharide in male C57BL/6 mice. Lung injury scores, level of protein, and level of neutrophils in bronchial alveolar lavage fluid of lipopolysaccharide-induced ALI mice were compared with those in mice challenged with recombinant exogenous amphiregulin and antiamphiregulin antibody. Amphiregulin expression in macrophages and neutrophils in bronchial alveolar lavage fluid of lipopolysaccharide-induced ALI mice was determined by using immunofluorescence technique and further detected in M0, M1, and M2 phenotypes of both peritoneal macrophages and AMs. The effect of amphiregulin on apoptosis of MLE12 cells and activation of epithelial growth factor receptor-AKT pathway were, respectively, examined by using flow cytometry and western blotting. Results Alveolar macrophages were found to highly express amphiregulin in ALI mice. Amphiregulin neutralization aggravated, whereas recombinant exogenous amphiregulin attenuated lipopolysaccharide-induced ALI in mice (n = 6). In cultured AMs and peritoneal macrophages, amphiregulin was mainly generated by M1, rather than M0 or M2 phenotype (n = 5). Apoptosis ratio of lipopolysaccharide-challenged MLE12 cells was significantly reduced by recombinant exogenous amphiregulin from 16.60 ± 1.82 to 9.47 ± 1.67% (n = 5) but significantly increased from 17.45 ± 1.13 to 21.67 ± 1.10% (n = 5) after stimulation with supernatant of M1-polarized AM media conditioned with amphiregulin-neutrolizing antibody. Western blotting revealed that amphiregulin activated epithelial growth factor receptor and AKT in the lung tissues and MLE12 cells (n = 5). Conclusions Different from the common notion that classically activated AMs have just a detrimental effect on the lung tissues, the results of this study showed that classically activated AMs also exerted a protective effect on the lung tissues by producing high-level amphiregulin in lipopolysaccharide-induced ALI.