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Apis cerana abansis, widely distributed in the southeastern margin of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, is considered an excellent model to study the phenotype and genetic variation for highland adaptation of Asian honeybee. Herein, we assembled and annotated the chromosome-scale assembly genome of A. cerana abansis with the help of PacBio, Illumina and Hi-C sequencing technologies in order to identify the genome differences between the A. cerana abansis and the published genomes of different A. cerana strains. The sequencing methods, assembly and annotation strategies of A. cerana abansis were more comprehensive than previously published A. cerana genomes. Then, the intraspecific genetic diversity of A. cerana was revealed at the genomic level. We re-identified the repeat content in the genome of A. cerana abansis, as well as the other three A. cerana strains. The chemosensory and immune-related proteins in different A. cerana strains were carefully re-identified, so that 132 odorant receptor subfamilies, 12 gustatory receptor subfamilies and 22 immune-related pathways were found. We also discovered that, compared with other published genomes, the A. ceranaabansis lost the largest number of chemoreceptors compared to other strains, and hypothesized that gene loss/gain might help different A. cerana strains to adapt to their respective environments. Our work contains more complete and precise assembly and annotation results for the A. cerana genome, thus providing a resource for subsequent in-depth related studies.

In this study, we focus on the 3D surface measurement and reconstruction of translucent objects. The proposed approach of surface-shape determination of translucent objects is based on the combination of the projected laser-beam-based sinusoidal structured light and the polarization technique. The theoretical analyses are rigorously completed in this work, including the formation, propagation, and physical features of the generated sinusoidal signal by the designed optical system, the reflection and transmission of the projected monochromatic fringe pattern on the surface of the translucent object, and the formation and the separation of the direct-reflection and the global components of the surface radiance of the observed object. The results of experimental investigation designed in accordance with our theoretical analyses have confirmed that accurate reconstructions can be obtained using the one-shot measurement based on the proposed approach of this study and Fourier transform profilometry, while the monochromaticity and the linearly-polarized characteristic of the projected sinusoidal signal can be utilized by using a polarizer and an optical filter simultaneously for removing the global component, i.e., the noised signal contributed by multiply-scattered photons and the background illuminance in the frame of our approach. Moreover, this study has also revealed that the developed method is capable of getting accurate measurements and reconstructions of translucent objects when the background illumination exists, which has been considered as a challenging issue for 3D surface measurement and reconstruction of translucent objects.

Background: We retrospectively investigated incidence, morbidity, and mortality of neonatal necrotizing enterocolitis in China, with special emphasis on determining the predictors of necrotizing enterocolitis associated mortality. Methods: We identified neonates as having necrotizing enterocolitis if they met the accepted diagnostic criterion. Data pertaining to antenatal period, labor and birth, and the postnatal course of illness were collected. Multivariate analysis and logistic regression were used to analyze the risk factors. Results: There were 1167 cases of necrotizing enterocolitis identified from the 95 participating NICUs in mainland China in 2011, with the incidence of 2.50% and 4.53% in LBW (birth weight

In the present study, a high-performance n-type temperature sensor was developed by a new and facile synthesis approach, which could apply to ambient temperature applications. As impacted by the low sintering temperature of flexible polyimide substrates, a screen printing technology-based method to prepare thermoelectric materials and a low-temperature heat treatment process applying to polymer substrates were proposed and achieved. By regulating the preparation parameters of the high-performance n-type indium oxide material, the optimal proportioning method and the post-treatment process method were developed. The sensors based on thermoelectric effects exhibited a sensitivity of 162.5 μV/°C, as well as a wide range of temperature measurement from ambient temperature to 223.6 °C. Furthermore, it is expected to conduct temperature monitoring in different scenarios through a sensor prepared in masks and mechanical hands, laying a foundation for the large-scale manufacturing and widespread application of flexible electronic skin and devices.

In recent years, the preparation of flexible thermoelectric generators by screen printing has attracted wide attention due to easy processing and high-volume production. In this work, we propose an n-type Ag2Se/polymer polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) film based on screen printing and investigate the effect of PVP on thermoelectric performance by varying the ratio of PVP. When the content ratio of Ag2Se to PVP is 30:1, i.e., PI30, the fabricated PI30 film has the best thermoelectric property. The maximum power factor (PF) of the PI30 is 4.3 μW·m−1·K−2, and conductivity reaches 81% of its initial value at 1500 bending cycles. Then, the film thermoelectric generator (F-TEG) fabricated by PI30 is tested for practical application; the output voltage and the maximum output power are 21.6 mV and 233.3 nW at the temperature difference of 40 K, respectively. This work demonstrates that the use of PVP combined with screen printing to prepare F-TEG is a simple and rapid method, which provides an efficient preparation solution for the development of environmentally friendly and wearable flexible thermoelectric devices.

Based on the data of 82 meteorological stations and six representative hydrological stations in four provinces in Southwest China (Guizhou, Sichuan, Yunnan, Chongqing), this paper uses standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI) and standardized runoff index (SRI) to analyze the spatial and temporal evolution characteristics of drought in the study area from 1968 to 2018. Combined with the Southwest monsoon index and historical drought data, the correlation of drought and the applicability of different drought indices were verified. The results show that: (1) SPEI-12 in Southwest China shows a downward trend from 1968 to 2018, with a linear trend rate of −0.074/10a, and SPEI-3 has a downward trend in four seasons, the maximum linear trend rate being −0.106/10a in autumn;(2) The change in SRI-12 and SRI-24 value directly reflected the decrease in SRI value, indicating that drought events are increasing in recent times, especially in the 21st century (3). Severe drought occurred in the south of Southwest China, as indicated by the increase of drought frequency in this area. The main reason for the variations in the frequency distribution of drought in Southwest China is the combined effect of the change of precipitation and evapotranspiration. (4) The correlation between hydrological drought index and disaster areas is stronger than the correlation between meteorological drought and disaster areas.

La0.8Sr0.2CrO3 (0.2LSCO) thin films were prepared via the RF sputtering method to fabricate thin-film thermocouples (TFTCs), and post-annealing processes were employed to optimize their properties to sense high temperatures. The XRD patterns of the 0.2LSCO thin films showed a pure phase, and their crystallinities increased with the post-annealing temperature from 800 °C to 1000 °C, while some impurity phases of Cr2O3 and SrCr2O7 were observed above 1000 °C. The surface images indicated that the grain size increased first and then decreased, and the maximum size was 0.71 μm at 1100 °C. The cross-sectional images showed that the thickness of the 0.2LSCO thin films decreased significantly above 1000 °C, which was mainly due to the evaporation of Sr2+ and Cr3+. At the same time, the maximum conductivity was achieved for the film annealed at 1000 °C, which was 6.25 × 10−2 S/cm. When the thin films post-annealed at different temperatures were coupled with Pt reference electrodes to form TFTCs, the trend of output voltage to first increase and then decrease was observed, and the maximum average Seebeck coefficient of 167.8 µV/°C was obtained for the 0.2LSCO thin film post-annealed at 1100 °C. Through post-annealing optimization, the best post-annealing temperature was 1000 °C, which made the 0.2LSCO thin film more stable to monitor the temperatures of turbine engines for a long period of time.

This paper aims to study the porous structure and the mechanical properties of fly-ash-based light-weighted porous geopolymer (FBLPG), exploring the feasibility of using it in roof-adaptive end filling technology based on its in-situ foaming characteristics and plastic yielding performance. A porous structure model of FBLPG during both the slurry and solid period was established to study their influence factor. In addition, this study also built a planar structure model in the shape of a honeycomb with bore walls, proving that the bore walls possess the characteristics of isotropic force. FBLPG shows a peculiar plastic yielding performance in the experiment where its stress stays stable with the gradual increase of the deformation, which can guarantee the stability of a filling body under the cycled load from the roof. At the same time, the in-situ foaming process combined with the unique filling technique can make the FBLPG filling body fully in contact with the irregular roof. This roof-adaptive end filling technology makes it a successful application in plugging the 1305 working face, which avoids problems of the low tight-connection ratio and secondary air-leakage channel resulted from the traditional filling technology, effectively improving coal production in terms of safety and high efficiency.

Magnetic skyrmions are topological quasiparticles in magnetization. Recently, as one of their photonic counterparts, Néel-type photonic skyrmions were discovered in evanescent electromagnetic waves. The deep-subwavelength features of the photonic skyrmions suggest their potential in optical imaging quantum technologies and data storage. Here, by exploiting the photonic quantum spin Hall effect of a plasmonic vortex in a trilayered structure, we predict the existence of photonic twisted-Néel- and Bloch-type skyrmions in chiral materials. Their chirality-dependent features can be considered as additional degrees of freedom for future chiral sensing, information processing, and storage technologies. In particular, our findings enrich the formations of photonic skyrmions and reveal a remarkable resemblance of the feature of chiral materials in two seemingly distant fields: photonic skyrmions and magnetic skyrmions.

In this study, both theoretical analysis and experimental validation are carried out for 3D surface measurement under different indoor/outdoor environmental conditions via combining the projected laser-beam-based sinusoidal optical signal, the optical filtering technique, and the single-shot approach based on Fourier transform profilometry. The designed optical signal generator used in this work is capable of ensuring that the projected fringe pattern is monochromatic, higher-contrast, time-invariant, and truly sinusoidal. The proposed and developed optical setup of 3D surface measurement is portable and is used for in-situ experiments of 3D surface measurements that have been carried out under different sunlight illuminations. The experimental results indicate that accurate reconstructions of measured objects with even or varying surface reflectivity can be obtained under windy conditions and strong environmental illuminations such as the background illuminance of 5600–35,000 Lux. The generated fringe-pattern signal is not sensitive to vibrations from environmental influences including the effects of the wind, which has overcome the outdoor-measurement restrictions of the traditional interferometric system and the profilometry approaches based on phase-shifting methods.

This work presents a new approach of surface measurement of human face via the combination of the projection of monochromatic structured light, the optical filtering technique, the polarization technique and the Fourier-transform-based image-processing algorithm. The theoretical analyses and experimental results carried out in this study showed that the monochromatic feature of projected fringe pattern generated using our designed laser-beam-based optical system ensures the use of optical filtering technique for removing the effect of background illumination; the linearly-polarized characteristic makes it possible to employ a polarizer for eliminating the noised signal contributed by multiply-scattered photons; and the high-contrast sinusoidal fringes of the projected structured light provide the condition for accurate reconstruction using one-shot measurement based on Fourier transform profilometry. The proposed method with the portable and stable optical setup may have potential applications of indoor medical scan of human face and outdoor facial recognition without strict requirements of a dark environment and a stable object being observed.

Abstract We present a novel framework that accurately evaluates the extent of a linear project’s effect from the variability of the structure of the plant community while avoiding interference caused by pioneer species and invasive species. This framework was based on the change of dominant species in the plant community affected by construction. TWINSPAN classification and variation of the integrated importance value (IIV) of each plant species group were used to characterize the process of change in the structure of the plant community. Indicator species group and its inflection point were defined and used to judge the extent of the effects of pipelines. Our findings revealed that dominant species in the working area of the pipeline construction were different from the original plant communities. With the disturbance decreased, the composition and structure of the plant communities gradually changed. We considered the outer limit of the area affected by the construction to be the first area in which the plant community reached a steady state and was similar to the original community. The framework could be used in the post eco-environment impact assessment of linear construction to estimate the intensity of disturbance and recovery condition.

Abstract Maximal lifespan of mammalian species, even if closely related, may differ more than 10-fold, however the nature of the mechanisms that determine this variability is unresolved. Here, we assess the relationship between maximal lifespan duration and concentrations of more than 20,000 lipid compounds, measured in 669 tissue samples from 6 tissues of 35 species representing three mammalian clades: primates, rodents and bats. We identify lipids associated with species’ longevity across the three clades, uncoupled from other parameters, such as basal metabolic rate, body size, or body temperature. These lipids clustered in specific lipid classes and pathways, and enzymes linked to them display signatures of greater stabilizing selection in long-living species, and cluster in functional groups related to signaling and protein-modification processes. These findings point towards the existence of defined molecular mechanisms underlying variation in maximal lifespan among mammals.

Background: The accuracy of nasopharyngeal aspirate (NPA) specimens in detecting lower respiratory pathogens remains controversial. The objective of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of aspirates (NPAs) specimen in lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) in children. Methods: The prospective study was designed to collect the data of paired NPAs and bronchoalveolar lavage fluids from children with acute LRTIs from January 2013 to December 2015. All specimens were subjected to pathogen detection: bacterial detection by culture, Mycoplasma pneumoniae (Mp) detection by polymerase chain reaction assay and virus (influenza A and B viruses, parainfluenza virus [PIV] Types 1 and 3, respiratory syncytial virus, and adenovirus) detection by immunofluorescence assay. The diagnostic accuracy analysis of NPAs was stratified by age ≤3 years (n = 194) and >3 years (n = 294). Results: We collected paired specimens from 488 children. The positive rate of pathogen was 61.6%. For Streptococcus pneumoniae, NPA culture had the specificity of 89.9% and negative predictive value of 100% in age ≤3 years, the specificity of 97.2% and negative predictive value of 98.9% in age >3 years. For Mp, the positive predictive values of NPA was 77.4% in children ≤3 years, and 89.1% in children >3 years. For PIV III, NPA specimen had the specificity of 99.8% and negative predictive value of 96.5% in children ≤3 years. For adenovirus, NPA had the specificity of 97.8% and negative predictive value of 98.4% in age ≤3 years, the specificity of 98.9% and negative predictive value of 99.3% in age >3 years. Conclusions: NPAs are less invasive diagnostic respiratory specimens, a negative NPA result is helpful in “rule out” lower airway infection; however, a positive result does not reliably “rule in” the presence of pathogens.

Background: Subthreshold depression (StD) is associated with substantial functional impairments due to depressive symptoms that do not fully meet the diagnosis of major depressive disorder (MDD). Its high incidence in the general population and debilitating symptoms has recently put it at the forefront of mood disorder research. Aim: In this study we investigated common volumetric brain changes in both young and middle-aged StD patients. Methods: Two cohorts of StD patients, young and middle-aged, (n = 57) and matched controls (n = 76) underwent voxel-based morphometry (VBM). Results: VBM analysis found that: 1) compared with healthy controls, StD patients showed decreased gray matter volume (GMV) in the bilateral globus pallidus and precentral gyrus, as well as increased GMV in the left thalamus and right rostral anterior cingulate cortex/medial prefrontal cortex; 2) there is a significant association between Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale scores and the bilateral globus pallidus (negative) and left thalamus (positive); 3) there is no interaction between age (young vs. middle-age) and group (StD vs. controls). Conclusions: Our findings indicate significant VBM brain changes in both young and middle-aged individuals with StD. Individuals with StD, regardless of age, may share common neural characteristics.

Inflammation after stroke is the main cause of cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury. Cascading events after injury can lead to cell death. Heat shock protein 70 and other endogenous injury-signaling molecules are released by damaged cells, which can lead to systemic stress reactions. Protecting the brain through repair begins with the stress-injury-repair signaling chain. This study aimed to verify whether acupuncture acts through this chain to facilitate effective treatment of ischemic stroke. Rat models of cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury were established by Zea Longa's method, and injury sites were identified by assessing neurological function, 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride staining, and hematoxylin-eosin staining. Electroacupuncture at acupoints Baihui (DU20) and Zusanli (ST36) was performed in the model rats with dilatational waves, delivered for 20 minutes a day at 2–100 Hz and an amplitude of 2 mA. We analyzed the blood serum from the rats and found that inflammatory cytokines affected the levels of adrenotrophin and heat shock protein 70, each of which followed a similar bimodal curve. Specifically, electroacupuncture lowered the peak levels of adrenocorticotrophic hormone and heat shock protein 70. Thus, electroacupuncture was able to inhibit excessive stress, reduce inflammation, and promote the repair of neurons, which facilitated healing of ischemic stroke.

In order to study the variation of shale gas composition as well as the carbon isotopic fractionation characteristics of terrestrial shale in the Ordos Basin, and ultimately establish a prediction model for shale gas production in order to monitor production capacity and effectively manage the development of shale gas, selected core samples from production wells were obtained for desorption analyses of their corresponding gas composition and carbon isotope. The desorption results showed that the methane content of the desorption gas is relatively low, the drying coefficient (C1/C1–5) ranges from 0.6 to 0.8, and the carbon isotope is relatively negative compared to other places. By means of the increasing desorption and production time, the drying coefficient and carbon isotope values of such samples show obvious carbon fractionation during gas adsorption/diffusion processes. The changes are more evident with increasing heavy hydrocarbons (C2+) and heavier carbon isotope values. The drying coefficient shows good correlation (R2 > 0.8) with the content of shale gas desorption per unit mass. A gas production prediction model was proposed to predict gas production throughout the life of the production well based on the relationship between the drying coefficients and gas production volume in the Ordos Basin.

Reversible manipulation of cell-cell interactions has potential applications in basic research and cell-based therapy. Here the authors control cell-cell adhesion in vitrowith light, by modifying the surface sugars of cells to display β-cyclodextrin, which recognises one isoform of light-isomerizable azobenzene linkers.

Background Ferrosoferric oxide (Fe 3 O 4 ) nanoparticles are a commonly used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) reagent. Luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) is highly expressed on the surfaces of tumors, but its expression is low or absent in the corresponding normal tissues, allowing it to be used for targeted imaging and treatment. Methods We prepared Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles using a chemical co-precipitation method, performed coupling with chitosan to prepare LHRH-Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles, and explored the application value of LHRH-Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles in targeted imaging and treatment of breast tumors through in vitro and in vivo experiments. Results The particle size of the LHRH-Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles was 10 nm, and they could be taken in by human MCF-7 breast cancer cells. The nanomaterial had low cytotoxicity. In vivo MRI experiments showed that LHRH-Fe 3 O 4 could effectively concentrate on the tumor under the action of a magnetic field. It also had a good negative enhancement effect that significantly reduced the signal intensity of the T 2 field, allowing it to be used as a contrast agent of the T 2 field. Conclusion LHRH-Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles serve the purpose of targeting contrast agents to target sites and are expected to be used for targeted imaging and treatment of cancers with high LHRH expression.

Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) is a representative tropical oil crop that is sensitive to low temperature. Oil palm can experience cold damage when exposed to low temperatures for a long period. During these unfavorable conditions, a series of gene induction/repression and physico-chemical changes occur in oil palm. To better understand the link between these events, we investigated the expression levels of various genes (including COR410, COR413, CBF1, CBF2, CBF3, ICE1-1, ICE1-2, ICE1-4, SIZ1-1, SIZ1-2, ZAT10, ZAT12) and the accumulation of osmolytes (proline, malondialdehyde and sucrose). Likewise, the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) in oil palm under cold stress (4°C, 8°C and 12°C) was examined. The results showed a clear link among the expression of CBFs (especially CBF1 and CBF3) and the all genes examined under cold stress (12°C). The expression of CBF1 and CBF2 also exhibited a positive link with the accumulation of sucrose and proline under cold stress in oil palm. At 4°C, the proline content exhibited a very significant correlation with electrolyte leakage in oil palm. The results of this study provide necessary information regarding the mechanism of the response and adaption of oil palm to cold stress. Additionally, they offer clues for the selection or development of cold-tolerant cultivars from the available germplasms of oil palm.

The stability of coal wall in deep longwall face has always been a research hotspot. In this study, pure vibration signals in the coal wall during the operation of mining machinery were obtained for the first time, and their energy is mainly concentrated in 7–12 Hz. Besides, based on the law of stress wave propagation, with the coal wall of deep longwall taken as the research object, the theory of dynamic damage in coal wall was put forward from the perspective of dynamics. The results show that the loading and unloading waves generated by the mining machinery disturbance will be reflected and transmitted at the interface with different impedances, resulting in the formation of multiple unloading and loading waves and multiple tensile stress zones and stress concentration zones. These stress concentration zones tend to induce tensile stress generation and coal failure. As a result, the coal undergoes zonal failure and spalling. Through the vibration test of coal, it is found that the crack development of the coal sample can be divided into five stages, and the phenomena of zonal failure and spalling occur, which is consistent with the theory. At the same time, the sample that has gone through a large disturbance cannot be further damaged by a small disturbance, which is verified by the damage statistical constitutive model based on the isotropy hypothesis.

Tungsten-rhenium thin-film thermocouples (TFTCs) are designed by finite element analysis (FEA) and fabricated based on radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering technology to meet the requirement of high temperature measurement in narrow space. The changes with thickness and thermoelectric property (including Seebeck coefficient, repeatability error) of TFTCs are investigated under different heat treatment time and temperature by the result of morphology observation and heat recycling experiment analysis to optimize heat treatment process parameters. The repeatability error of tungsten-rhenium TFTCs with heat treatment at 300 °C for 6 hours can reach to ±1.028%. The electromotive force behavior (EMF) experiments shows the average Seebeck coefficient of heat treated tungsten-rhenium TFTCs reach to 18.92 µV/°C when the temperature difference is 1165 °C (hot junction temperature is 1327 °C) in inert gases protection environment. The thermoelectric service properties of tungsten-rhenium TFTCs sensor have been improved to be a viable replacement candidate for high temperature measurement in narrow space through this technology.

In order to meet the defect-detection requirements of chips in high-precision surface mount technology (SMT) equipment widely used in the electronic industry, a chip appearance defect-detection method based on multi-order fractional discrete wavelet packet decomposition (DWPD) is proposed in this paper. First, lead and body regions were extracted from chip images using the image segmentation algorithm with asymmetric Laplace mixture model and connected-component labelling algorithm; then, the texture feature of the region to be inspected was extracted with the multi-order fractional DWPD algorithm and the geometric and gradient features were combined to form image features of the region to be inspected before the subset of features was selected from image features with the feature selection algorithm based on the variational Bayesian Gaussian mixture model; and finally, the support vector machine was used to determine whether the region to be inspected was defective. An experiment was conducted on a data set captured in high-precision SMT equipment. The accuracy of the proposed chip appearance defect-detection method is about 93%, which is more accurate than existing ones.

The main purpose of the paper Li et al (2020 New J. Phys. 22 113019) is to determine the common properties of electronic waves and electromagnetic waves. The electronic Maxwell’s equations are identical to the Dirac equation, describing both electrons and positrons.

A novel light-mass high Mn-Al austenitic wear-resistant steel was selected as the research object. The microstructure and precipitates were examined by X-ray diffraction (XRD), optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS). Effect of heat treatments on microstructure and mechanical properties of the novel steel was studied. Results show that the optimum heat treatment is water toughening at 1050℃ for 1h and aging at 550℃ for 2h, air cooling. Under the condition of the optimum heat treatment, fine (Fe,Mn)3AlC carbides which have a perovskite structure are found to precipitate within the austenite matrix. The fine carbides not only strengthen the austenitic matrix, but its mechanical properties are also improved significantly. The hardness, strength, impact toughness of the experiment steel under the optimal heat treatment reach the best match with a tensile strength of 825MPa, a yield strength of 574MPa, a impact toughness values (V-notch) of 156J/cm2, a surface hardness of 271HB. Compared with that of the conventional treatment, the yield strength and hardness increase by 40.0% and 32.2%, respectively.

WRe26-In2O3 (WRe26 (tungsten-26% rhenium) and In2O3 thermoelectric materials) thin film thermocouples (TFTCs) have been fabricated based on magnetron sputtering technology, which can be used in temperature measurement. Many annealing processes were studied to promote the sensitivity of WRe26-In2O3 TFTCs. The optimal annealing process of the thermocouple under this kind of RF magnetron sputtering method was proposed after analyzing the properties of In2O3 films and the thermoelectric voltage of TFTCs at different annealing processes. The calibration results showed that the WRe26-In2O3 TFTCs achieved a thermoelectric voltage of 123.6 mV at a temperature difference of 612.9 K, with a sensitivity of up to 201.6 µV/K. Also, TFTC kept a stable thermoelectric voltage output at 973 K for 20 min and at 773 K for two hours. In general, the WRe26-In2O3 TFTCs developed in this work have great potential for practical applications. In future work, we will focus on the thermoelectric stability of TFTCs at higher temperatures.

Residual strength of corroded textile-reinforced concrete (TRC) is evaluated using the deep learning-based method, whose feasibility is demonstrated by experiment. Compared to the traditional method, the proposed method does not need to know the climatic conditions in which the TRC exists. Firstly, the information about the faster region-based convolutional neural networks (Faster R-CNN) is described briefly, and then procedures to prepare datasets are introduced. Twenty TRC specimens were fabricated and divided into five groups that were treated to five different corrosion degrees corresponding to five different residual strengths. Five groups of images of microstructure features of these TRC specimens with five different residual strengths were obtained with portable digital microscopes in various circumstances. With the obtained images, datasets required to train, validate, and test the Faster R-CNN were prepared. To enhance the precision of residual strength evaluation, parameter analysis was conducted for the adopted model. Under the best combination of considered parameters, the mean average precision for the residual strength evaluation of the five groups of the TRC is 98.98%. The feasibility of the trained model was finally verified with new images and the procedures to apply the presented method were summarized. The paper provides new insight into evaluating the residual strength of structural materials, which would be helpful for safety evaluation of engineering structures.

Cracks are often the most intuitive indicators for assessing the condition of in-service structures. Intelligent detection methods based on regular convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have been widely applied to the field of crack detection in recently years; however, these methods exhibit unsatisfying performance on the detection of out-of-plane cracks. To overcome this drawback, a new type of region-based CNN (R-CNN) crack detector with deformable modules is proposed in the present study. The core idea of the method is to replace the traditional regular convolution and pooling operation with a deformable convolution operation and a deformable pooling operation. The idea is implemented on three different regular detectors, namely the Faster R-CNN, region-based fully convolutional networks (R-FCN), and feature pyramid network (FPN)-based Faster R-CNN. To examine the advantages of the proposed method, the results obtained from the proposed detector and corresponding regular detectors are compared. The results show that the addition of deformable modules improves the mean average precisions (mAPs) achieved by the Faster R-CNN, R-FCN, and FPN-based Faster R-CNN for crack detection. More importantly, adding deformable modules enables these detectors to detect the out-of-plane cracks that are difficult for regular detectors to detect.

In order to help the pursuer find its advantaged control policy in a one-to-one game in space, this paper proposes an innovative pre-trained fuzzy reinforcement learning algorithm, which is conducted in the x, y, and z channels separately. Compared with the previous algorithms applied in ground games, this is the first time reinforcement learning has been introduced to help the pursuer in space optimize its control policy. The known part of the environment is utilized to help the pursuer pre-train its consequent set before learning. An actor-critic framework is built in each moving channel of the pursuer. The consequent set of the pursuer is updated through the gradient descent method in fuzzy inference systems. The numerical experimental results validate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm in improving the game ability of the pursuer.

To date, the wave nature of electron has been widely researched, together with its similarity to optics. To unify electronic waves and electromagnetic waves, we establish four equations analogous to Maxwell’s equations by expressing the Dirac equation in terms of the quaternions. We develop some fundamental theories from the electronic version of Maxwell’s equations. In practice, solving electron wave problem is convenient without appearance of quantum operators such as Pauli matrices. The benefit is its potential in the analysis and applications of diverse electron beams, for example, phase-shift control. Moreover, physical quantities represented by electronic vector fields are notably similar to those in optics, making it possible to apply some ideas developed in optics in the research of electron.

This paper aims to determine the electric field intensity in the emulsion dehydration from the microscopic perspective. For this purpose, molecular dynamics (MD) simulation and density functional theory (DFT) were adopted to model the surface feature, hydrophilic groups, and hydrophobic groups of three types of Span surfactants, namely, Span 20, Span 60, and Span 80. Considering the stability of the microemulsion and application of electric fields, the structural changes and the nature of the surfactants were discussed in details under the external electric field. The results show that the simulated interfacial tension agrees well with the experimental data, an evidence to the rationality and reliability of the simulation system; the surfactant hydrophilic groups could form medium-strong hydrogen bonds with water; the deformation of surfactant space structure enhanced the role of hydrogen bonding under the electric field, thus reducing the emulsion stability. The research findings shed new light on the molecular simulation of Span surfactants.

A better understanding of the runoff variations contributes to a better utilization of water resources and water conservancy planning. In this paper, we analyzed the runoff changes in the Yangtze River Basin (YRB) including the spatiotemporal characteristics of intra-annual variation, the trend, the mutation point, and the period of annual runoff using various statistical methods. We also investigated how changes in the precipitation and temperature could impact on runoff. We found that the intra-annual runoff shows a decreasing trend from 1954 to 2008 and from upper stream to lower stream. On the annual runoff sequence, the upstream runoff has a high consistency and shows an increasing diversity from upper stream to lower stream. The mutation points of the annual runoff in the YRB are years 1961 and 2004. Annual runoff presents multitime scales for dry and abundance changes. Hurst values show that the runoffs at the main control stations all have Hurst phenomenon (the persistence of annual runoff). The sensitivity analyses of runoff variation to precipitation and temperature were also conducted. Our results show that the response of runoff to precipitation is more sensitive than that to temperature. The response of runoff to temperature is only one-third of the response to precipitation. A decrease in temperature may offset the impact of decreasing rainfall on runoff, while an increase in both rainfall and temperature leads to strongest runoff variations in the YRB.

High-throughput experiment refers to carry out a large number of tests and attain various characterizations in one experiment with highly integrated sample or facility, widely adopted in biology, medicine, and materials areas. Consequently, the storing and treating of data bring new challenges because of large amount of real-time data, especially high-resolution images. To improve the storing and treating efficiency of high-throughput image, a knowledge-embedded lossless image compressing method is proposed. Based on the similarity of a series of high-throughput images, it accomplishes the high compression ratio according to the difference between the target images and one reference image. Meanwhile, the knowledge extracted from the image, such as edge information and differences from the reference image, is recorded into the compressed file. The key steps include similarity comparison, edge detection, coordinate transformation, and dictionary encoding. The method has been successfully applied into high-throughput corrosion experiment facility, a typical intelligent cyber-physical system. To evaluate the performance, corrosion metal, face, and flower images are compressed by our method and other lossless image compression methods. The results show that our method has fairly high compression ratio. Moreover, the embedded knowledge can be read directly from the compressed file to support further study.

C9H6Cl2N2O, monoclinic, P21/n (no. 14), a = 15.597(6) Å, b = 3.9346(16) Å, c = 15.614(6) Å, β = 101.834(4)°, V = 937.8(6) Å3, Z = 4, Rgt(F) = 0.0360, wRref(F2) = 0.1019, T = 296(2) K.

In2O3/ITO thin film thermocouples for high temperature measurement (up to 1250 °C) were prepared by radio frequency magnetron sputtering method with different annealing temperatures from 1100 °C to 1250 °C. The changes with microstructure characteristics and the thickness of the thin film thermocouples were investigated as a function of sintering temperature in the range of 1100 °C -1250 °C and annealing time from 2 hrs to 10 hrs at 1200 °C by using XRD and SEM techniques. The thermoelectric output was measured and its results indicated that this thermocouple had a steady and constant voltage output from room temperature to 1247 oC. The thermoelectric voltage and Seebeck coefficient of In2O3/ITO thermocouples measured at 1247 oC were 166.7 mV and 136.3 μV/oC, respectively.

We report the preparation of epitaxial La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 thin films grown on (001)-oriented 0.72Pb(Mg1∕3Nb2∕3)O3-0.28PbTiO3 substrates by the sol–gel technique. The phase structure, magnetic properties and magnetoresistance of the samples are investigated by using high solution X-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy, physical property measurement system, respectively. The La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 thin films display a well-defined hysteresis loop and typical ferromagnetism behavior at lower temperature. High magnetoresistance at 5T of 42% appears at 227K for La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 thin film.

To improve biofilter performance, the microbial community of a biofilter must be clearly defined. In this study, the performance of a lab-scale polyurethane biofilter for treating waste gas with low loads of nitrobenzene (NB) (< 20 g m-3 h-1) was investigated when using different empty bed residence times (EBRT) (64, 55.4 and 34 s, respectively). In addition, the variations of the bacterial community in the biofilm on the longitudinal distribution of the biofilters were analysed by using Illumina MiSeq high-throughput sequencing. The results showed that NB waste gas was successfully degraded in the biofilter. High-throughput sequencing data suggested that the phylum Actinobacteria and genus Rhodococcus played important roles in the degradation of NB. The variations of the microbial community were attributed to the different intermediate degradation products of NB in each layer. The strains identified in this study were potential candidates for purifying waste gas effluents containing NB.

Water imbibition, conductivity measurements, and ion identification were performed to investigate ion diffusion behavior between slick water and shale for large-scale hydraulic fracturing. The results indicated that there was strong ion exchange between water and shale. The ion concentration in water increases with fracture complexity and is dependent on the salinity of fracturing fluids. This implies that fracturing effects could be forecast from flow-back fluid ion concentrations after large-scale slick water fracturing. Higher levels of ion diffusion imply the presence of larger fracturing areas and higher level of fracture density for a similar reservoir. The mechanism of ion diffusion and the corresponding effects on IOR (increased oil recovery) based on a field example are discussed.