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In this study, polypyrrole was prepared by in situ chemical oxidation polymerization and deposited on the surface of the PTFE membrane. The surface morphology of the membrane shown that the membrane fouling degree of the modified membrane was much lower than that of the original membrane. Besides, the contact angle value decreased from 107.20° to 72.62°, and its hydrophilicity was significantly enhanced. It took humic acid (HA) as a typical representative membrane foulants, and static and dynamic HA adsorption experiments were carried out on the membranes before and after modification. In the static adsorption experiment of HA, the adsorption capacity of an original membrane was 1.28 times that of a modified membrane. In the dynamic antifouling experiment of HA, the rejection of the modified membrane to HA was 62.99%, while that of the original membrane was only 39.82%. In addition, the experimental results showed that the modified membrane had a higher flux recovery rate, which was 1.18 times that of the original membrane. This study proves that the modified membrane has an extraordinary antifouling effect.

Sheep birth and weaning weights indicate their growth and survival. Thus, identifying molecular genetic markers for early body weight is important in sheep breeding. Pleomorphic adenoma gene 1 (PLAG1) is important for regulating birth weight and body length in mammals; however, its relationship with sheep body weight remains unknown. Here, the 3′-untranslated region (3′-UTR) of the Hu sheep PLAG1 gene was cloned, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were screened, genotype–early body weight relationships were analyzed, and the possible molecular mechanism was explored. PLAG1 3′-UTR sequences with five forms of base sequences plus poly(A) tails were detected in Hu sheep and the g.8795C>T mutation was identified. Luciferase reporter assay indicated that the g.8795C>T mutation influenced PLAG1 post-transcriptional activity. miRBase prediction showed that the g.8795C>T mutation was located in the miR-139 seed sequence binding region, and miR-139 overexpression significantly decreased both PLAG1-CC and PLAG1-TT activities. Moreover, the luciferase activity of PLAG1-CC was significantly lower than that of the PLAG1-TT, but miR-139 inhibition substantially increased both PLAG1-CC and PLAG1-TT luciferase activities, suggesting that PLAG1 is the target gene of miR-139. Thus, the g.8795C>T mutation upregulates PLAG1 expression by weakening its binding with miR-139, promoting PLAG1 expression, and increasing Hu sheep birth and weaning weights.

The psychological well-being of pregnant women following assisted reproductive has increasingly gained attention in recent years. Anxiety and depression may be associated to pregnancy outcomes. This study aims to determine whether peer support and the WeChat group platform will reduce anxiety and depression among in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET) women.In the present randomized controlled study, 296 patients with confirmed clinical pregnancy following IVF-ET will be randomly assigned to receive standard intervention support or WeChat peer support on a 1:1 basis. The levels of anxiety and depression are the primary endpoints. Assessments will be performed at baseline measurements, first trimester, second trimester, and third trimester, and data will be collected.This study has been approved as ethical by the affiliated hospital of Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine's Reproductive Ethics Committee. Each patient will sign a written statement of informed permission. All information and biological samples will be legally protected. A peer-reviewed academic journal will publish the findings of this investigation.Given the inconvenience of visits due to the current pandemic of COVID-19, this study addresses the patient's visit needs by combining WeChat, the most widely used social software in China, with peer support, while helping improve maternal anxiety, depression, and pregnancy outcomes following IVF-ET.

In the water environment such as lakes, there is a phenomenon that the sediment and overlying water are polluted at the same time. In this study, A microbial electrochemical system with an embedded active electrode was developed for simultaneous removal of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in sediment and antibiotics in overlying water by in-situ utilization of electrons. In the closed-circuit group, the pyrene concentration in sediment decreased from 9.94 to 2.08 mg/L in 96 d, and the sulfamethoxazole concentration in water decreased from 5.12 to 1.12 mg/L in 168 h. These values were 18.71 % and 31.21 % higher, respectively, than those of the open-circuit group. The pyrene degradation pathway may be from polycyclic aromatic substances to low-cyclic aromatic hydrocarbons via successive breakdown of benzene rings. Multiple metabolites produced by reduction verified that SMX or its intermediates were reductively degraded in water. On the active electrode, the relative abundances of Acetobacterium and Piscinibacter, which were genera related to SMX degradation, was promoted, while the electricity-producing genus Pseudomonas was inhibited. ccdA, pksS, torC, and acsE genes related to extracellular electron transport may accelerate electron transport. Electrons could be transferred to SMX under the influence of proteins involved in extracellular electron transport, and SMX could be degraded reductively as an electron acceptor by microbes. Generation of electrons and in-situ utilization for simultaneous removal of solid-liquid two-phase pollutants will provide mechanistic insight into pollutant biodegradation by microbial electrochemistry and promote the development of sustainable bioremediation strategies for surface water.

The size effects of metal catalysts have been widely investigated to optimize their catalytic activity and selectivity. However, the size-controllable synthesis of uniform supported metal nanoparticles without surfactants and/or additives remains a great challenge. Herein, we developed a green, surfactant-free, and universal strategy to tailor the sizes of uniform Pd nanoparticles on metal oxides by an electroless chemical deposition method via defect engineering of supports. The nucleation and growth mechanism suggest a strong electrostatic interaction between the Pd precursor and low-defective CeO2 and a weak reducing capacity for low-defective CeO2, resulting in small Pd nanoparticles. Conversely, large Pd nanoparticles were formed on a highly defective CeO2 surface. Combined with various ex situ and in situ characterizations, a higher intrinsic activity of Pd for the CO2-to-CO hydrogenation was found on large Pd nanoparticles with higher electron density owing to their stronger H2 dissociation ability and H-spillover effects, as well as the larger number of oxygen vacancies generated in situ for CO2 activation under hydrogenation conditions.

Aging-in-Community (AIC) has been the preferred way to aging. However, there is a mismatch between the communities' design and the needs of older adults. With the rapidly growing aging population g...

In recent years, soil microbial fuel cells (Soil-MFCs) have attracted attention due to their simultaneous electricity production and contaminant removal functions, but soil electron transfer resistance limits their contaminant removal effectiveness. To overcome the above-mentioned drawbacks, in this study, a dual-chamber Soil-MFC was constructed using atrazine (ATR) as the target contaminant, and the electrochemical performance of Soil-MFC and ATR removal were enhanced by semiconductor mineral addition. Analysis of atrazine was performed in soil using HPLC and GC-MS, and analysis of metallic minerals using XPS. Anodic microorganisms were determined using high-throughput sequencing technology. The results showed that the addition of Fe3O4 increased the maximum output voltage of the device by 2.56 times, and the degradation efficiency of atrazine in the soil to 63.35%, while the addition of MnO2 increased the internal resistance of the device and affected the current output, and these changes were closely related to the ion dissolution rate of the semiconductor minerals. In addition, the addition of both minerals significantly increased the relative abundance of both Proteobacteria and Bacteroidota, and Fe3O4 simultaneously promoted the significant enrichment of Firmicutes, indicating that the semiconductor minerals significantly enhanced the enrichment of electroactive microorganisms near the anode. The structural equation modeling indicated that the semiconductor minerals achieved efficient degradation of ATR in the soil through a synergistic mechanism of metal ion leaching and microbial community structure changes. The detection of ATR and its degradation products in soil revealed that the degradation of ATR mainly included: (1) hydrolysis of atrazine by microorganisms to generate dehydroxylated atrazine (HYA); (2) reduced to diethyl atrazine (DEA) and diisopropyl atrazine (DIA) by extracellular electron reduction and re-dechlorination and hydrolysis to HYA. Semiconductor minerals make an important contribution to promoting microbial activity and extracellular electron reduction processes. The results of this study strengthen the power production and ATR removal efficiency of the Soil-MFC system and provide important theoretical support for the on-site removal of organic pollutants and the sustainable application of converting biomass energy into electricity.

Prior empirical research investigating the relationship between chief executive officer (CEO) tenure and firms’ financial performance has shown inconclusive results. Based on arguments of agency and behavioral agency theories, we suggest that this relationship is nuanced and may vary depending on CEO pay and board monitoring. In response to these arguments, we meta-analytically test 385 studies ( n = 1,029,602). We find that CEO tenure is positively related to firms’ financial performance. This positive relationship is enhanced when CEOs receive higher cash compensation or hold more stock ownership. On the other hand, the above positive relationship becomes weaker when CEOs receive higher long-term incentives or when the firm has more independent board directors. These findings suggest that CEO pay and board monitoring, or agency mechanisms in general, can offer new research avenues to help explore boundary conditions of the CEO tenure and firms’ financial performance relationship.

Although accumulating evidence has revealed that metallothioneins (MTs) and its family member MT2A are strongly linked to the risk of various solid tumors, researches on the occurrence and development of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) have rarely been investigated. Here, we constructed a lentiviral vector with MT2A over-expression and the interfering plasmids with MT2A expression inhibition to study the influence of MT2A on the bioactivities of HL60 cells. After cells were infected with a lentiviral vector containing the MT2A gene, both transcription and translation levels of MT2A were significantly increased in the over-expressed group in comparison with control groups. In vitro experiments, all results demonstrated that cell reproductive capacity was inhibited, but cell apoptosis rate was significantly increased. Together, the expression of apoptosis-related protein Bcl2 was remarkably reduced, while a high expression level of Bax protein was detected. Further experiments revealed that up-regulation of MT2A induced cell apoptosis and promoted G2/M phase arrest. The mechanism may be associated with down-regulated p-IκB-α and cyclinD1 expression and up-regulated IκB-α expression in the nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-κB) pathway. On the contrary, MT2A expression was down-regulated by interfering plasmids. We found that cell proliferative potential was notably increased in the interfering group compared with the negative and untreated group. What's more, MT2A may be closely related to AML cell proliferation and function via the NF-κB signal pathway.

By direct electrospinning poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF)/Si3N4 blend solution on the Na2Ni[Fe(CN)6] electrode, a flexible separator@electrode combination is obtained. This combination is closely cross-linked by the -CH2 CF2- chain of β-PVDF in the separator and electrode, which delivers unique advantages in flexibility, thermal stability, tensile strength and interfacial resistance. Meanwhile, the PVDF/Si3N4 separator has a higher porosity (84.2%) and ionic conductivity (4.1 × 10−3 S cm−1), making the combination display an excellent electrochemical performance with a high initial coulombic efficiency of 96.8%, capacity retention rate of 92.2% after 503 cycles and rate capability of 78 mAh g − 1 at 5 C.

Objective The aim of this study was to compare whether pregnancy outcomes of the letrozole-induced endometrial preparation protocol in frozen-thawed embryo transfer (FET) cycles differed between oligo-ovulatory and anovulatory women with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS).Materials and Methods In a retrospective study, women with PCOS who had undergone letrozole-induced FET at a university-affiliated fertility clinic from February 2014 to October 2020 were identified. The primary end point was live birth rate (LBR) per embryo transfer. Propensity score matching (PSM) and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to control for the relevant confounders.Results A total of 652 women with PCOS undergoing letrozole-induced FET were included in the final analysis. 363 of these women had oligo-ovulatory periods, while 289 had anovulatory periods. PSM analysis showed that LBR did not differ between groups (36.8% in oligo-ovulatory group vs. 32.8% in anovulatory group, P=0.431). Meanwhile, after PSM, the anovulatory group used extra gonadotrophin (Gn) for a longer duration (6.5±2.3 vs. 5.4±1.9, p=0.004, after PSM) and experienced a higher cycle cancellation rate (9.2% vs. 3.4%, p=0.028, after PSM) than the oligo-ovulatory group. Additionally, there were significantly lower crude odds of total pregnancy loss per positive pregnancy among oligo-ovulatory women than among anovulatory women (15.4% vs. 38.3%, p=0.001). Nevertheless, after controlling for potential confounding factors, LBR was significantly higher in anovulatory than oligo-ovulatory women [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 1.57, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.08 to 2.29, p=0.018]. Furthermore, the pregnancy loss rate (PLR) among the oligo-ovulatory group remained lower than those among the anovulatory group [aOR 0.23, 95%CI 0.12 to 0.44, p < 0.001].Conclusions PCOS women may experience different effects on pregnancy outcomes depending on their ovulation dysfunction patterns. Despite adjustment for confounding factors, those with oligo-ovulatory PCOS who underwent letrozole-induced FET had a higher LBR and lower PLR compared with those with anovulatory PCOS. This may indicate that when oligo-ovulation is detected, PCOS patients should be intervened in time to conceive as soon as possible. Prospective studies must be conducted in the future to verify our findings.

Preferred surface integrity around the hole wall is one of the key parameters to ensure the optimized performance of hole components for nickel-based superalloy. The novel hole cold expansion technique introduced in this work involves the laser texturing process (LTP) followed by the Hertz contact rotary expansion process (HCREP), where the cylindrical sleeve is the critical component connecting the above-mentioned two processes. The purpose of LTP is to obtain the most optimized strengthened cylindrical sleeve surface, preparing for the following HCREP. Hereafter, the HCREP acts on the nickel-based hole components by the rotary extruding movements of the strengthened sleeve and conical mandrel tools. As compared to the as-received GH4169 material, the surface integrity characterization for the strengthened hole shows that a plastic deformation layer with finer grains, higher micro-hardness, deeper compressive residual stress (CRS) distribution and lower surface roughness is formed at the hole wall. In addition, transmission electron microscope (TEM) observations reveal the microstructure evolution mechanism in the strengthened hole. Grain refinement near the hole wall is regarded as the fundamental reason for improving the surface integrity, where the aggregated dislocations and recombined dislocation walls can be clearly observed.

The machinability of 7055 aluminum alloy with wide temperature range is examined, with focus on the three cutting forces, surface quality and work hardening of the material under low, medium, and high temperatures. The results demonstrate that, under low temperature, the work hardening depth of 7055 aluminum alloy is almost insensitive to the cutting speed, whereas at a higher cutting speed, the work hardening degree of the material first decreases and then increases; both the work hardening degree and hardening depth are significantly positively correlative to the cutting depth: the work hardening degree is positively correlative, though not so significantly, to the feed rate, while the work hardening depth is insensitive to the feed rate and remains at 100 μm in all cases. Under high temperature, the work hardening degree of 7055 aluminum alloy is positively correlative to the cutting speed; at depths smaller than 80 μm below the machined surface, the work hardening degree is negatively correlative to the cutting depth; at depths larger than 80 μm below the cutting surface, the work hardening degree of the material becomes significantly positively correlative to the cutting depth. A mathematical model of three cutting forces in dry cutting with wide temperature range is established based on wide temperature-range dynamic impact experimental results and the orthogonal cutting model, and modified using the LMSE (least mean square error) principle. The errors between the predicted and experimental three cutting forces, after modification, are all smaller than 10%, which is within the permissible limit of error. This verifies that the modified three cutting force prediction model can predict cutting forces accurately.

An improved precipitation method - electrostatic spray precipitation is proposed, which is characterized by introducing the electrostatic atomization effect into the precipitation process. The results display that electrostatic atomization can effectively reduce the size of reaction solution droplets under electrostatic force, the growth process of crystal nucleus is optimized, and then flake cluster MnCO3 is obtained, which further promotes the formation of homogeneous MnO nanoparticles. Compared with the agglomerated MnO without electrostatic action, homogeneous MnO nanoparticles exhibit better cycling stability (787 mAh g−1 after 100 cycles at 377.5 mA g−1) and rate capability (471 mAh g−1 at 3020 mA g−1).

Digital Twin has become a frontier research topic in recent years and the important development direction of intelligent manufacturing. For numerical control machining, a Digital Twin system can be used as an intelligent monitoring and analysis center by reflecting the real machining process in a virtual environment. The machining simulation is the key technology to realize this kind of application. However, existing machining simulation systems are designed for off-line situation that cannot be used directly in Digital Twin environment. The challenges for machining simulation are analyzed and explained in this article: (1) complete process data representation in simulation system; (2) executing in cooperating with computer numerical control system; (3) more efficient simulation algorithm. In order to meet these challenges, a new machining simulation system is proposed. STEP-NC standard is used to save complete process data exported from the computer-aided manufacturing system and synchronization algorithm is developed based on the communication data of computer numerical control system. Most importantly, an optimized tri-dexel-based machining simulation algorithm is developed to perform high efficiency that can follow the real machining process. Finally, a Digital Twin system for NC machining is presented that has been tested and verified in a workshop located in COMAC (Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China Ltd).

Background/aim: To investigate the correlation between the Glasgow-Blatchford score, shock index, and Forrest classification in patients with peptic ulcer bleeding PUB . Materials and methods: A total of 955 patients with PUB were assessed using the Glasgow-Blatchford score and shock index, as well as the Forrest classification based on their gastroscopy results. The correlation between the Glasgow-Blatchford score and shock index was determined using scatter plot analysis, and the correlation between the Glasgow-Blatchford score or shock index and Forrest classification was determined using Spearman's analysis. Results: Both the Glasgow-Blatchford score and shock index showed the highest values in patients with Forrest class IIa. The GlasgowBlatchford score was significantly higher than patients with Forrest class Ib/IIc/III P < 0.05 , and the shock index was significantly higher than patients with Forrest class Ib/IIb/III P < 0.05 . A positive correlation was observed between the Glasgow-Blatchford score and shock index, at r = 0.427 P < 0.001 . A negative correlation was observed between the Glasgow-Blatchford score and Forrest classification, at r = -0.111 P < 0.01 , and between the shock index and Forrest classification, at r = -0.138 P < 0.01 . Conclusion: A moderate correlation was observed between the Glasgow-Blatchford score and shock index in patients with PUB, and the correlation between the Forrest classification and Glasgow-Blatchford score or shock index was relatively low.

Purpose Aurora kinase A (AURKA), which belongs to the serine/threonine protein kinase family, has been identified as a key driver of the genesis and progression of diverse tumors. The aim of this study was to determine the clinical significance of AURKA in patients with hepatoblastoma (HB) and the effect of inhibiting AURKA in the HB cell line HuH-6. Methods The expression of AURKA in HB tissue and adjacent normal liver tissue was detected by immunohistochemistry. Then, statistical analysis was performed to evaluate the association between AURKA expression and the clinicopathological characteristics of HB. The effect of AURKA knockdown on cell viability was assessed by CCK-8 assay. EdU and CCK-8 assays, Western blotting, flow cytometry, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were used to examine the effect of alisertib (ALS), a selective AURKA small-molecule inhibitor, on the cell cycle, proliferation, apoptosis, and autophagy in HuH-6 human hepatoblastoma cells. Results The expression of AURKA was significantly higher in HB tissue than in adjacent normal tissue. Furthermore, high AURKA expression was associated with advanced Children's Oncology Group (COG) stage and tumor metastasis of HB. In vitro, AURKA knockdown significantly reduced the viability of HuH-6 cells, while ALS treatment significantly suppressed HuH-6 cell proliferation and induced G1-phase cell cycle arrest by reducing cyclin-D1 expression. Moreover, ALS promoted apoptosis and autophagy by decreasing the activity of p38 MAPK in HuH-6 cells. Conclusion High expression of AURKA is a potential predictor of poor prognosis in HB patients. AURKA knockdown reduced the viability of HuH-6 cells, and ALS treatment inhibited cell proliferation and induced apoptosis and autophagy via the p38 MAPK signaling pathway. Our results suggest that AURKA may be a novel therapeutic target and ALS a potential therapeutic drug for the treatment of HB.

As crucial parts of an aeroengine, blades are vulnerable to damage from long-term operation in harsh environments. The ultrasonic surface rolling process (USRP) is a novel surface treatment technique that can highly improve the mechanical behavior of blades. During secondary machining, the nominal blade model cannot be used for secondary machining path generation due to the deviation between the actual and nominal blades. The clamping error of the blade also affects the precision of secondary machining. This study presents a two-sided USRP (TS-USRP) machining for aeroengine blades on the basis of on-machine noncontact measurement. First, a TS-USRP machining system for blade is developed. Second, a 3D scanning system is used to obtain the point cloud of the blade, and a series of point cloud processing steps is performed. A local point cloud automatic extraction algorithm is introduced to extract the point cloud of the strengthened region of the blade. Then, the tool path is designed on the basis of the extracted point cloud. Finally, an experiment is conducted on an actual blade, with results showing that the proposed method is effective and efficient.

The clinicopathological features of 32 patients (17 females and 15 males) with a median age of 8 years (range, 1.5-21 years) from Southwestern China diagnosed with hydroa vacciniforme-like lymphoproliferative disorder (HVLPD) were reviewed. At presentation, 6 patients showed only skin lesions, while 26 patients showed both skin lesions and systemic symptoms, including fever, lymphadenopathy and hepatosplenomegaly. As the disease progressed, systemic symptoms occurred in all patients. Follow-up data of 29 patients showed that 14 patients were still alive with disease with a median follow-up time of 22 months (range 3.6-71 months), and 15 patients died within a median follow-up of 6 months (range 0-60 months).

Psychological mediators underlie many entrepreneurship phenomena. Unfolding psychological mechanisms enhances our understanding of theoretical relationships in entrepreneurship. This paper first reviews the current state of entrepreneurship studies examining psychological mediators and identifies the hurdles that push researchers away from employing randomized experiments to unfold the causal relationships underlying mediation. To alleviate these hurdles, we then propose parsimonious yet rigorous experimental designs that make experiments testing psychological mediators in entrepreneurship feasible and cost efficient. In addition, when manipulating the mediator is not feasible, we theorize and identify two remedies a single experiment can use to examine the causal chain underlying mediation.

A coupled system consisting of a double-anode microbial fuel cell (MFC) unit and a biofilm electrode reactor (BER) has been applied to degrade the azo dye reactive brilliant red X-3B. In this system, the MFC effluent was used as the input of the BER. The MFC preliminarily degraded X-3B while generating electricity, and the BER obtained electrons from the MFC through the external circuit to continue degrading pollutants without the need for an external power supply. The X-3B removal efficiency was 41.93% higher in the coupled system than the control when the X-3B concentration was 3000 mg/L. The analysis of intermediate products showed that the azo bond of X-3B broke in the MFC, generating a large number of complex intermediates such as anthraquinones, which were further degraded into simple organic compounds in the BER. Meanwhile, the abundance of microbial taxa related to the degradation of refractory organics in the MFC was high, as was that of microbial taxa related to the degradation of simple organics in the BER. Furthermore, the abundance of microorganisms related to power generation in the MFC increased. These results provided an efficient strategy for improving electron utilization efficiency in the coupling system of bioelectrochemical system.

UNSTRUCTURED Abstract Purpose: To describe the clinical characteristics of Chinese patients with immunoglobulin light chain (AL) amyloidosis. Experimental Design: searches were made in MEDLINE, EMBASE, and CNKI. Articles (interventional and non-interventional) that reported Chinese patients with AL Amyloidosis were included in this study. The included characteristics were age, gender, λ type or κ type, body mass index (BMI), the time from onset of symptoms to diagnosis, Mayo cardiac staging, primary or secondary, organ involvement etc. Results: Sixty-seven articles reporting 5022 patients were included. The weighted average age of Chinese patients with AL amyloidosis was 57 years, and 61.2% of patients were males. 80.0%, 14.1% and 5.9% of patients were λ type, κ type and type unclear, respectively. The mean BMI was 22.82 ± 3.24 kg/m2. The time range from onset of symptoms to diagnosis was between 6 and 12 months. The proportion of patients at Mayo (2004) stage I, Ⅱ and Ⅲ was 24.6%, 34.3% and 41.1% (respectively). The proportion of patients at Mayo (2012) stage I, Ⅱ, Ⅲ and Ⅳ was 33.6%, 24.7%, 25.2% and 16.6% (respectively). 31.3% of patients were in New York Heart Association (NYHA) grade III-IV. 20.1% of patients were AL amyloidosis with concurrent multiple myeloma. 79.3% of patients were categorized as having more than one organ involvement. The involvement of the kidney, heart, skin/soft tissue and digestive system accounted for 84.3%, 62.5%, 41.5%, and 34.4% of patients, respectively. Conclusions: This scoping review suggests that most patients with AL amyloidosis were at an advanced stage when diagnosed in China. Epidemiological studies with a larger sample size are needed to comprehensively investigate the AL amyloidosis patients’ characteristics in the Chinese population.

Triplet-triplet annihilation (TTA) process includes two categories, a homogeneous TTA occurring between two triplet excited molecules of the same type such as the homogeneous TTA upconversion (TTA-UC) and a heterogeneous TTA occurring between two triplet excited molecules of different types such as the heterogeneous TTA-UC, or between a triplet excited state and a triplet ground state such as the sensitized singlet oxygen generation. To the other front, noble metal nanostructures are known to exhibit an extraordinary capability to manipulate light through the collective oscillations of their conduction-band electrons, the so-called localized surface plasmon resonances (LSPR). Plasmonic nanostructures have been shown to be able to dramatically enhance the performances of many optical systems. In this book chapter, we will use a few examples to demonstrate that LSPR of noble metal nanoparticles can enhance the efficiency of both categories of TTA, and to discuss the conditions where such plasmonic enhancement would occur. The results shed light onto ways to improve the overall TTA efficiency, which would be relevant to the broad applications involving TTA-UC or sensitized singlet oxygen generation.

During the development of CNC machining, the computer-based NC machining simulation has played an important role in verifying the NC programs economically and safely so as to avoid scraps or even accidents. In order to balance the accuracy, efficiency, and fidelity, various simulation methods have been proposed in historical researches, including wireframe, solid, object space-based, and image space-based simulation. All the mentioned methods use G-code as input and take the workpiece blank as a whole part, which causes the difficulty for achieving real-time simulation with acceptable accuracy under limited computing resources. This paper proposed a STEP-NC feature-oriented machining simulation method, which takes the workpiece blank as the combination of several machining features plus the workpiece, and implements customized algorithms for individual features. Using the divide and conquer strategy, high efficiency with guaranteed accuracy and fidelity can be obtained during the real-time simulation. Two demo workpieces with 2.5D features from the STEP-NC standard were tested using the proposed method, and the efficiency was validated by comparing results with the conventional methods.